MiSTer FPGA Forum

• At the beginning of each new round a core will be selected at random from one of three rotating categories (arcade cores, classic computer cores and game console cores). Currently this is done using a script tied to a Google Sheets document (viewable here though not editable or with the script usable. Script code below.)

• We will then nominate games that are supported on that core in the cases where more than one game is available.
  • For cores that support only a single game, the nomination round will be skipped.

• You can nominate up to three games per core

• You cannot second your own nomination

• A game needs only one other person to second the nomination to add it to the list of possible games

• At the end of the nomination round, we will select a game from the list at random again using a script

• Each new core selected will have a separate post topic created for it. In that topic we can nominate games and announce the selection.

• Each game selected will also have its own post topic so we can keep the procedural part separated from the game enjoyment part.

• There is no "end" to that game's play period. If years from now, someone new wants to play it and add their thoughts to the discussion for it, they should feel free to do so. Or if you were just a week late to the action, you didn't actually miss out.

function randButton() {
  const ss = SpreadsheetApp.getActive();
  const sh = ss.getActiveSheet();
  var cores = ss.getRange("A:A").getValues();
  var listlength = cores.filter(String).length;
  var randomcore = Math.floor(Math.random() * listlength) + 1;
  sh.getRange('C1').setValue(randomcore);
  SpreadsheetApp.flush();
}

I feel like I keep losing track of what games are being played at the moment.

PistolsAtDawn wrote: ↑Mon Oct 10, 2022 8:32 pm I would like that! I was educated in public schools in the southeastern part of the USA, so your English is as good as mine! Or better. Probably better.

If we were to move to a two-week period and take turns with the posts we would only need to do it once a month.

Do you have a Google account? The randomizer button requires the user to be signed into the site for it to function (because that's Google's policy with running scripts).

Hetzen wrote: ↑Tue Oct 11, 2022 4:29 pm I'm wondering if the Nominations and Selected game can stay in the same thread, so we end up with one thread per core. Changing the first post with a list of the winning/played games? If you don't get on with that game, you could report back on one of the other nominations.

PistolsAtDawn wrote: ↑Sat Oct 22, 2022 9:43 pm I want people to be playing games they're excited about, so I've been thinking about how to make the more popular games more likely to come up when we use the randomizer.

We avoided just taking a vote on what game to play because of the potential for needing tie-breakers due to the relatively low number of participants voting. It could take potentially twice the amount of time - or more - to settle a single round.

Charmless suggested that we choose randomly from the top three nominated games, which I like. But before we go in that direction I wanted to bring this up for discussion.

What does everyone think? How do we tune this process?

charmless wrote: ↑Sat Oct 22, 2022 10:09 pm I think that would make it so the more popular games get picked. The downside is that less known games might get lost in the shuffle.

PistolsAtDawn wrote: ↑Sun Oct 23, 2022 3:07 pm

charmless wrote: ↑Sat Oct 22, 2022 10:09 pm I think that would make it so the more popular games get picked. The downside is that less known games might get lost in the shuffle.

Yes, that was something I considered too. I wouldn't love it if every game picked was one of the popular ones that we all know already, but I also don't love it when there's little discussion and participation because the game only appeals to a couple of people. I think however it is worth a try because so far most of the games that have been nominated are not familiar to me - especially on platforms that I didn't own or have any contact with when they were current.

If we were to pick a game randomly from the top three, here is how that would have worked out for the Mega Drive / Genesis post: Zombies Ate My Neighbors got two people seconding the nomination and Gunstar Heroes got three. The rest of the seconded games are all tied with one. So right there is the situation I wanted to avoid.

I think weighting those two games by each receiving multiple entries on the list would be the way to go here since no new vote would be necessary yet those two games would be better represented. This is akin to a raffle drawing where you are more likely to have one of your tickets selected at random when more of them are put into the bowl/hat/whatever. Gunstar Heroes would be on the list three times and Zombies Ate My Neighbors would be on it twice. All other seconded games will be on the list just once.

The random game could still be any of the other seconded games, just a little more likely to be the top-seconded games.

I would appreciate some additional thoughts on this from everyone!