Project Plan - Atari 2600 Variation/Score Split

Hello fellow gamers:

Tomorrow, Sep09/96, the undertaking of a major split involving the Atari 2600 console platform will begin.

I will spear-head the project and will be working closely with worldwide Atari editor/referee Todd Rogers as well as administratively with my fellow referees until completed.

Throughout the reclass, comments, advice and any glitches pointed out by the general gaming community will not only be appreciated but will be considered necessary in order to make this happen as quickly and as accurately as possible.

This is no small understaking as several thousand scores must be reviewed and potentially reclassified, never mind the creation of well over a thousand new variations to accommodate the reclass of the scores.

My very next post in this thread will reflect the sequence of events that will be taking place from inception until conclusion.

I ask that you withhold commentary until the next posting is made.

Thanks for being patient.

Robert

Hello fellow gamers:

Here is the formal project plan for Twin Galaxies to effectively split the existing vintage console platforms into Emulation versus Original NTSC, Original PAL and Original SECAM.

Commentary is welcome.

The project, due to it's scope, will be accomplished in structured phases beginning with the most popular of the vintage pre-NES platforms, the Atari 2600. Aside from MAME, TG does not accept emulations from the NES era or thereafter, therefore the project will be focused on pre-NES platforms.

Projected date ranges have been provided as a guideline. Special events that may impact the delivery dates of one or more components will stem from the referee's day-to-day activities such as work/job issues, pressing family matters, etc. Whenever possible I will update the delivery dates as needed.

Here now is the sequence of events...

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PHASE ONE - ATARI 2600

Pre-Requisite Decision (A) - differentiation to occur on a variation level as opposed to creating a separate platform for NTSC, PAL, SECAM and EMU

Pre-Requisite Decision (B) - new variations will be created on a case-by case basis as needed as opposed to creating in quadruplicate all existing variations into the three remaining formats of PAL, SECAM and EMU while renaming all original existing variations to NTSC

Sep08/06
Expected start date - Sep08/06
Expected completion date - Sep08/06
Status: Completed
(A) Brien King to download all posted 2600 scores as of Sep08/06
(B) Robert T Mruczek to inform all TG referees not to input, import, upload, change, move, reclassify or delete any new/incoming 2600 without his written consent, until the project has reached a certain level of completion
(C) Robert T Mruczek to brief worldwide Atari editor/referee Todd Rogers of the status and sequence of events in extreme detail, with discussions to commence Sep10/06
(D) Robert T Mruczek to post in general gaming community forum the complete plan of action for the reclass effort

Sep09/06
Expected start date - Sep09/06
Expected completion date - Sep09/06
Status: Completed
(D) Robert T Mruczek to review the download of all 2600 scores and arrange by both title and by gamer

Sep10/06
Expected start date - Sep10/06
Expected completion date - projected Sep15-17/06
Status: In Progress - Data sort by title, also alpha by gamer, also ranked by scores per gamer, have all been presented to existing referee base for initial analysis. Listing of titles alone to be posted to this forum for peer review and commentary.
(E-1) Robert T Mruczek to discuss with Todd Rogers, and then later with fellow TG staff members, the initial selection of PAL-only titles. For these, existing scores will be evaluated to determine which were original PAL versus emulation PAL
(E-2) Existing variations will be renamed to reflect the format most prevelant among the scores received/posted thus far (i.e. if we have 500 such scores, 400 or which are EMU, then existing variations to be reclassified as emulation, and the 100 other scores to be reclassified to newly created variations reflecting Original PAL format.
(E-3) Repeat steps E-1 and E-2 for known SECAM submissions

Sep15-17/06
Expected start date - Sep15/06
Expected completion date - projected Sep22-24/06
Status: Incomplete
(F-1) Robert T Mruczek to discuss with Todd Rogers, and then later with fellow TG staff members, remaining scores on a by-gamer basis to isolate those gamers who are known to be solely-NTSC, soley-PAL, soley-SECAM or soley-EMU.
(F-2) for these scores, existing variations will be renamed to \"Original NTSC\" and for all in which the gamer(s) clearly submitted in PAL, SECAM or EMU, additional variations appropriately named will be created, and then the corresponding scores moved

Sep22-24/06
Expected start date - Sep22/06
Expected completion date - TBD
Status: Incomplete
(G-1) Robert T Mruczek to arrange by date of submission all remaining scores into two (2) sections...approx Jun11/04 and prior importa date, based on scores taken from the old Snipercade site maintained by former worldwide Atari editor/referee Ron Corcoran, and scores imported/posted after that date. Secondary sort will be alpha by title/variation and then gamer
(G-2) Robert T Mruczek to discuss with Todd Rogers, and then later with fellow TG staff members, reclassification of the remainder of the scores, using the general strategy of renaming existing variation to match the most prevelant submission format, and creating new variations to match additional submission formats, on a per-variation basis.
(G-3) At this time Robert T Mruczek and Todd Rogers will resume all import, upload, change, and delete actions based on new submissions from Sep08/06 thru present

Final Step
Expected start date - TBD
Expected completion date - TBD
Status: Incomplete
(H) Robert T Mruczek to rename all remaining Atari 2600 variations without scores to reflect \"Original NTSC\" status

PHASE TWO - ColecoVision
PHASE THREE - Intellivision
PHASE FOUR - Atari 5200 and 7800
PHASE FIVE - Commodore 64

These phases will take less time than the 2600 phase did, and will be handled in similiar fashion, beginning with a score freeze on new scores on that platform when beginning each phase.

PHASE SIX - All the Rest

This phase is where we will address remaining platforms and make individual decisions regarding each.

The remaining plaforms include the most inactive vintage platforms of all...Odyssey 2, Vectrex, Astrocade, Vic-20, TI-99, Atari ST, etc.

For these cases, it is not practical or necessary for us to split the variations as the current submitters for each number most likely three (3) or less to this day. While we will look at the submissions per platform, we will not take any action unless the platform is deemed sufficientlty active to warrant the effort of a reclass.

PHASE SEVEN - Score Consolidation
Expected start date - TBD
Expected completion date - TBD
Status: Incomplete

The goal here is to achieve a \"have your cake and eat it too\" scenario. Whereas up until this time gamers will have to view their scores separately by variation for Original NTSC/PAL/SECAM and EMU, TG will develop a new field contained within the variation program record called \"Variation Link ID\" in which like variations, such as Original NTSC/PAL/SECAM and EMU for \"Skiing game 1BB\" can be viewed on a user-requested basis as a single, consolidated variation for display purposes, ranking all scores collected from all linked variations into one viewable listing.

In this fashion, interested gamers can compare their scores on one variation versus any scores from the other linked variations.

This feature will be designed by CTO Brien King at some point after the Atari 2600 split effort has been completed. I cannot provide an estimated time of start or completion at this early date, but this is the end goal for Twin Galaxies in this matter.

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This concludes the plan of action. Your commentary is welcome.

Robert

All my records were performed on NTSC. Thank you for notifying via Atariage.

I thought posting of records for Atari 2600 was on hold? Somehow, my record count decreased by 6 from 200 to 194 yesterday. What happened?

Hi David:

I'm not actually sure what happened yesterday. I remember you recently being at 200, myself. And I also did not delete, add, change or unpublish any new records.

However, a FEW records were recently added by accident by a fellow referee, and I instructed him to keep careful watch on these as my formal go-ahead is going to be issued this coming weekend (12/09-12/10) for score entry to resume.

It is conceivable that six (6) records were among those entered.

Will touch base again on the weekend. I have to play four weeks of catch-up since my last real work was 11/09 pre-Funspot and \"Barthax\" was nice enough to keep pace in the interrim.

Robert

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RMRUCZEK

Hi David:

I'm not actually sure what happened yesterday. I remember you recently being at 200, myself. And I also did not delete, add, change or unpublish any new records.

However, a FEW records were recently added by accident by a fellow referee, and I instructed him to keep careful watch on these as my formal go-ahead is going to be issued this coming weekend (12/09-12/10) for score entry to resume.

It is conceivable that six (6) records were among those entered.

Will touch base again on the weekend. I have to play four weeks of catch-up since my last real work was 11/09 pre-Funspot and "Barthax" was nice enough to keep pace in the interrim.

Robert

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Thanks for the response.

Please be advised:

An announcement as to the final phase of the Atari 2600 EMU split will be tendered tomorrow evening.

Robert

Looks like the big announcement is that it's not getting finished any time soon :|

Yep,
Along with a lot of score challenges currently in limbo. :? :(

Hopefully whoever takes over will be a little more responsible with respect to finishing it, b/c outside of a major issue (like health problems or death in the family -- and it certainly doesn't sound like that's the case...) there's no good reason why he - as a senior ref - can't fulfill his obligations here before quitting. So unless he decides to give his reason(s), this is nothing more than the actions of an immature person.