Goatdown Duel

[Charlie Reams]

Any feedback on having Goatdown in the Duel? I finally got round to coding it last night so I'm interested to see what people made of it.

[Nick Wainwright]

A really good variation to the duel I thought - it will be interesting to see how much everyone's individual maximum possible score varied by.

[Joseph Bolas]

It's an awesome feature, brilliantly well done Charlie.

I like the bit where you are told what letters you could've picked to get the highest score possible in the round. It's a good way to learn some unusual words and maximise your Goatdown game.

[Kirk Bevins]

Yeah I loved it - was awesome. One niggle which concerns me personally so nothing really needs to be changed - i have a habit of continually clicking in the notes box and after the 8th letter has come up i accidentally select a B or C as that is where I am clicking. It happened about 3 times - you'd have thought I'd learn to not click as that's where the letter selection box will appear but I still carried on the habit.

[Phil Reynolds]

I didn't have a clue what was going on for the first few rounds, so some warning for those of us who've never heard of 'Goatdown' might have been nice. It was all right once I figured out what the rules were (I was still pants at it though).

[Ben Wilson]

There is always the wiki if you're desperate.

[Dan Vanniasingham]

It's a fun variation which I'd like to see added to the mix now and then, cheers Charlie.

[Debbi Flack]

I did excrutiatingly badly (not that unusual in itself ) but it was nice to play a different version, and as someone else said, learn some new words

[Paul Howe]

It was great! Felt a bit weird not actually picking the letters at first, as that's something you tend to put a lot more thought into in Goatdown, but soon got the hang of it. Good to see the longest possible word checker implemented too.

[Jimmy Gough]

Yeah, definitely a good change, even if I'm quite a novice at it. Really good though.

[Gavin Chipper]

There is always the wiki if you're desperate.

Even that doesn't explain what was going on with that weird conundrum. It seems that you're only going to get eight letters (is it designed so that only one letter can be added to those eight to make a nine?) and then another one pops up at the end.

And why didn't I get to choose the last number in each selection? That's not very "goat". Could that become a variant numbers game or would it be too ridiculous?

It's a good concept though (Goatdown in general that is).

[Kirk Bevins]

There is always the wiki if you're desperate.

Even that doesn't explain what was going on with that weird conundrum. It seems that you're only going to get eight letters (is it designed so that only one letter can be added to those eight to make a nine?) and then another one pops up at the end.

And why didn't I get to choose the last number in each selection? That's not very "goat".

FFS, stop moaning.

[Gavin Chipper]

There is always the wiki if you're desperate.

Even that doesn't explain what was going on with that weird conundrum. It seems that you're only going to get eight letters (is it designed so that only one letter can be added to those eight to make a nine?) and then another one pops up at the end.

And why didn't I get to choose the last number in each selection? That's not very "goat".

FFS, stop moaning.

Stop moaning about my moaning!

[Jon O'Neill]

There is always the wiki if you're desperate.

Even that doesn't explain what was going on with that weird conundrum. It seems that you're only going to get eight letters (is it designed so that only one letter can be added to those eight to make a nine?) and then another one pops up at the end.

And why didn't I get to choose the last number in each selection? That's not very "goat". Could that become a variant numbers game or would it be too ridiculous?

It's a good concept though (Goatdown in general that is).

It was considered and tried, but it was too easy and didn't make a lot of difference. I think the numbers stick out a bit in Goatdown. I would happily just have 14 letters then a goatnundrum.

[Joseph Bolas]

I think the numbers stick out a bit in Goatdown. I would happily just have 14 letters then a goatnundrum.

I don't think it should end in a Goatnundrum, but I like the idea of just having word rounds in the duel. Maybe you could use the Alphagoat idea format, so each round then has to be a different letter you pick.

[Dinos Sfyris]

Loved it. Although I didnt read through the blurb that tells you variations in todays duel so at first I was like wtf? And only by rd 4 did I realised you had to click the 9th letter rather than use the keyboard! More of the same please

[Frank Rodolf]

While I am not good at this - I just don't see words fast enough to make a good choice for the ninth letter - I enjoyed the game.

Nicely done, Charlie!

One little request for the results though - is it possible to include the max per player in the round summary?

[JimBentley]

I'm with Frank, I just can't think fast enough to choose the right final letter (and even if I flukily choose it, I'll usually miss the maximum anyway ) However, I do enjoy a game of Goatdown and the implementation for the Duel was spot-on, so I'd definitely be into seeing more Goaty Duels in the future.

[Charlie Reams]

One little request for the results though - is it possible to include the max per player in the round summary?

Yes, a lot more could be done with this. It would be useful if the recaps should the "metamax" too (i.e. optimal pick), and the round summary table was coloured relative to the metamax and... etc. I'll get on with this sort of thing after CoC stops occupying most of my thoughtspace.

[Gavin Chipper]

Even that doesn't explain what was going on with that weird conundrum. It seems that you're only going to get eight letters (is it designed so that only one letter can be added to those eight to make a nine?) and then another one pops up at the end.

And why didn't I get to choose the last number in each selection? That's not very "goat".

FFS, stop moaning.

Stop moaning about my moaning!

Anyway, Kirk, there was actually a question in there but you just read it as a moan (as usual) and ignored the question. Do the goat conundrums work so that there is only one possible solution even before the ninth letter is added? And presumably you don't any extra points for solving it before the ninth letter appears?

[Charlie Reams]

Anyway, Kirk, there was actually a question in there but you just read it as a moan (as usual) and ignored the question. Do the goat conundrums work so that there is only one possible solution even before the ninth letter is added?

Correct.

And presumably you don't any extra points for solving it before the ninth letter appears?

You're supposed to get 7 for solving it after the last letter appears, but I never got round to implementing that and people would probably go mental if I did it now (so I probably will.)

[Howard Somerset]

You're supposed to get 7 for solving it after the last letter appears, but I never got round to implementing that and people would probably go mental if I did it now (so I probably will.)

Does this mean that all goatdown conundrums have a solution which starts with one of the eight visible letters? Or can you press the blank if you think it starts with the missing letter?

[Charlie Reams]

Does this mean that all goatdown conundrums have a solution which starts with one of the eight visible letters? Or can you press the blank if you think it starts with the missing letter?

You have to use the keyboard for Goatundrums, you can't click. There's just no way to make it work with the mouse, at least that I can think of.

[Howard Somerset]

Does this mean that all goatdown conundrums have a solution which starts with one of the eight visible letters? Or can you press the blank if you think it starts with the missing letter?

You have to use the keyboard for Goatundrums, you can't click. There's just no way to make it work with the mouse, at least that I can think of.

Thanks. If ever I get one, I'll try to remember.

[Ian Volante]

Anyway, Kirk, there was actually a question in there but you just read it as a moan (as usual) and ignored the question. Do the goat conundrums work so that there is only one possible solution even before the ninth letter is added?

Correct.

And presumably you don't any extra points for solving it before the ninth letter appears?

You're supposed to get 7 for solving it after the last letter appears, but I never got round to implementing that and people would probably go mental if I did it now (so I probably will.)

Logically you'd get more points for getting it before that point rather than less afterwards?

Oh, and I like Goatdown in the duel.

[Dan Vanniasingham]

Just having a look through the results for yesterday, and it seems people were given different conundrums. I guess that's a bug?

[Charlie Reams]

Just having a look through the results for yesterday, and it seems people were given different conundrums. I guess that's a bug?

Yeah, I screwed up. Thought I'd got away with it as well...

[Kirk Bevins]

Just having a look through the results for yesterday, and it seems people were given different conundrums. I guess that's a bug?

Really? All the ones I checked were STRONGEST, TABLEWARE and SUBCLAUSE.