2 replies to this topic

[epilobello]

Just finished a basic GM class for high school students. A 16 year old girl got me a little stumped when she asked how to post negative highscores. Of course, the highscore table clears/starts with zeroes. So anything negative won't post.

I convinced her that with the current setup of zero as the base "highscore", that negatives just won't make it. But that is what she wants! So I told her that making a highscore table that would take negative numbers will have to be done manually in code.

She was discouraged that it would not be as easy to get what she wants.

On the other hand, I was thrilled to get stumped by a question that the last 5,000 or so students in the last decade never asked.

What an interesting concept by a beginning game programmer, don't you think? Why not show negative scores if they happen to be high scores. The feeling that if you just sit on your duff, you would atrophy and be a "negative". So you're gaming to be more than nothing, more than a zero. I have to appreciate that thought.

Does anyone have a script to do highscores that can take negative numbers? Or, has anyone been able to clear the highscore table with -999?

[NakedPaulToast]

Convert the scores to a positive value and you can then use the native hish score mechanism.

You can then display them manually and negate them back.

[epilobello]

Convert the scores to a positive value and you can then use the native hish score mechanism.

You can then display them manually and negate them back.

I'm sure that'll work. Thanks.

I'll make up a script and send it to her. It'll make her happy.

I will be including the concept of negative scores in future lectures. I want to see how other students react to it. There were 9 other boys in the class today, and they were kind of piqued by the idea. Like I, they just neve conceived of anything like it.