Captain Nemo and his crew have been stealing treasure for many years now. Three governments have determined that the Nautilus did survive its suposed demise, and have located the ship. Each government wants to get the treasure he holds.

You and two others are being sent into the Nautilus. You start on Lincoln Island, where you will be smuggled aboard in coffins. Once there, you will get the treasure from three different collections, and then escape in a life boat back to Lincoln Island.

The winner, sitting in the Golden Chair, gets part of the treasure.

Come - follow this thread as I will post more information about the infamous (and on August 3rd, 2005, award winning (http://www.vmkforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1252&page=13&pp=10)) Submarine Races including background information, pictures, and daily information about the winners!

I wish I could put this story on the room, but the dictionary blocks a lot of it. I learned long ago at Disney that everything in the park has a story, so as I developed the game, I was also developing the story.

The story was originally supposed to be that you take a boat to the Nautilus, and then escape by being smuggled out in a coffin, but testing indicated that there was a distinct advantage to getting into the boat first, and many people had trouble with the boat, so I added some more coffins and reversed them.

The coffin to the viewing area is because some people just want to watch, and their presence on the playing field was confusing things. This is also why there are extra turnstiles - to try and limit access. I wish I had a good way to limit access to the coffins, but most players seem to be ok with it.

There is a second line of instructions that will go away as soon as they fix that annoying bug - they are from previous versions and attempts.

The queue has three lines so I don't have to deal with booting a player who isn't moving or who didn't read the directions while I'm trying to load the game. I can just close that turnstile, let in someone else, and then deal with them while the race is running. I could load even faster if I had a way to block the coffins while the race was being run.

Players will enter either through the coffin or the entrance next to it, and should queue up in one of three queues. I remind everyone to read the instructions on the wall.

I take from the front of each to sit in the chair by controling the turnstiles.When I drop the rope in front of the coffin (since the lights on the console don't work anymore), they go running into the coffins to race.

After the course, they emerge from the boat, and the first one in the golden chair wins.

After they are all out, I award the prize to the person sitting in the chair, and usher everyone into the one-way teleporter to the gift shop.

http://img197.**************/img197/7383/vmk1c5et.jpg (http://**************)

Players race out of the coffins and sit on each of the three sets of treasure before teleporting back to shore.

This room also contains a teleporter to go to the gift shop, and often people will come from the gift shop to watch the current races. We also have a VIP lounge fro sponsors and other exclusive visitors.

http://img197.**************/img197/743/vmk2c7uf.jpg (http://**************)

This mini-game is my absolute favorite. I think it is so well put together. And alot of fun. I just can't seem to find it when I am on VMK. I definitely give this room my vote for Best Room award. :D :D :D

Captain Nemo and his crew have been stealing treasure for many years now. Three governments have determined that the Nautilus did survive its suposed demise, and have located the ship. Each government wants to get the treasure he holds.

You and two others are being sent into the Nautilus. You start on Lincoln Island, where you will be smuggled aboard in coffins. Once there, you will get the treasure from three different collections, and then escape in a life boat back to Lincoln Island.

The winner, sitting in the Golden Chair, gets part of the treasure.

Come - follow this thread as I will post more information about the infamous Submarine Races including background information, pictures, and daily information about the winners!


I like the story you have to go with the game Really Cool :)

I'd like to help your game in any way i can ^-^ PM me if you need anything :)

Like any good Disney attraction, Submarine Races are sponsored by several fine corporations... uh... players.

Thanks to Disney and VMK for creating the environment I can run this in.

My special thanks to the following, who have donated pins or other items to contribute towards prizes:

AdventureKid
VmkRules
ZatchBell
lonleywolf
Jezirah
TWDTWD
Shirai
Uniden
Cooly
richrick
Nedakh
RoyalHighness
MisterToad
crushandgush

For our first day open, we were able to get 10 games in, although one had serious technical problems and was cancelled.

Winners:

AdventureKid
DizKid
gatorgal
Jnxtter
Kycha (2 times)
Krazymic
SamDude
vmkrules

17 games today, split into two sessions. I'm not sure if I suddenly left before the last game ended, or if I just forgot to record it. Winners are:


AnimKid
busterbunny
CaveOWonder (2 times)
Cooliofancy
dimabimba
Guest95976 (2 times)
piratemario
prepster
torath (2 times)
Spense (4 times)

14 games. Winners were:


cucullin
dimabima
Guest107973
jmat (4 times)
Krazymic
PlaneCrazy
Sorakh
Sparkers
jamieiso
WDL Boy
XtremeDude

Wow! 32 games! But a bunch of problems.

Winners:

AdventureKid
CoolTornado
cutestuff (2 times)
dawizardofoz
dimabima
dudemasteryo
erob
EvaniaEvania
Flashoville (2 times)
gatorgal
ginny (2 times)
Grampa
Guest92270
Guest101916
jesi
Jinxter
jmat
kirbyderby (3 times)
penguinguy (3 times)
railroad
soxgurl
sparkers
spence
StichBoy
XtremeDude


But during these games, we had three players (including one winner) who indicated they didn't see the starting lights. I've reported the problem to the black hole.

This mini-game is my absolute favorite. I think it is so well put together. And alot of fun. I just can't seem to find it when I am on VMK. I definitely give this room my vote for Best Room award. :D :D :D

Thank you for your kind words!

I know I'm not on a lot, and I often have to rush off suddenly. :(
I'm glad you've been able to both find the game and to play it.

As for best room award... well... I can dream, but as far as I know, no cast member has ever visited. But thats not the point - the point is that I have fun, and people enjoy it.

I like the story you have to go with the game Really Cool :)

Thank you. As I said, to me the story is a major component of anything Disney, so I felt it was important to me to create a story as part of creating the game.

The start method is carefully crafted, and the result of a lot of testing to find the best method I could. Unfortunately, it is far from the best method (and now even worse since there is a bug currently). Let's explore the evolution of starting methods I tried:

In my original game (which bears no resembalance to the current one, I'll post it eventually), I used the "Ready" "set" "go" method. This worked until they implemented message speed limiting, at which point it usually turned into "ready" "set" (wait 20 seconds while the players got upset) "sorry about that." "ready" "set" (wait 20 seconds). It also has the distinct problem that the conversations can significantly lag actions - so if I type something, people see it at different times and could already be moving.

I tried switching to the "when the lights hit the top" method (which I currently use), but it was too difficult to explain which lights I was talking about!

When I moved to this racing format, I originally had players enter the single boat first. This let me put a turnstile in front of the boat entrance and use the turnstile drop as the signal to go. This necessitated that the starting chairs not all be lined up - the one in the center has to be slightly further back so it is the same distance from the chairs to the gate. This worked great! Unfortunately, the boat entrance didn't, so this had to go.

When I moved to the coffins I had how, the single turnstile wouldn't work, and using three turnstiles might have caused (or given the impression of) bias. At first I tried a single rope that I would take away, but this has two problems: (1) It means I have to be in furnishing mode, which is visually distracting to me while I try to run things and is really a pain to run. (2) It wasn't a real barrier - people could still get to the corner coffin while the rope was down.

Finally, I have moved to the "light up" method. People seem to understand it, for the most part, although it has problems of its own: (1) Non-players can still control the console. (2) This new wonderful bug were some players can't see the lights go on at all! I will probably work around this by making sure people can see the lights before they start playing, but this really ###.

Just 10 games tonight, but quite a bit of excitement! The lights are still invisible to some people, so I'm starting them by voice. Highly annoying still. The most exciting news, however, is that we were finally visited by a cast member! My thanks to VMK_KittyCat for stopping by to take a look.

And tonights winners:

basketballman
chewbakaboy
Guest115523
Jezirah (2 times)
Nedakh
rogie
StarryNight
XxoriolesxX (2 times)

I played that game yesterday with StarryNight and connorsdad. That game is absolutely fun! (although i lost and my sister won) my sister and I were ******** out before starting lol.Much Success! Awesome game! Definately deserves a Best Room Pin! :minniemo:

I tried to get in on monday but just before the last two races so i didn't get to play. but i can't wait to play in the future.
also, it is very hard to read the rules when people are lined up. i would get their sigs and not the rules! lol

I tried to get in on monday but just before the last two races so i didn't get to play. but i can't wait to play in the future.

Sigh. I really wish I could stick around longer to run more games, but I have a very limited ammount of time I can spend on VMK, and quite frequently I have to run off to something in the real world.


also, it is very hard to read the rules when people are lined up. i would get their sigs and not the rules! lol

Thank you for letting me know that! I'll see what I can do. Unfortunately, the tiki room has very limited wall space to put things on - but I'll figure something out!

I played that game yesterday with StarryNight and connorsdad. That game is absolutely fun! (although i lost and my sister won) my sister and I were ******** out before starting lol.Much Success! Awesome game!

Yes, I had to reassure them it was just a game before we started. {:

To quote another player who expressed much the same sentiments as you just did: "Even when you lose, you have a lot of fun." Thats the sign of a great game (online, in realspace, card game, board game, sport, whatever!) in my mind. Thank you for your kind words.

Definately deserves a Best Room Pin! :minniemo:

Well, aside from trying to run the best game that I can, which I would do anyway, this is out of my hands.

I didn't think I had much time on VMK tonight, and my brother was doing other stuff, so I logged on planning to tour other rooms. Immediately I ran into Jess' "The Race Into Space" (actually, I ran into the line outside it). Once I got in, I had people asking for Sub Races (since Jess' race wasn't running at the time), so I found my brother and opened it up for a bit and we had a few racers, including some new ones.

More problems tonight, however. "set go" is just a pain to do, made even worse since I can't change the photo out that says how I will be starting the race! We had several false starts and several people who went into the other room before the race began.

Nine races. The winners were:

bluepirateboy
caveowonder (2 times)
Hazourdous (2 times)
Janiebean
jmat
StitchBoy
uru94


I don't say this enough, but thank you to all the racers who do make my evenings running the game enjoyable.

My thanks to lonleywolf, who contributed to the prize pool (and then left without even playing! I wanted to talk more, at least.)

Based on his contribution, and feedback from players, I'm considering changing my prize policy. We'll see this weekend.

I have an idea!

Get 3 tiki statues
First you take a statue away

That means ready

take another away
that means set
when the last one is taken away,

the players go!

:poison: Just an idea :poison:

I have an idea!

Get 3 tiki statues
First you take a statue away

That means ready

take another away
that means set
when the last one is taken away,

the players go!

That isn't a bad idea, and I may try it!

Its biggest problem is that it requires me to be in furnishing mode, which can be a pain to manage things. And placing and taking away objects is much more time consuming than other controls. (And, of course, I have to update the directions, which I can't do.) Still, I may give it a try.

Thanks for your thoughts!

I would like to find this and race. Please PM with a way to find you so I can get in a game. Thanks. :) :piratesk:

25 Games in the afternoon and evening. Unfortunately, I forgot to write down the winner of the last game in each session. Fooey.

Winners:

avenruth
caveowonder
DisneysDude
etnightcrawl
Guest118531
Guest121235
Guest126116
jamieisu
Jones (2 times)
JKizzle
mattmason
protoboy
Reed
SarahDarling
snowsee
SunsetBlvd
XxoriolesxX
ZatchBell (5 times)


Last night also had our first problems with the lines, so I'll be discussing that in a technical note sometime this weekend. The problem with the lights is also getting worse. Now I can't see them!

We have also redesigned the race course slightly (pictures coming later) so I could fit an additional teleporter that will connect us to the VMK Fan Site teleporter network. Last time I checked, I was the 4th teleporter from the left in the purple room - I'll try to keep my sig updated with the location.

Finally, last night I ran out of pins, and decided to switch to handing out posters. You win! Not sure how long I can keep that up without going broke, but I'll give it a try!

When watching other games before I created the Sub Races, I realized that one of the big problems was in trying to manage the queue. A long line, people would forget to move up, trapping everyone else, people would get into the game and disturb the game action, all sorts of problems. So when I created my first game, I spent a lot of effort trying to create a queue.

It was a total disaster. The queue took up an entire room, with the game in a separate room. This confused people - nobody wanted to just stand around and not see anything. I also didn't really address the issue of people going afk, so there were still line blockages. Finally, I didn't give a way for people to exit the game since I expected them to just quit. Quite a few people walked out of the teleporter back into the original room, messing up my plans for the next group.

When I reworked it into the races we have today, I made several important changes. Both the starting and finishing areas had to be visible from the queue - this was so people standing in line had a vested interest in standing there. It has worked out - quite often we see people in line discussing the race, cheering others on, etc. It also lets winners show off and proclaim how great the race is. :) It has one big problem, however. If there are people waiting to get into the room through VMK's queue management system, I end up booting them out or the racers end up in the queue too!

The three-line queue has worked quite well for the most part. Most importantly for its flexability. I can easily open all the gates and usually can quickly close them after a person goes through. If there is a problem with one of the lines, I can let another line go instead. Sometimes the three-line system is a little unfair, I'll grant - people don't enter the lines evenly, so there is often bunching up at the back of the middle line. But fortunately, I've only had one major issue with cutting so far (which the line eventually resolved itself), which caused me to load three people from each line at a time, before returning to my "first in line" method of loading.

The unload system also works fairly well, but isn't without its faults. The turnstile in front of the boat teleporter makes sure that nobody tries to sneak in the back way while I have the turnstile open to let the racers out. It has saved me some problems and is easier than booting people. The biggest problem with unload is that people from the third line can sometimes block people trying to get out.

The clear separation between load and unload areas also speeds things up. People sit in the right place. I don't accidentally open the wrong gates. Everything is clear and obvious from the layout.

I've often been asked by people in line why I don't setup for the next race once the racers have gone into the other room. Since I have a split start and finish, I certainly could do this, but it breaks one of my guidelines for designing the game: there should be no possible way for two races to get mixed up. If a new racer were to go directly into the racing room, things would get messy and be difficult to clean up after. So why not after all the racers are in the finish area? Because I'm having enough trouble getting them out, I don't have the ability to start another one at the same time. If I could, I might be able to load faster, but I wouldn't unload any faster.

Finally, I'll take this moment to explain why I close all the turnstiles when I leave: I don't want anyone on the race floor when my brother and I aren't there. I don't want people confused about who the owner of the room is, who is in charge, and if a race is real or not. I am trying to create a structured, but still incredibly fun, race, and letting people roam free isn't part of that formula. (Officially, its for safety purposes. Do Disneyland or WDW cast members let you roam free on the rides after hours? :) )

I was only on for brief chances, so I never had the time to run the races. What was amazing was how many people found the room so quickly when I entered it to fix some things!

And yes, I did make a couple of changes. I'm going to try a rope-drop method to see if that makes starting any easier, since now I can't see the console lights! I even updated the directions to say this, although I still can't scrape pictures off the wall.

Speaking of changes, I updated the picture of the race course (as seen back on post number 4 (http://www.vmkforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=14962&postcount=4)) to reflect the changes that have gone into that room (the VIP lounge I added a few days ago, and the more recent teleporter to the Network).

I studied other games while working on the initial premise for the Submarine Races, and learned a lot about what to do and what (in my opinion) needed improvement. Most of the races were along the penny/water racer theme: players sit in chairs, race to the other end where they get a penny or drink water or whatever, and return back to their chair. The owner would then declare who the winner was. It was clever, I thought, but had some problems in my mind.

In almost every case I watched, the person out of the chair first was back in their chair first - there was no real race past the start since there was really very little to do. Another concern of mine was that the owner had to make a lot of judgement calls: did everyone start on time? Did everyone get their drink? Did anyone cheat? Who sat down first? This last point lead to a major guideline for creating the game: I should not have to make a judgement call about who legitimately won a game I was also concerned about game length - across the room and back didn't seem like the race would be very long, and therefore not very interesting.

The "first out/first in" problem implies that there should be an obstacle of some sort that players would have to navigate. Otherwise, you can just click on the end of the course and the game would get you there. The penny/water machine seemed too easy an obstacle, as did the teleporters of my first attempt at this. Eventually, I tried using turnstiles as obstacles, with the interesting challenge that you could use them to both clear your own path and block your opponents. Unfortunately, they fixed the bug where anyone could control a turnstile. Oh well. So I kept searching for a better obstacle, eventually discovering that chairs can be entered and exited on any side, and wouldn't allow people to pass through them. This seemed like a perfect solution. Laying out the course so there were turns, inside corners, and seats that weren't always as helpful as you wanted adds a little bit to the challenge.

Game length was a concern of mine, and it is why early on I decided to split the game into two rooms. To create the queue management I wanted and still have a decent length race, I first assumed the queue needed its own room. My previous technical note covered why I revised my thinking on this. Using two rooms seemed like a good length - a decent race that allowed a good challenge, but not too long a race that people in line would be waiting forever. It also helped that I could bring up each room in its own screen and have my brother monitor the other one. Quite frequently we are watching each others screens to see what action is taking place in different parts of the race - so I get to enjoy it all most of the time. I notice that the latest trend in race games is to make a longer game, and while I think that will prove to be rather fun and popular, I plan to stick to the two rooms I have.

When it came to monitoring and fairness, the last question was easiest to address: have only one chair at the finish line. This makes it pretty clear to everyone who won. I saw a race game that adopted this about when I did, and they used it to great advantage (the rest of the game still had the problems I mentioned, and unfortunately, I didn't write down whose game it was).

Removing the "did everyone get their drink" and "did anyone cheat" question was perhaps the most difficult to solve, but the solution is probably the most elegant. Make sure people can't cheat by making it impossible to cheat. So the obstacles that are created have to be guaranteed to work and to not require me to pay too close attention to make sure they do - once again, the chairs guarantee this. Although we monitor the game, it is to make sure there are no technical problems, not to make sure nobody has cheated. The VMK programmers have reasonably assured us they can't.

I have to say you have one of the most elegantly done games on VMK. You don't ever sound stressed out like I do (the shouts of "Get off my stage..now" or "Move it or boot, buddy" or "You know I have the golden power of boot") or do you ever make the experience less than perfect for us in line. :) I just wish I could play more often...except the line for your room is always ginormous! (which is probably a good thing!)

33 games! Some of them really great races too - neck and neck right down to the end. Those were the kind of races I was hoping for when I designed the game. I wish I was recording it.

There was one major problem during one race, when one player listened to the new starting instructions, one didn't, one hesitated and then got completely lost, and my network connection died.

The Winners:

cole&thebeast
deltaco
giliar
Guest131194 (3 times)
Jezirah
jmat
JustPlaying
kewldude (2 times)
linder
mackegirl (2 times)
Mickeyscool
Ms.Behave
mrtwister
Seabunky
SistaLena
SissySue (4 times)
Snowprince
staxia
Stitch Boy (2 times)
striker
tinkjas (2 times)
TinkerBlue
ZatchBell


On the down side, I completely ran out of prizes. My thanks to Jezirah and TWDTWD (now listed as sponsors) for helping me run just a few more games at the very end. I'm now desperately trying to raise funds for more prizes today.

As hinted above, this was the first day I used the "rope-drop" method of starting. As I expected, this was more difficult to manage and resulted in slower load times and several cases of bad starts. But it worked better than typing, so I will probably continue to use it.

I have to say you have one of the most elegantly done games on VMK.

Thank you! (I need to find a blushing icon.)

I think I share that philosophy with real Disney Imagineers - there is a certain art and elegance to designing an attraction. When you pay attention to those details, it shows!


You don't ever sound stressed out like I do (the shouts of "Get off my stage..now" or "Move it or boot, buddy" or "You know I have the golden power of boot") or do you ever make the experience less than perfect for us in line. :)


I wish this was as true as it sounded. :) The queue does have problems - fortunately many of my players can self-manage them. I do tend to boot a few players each day because they're not moving fast enough and I'm trying to load the next game.


I just wish I could play more often...except the line for your room is always ginormous! (which is probably a good thing!)

Yes and no. It is better than waiting around for someone to show up, but when I have a line out the door, it begins to impact game play. And when I have to go afk or leave for the night, I feel very sorry for people who stood around waiting to play and couldn't get the chance.

I was able to get funds and donations for 29 pretty enjoyable games. Increasingly, I'm getting people complaining about the lines and cutting in my room, so I'm going to have to figure out a better solution for the queue soon. It was slightly satisfying, however, that the two biggest complainers about the line both lost their races.

There was a lot of complaining when I had to close the room - and I got at least two emails fifteen minutes later telling me that people were waiting for me to return. (Well, it was mailed 15 minutes later. I came back 4 hours later and saw them.)

Winners:

aimee
ashlin
AstroJoshua
AwesomeSarah (2 times)
babytink
Blocko
coolbiscut
darkranger
FlyThenFall
georgianboy (2 times)
ghosthosts
Guest132188
hagar
Holly
Jones (2 times)
Koolcutie
kylethegreat
mrtwister
Ms.Behave
PinkPokaDot
Rogie
SarahDarling
StaciaWhite
Tayla (2 times)
TheIncredible

Prisoner as I said before, you have the best race in VMK History!


Wow my name is up there a lot! :)

Prisoner as I said before, you have the best race in VMK History!

And as I have said before, I'm honored by compliments like this. But really, if it wasn't for all the great players I've had, there wouldn't be much point to doing it. So I'm glad everyone enjoys the game - I certainly enjoy running it (most of the time :) )

I'll take this moment to thank the moderator who made this discussion sticky - I didn't ask them to, and didn't even realize they did till I stumbled upon it. But I do hope that my technical notes help future game (or even just room) designers create some awesome games and post their own technical notes. If we do this - we can only improve the quality of our rooms and our games.

Wow my name is up there a lot! :)

We seem to have a good mix of new racers and repeating racers - which is a good sign, to me.

I once considered creating a database to track racers and their stats - but never got around to it, so at this point it seems like it will be tough to go back and enter all the data that I have. (I'll detail what little I collect in a later technical note.)

20 Games. Actually, it was about 15 games, followed by a bunch of people offering me prizes to keep running, followed by another 5 games before I called an end to it for the night. I know that some people love the game and keep playing, but I'm going to politely ask (not force, just ask politely here) that people who have played a lot yeild their spots to new racers.

The Winners:

Atlast
BlueCoolAngel
CaptHookFan
dawizardofoz
EggCarts
Guest140660
MoniquePretty (3 times)
Shirai
SoarinShane
Striker
Tayla
MissBelle
ZatchBell (6 times)

12 Races. Winners were:

Anakin.S
AsdAlex
basketballman
eyormagic
fantasyjoseph
Funster
HUGHZILLA
MermaidViolet
Metzi
Spence
SunsetBlvd
TheIncredible


Fortunately, the crowd thinned out towards the end, so I was able to place some barriers up to do some work. I've updated the queue, and tests indicate it seems to work fairly well - I'll update the picture of the room shortly and post a technical note.

Unfortunately, towards the end of testing, a large crowd showed up demanding entrance, but since I was out of prizes, out of credits to buy more, and thought I would be out of time, I had to politely turn them away. Then, my computer sensing my distress, crashed, making sure I didn't cave in.

My thanks to both richrick and Nedakh, who contributed prizes to be awarded, even after I said I wan't going to open up again for the day.

The queue had been getting less and less manageable over the past few days, so it was clear that I would need to come up with a better solution than the three lines that were in place. One thing I noticed about both my queue and others was that it was pretty common that there were spots on the floor that people couldn't click on to move up - so this would be my focus.

The first change I tried was to move the boat further to the right - making the floor easier to get to. This worked, somewhat, but didn't solve the entire problem. Part of it is that the turnstile blocked at least one floor square, so people couldn't stand there.

While watching some of the roller-coaster rides and thinking about some changes I had in mind for the race portion it occurred to me - I could use the crates to elevate some chairs, and you can move from chair to chair to move up the queue. Some tests indicated that this would work ok, so I bought the rest of the supplies needed.

In tests, we were able to move people from chair to chair without problems and without creating a situation where it was possible to cut. Moving between chairs was best done clicking on the back of the chair.

It is not, however, a perfect solution.
You have to know to click on the back of the seat to move forward. I will probably end up saying this. Over and over.
Although the layout leaves a seat further back available to be clicked on, people with hats sometimes block some of the seatback, making it more difficult (but not impossible) to move.
People in the back row partially obscure the instructions. People with hats definately obscure them. Unfortunately, I have nowhere else to put the directions, and cannot even take them off the wall at the moment.


My thanks to SpinMarty and ZatchBell for assisting with testing.

I've updated the picture on the first page to show these changes. Here is a thumbnail showing it mostly full of people. Click on it to see the whole thing.
http://img86.**************/img86/6797/vmk1afull6vq.th.jpg (http://img86.**************/my.php?image=vmk1afull6vq.jpg)

Either my brother and I weren't arround during the evening hours (when I usually run the race) for very long, so I was unable to run it.

I'm a little surprised that nobody has asked me how and why I post the list of winners, or if I collect any other information.

In my first, failed, attempt at a race, I kept track of which chair won each time because I wanted to make sure it was a fair race. Doing this, I listed each player in order and underlined the player who won.

When I moved to the new format, I used the same method. So by looking at my notes I can see who played, who won, and which chair one. (As an aside, which chair wins is pretty evenly split from a glance.)

I write the palyer's name down shortly after I ask "Players, are you ready?" I don't count on them replying, but click on each one. I usually underline the name when I click on them to trade at the end.

I have been tempted on occasion to create a computer program to help me manage these lists. So instead of writing it down, I would type it in. It would also let me record additional notes about each game, including the time (which would be useful to know). Unfortunately, I haven't had the time to put the program together (not hard, just no time), and I strongly suspect that it would slow me down while entering the data (I can type quickly, but I'd have to switch windows back and forth to get the names). So for the moment I'm sticking to my hand-maintained lists.

21 games. Wild and crazy evening! An almost constantly packed room from open till I had to put room barriers up to prevent people from getting on the line. The new lines worked like a charm - no cuts, and most people had no problems. One person even asked if they could use it for their room.

The big downside to the evening is that I had to boot quite a few people, and I had to make sure players done with the game exited the room so more people could come in. I may need to address this.

Winners:

Anakin.S
BigFigmentFan
CannyCan
Cappy22789
dolphincool (2 times)
Funster
Guest143701
GuestXP
Jailkeeper (2 times)
jmat
missmart
mrtwister
PinkPokaDot
Scratchy
Striker
wizbee
xxbreakaway
ZatchBell
Z-man


Row Results:
Red: 7 wins
Green: 8 wins
Blue: 6 wins

I wasn't around most of the day, and when I finally got home I went to sleep shortly after getting my NPC credits for the day.

I've gotten this question more than once, so I want to pass along the answer in case others don't realize this:

Question: How are you able to open the turnstile and control other objects without going to the objects?

Answer: I make sure I can't get there. I've wedged myself into my seat - with the water on one side, the wall behind me, the coffin on another side, and the ride board in front of me. Yes, it does mean I need to be in furnishing mode to sit down, but thats not too much of a burden usually.

Its actually good to know that any barrier that prevents you from getting there would acomplish the same trick. It is common for people to put rope barriers around themselves. Another trick that would work is to put chairs around yourself or the thing you're manipulating so you have to sit in the chair before you manipulate it.

14 games, and rather a mess at the end. I put up the closing gates, but had to let more people in to fill out the last game. And then, in the end, I got kicked out just as I was about to start the last one.

Winners:

BlueCrazy
CannyCan
DwAdale
fantasmico
Guest156888
Guest165392
GuestXP
MagicAge
mikemart
mrtwister (2 times)
SarahDarling
TWDTWD (2 times)


Row Results:
Red: 8 wins
Green: 3 wins
Blue: 3 wins

15 games. What a mess of a day. I think I was kicked out twice - one time upon returning I forgot to put up all the barriers, so had someone wander into the game area. Fortunately, VMKOSHA didn't have to be called in. Kicked far too many people out :( because they wouldn't leave the room after they raced, as I asked. Finally, I didn't use the gates at the end of the day, so people would sit in chairs and started begging for more racing. Sigh.

Winners:

carlyiscoolio
DaBEEF
DolphinDreams
dudemasteryo
Enderz
Guest164618
Guest171231
ilikepieilikepie
ImANobody
Quibbles
SaraAnnG
ShadowLerker
ShayShay
xany
ZatchBell


Row Results:
Red: 6 wins
Green: 4 wins
Blue: 5 wins

Must Be Busy For You,Eh?

Must Be Busy For You,Eh?

Yes, it is. And I don't have a lot of time that I can run the game without interruptions, so it can be hectic. But I love running the game, I love watching good players race each other, and I love new players figuring out how to run it. So yeah, its busy... but satisfying, even with the problems.

hi prisoner it is me cooly duh

now can you say where your monorail is
plz plz plz

Like any good Disney attraction, Submarine Races are sponsored by several fine corporations... uh... players.

Thanks to Disney and VMK for creating the environment I can run this in.

My special thanks to the following, who have donated pins or other items to contribute towards prizes:

AdventureKid
VmkRules
ZatchBell
lonleywolf
Jezirah
TWDTWD
Shirai
Uniden
Cooly
richrick
Nedakh
thx prisoner i am cooly thx i will like to thank the credits and all the ppl that run vmkcan i ride your monoriailcooly rocks go me

if you have not done submerine races you have to it is so fun

Please keep posts on topic to the Submarine Races, or to the room design and construction issues that I raise in this thread. If you have a personal question for me, you can send me a private message (PM) on the board by clicking on my name and selecting "Send a private message to prisoner".

Yes, it is. And I don't have a lot of time that I can run the game without interruptions, so it can be hectic. But I love running the game, I love watching good players race each other, and I love new players figuring out how to run it. So yeah, its busy... but satisfying, even with the problems.hey prisoner are you on right now i have been trying to catch up with you it is 9:30 here

Finally, I didn't use the gates at the end of the day, so people would sit in chairs and started begging for more racing. Sigh.

I saw that! People were really being big babies about it! You were being very patient with them.

I was getting a lag of more than 2 minutes in chat there. It was kind of weird. The race was over before I saw the chat saying "Go!"

I saw that! People were really being big babies about it! You were being very patient with them.

I try to be. Firm, but patient. I hate having to end the races when I do, I really wish I could spend more time or credits on it.


I was getting a lag of more than 2 minutes in chat there. It was kind of weird. The race was over before I saw the chat saying "Go!"

Very weird, since I don't say "go" unless someone isn't moving. {:

But yes, the lag was terrible. It is part of why I don't use words to start the players out.

I'm probably misremembering and you didn't say "go". You said something that indicated the final race hadn't started yet (Maybe "start when the rope drops" or something), and yet everyone had already gone quite a while before. And I responded to something that was said in the room, and by the time my chat showed up, it was a couple minutes out of date and I looked like an idiot. :)

I'm probably misremembering and you didn't say "go". You said something that indicated the final race hadn't started yet (Maybe "start when the rope drops" or something), and yet everyone had already gone quite a while before. And I responded to something that was said in the room, and by the time my chat showed up, it was a couple minutes out of date and I looked like an idiot. :)

I'm sure most people didn't notice. Not that I'm sure that makes you feel any better that you're ignored, instead of out of date. :)

But this is one of the reasons I dislike using the "set go" method - in crowded rooms, there is significant lag for chat. But there isn't the same kind of lag for changes in the room (rope drop, lights going on, etc).

A very interesting evening for a number of reasons. But first, the results of the 29 races:

Cappy22789
CL_coolbiscut
coolyodaman
CuteLilariel
cyberkitty
darthvadera
DisneyExplorer
Foxy (2 times)
Ginny
Guest163659
iamspuds
lake
lbmodeling
lomax
mr.guest.mr
mrtwister (2 times)
newelf
richrick
rustypinetops
sassiedancer
SistaLena
Tayla (2 times)
Zipora (3 times)
Zowee


Row Results:
Red: 9 wins
Green: 14 wins
Blue: 6 wins

The most exciting, and frustrating, news of the evening was the brief visit of VMK_Zoo to the race room. She spoke only briefly to my brother, during a period when there was nobody else in the room. So while she called the room "nice", she didn't see anything! And she didn't visit the entrance area to see how it all went together. -sigh-

I made a couple of changes which made the unloading process a lot easier, the most major of which was the use of a one-way teleporter out of the exit area and into the viewing area. Eventually, I hope to make this go into the gift shop instead. Pictures of the changes and descriptions of the new flow are back at posts #3 (http://www.vmkforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=14959&postcount=3) and #4 (http://www.vmkforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=14959&postcount=4). More info about this in a future technical note.

Finally, I've been trying some things to speed up how I do some of the routine processess (opening and closing gates, dropping the rope, trading, making announcements). Some worked well, some still need work. My thanks to the several victims who helped me test or sat there during testing watching ropes appear and dissappear. More on this in a future technical note as well.

The good news is that both of these sets of changes were big successes - they made loading and unloading a lot easier and faster. At this point, we have very few line problems, and our load and unload problems are now pretty small and very manageable.

My thanks, as always, to the great crowd that comes out to play. I wish I could run more races, and I thank everyone both for coming out, for keeping the line fun, and for providing newcomers with information about the race.

15 races. Winners were:

bopet
carlyiscoolio
CometComet
dawizardofoz
Guest181204
Holly
mrtwister (2 times)
Nwahs (2 times)
RicksCafe
SissySue
SONIC-BOOM
xiris
xxbreakaway


Row Results:
Red: 5 wins
Green: 3 wins
Blue: 7 wins

And, unfortunately as always, there was still a crowd of people asking for me to continue the race. Hopefully I'll find enough time and enough prizes at some point in the near future to run a long day of races. Yeah... right... I wish!

A relatively smoothly operating day. I had to boot people I didn't want to boot, and a couple of people were stubborn about which chair they wanted and were slowing up the start. Most were handled without major incident.

Between my problem with my name (http://www.vmkforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2189), and some issues in the real world, I wasn't able to run the race. My apologies to those who showed up in the crowded room to see what was going on, only to discover - nothing.

The unload/exit area has been one of my love/hate creations. On one hand, I very rarely have a problem. When I do have a problem, it is pretty benign and I can take care of it quickly. On the other hand, it has several pitfalls to a smoothly running game, not the least of which is how it affects the actual queue.

The previous setup involved a gate that exited back into the queue area. To prevent problems, there was another gate at the teleporter so it was impossible to get into the ride system if I treated the exit area as an airlock. The problem is that the exit gate was frequently the source of congesion. This was removed somewhat when I fixed the queue area, but it was still not uncommon for the racers to bunch up there trying to get out, and then being stuck when the first person went afk or something.

An additional problem cropped up when the room reached capacity. Racers were frequently getting out of the exit area and right back in line, so people waiting in the external queue never got a chance to come in. For a couple of days I asked them to leave the room, booting when they didn't listen, but that is highly ineffective.

The new system is easier, works better, and still fits the character of a Disney attraction. I'm almost ashamed I didn't think of it before. Instead of an exit area that puts you right back in the queue, there is now a one-way teleporter that takes you to the viewing area in the other room (eventually it will take you to the gift shop - when I get enough for the themed room I want). It is an automatic gate - so I don't have to monitor it for people coming in the back door. Players leave the room, so anyone on the queue can enter it now. Finally, there is no road-jam - most players when they see they lost exit immediately while I am taking care of rewarding the winner. Even if they don't, it takes much gentler nudging to get them to go.

As with everything, it is not a perfect solution, just a better one. The one-way teleporter can only be done with the coffin, which is dissapointing because I was hoping to use the boat (or the train, if I ever got it) to theme it better. This method also removes my ability to easily back-door into my own attraction when I have to get in after the game crashes on me (so I have to remove more ropes than I had to before).

A mob scene when I wasn't ready to open, and nobody when I was. Ah well, thats life. Still, two races before I called it quits:

Guest199513 (fka TheIncredible)
Xiris


Row results:
Red: 1 win
Green: 1 win
Blue: 0 wins


This weekend I will be handing out 50th Anniversary posters, to celebrate Disneyland's birthday.

The guest shop is now open, and is an integral part of the queue system. There have been some layout changes that acompany it as well. I've also changed the line system to use more thematically correct chairs, but they may be harder to sit on, so we'll see. Picture of the new room and the new layouts of the others later.

Captain Nemo and his crew have been stealing treasure for many years now. Three governments have determined that the Nautilus did survive its suposed demise, and have located the ship. Each government wants to get the treasure he holds.

You and two others are being sent into the Nautilus. You start on Lincoln Island, where you will be smuggled aboard in coffins. Once there, you will get the treasure from three different collections, and then escape in a life boat back to Lincoln Island.

The winner, sitting in the Golden Chair, gets part of the treasure.

Come - follow this thread as I will post more information about the infamous Submarine Races including background information, pictures, and daily information about the winners!
I've been there but have never have time to do it.I will try to do it today.Like the other people..I would DEFINETLY give you the best room award.

I've been there but have never have time to do it.


I certainly understand it. I barely can find time to run it! I'd hope people are having fun in the rest of the game, or even in the real world, than feel they have to come visit the race. It does take time, even tho I try to move through as quickly as I can.

Like the other people..I would DEFINETLY give you the best room award.

I appreciate the sentiment, as always. {:
People who enjoy the race are my biggest reward. (Not that I'd turn down a best guest room award... {: )

Between the real world and the contest, I had no time this weekend to run the race. I will be continuing to hand out 50th anniversary posters all week, before I switch back to my 20,000 leagues poster.

Oy, what an evening! Problems with the queue that I tried to fix while people were still sitting - bad idea! But at least its all fixed now. In the middle of the chaos, but fortunately while I was running a race, VMK_Lion showed up and chatted for a few seconds before moving on. Finally, I was booted from the game for a minute, and had a difficult time getting back into the operators chair.

14 races:
AdventureAl (2 times)
AlexaM
Guest184190 (2 times)
jamieisu
Melie
Ms.Behave (2 times)
SoarinShayne (3 times)
TigerLilyNeo
WDL Boy


Row results:
Red: 9 wins
Green: 3 wins
Blue: 2 wins


Once again, the room was packed when I was forced to close up for the night, with some very vocal protesting asking to keep it open. I'm still very sorry that I have to close it when I do - but when I say I must, I really must.

Oh cool. My cousin (AdventureAl) won two races.

Oh cool. My cousin (AdventureAl) won two races.

He arrived to the game right when we opened and lost his first race... then won the second race. By the time he was able to get back in the room, it was in the middle of the chaos, but he made it through the queue and won again.

Sounds like he had fun, at least! {:

Cool! :) Thanx for the details! :15_4_105:

Wow. What an evening. Both the bad and the good. The bad started with trading that didn't work for a while, so I had to give people IOUs. It continued with a horrible turnout for the first round, and after the same four people going through the line, I finally called it. Then the second round got a mob of people just as my machine crashed and I had to leave. At some point, I was able to get someone (thank you Nwahs!) to test teleporter magic in the game - and although it shouldn't cause great unfairness, I will be asking people to take their pins off (I hope to conduct a more detailed test, which I will report results of later). Finally, I was able to get back on with things stable, and ran a decent chunk of games quite enjoyably... until I had to close things down when the riots began.

Anyway, 31 races. The winners were:
BigFigmentFan (2 times)
CoolAlexander (2 times)
CoolBillyDude
DigitalNova
Dsleonids
flashydancer
Ghostboi
greenhppr
Guest198074 (2 times)
Guest200573
Guest227054
HerminoeG (5 times)
jamieisu
LittleMissBling
mcCoy
MissAmber
Nwahs (2 times)
Reed
richrick
Safari
SistaLena (2 times)
Slycooper


Row results:
Red: 12 wins
Green: 9 wins
Blue: 10 wins

Finally, I want to give two notes of thanks. First, to greenhppr, for hanging around during the first batch of races trying to get more people into the room. Second, to TWDTWD, who gave up his seat when he realized he would be in the last race so that somebody new could play. I appreciate both of your actions - both of you gave me a little cheer during otherwise stressfull and annoying events.

For our first day open, we were able to get 10 games in, although one had serious technical problems and was cancelled.

Winners:

AdventureKid
DizKid
gatorgal
Jnxtter
Kycha (2 times)
Krazymic
SamDude
vmkrules

im one of the first winners?

SWEET!!!!!!!

hey thanks prisoner hey i want to meet you so u can be my friend on vmk :wave2: :wave2:

im one of the first winners?

SWEET!!!!!!!

To be precise, you were the 5th winner. (I had to go find my notes from the 24th. I can't believe you're reading stuff from that far back. {: )


hey thanks prisoner hey i want to meet you so u can be my friend on vmk :wave2: :wave2:

I'm at the Submarine Races Entrance almost every night, for at least an hour. {: Sometimes before and after that I'm in the Submarine Races Gift Shop. Friend me during the race, and I try to take care of it after the races are over - I almost never look at my messages during racing.

My bother hasn't been around, so I have been unable to run the race.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank our latest sponsor, RoyalHighness, who has provided some special prizes which I will be awarding for some special event I haven't figured out yet.

When the game isn't running (and sometimes when it is), I'm bombarded with the same questions over and over. Let me take a moment to answer some of them:

Is the race going to open today?

I try to open the race every day for at least an hour, but sometimes circumstances prevent that. It almost never opens on weekdays before 5pm Eastern / 2pm Pacific. Weekends are more uncertain, since my weekend schedule is always different. I try to vary the times so I can catch people who are on at different times, but it rarely opens later than 11pm Eastern / 8pm Pacific. Tuesdays are usually the best day to catch the races, since if I don't run out of prizes, I have a little more free time to dedicate to the race.

Why isn't the race open / why are you closing it now?

The race closes (or doesn't open) if I know I do not have the time to dedicate to it. Usually this means there is something in the real world that may take all my attention soon, or I am not sitting at the keyboard 100% of the time. Quality of the game is very important to me - if I can't give you the highest level quality of service that I possibly can, then I won't run the race.

Sometimes the real world interrupts me running the game, and I can't avoid that, but usually I try to run four last races before I know I have to take care of other business. I warn before and after each race how many are left, so nobody should be surprised.

I am willing to help run the race - why can't I?

Because you can't do everything that my brother and I can do in our rooms. You can't boot people, you can't open and close the gates, you can't drop the rope, you can't really do anything.

In short, you just can't run the game.

My brother and I work together as a team - we use two computers near each other so we can watch what is going on and discuss people and problems. Working with another partner where we didn't have this setup would be very difficult for me.

All of this would reduce the quality of the game, and I refuse to compromise on quality.

Are there prizes?

No, there are awards. For some reason I can no longer say priz###. I used to award pins, but now I award posters. Usually it is a 20,000 leagues poster, but this week I have been handing out 50th Anniversary posters. In the future, for some event I haven't figured out yet, I will be handing out some special furniture that has been graciously donated to me.

I already have that poster - do you have anything else?

No. Usually I buy the same poster in bulk. This is more fair since it won't seem like I am giving someone a "better" poster than another. You all get the same thing.

Sometimes someone will donate a poster to me, and I might give that out instead, but that is incredibly rare. When I do, I give it out because it is the next poster in my trade box.

I am willing to race without a prize, why can't I?

Because that wouldn't be fair. You may be fine with that, but I have given the indication that I hand out prizes - so people in line with you may not realize that there is no prize this time. I want to be consistent and fair in my actions, and always awarding a prize is another hallmark of the quality level I am trying to uphold.

Conversely, if people play without getting a prize and later find out that I usually award prizes, they may feel cheated. As it stands, I owe several people prizes from races run while there was a technical problem, and it has been an issue trying to track them down.

Where do you buy XXXX?

Many of the things I bought aren't for sale anymore - I bought them just before VMK left its beta phase. But in general I furnished from the Emporium and from Ned's shop since these fit the theming the best. The coffins come from Golden Horseshoe.

How do you get the turnstiles to open without moving?

This FAQ got a post of its own (http://www.vmkforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=23151&postcount=42). (Wow, I should have saved each one of these for their own post when I had no race results... {: )

Where did player YYYY go?

Very often people will quit midway through the race, suddenly vanishing from the other room. Sometimes people will never emerge from the teleporter - I assume they think they can't catch up. Every so often people will decide to stop racing and just sit down, or think that they can talk to my brother instead of racing. Since we need to keep the races going, my brother kicks them out after a couple of warnings.

Are you two really brothers?

Originally he requested the name PrisonersEvilTwin and PrisonersClone but these were rejected.

nice info priz

My bother didn't show up like he promised, so races didn't happen. However, he promises he will be on today - probably early for some races, and hopefully in the afternoon for some more. Hopefully the same schedule tomorrow.

My bother didn't show up like he promised, so races didn't happen. However, he promises he will be on today - probably early for some races, and hopefully in the afternoon for some more. Hopefully the same schedule tomorrow.

This race sounds great, i simply must come and check this out :)

nice info priz

Thank you.

I really hope all this information inspires people and gives others ideas of games they can create and how they can improve their own games and rooms. I really encourage others to do this as well - we are all learning things as we develop these new concepts, come and share them with others! The only thing that can happen is that we improve VMK.

This race sounds great, i simply must come and check this out :)

I look forward to you coming. (For that matter, I look forward to actually being able to run the race again!)

Thank you.

I really hope all this information inspires people and gives others ideas of games they can create and how they can improve their own games and rooms. I really encourage others to do this as well - we are all learning things as we develop these new concepts, come and share them with others! The only thing that can happen is that we improve VMK.



I look forward to you coming. (For that matter, I look forward to actually being able to run the race again!)

we should race! lol, your game got me thinking about making a race of my own, i have alot of skull rock rooms and i am really in to making games (like my amazing maze :).) i will most likely be making a race in the near future and i will post the info on here when i make one :).

-Danola

I appreciate that you want to make a race, but please do not post the stuff on this thread.. as this thread is for prisoner. It would be i think.. considered spaming. If there has been a mis understanding please let me know. No big deal however!

I appreciate that you want to make a race, but please do not post the stuff on this thread.. as this thread is for prisoner. It would be i think.. considered spaming. If there has been a mis understanding please let me know. No big deal however!

Well, let me say that I don't think this thread is "for me", I do think that it is specificlaly for the Submarine Races. So while questions about how and why this specific incarnation of a race game are valid - posting your own race results, your experiences with your races, your design and such, etc are probably best done on a thread dedicated to your particular race.

WOW! That sums up the day. What an absolutely incredible day in the Submarine Races. A couple of rough spots, but overall this was exactly what I was hoping for when I started the races. Before I begin, a great big thank you to everyone who was in the room - you are what make it fun for my brother and me.

There were a total of 48 races in two different sessions! 22 in the morning run and 26 in the afternoon run. We had the usual mix of newcomers and repeats - it always excites me when new people race and become hooked! People crowded in shortly after I showed up in the room each time - for the afternoon session my brother hadn't even finished logging in yet and we were already at capacity in the entrance. Part of what was fun for me was seeing some good friends, a couple of whom claimed they were not good at the race, win first place for their first times. And win or lose, its always good to see freinds coming out for the race.

I got a very special gift for running the races from a friend, and with their permission I will be mentioning more about this later - but let me say this here. Everything from a note of appreciation on up is greatly appreciated - being honored by my peers, players of VMK and the Races, means a great deal to me. (I'd like to than the academy... my...)

But speaking of honors, VMK_Phinny showed up as well! Watched one race get started and chatted with everyone for about a minute before leaving. I hope it was because she heard of how fun it was, and not because of a report that someone filed against the room or me (which is possible, there are people who are bothered when I boot without notice), but cast members visiting is always an exciting time, and this was perhaps the longest anyone stayed to watch the race.

One of the most exciting and amusing events was during the second set when the rows started cheering people on. Looked like there was some fierce friendly competition between the rows! Before I knew it, people were turning themselves red, green, or blue to match the row! It looked like tremendous fun, and since you went to such efforts to show "row spirit", I will begin reporting how many times each row won. (I will also try to go back and edit previous posts to report the same, so don't go jumping to conclusions just from today's results.)

It wasn't a perfect day, of course. I had to kick out a lot of people to clear the course for return - some of whom were friends. We were plagued by my bother or I being kicked off the system a couple of times - once in the middle of a race. There were also rampant accusations that the middle teleporter was malfunctioning, but it tested fine every time we tried it (and there were certainly people who won using that teleporter). Finally, I had to leave rather suddenly at the end, but was still able to run five last races. But even with these problems, I hope everyone had a great time.

Oh yeah! The results!
acerdawg
acookie
amana (2 times)
angelita (2 times)
awesomerey
Azure
bballboy (2 times)
bluebunny
bobolicious
ChiaBob
Cpuppy
cutestuff (2 times)
DarkReina
Elleon (2 times)
Enderz
Feepit
FlipperFlipper
Guest219722
Guest233346
Guest233934
Guest250154 (7 times! All of them for the red team.)
hauntedguy
HeartsDown
jamieisu
MagicAge
MisterToad
Nedakh
penguinguy
qwerds
scratchy
SistaLena (2 times)
Slycooper
TheCowgirl (3 times)
thetitan


And the row results:
Red: 23 wins
Green: 11 wins
Blue: 14 wins

So, while I have to refresh my poster supply, I'm hoping to be able to run another batch of races at various times today. Till then, hope to see you around the kingdom!

After being hounded all day to run the races, I was finally able to get an uninterupted hour in the evening for 19 races. Things started slow (so a couple of racers were able to go over and over), and once the room started filling up there were some real problems with racers returning (which made me wonder if the room capacity was lowered or something), but overall it was a good time.

The winners:
ashfire
Becky
bluebluejedi
CL_ChrisR
crushandgush (2 times)
Kirbyderby
PinkyPrincess
RedJenny
Safari (5 times - 4 of which were for red)
Shiregirl
SistaLena
Starz
xfan342
yunachee


Row Results:
Red: 8 wins
Green: 6 wins
Blue: 5 wins

Have you won the best guest room award for this idea yet? i came in to check it out and it looked really cool, i did not participate (sorry, i was hopping :)) but it seems like you should have won the BG rooms award, love the race, i hope to participate soone :)

After being followed all day, I was able to find the time to run 15 races for the hour I had available. The room filled up almost immediately upon entering! I'm thrilled that so many people love the races.

The winners:
amana
awesomerey
bulet
Guest227170
hauntedguy
initialricer
RuffAlen
ryked
Safari (2 times)
SistaLena
splink
Starz
stitchster
zhilo


Row Results:
Red: 6 wins
Green: 3 wins
Blue: 6 wins

I had a family celebration last night, so was unable to open the race. Tuesdays continue to be the best weekday night I have to run them, however, so come by next week (or any other night this week that I hope to be open).

I've updated the pictures on the first page to reflect how the rooms are currently layed out, and finally added a picture of the gift shop.

Because every good Disney attraction needs its own gift shop! :)

Racers will emerge from the exit area through the one-way teleporter located here. They may take teleporters either to the entry area, to race again, or to the viewing area to cheer people on. There is also a teleporter to the VMK Fan Site Central - Purple room in the teleporter network.

After the races are over, I will often come here to chat and sort through my friends requests. Plenty of things are available for trade, but we seem to be out of plushie submarines at the moment... (not to mention being unable to say the word "plushie").

http://img197.**************/img197/1193/vmk3c0yd.jpg (http://**************)

Have you won the best guest room award for this idea yet?

I have not yet won the Best Guest Room award. I am dissapointed every week when I see I haven't won it yet, and quite jealous of those who do, but I usually get over that by the next day.

To be honest, however, I'm not running the race to win this one award. Don't get me wrong - I would be lying if I said I didn't want it! But it isn't why I do this. There are far more important, and often less tangible, awards that I have gotten from people, some of whom have never even raced! The biggest reward, however, is creating something that friends, both old friends and friends I haven't met yet, can enjoy.

I will cheer every time a cast member comes in to visit, and be hopeful for the rest of the week that this will be the week I get the award... but I will continue to run it for all the people who come in to enjoy it.

A pleasant evening. Quite crowded from just moments after I entered. Some good fun races with only a couple of problems.

Results of the 18 races:
bballman
BrerNick
CL_ChrisR
CoolYankeeFan
cpanc
crushandgush
Danola
dawizardofoz
flipperflipper
Guest232677
Guest274020
Jessicat
khaki
LuxoJr
MagicAve
Metzli
mickeycatksu
sugarbebe


Row results:
Red: 6 wins
Green: 8 wins
Blue: 4 wins

:CastMem: great idea, a little weird, but good idea[/FONT]

how do you make the teleporter one way? do you just block the other side?

great idea, a little weird, but good idea

Thank you.

I'm curious, however, what you find "a little weird" about it? (Not an accusation, but I'm looking for any feedback to improve the game or to make my next idea even better, so I welcome all input.)

The evening started out slow, which was a good thing since I discovered trading was broken in the entrance. Logging out and back in solved the problem, however, and once we actually got going, the pace picked up nicely. As always, it was great to see a mix of old friends and new, and particularly see some old friends who had never been in the race before actually come in first!

The problem did cut into the time I had to run things, so only 16 races:
AdventureKid (4 times, all for red)
ceburto
CL_MrGenie
crushandgush (2 times, all for green)
CuteBlondie
Dudelifesgoof
Guest206210
mrtwister
Owmoss
RockinRuby
Sugarbebe
thetitan


Row Results:
Red: 7 wins
Green: 6 wins
Blue: 3 wins

I have not yet won the Best Guest Room award. I am dissapointed every week when I see I haven't won it yet, and quite jealous of those who do, but I usually get over that by the next day.

To be honest, however, I'm not running the race to win this one award. Don't get me wrong - I would be lying if I said I didn't want it! But it isn't why I do this. There are far more important, and often less tangible, awards that I have gotten from people, some of whom have never even raced! The biggest reward, however, is creating something that friends, both old friends and friends I haven't met yet, can enjoy.

I will cheer every time a cast member comes in to visit, and be hopeful for the rest of the week that this will be the week I get the award... but I will continue to run it for all the people who come in to enjoy it.

I agree, i dont really try to win the best guest room award but it would be nice to win, i really enjoy running in your race.. if you need any posters i can get you some.. just tell me what kind you need and how many.. i likw to reace for the green team. :)

Thanks for the fun race, prisoner. After reading so much about your rooms and hanging out with you elsewhere in VMK, I was glad to finally check out your game (and lucky enough to win...icing on the cake!). Your red/blue/green queue system is the best I've seen; I know what a pain crowd control can be, but you've managed to simplify it for both participants and yourself. Kudos. :) The race was very fun as well, and I liked the teleporter lobby area you go to after exiting the race.

The only idea I had (which maybe you've already tried) is to have three teleporters (might have to be coffins for space reasons) linking from your maze room back to the tiki chair in the lobby, instead of a single boat teleporter. That way, you could potentially have all three maze participants racing to the tiki chair at the same time, providing added drama for your main lobby. As it stands now, I imagine the first person through the boat teleporter always gets to the tiki chair first, given the time it takes the second person to go through the teleportation animation. Thus, the winner has already been determined by who exits the maze room first, and the tiki chair is just a formality. That's not necessarily a bad thing...I just thought it might be more entertaining for the lobby if there's a race to the tiki chair and the occasional photo-finish. :)

I haven't been feeling well recently, so I went to bed early. Hopefully I'll be up for running some races during the day this weekend.

I have been remiss in thanking some sponsors for their generous donations. RoyalHighness donated additional quest items and MisterToad contributed several posters, including some rather expensive ones, which I will be saving for the still unnamed special event. My thanks also to crushandgush for his poster contributions. Although I'm doing better financially, I really do appreciate all these donations.

I hope you feel better soon.

In a multi-room race game, clearly the teleporters are an important function. And while teleporters have been covered a little bit (http://www.vmkforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=540), I wanted to provide some info as it specifically applies to race games. I will try to update this as I get more info, and provide a comment that it has been updated. Since the Submarine Races only use two types of teleporters, these will be covered in the most detail.

General Notes

Teleporters are useful for getting players to specific locations inside a room (but not guaranteed) and a good way to navigate between rooms. They will not, however, let someone bypass the queue to get into a full room - they have to wait their turn just like everyone else. This is a real problem if your finish line is in the same location as your start line, since it means you have to kick people out so your racers can return!

If a teleporter is still in use when you teleport into it, you will be sent to the entrance of the room. This is an important note for game designers! Players may suddenly show up in the room entrance, and since your entrance may be blocked off, they will not be happy that they are essentially kicked out of your game. This is why The Submarine Races has three teleporters to start - to reduce the chance that a player will foolishly go into the same teleporter as someone else and kick themselves out of the game. Having just one at the end is slightly more acceptable - the player comes out in the wrong place, but they would have lost anyway.

After going through a teleporter, you are usually kicked into the space in front of it automatically. Unless, of course, there is some barrier there preventing you. I have seen this cleverly used so the space you're kicked into is really an exit to the room, so you're immediately kicked into VMK public space. (My thanks to Ms.Behave who first showed me this trick!)

Finally, as mentioned elsewhere, but worth repeating - teleporters are paired. You buy a pair, and they work together - teleporting from one to the other and vice versa. You cannot just take two random teleporters and make them work together.

Coffin Teleporters

These are the most popular, for various reasons. They take up the least ammount of space, they are easiest to enter, and they are probably the coolest looking. Coffins have a distincitive entrance, indicated by a ring (to pull open the coffin, of course) on the front of it about half way down.

To enter one, you just need to double-click on the coffin itself. Very simple.

Coffin teleporters are also the only ones that can be setup one-way since you can walk out the back of a coffin, but can not walk in that way. To make a coffin teleporter one-way, simply face the entrance towards a wall or other barrier. One-way teleporters are very effective as exits.

Boat Teleporters

Boat teleporters are perhaps the most confusing of all the teleporters. Despite their appearance (an opening on one side and a gate on the other), you can actually go through both sides. The pointy end and the back of the boat aren't enterable. There are also two teleport sites inside the boat, and users can usually stand on either to teleport. Unfortunately, there are users that have trouble finding either one, so boats can sometimes be frustrating.

These two facts combine to create some interesting effects for the boat. For example, since players have to stop on a teleport point to actually cause something to happen, you can walk right through a boat teleporter without going anywhere. It also means that you can't create a one-way boat teleporter, since you can both enter and exit from either side. Blocking off both sides doesn't help, since you cant exit out the front or back.

The two-spots in the teleporters also cause a rather interesting effect if two people try to use them at the same time. If a person starts teleporting from one spot, and someone steps into the other spot to teleport, the first teleport is cancelled, leaving the person there confused. To teleport, they must step out of the teleporter and back in.

Teacup Teleporters

I don't see these used too much, at least partially because many people find them difficult to enter.

Train Teleporters

These are still relatively new and rare, so you won't see them much. In a brief test I had with one, it does seem that it can only be entered through the one side. I'm not sure if you can exit out either side, however, so this may or may not be a good candidate for a one-way teleporter.

Stitch Teleporters

These are still relatively new and rare.

I agree, i dont really try to win the best guest room award but it would be nice to win,

I would be lying if I said it wouldn't... {: But there are a lot of excellent rooms out there, and even some other terriffic races that I have enjoyed playing. I don't want to show favoritisim (or drive people to my competition {: ) by listing the ones that I like - but there is at least one other out there that is giving the Submarine Races a run for its money (pardon the pun) and may get a well deserved Best Guest Room award of its own.

i really enjoy running in your race..

I really enjoy running it! I'm very glad you and everyone else come out to race.


if you need any posters i can get you some.. just tell me what kind you need and how many..


While I accept any contributions (of anything - although I hand out 20,000 leagues posters, I use contributions either as special prizes, to update the game, or to trade for components to update the game), I really encourage people to spend their credits on themselves - certainly you have a story of your own you can tell, and I encourage you to use your rooms to tell it.


i likw to reace for the green team. :)

Now, this is where I wish I could pull up my database and report how many times you have raced, for which rows, and what your record is. {:

Thanks for the fun race, prisoner. After reading so much about your rooms and hanging out with you elsewhere in VMK, I was glad to finally check out your game (and lucky enough to win...icing on the cake!).


I was surprised when you commented that you had never actually been in one of the races. As I said before - it is always great when friends, old and new, come out to race. Even better when they enjoy themselves in the process. (As for the icing on the cake - I can't show favoritisim, but note that the race is rigged so it is inheriently fair to all racers, there is almost nothing I can do to help someone cheat. And I have been known to boot good friends if I needed the space in the room.)


Your red/blue/green queue system is the best I've seen; I know what a pain crowd control can be, but you've managed to simplify it for both participants and yourself. Kudos. :)


This was an evolution born out of necessity, and I've detailed the process of its evolution in technical notes about The Queue, Loading, and Unloading (http://www.vmkforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=17637&postcount=26) and Updated Queue (http://www.vmkforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=20893&postcount=37). I will probably also write a future technical note with some more details about the queue that will help future designers, but I am glad to see that people are increasingly adopting this queue design for their own purposes.


The race was very fun as well, and I liked the teleporter lobby area you go to after exiting the race.


Another necessity, as I detailed in the Updated Unload Area (http://www.vmkforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=28112&postcount=60) and The Gift Shop (http://www.vmkforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=42236&postcount=86). I hope more people adopt this idea as well. (Hey, I stole the idea from Disney themselves... so you know how good it is.)


The only idea I had (which maybe you've already tried) is to have three teleporters (might have to be coffins for space reasons) linking from your maze room back to the tiki chair in the lobby, instead of a single boat teleporter.

This is an interesting idea, and I encourage other race designers to think about it carefully. I have seen the general trend to be having fewer and fewer teleporters as the race progresses between rooms, using them as a way to narrow the real competition.

This wasn't my original intent, but has kinda been a nice side-effect. Most of the time, the race is decided on the track itself. Only once or twice do I ever remember more than one player getting to the boat at nearly the same time. Frequently, however, I do see issues with people having trouble getting the boat to work, and a player come behind them and getting through first.

So while you make some excellent points (which I have deleted for space, but which other race designers should read and consider), I think I will be keeping the boat for a few reasons: (1) I like the theme of the boat in this context, and the theme is important to the story. (2) There would be very few photo finishes. (3) I like the additional obstacle that the boat provides.

I tried to visit your room but you booted me, i enetere the room then opened a new window to find this page, when i looked back you booted me! How rude!

I tried to visit your room but you booted me, i enetere the room then opened a new window to find this page, when i looked back you booted me! How rude!

I'm sorry. :( I really am! I only boot people when they are not moving in the line and there are people trying to move up, or when the room is full and I need to get racers back into the room. I hate kicking people out, but sometimes it is necessary.

A pleasant morning of racing, but unfortunately I wasn't able to find time in the afternoon or evening to run some more races like I had planned. The results from 21 races:

CometComet
CoolJanae
DalalsGreat
Guest250154
PrettySister
StitchBoy
Tomato
amana
anakinman
bluefootball
coolherodude (2 times)
icold
jedimasterk
mrtwister (2 times)
rickscafe
slycooper (2 times)
sugarbebe
yagoo


Row results
Red: 11 times
Green: 5 times
Blue: 5 times

I'm sorry. :( I really am! I only boot people when they are not moving in the line and there are people trying to move up, or when the room is full and I need to get racers back into the room. I hate kicking people out, but sometimes it is necessary.

I accept your apoligy! Apollgie.Did i speel that right? O well. (appoligie?)

I accept your apoligy! Apollgie.Did i speel that right? O well. (appoligie?)

I'm an idiot! I spelled "spell" wrong! AHHHH!:Tongue:

Roger Rabbit please do not post twice to your self. This is disturbing to others. If you spell something wrong please just edit your post, mr.genie has told everyone this,

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2
3...
5623 Times

What a bizzare day! My plans for the day kept changing, so I wasn't able to get to the races until night. I had barely invited anyone when I looked up to discover the room already half full.

Once things got going, we weren't doing bad - until I tried to give someone their poster, and double-clicking on the poster wasn't putting it in the trade box! The person kept begging for me to hurry, and suddenly I found that I couldn't reply, couldn't cancel the trade, couldn't do ANYTHING. Finally that was resolved, and there wasn't much further problem with trading.

We had a lot of new racers, which was great, except the ones who couldn't read the instructions or who decided to play with the ride console instead of actually racing! Still, my thanks to Ms.Behave who started rallying the various lines into a friendly rivalry. The winners of the 13 races were:


bluesomebody
CoolJulia
doglefox
Guest276362
HermioneG
KookyQuack
mickimicki
mrtwister
Ms.Behave
MuLen
Okay
Skateboard
Zatchbell-Fan


Row results:
Red: 4 wins
Green: 7 wins
Blue: 2 wins

As an aside, tonight I saw the two nearest guest numbers next to each other that I've ever seen. Guest291570 and Guest291572 were sitting next to each other in the queue. (Unfortunately, neither one won for the red team.)

Curse you double posters

The ride/race sounds awesome, but whenever I search for it, I can't find it.

The ride/race sounds awesome, but whenever I search for it, I can't find it.

It is only open for about an hour a day after 5pm Eastern/2pm Pacific - I just don't have more time to dedicate to it. }: I try to vary the time to catch people who are on at different times themselves, but I usually can't schedule a time in advance. Tuesdays I try to stay on longer, and weekends I try to run it for longer, multiple sets.

I try to accept everyone who friends me. If I am not in the room, I usually only friend people I have talked to first. If I'm not in the gift shop, you can usually find me on the Jungle Cruise dock - but I may be away from the keyboard not paying attention.

I hope you can find us and that you enjoy the race when you do!

Overall i think submarine races if a great idea
nice job

Overall i think submarine races if a great idea
nice job
It is amazing :) my favorite race even tho i have only won once, it is still my favorite.

Overall i think submarine races if a great idea
nice job

Thank you!

But... Dylan... have you ever raced? {:


my favorite race even tho i have only won once, it is still my favorite.


A clear example of how flattery will get you nowhere? {: (There is almost no way I can show bias in the race, even if I wanted to, which I don't.)

Roger Rabbit please do not post twice to your self. This is disturbing to others. If you spell something wrong please just edit your post, mr.genie has told everyone this,

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5623 Times

Sorry, I'm a stupid newb. I won't double, triple or quadruple post any more! Forgive me?

Due to VMK being horribly broken (namely, trading didn't work in any of my or my bother's rooms), there were no races. Stop complaining to me about this, complain (http://www.vmkforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3428) to those who have power to fix it.

(Sorry. If I sound a bit peeved it is because I am. I was actually able to wrangle extra time to play with VMK last night, and I spent all of it just trying to get trading to work. I know there are a lot of things that the developers have to work on, and that this bug might be somewhat elusive, but it frustrates me that it seems to keep on lingering and bites me at the worst possible times.)

I have been noticing more and more people attempting to use the queue system that I designed for Submarine Races, and this pleases me. I truly think that this design solves a lot of problems people have had with lines.

Unfortunately, people are trying to copy the idea without really understanding how it works, and ending up with solutions that are even worse than what they started with. If you haven't already read the notes on The Queue, Loading, and Unloading (http://www.vmkforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=17637&postcount=26) and Updated Queue (http://www.vmkforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=20893&postcount=37), do that first to understand the objectives of the queue. In this post, I will outline a couple of details about the queue that I haven't mentioned before.

First is that there are 12 chairs. This is actually important, since it helps me quickly judge how close to capacity we are and if I need to kick people out before the racers return. Room capacity is 15, including myself, so the general rule of thumb is if the seats are full, kick out anyone else just standing around.

Next is that there is a rope divider in between the front three chairs of each row. It isn't easy to see, but it is there to make sure the only way to get to the front chairs is to go through the back chairs. You'd be surprised how many lines I found where you could walk directly up to the front of the line or cut in front of other chairs. Turnstiles are two squares wide, so if you are lining up chairs behind a turnstile entrance, you need something to take up that second square.

Equally strange is where the front chair is slighly back from the turnstile, which allows people to walk right in skipping the queue entirely! For the same reason, you shouldn't have a gap between chairs in the queue.

As noted in a previous note, the chairs are elevated to make it easier for people to click on them. Someone who doesn't mind blocking the back wall might consider raising each row more than the row in front of it, to make rows even easier to click on, but there are other ways to do the same thing (at one point I considered using high-backed chairs for that row, for example). Whatever you do, remember that the whole point is to make sure that people can click on the chairs and move up.

Chair selection is important. At one point I tested using treasure chests, but it was more difficult for people to click on them accurately to move up. But there are plenty of good chairs that you can use.

In my case, the chairs are rotated to face forward for several reasons. First, I think it looks better to see everyone's face. Second, I think it makes it easier to click on the seat back to move up. Choosing other chairs might work better for your purposes, whatever they are, but remember that it doesn't matter which way the chairs face - characters can easily climb over seat backs.

Finally, remember to test anything you come up with. Sit in every chair. Try to get to a chair you're not supposed to. If it even seems slightly difficult to you, re-think your solution. The queue is there to make your life, and the lives of your guests, easier.

I've played twice so far, I won both :D

With the trading bug temporarily fixed, and a few hours available, we had a blast at the races. Some rough (or perhaps I should say ruff) "spots", of course, but overall quite good.

The teleporter was the biggest source of problems, and I will be updating my teleporter note with some additional comments on this. Our biggest issue is that some racers went to the back of the teleporter and either didn't get teleported, or were teleported after someone who went to the front just after them. Several people entered too closely, and were teleported to the entrance - one of whom I accidentally then booted! Finally, and most disturbingly to me, one player was stuck in the return teleporter for so long, I started another race and people in the audience thought they were the winner of the next race!

For some reason, I didn't record the results of one race, and another race was cancelled, since I was kicked out in the middle of the race and couldn't see who won! Here are the results of the other 32 races:
angelita
bluekoolkris
brendeno
CaptainBlood
CommetCommet
Cool-Kid
CoolSkipper
crucio
crushandgush
CuteBrunette
Disneyxplorer
Dnphm
DudeJoker
flipperflipper (2 times)
GoffsAlot
Guest234915
happyterra
hulajenny
Jessicat
KEBSD
lordilllidan
mookwooke
Ms.Behave (2 times)
PBuG (2 times)
penguinguy
purplemist
sillywilly4
Tinklover
VeryCuteTiff


Row Results:
Red: 14 races
Green: 8 races
Blue: 10 races

I had one person pop in and say that the game needed improvements. Unfortunately, they didn't stick around to provide any. I welcome all comments and suggestions!

Like any good Disney attraction, Submarine Races are sponsored by several fine corporations... uh... players.

Thanks to Disney and VMK for creating the environment I can run this in.

My special thanks to the following, who have donated pins or other items to contribute towards prizes:

AdventureKid
VmkRules
ZatchBell
lonleywolf
Jezirah
TWDTWD
Shirai
Uniden
Cooly
richrick
Nedakh
RoyalHighness
MisterToad
crushandgush

i will sponsor you i'll come today i'm kkrab

i will sponsor you i'll come today

This reminds me that I wanted to mention two unrelated things:

First, I don't need sponsors. I greatly appreciate those who have helped! Don't get me wrong! But nowadays I'm usually able to pay for a full run of the races myself. I still welcome, and greatly appreciate, any donations people may make, but if you're thinking about spending credits on me - don't. Come up with a great idea and spend the credits on that idea.

Second, people try to trade with me (or my bother) during the races themselves, and I have to ignore them. I just don't have the time to do a full trade while other things are going on that require my attention. I try to hang around in the Gift Shop afterwards, and I may be able to trade with you then.

one of whom I accidentally then booted!

yes, that would be me lol

i won anyway next race i was in, becase my computer loaded faster then the person who got to the teleporter first lol

Well, after pondering several possible ways to spend my 1000th post (all of which involved talking about myself...yuck!), I have decided to instead use it to be the first to congratulate prisoner on winning the Best Guest Room (http://vmk.disney.go.com/vmk/en_US/community/index?name=AwardsAndTopPlayersPage) pin...FINALLY!!! You've had this coming for some time, in my opinion. I am so happy for you, and although there have been other wonderful winners, I think you deserve this as much or more than anyone else. With literally thousands of guest rooms right now, this is quite an honor indeed, and well-deserved.

In addition to running a great game in VMK, I also think your daily write-ups and thoughtful explanations of teleporters, queues, etc. on the forum have been fascinating and helpful to a lot of people.

I am sure the Submarine Races will always have a special place in your heart and that you'll want to keep at it from time to time, but I hope you get a chance to take a little break now and come up with a new game or room idea. :D

Way to go!!!

I knew it would happen at some point! :luxhello::luxhello: Way to go Prisoner!:luxhello::luxhello: Much congratulations to you fine sir for being a shining example of players-turned-Imaginears in VMK! What I love about your game is this thread: I really enjoy your technical write-ups and how meticulously you keep track of the races! I wait with baited breath for anything new you might come up with.

400th post! So to celebrate, I decided to award racers with assorted other stuff instead of my usual poster - so we had an assortment of furniture (some of it donated and from in-park quests), other posters (including a monorail poster), and just other random stuff. I'll be returning to my usual poster soon.

A pretty fun evening, although teleporter complaints increased. I maintain this is part of the challenge of the race, and I'll be updating my teleporter information to provide some more info about mishaps with the boat teleporter. Long lines to get in also meant a lot more boots than usual, which is (as always) the least pleasant part of running things this way. I'm going to have to come up with a better solution soon, I think.

Due to special events, I was able to stay on for longer than usual, so I was able to run 33 races. The crowds were thinning out towards the end (probably too many boots :( ), but even so there were pleas to keep it open. Oh, how I wish I could run it all day!

The winners!

adventurekimi
ArielRae
bluegamerkid
CL_Enderz (2 times)
coolfiepunch
crucio (2 times)
crushandgush
cuestalycam
Delaney
GenieOfLamp
Goldentoon
GrouchyWings
Guest321467
guestjeffrey
krystal
LAdyRadiers (2 times)
Memorex
MissSparrow
MisterSunny
mysterymagic (2 times)
Nedakh
Owmass
SauceAndFries
slycooper
USLionKingGal
Zatchbell-fan (2 times)
Zipora
zizema


Row results:
Red: 15 wins
Green: 8 wins
Blue: 10 wins

I'm beginning to get concerned if there is an actual skew towards red over the other two rows. Certainly, for good racers there is no bias, but I'm wondering if there is something that is giving red the edge? I will have to investigate this more when I have the chance.

I say this a lot, and it especially holds true this week. The Submarine Races could not be what it is without every one of you. You are the people who talk about it, you are the people who give me good ideas and encourge me to improve the rooms, you are the ones that entertain me while I am running the race, and you are the ones that encourage both me and the other racers. It is your feedback on these forums, your contributions (tangible and less so), and your very presence. A room can't be popular without people! And I'm glad all of you have come to make it popular.

So, here is a pin I found in my collection today that I wanted to share with all of you (at least on the boards, you're not getting the one I wear). Thank you all for helping me earn it, and I hope I can keep you coming back for more.
http://avmk.disney.go.com/media/vmk/en_US/global/BestRoomBadge.gif

Well, after pondering several possible ways to spend my 1000th post (all of which involved talking about myself...yuck!), I have decided to instead use it to be the first to congratulate prisoner on winning the Best Guest Room (http://vmk.disney.go.com/vmk/en_US/community/index?name=AwardsAndTopPlayersPage) pin...FINALLY!!!


Since you were so generous to spend your Millenium post on me, I will spend at least part of my... uh... 401st post talking about you. {:

When I first posted the pictures (http://www.vmkforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=10812&postcount=42) of the Submarine Races, you complimented me (http://www.vmkforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=10842&postcount=44) on my callouts. I had to go ask what callouts were. {: But you encouraged me with your read of the game from those pictures, and when I asked your opinion if a thread about the races would be ok, you encouraged me even further. And all this without ever actually racing!


You've had this coming for some time, in my opinion. I am so happy for you, and although there have been other wonderful winners, I think you deserve this as much or more than anyone else. With literally thousands of guest rooms right now, this is quite an honor indeed, and well-deserved.


I do appreciate it. I may sound a bit dismissive of it in my last post, but I really do find it a great honor to be honored in this way. But I don't want to dismiss the honor that people pay me, day after day, by coming and continuing to race. The award isn't what makes me do this as often as I can, the visitors are. (But like I said - I'm not turning the award down!)


In addition to running a great game in VMK, I also think your daily write-ups and thoughtful explanations of teleporters, queues, etc. on the forum have been fascinating and helpful to a lot of people.


I really hope these pages give honor to the great racers who have enjoyed the game and highlighted the problems that any race owner must face. What I really hope is that there are people out there who try my race, read these pages to understand all the nuances of it, and go off and create something better! I am very sincere about that hope (perhaps that is a little easier to say sincerely since I now have the award, but it has always been my hope), that by publishing as many details as I can about how I did it, that someone can strike on the next great idea.

I think there are some good candidates out there, too! And I hope they're discovered both by the public and by the staff that pick this award. Similarly, I hope they share their experiences with the rest of us so that someday, someone can create something even better!


Much congratulations to you fine sir for being a shining example of players-turned-Imaginears in VMK! What I love about your game is this thread: I really enjoy your technical write-ups and how meticulously you keep track of the races!


I am glad you used the term Imagineers in this case, because I truly think that is what all of the best room designers are doing. We are trying to tell a story, in an immersive environment, using the art and technology in the world we are in, and trying to push it to new limits.

Walt Disney used to contin