Universal Bike Baron - (by Mountain Sheep & Qwiboo)

Because their Apple Gamecenter high score list, dubiously named "Best Players," is a ranking based solely on a composite score with no established connection to in-game performance parameters such as track times, etc. and because Apple Gamecenter was recently reorganized to prioritize the collection of achievements over raw scores, which means that if player A meets the condition of obtaining ALL stars, while player B collects one star fewer, then player B ends up having earned no skill-based achievement (none at all), regardless of how well every other track in the game was done, both because Composite Score (the score on "Best Players") itself is much more impacted by each star increment compared to that of tallied track- time improvements, and as a result of the way the developers Qwiboo et. al. chose to define their only skill-based achievement awarded within Apple's gaming system in such a way that heavily and artificially influences the competition to an extreme degree that one wouldn't expect of a game featured by Apple.

I wouldn't be writing all of this if Apple Gamecenter would allow the Bike Baron app to be removed from my games list, but for some reason that one app is stuck and remains listed even after removed.

 

the jb4 level is unlocked by three starring the two extreme levels and is independent of the hard levels, levels i could not completely 3 star until the update. i also disagree with you saying jb4 is completely about luck and the 2 min is impossible, because i spent many hours mastering that level and getting consistent enough to do it in 2min, which i finally did do (and btw.. your coin gathering method for that level is all off). and your other claims about the leaderboard.. since getting in the top 25 ive looked at it a lot and as ive improved in different areas, be it time of level completed or gained stars, my score has went up a lot for big gains like beating a level or getting a star or a little for improving my score on a level by a second. and every time it's been consistent. and i've also seen you claim that it's all developer cronies who litter the top. i can assure you i am not a "cronie" of a london based company as i'm just an average guy living in the united states who has fallen in love with this very cool game. i'm sorry you can't beat the last level maybe if you played it for awhile and got the moves down consistently you would be able to. your failings is not the game's fault.

 

I'm glad you pointed that out, as I thought that was the case -- that you only had to 3 star the two Extreme levels to unlock JB4. So that there completely disproves his theory about people cheating to unlock JB4. And goes to show how baseless his claims of cheating are. Unfortunately, it appears to be a case of everyone being GUILTY until proven innocent.

 

I highly doubt anyone else shares your opinion. This is ridiculous logic. Sure, the level is extremely difficult (I'm currently #21 on the leaderboards and I have 3-starred all other levels and haven't completed jb4 yet), and that's completely up to the dev to make such a difficult level. Are the devs being fraudulent, cheaters, or nefarious? Good gracious, dude, take a chill pill. It's a *game*, and an excellent game. Sure, JB4 is difficult but I bet if I spent another 30 hours playing it I'd be able to beat it will 3 stars. Will I do that? Don't really plan on it tbh, but I applaud the one who has done this level in under 2 mins. THAT video I'd like to see. Whether or not the iPad has an advantage is kinda hard to say - which is better, a bigger screen with very similar, but not identical characteristics, or a smaller screen where you can hold the entire device in your hands? I really doubt there's that much of an advantage, and I really don't see why you ramble on about thinking this game is so devious, or whatever you're going on about.

I also agree that the scoring is fair and consistent - I had the same # of points as my buddy who was at the same level as I. I then proceeded to surpass him greatly. but yeah, beating a level seemed to increase the score by a significant amount, while getting a star only bumped me up a bit.

However, I definitely agree that JC3 was completely impossible to 3-star with the old track layout, mainly because the bombs were like 10x more touchy than they are since the update.

tl;dr: stop trolling

 

@GrubJelly

I posted the video to show the technique for passing the level. I didn't really think anyone would want to sit through 7 mins of mainly crashing, so just edited in the parts when I passed the sections.

No cheating, just a little help to show people that are struggling with the level how the sections are passed.

As mentioned before, it's not my best time, and I haven't yet gotten the third star, and if you have such strong opinions of the game, we're not forcing you to play it.

 

gotta give credit where credit is due and say i'm pretty sure 4 people have beaten all stars myself included. i may be the only one blabbering about it on here but looking at scores it's getting done at a higher regularity now. i was the first, and in past few days 3 more have gotten it too and im pretty sure the guy that posted the vid is going to pretty quick as well. that's kinda why i came on here to talk about it.. just to say it's not impossible! 5-10 hours or so and you'll get it. and that vid is an excellent source to use.. all those moves he did are more or less what i and im sure the other three did to get the 2min barrier and using that will save you a lot of time in getting that third star. good luck!

 

Bohemia



new level called BOHEMIA

ATP8



Medium race track - enjoy

 

Note: The following post is a repasting of the original edited post which somehow reverted to a previous one:


Nov 20. Correction#2: It turns out that the following message was in fact a post, originally found below in this thread, that was deleted by a mod. I don't see any need for them to censor at this point.

This is my hands-on video of Dragon's Teeth finished in 01:29.727 (3 stars -- my personal best is 1:20, but this is my best recorded) on iPod Touch, which makes it the second 3-star Extreme playthrough I've posted to date.

3 stars in Extreme #2, "Dragon's Teeth" on iPod Touch:
http://youtu.be/1t8LWJS54NY


Edit:
(New Video)
Extreme #1 "King's Castle" finished without crashing in 00:18.019 on iPod Touch:

http://youtu.be/s0PwbXMBdFU


It's worth noting that improving my time by almost 10 seconds in Extreme #1 and finishing with zero restarts (no crashing) just made zero impact on my composite score listed on Gamecenter:

-Before improvement from [27 seconds, 2 crashes] to [18 seconds, zero crashes] 183,225, 338
-After improvemen---------------------------------------------------------------->183,225, 338

I didn't expect many point for such an improvement in this track, but it seems odd that not even the ones place in the composite score improved afterwards.

Based on this it's fair to conclude that either the composite score system is flawed or that it doesn't function consistently -- let alone predictably. One would expect an overall performance score to factor in and reward 0-restart runs over those with multiple crashes.
If I ever manage to record a three-star run of Dragon's Teeth, I'll be claiming a W on the basis of how much more difficult it is on the smaller iOS platform in addition to the substance of the video proof, which is usually decisive in cases where no replays are available, and the fact that I've obtained all thstars that are dependent on skill (154 out of 156 should be enough in the absence of level-specific time leaderboards )


last edit:

Full, unedited video of two consecutive runs of Dragon's Teeth on iPod Touch, the first being the same 01:43.554 as the one above, while the second clocked ~1:50.

http://youtu.be/-XPgkbLHUE0

I choose not to believe your claims (along with your ending claim that I can't finish the level, which is incorrect). Who will people tend to believe, anyway, someone who has already provided video proof of 3 stars in two extreme levels which are available to all players, or someone like you or the others who haven't yet provided any convincing proof of playing abilty whatsoever, are playing on the easier iPad, and could have been practicing that last locked level from day one. I maintain that no recorded video document has been posted that has has shown Joker Baron IV to he more dependent on skill than on luck. If that were untrue, then players claiming to be the current best would have no need to edit their videos down to a quarter the length of the supposed run duration. That's not skill on display in such cases.

 

Yep I'm one of them; rite behind you in 2nd lol but thanks for help with that coin! I was wasting my time trying to get it another way

Jb4 is certainly doable and seems almost easy after you know the moves. I've done it a few times under 2 mins unfortunately only a couple seconds under as I will do a perfect run and get stuck on the moose most times

Edit: I just did beat the moose fast and did a 1:39 run not a minute after posting that lol though it seems kaz is safely in 1 st still being 20 k points ahead

 

Good job on getting it! I saw you high up on the board when I was talking about that 4th coin and I knew you'd get it pretty quick after knowing all about the rest. It really is a matter of time at that point. But once I saw you get them both and get real close to my score I decided to lay down some real good times on every other level to solidify my spot. I'm not going to let go of it that easily but with that said I don't see myself raising much more at all so I think I'm truly done at this point unless you or somebody else pass me then maaaybe I'll try to shave some time off my 57sec dragons teeth, 1:39 on jb4, or 36sec on jc3. Every other level I'm pretty much tapped out in so if you got me on those three and lay down some excellent times on the others, the spot is going to be yours. If you actually go for it, good luck man. It really is kinda fun being number one in the world at something even if it's something as silly as an iPhone game... maybe you will know what it's like soon!

 

Haha I'm sure I'll try to give you some competition but there's not much I can improve on I was first for about a day before so it's all good lol

 

When you get to te end and you get the boost for the loop when you gt the second boost pull back and fly over the next part to make the time

 

On jc3 how do you get past those bombs I can't do it that well at all

 

Bomb-update: hard levels

Hello: feedback:

I like the bomb update. But two things:

1. Bomblosium level - Really frustrating checkpoint placement. The checkpoint is after the pretty easy part. So it's worthless. More specifically, the jump right after the checkpoint takes me 20 tries to get through once. Then I'll die from bouncing off the two breaking pumpkins about 50% of the time.* (The bad jump is a short jump, meaning cant achieve full speed, and needs some seriously counter-intuitive leaning that I can't figure out, and plus the physics on that bomb suck me backward off the ramp if I don't waste three seconds waiting first. I've played this jump hundreds of times; it's non-learnable.) It's fine to have a non-learnable hard jump, but the checkpoint should be AFTER THE JUMP, so I can learn the rest of the level. Right now I'm wasting my effort. I've played this level hundreds of time and am a complete novice at fifty percent of the track. And I like the concept in this level! I think it would be great fun to practice and get good at the blocky tunnel at the end. But if I have to redo the boring short jump 40 times to get to the tunnel once -- all I do is die at the tunnel. Right? If only there was a way for me to practice one hard thing when another hard thing is before it! Please consider not leaving checkpoints out between hard things like that. I went into detail because I wanted to make clear the mathematics of why a lack of checkpoint prevents me from playing part of your track that I want to play.

*Note: I am aware that the riding the bomb explosion gives me a path over this jump, or can assist with the jump. This is fun but has a low success ratio and so I still need a checkpoint downstream.)

2. Bombkin Gravity level: I find these skidding-platform levels really tiring. My personal preference is for less of them. (Along with JC3's touchable bombs, no thanks, not playing, the boardgame Operation is a game for maniacs and so is this.) Vladimir was ok but these see-saws feel broken. Just my opinion, but maybe others share it.

 

Hey kaz where are ya we gotta beat tetru2

 

Don't want to be pushy or anything, but any comments on my level? Or maybe no one tried it
Anyway, here it is again:
AQZH
bikebaron://AQZH

 

After 3-starring the level, I have to say I agree. It took me a ton of tries to master that jump. But once I got the hang of it, my success rate was very high. A check point after the jump would help. And riding the bomb explosion... that's too hard to plan deliberately. Plus, it's slow. That said, this is my favourite level. A perfect run gives a fantastic sense of speed and control.

And bombkin gravity... i hate the planks. You can master them, but it's frustrating. Checkpoints are fairly placed, but they only help in getting one a move-along on the level. If one wants to 3 star the level, you anyways have to get a perfect run... mostly without crashes. And the planks, along with timed bombs, behave far too unpredictably. Twice I got a pumpkin plonked on my head millimeters before the finish from an explosion that happened behind me. Eventually, when I did 3 star the level, I got a massive jump due a plank angled slightly upwards, and I soared in the air for half the distance after the 2nd checkpoint.

 

Hey Quantam. I haven't finished the level yet. Spent only about 10 minutes on it. So far good level. Very commendable understanding of the physics. I am stuck at that place where you place a rocket just before the see-saw plank. Get what I mean? I have a thought on how to clear it, but the thing is, am not very good at the jump right before that. Immediately after the checkpoint that is. I make that jump only about 1 in 10 attempts. I am sure I'll pull it off if I spend enough time on it. But the thing with user-based-levels is that since I dont get any stars or leaderboard progress, I usually just want to have a run through of the level, see how it's designed, and have some fun along the way. I don't mind extremely difficult sections as long as there are enough checkpoints thrown in. Would really appreciate a checkpoint just before the rocket+see-saw combination. Yet to see what's there after that.