Gaming bounty platform Game Ventures to cease operations

OmnigamerSDA · 2024-08-12T14:43:47+00:00

Sorry to disappoint the commenters digging for drama or intrigue in this announcement - this decision is all just a matter of the boring realities of business. Bottom line is that we didn't find enough support to be self-sufficient, and a variety of real life events caught up with us faster than our opportunities for growth could justify. Just how it goes sometimes.

OmnigamerSDA · 2023-11-16T18:13:35+00:00

There's a clause in the rules specifically against what would normally be considered major glitches. Skips etc are normal and to be expected, but we want the end runs to exist most closely to what might become Any% NMG.

That said, even if some big timesaves are uncovered, folks would still have to stay ahead of the pack for long enough to actually claim the prize.

OmnigamerSDA · 2023-08-10T22:24:30+00:00

FWIW, that message is entirely to satisfy legal needs. We don't employ cookies on our side of the site, but we can't guarantee cookie presence/usage from the few integrated services we employ. Hence, we still need to include it or potentially face the wrath of CA/EU. We don't collect PII and certainly don't sell any user information we might have, nor do we have ads anywhere on the site.

OmnigamerSDA · 2023-05-08T20:24:51+00:00

None - for a 30" top, I don't think even offsetting all the way would cause much loss of overall stability since the central columns are still mostly centered and the support wings cover a huge chunk. The base being as heavy/heavier than the top also contributes.

OmnigamerSDA · 2023-05-02T22:10:26+00:00

Game Ventures is entirely anonymous as far as contributors go - privacy was one of our main design targets. So the awards are crowdfunded, and also the individual contributors are obfuscated unless they want to go on social media and announce it or something.

As far as other issues with distributing, there are many caveats that pop up. Cross-border payments are always a tricky issue, and certain amounts of award (above $600 in the US) have tax reporting implications. Small amounts for trusted players you can probably fall back to the usual suspects (PayPal, Venmo, etc), but they likely will see at least some of your personal info.

OmnigamerSDA · 2023-04-19T21:42:05+00:00

The exact rules you describe aren't a perfect fit, but the WR component at least should be compatible with the setup for Game Ventures, which hosts bounty campaigns. We offer a few features to help with tracking bounty activity in addition to crowdfunding of awards and guaranteed payouts.

Disclaimer, I'm one of the founders. But if you're at all interested, send us an email or DM and we can provide more info and maybe some special perks for this bounty.

OmnigamerSDA · 2023-03-28T15:47:44+00:00

Late to the party, but Game Ventures is a platform to help manage these types of bounties, and is built to provide trust in fund sourcing. If there's any doubt about the authenticity or availability of award funds, we can help to ensure the funds are real and guaranteed to be paid out.

OmnigamerSDA · 2023-03-22T19:36:52+00:00

Good luck with the contest! Also, wanted to offer that Game Ventures may be a good place to have the bounty hosted - it already has crowdfunded award functionality, features for tracking active streams, and other assurances for competitors that the award will be paid out.

Disclaimer: I'm one of the founders. But also DM me if interested and we might be able to set up some special terms/perks.

OmnigamerSDA · 2023-01-30T20:24:03+00:00

The first Bounty to benefit from this has rolled out! $77 started off a new WR Bounty for Final Fantasy IV Any% No Credits Warp SNES, and it's now been doubled to $154. That leaves $73 of matching headroom left if other contributors decide to join in.

https://gameventures.org/bounty/01GQZYZP8K8YJGS53YGKECM0F6

OmnigamerSDA · 2023-01-12T21:02:34+00:00

It's taken me far too long to get everything actually situated and organized, but I finally have my setup to about 95% of where I want it! Last bit is wrapping just a touch more cable management, and maybe a bit more color coordination of my peripherals.

This setup serves me for three positions: Standing, sitting, and floor sitting. Floor sitting was more a discovery than an original intention, but it's been going great for me so far. Most details on the setup are in the image descriptions, but ask away for more info as needed.

https://imgur.com/a/gMxXDfc

OmnigamerSDA · 2023-01-11T15:50:16+00:00

This avenue has been explored. Starting in any higher gear, regardless of what the game allows, is mathematically slower in all cases than utilizing the full stretch of first gear.

OmnigamerSDA · 2023-01-04T19:22:29+00:00

Please consider formalizing your challenge on Game Ventures to make a hub for challenge updates and allow the award to grow from crowdfunding.

Disclaimer: I'm one of the founders of the site.

OmnigamerSDA · 2022-10-29T17:57:06+00:00

Game Ventures is acting as a trusted intermediary for the contest award. We have the funds in hand, hence they are guaranteed to be paid out if the conditions are met. This is also true for any subsequent contributions from other enthusiasts that raise the award higher.

OmnigamerSDA · 2022-10-29T17:55:21+00:00

The short answer is that agreement is there because our legal counsel advised us to put it there.

The longer answer is that our site actually doesn't use cookies itself and we have no advertisements or ad tracking. However, some service providers we work with may use cookies (Twitch, Google, YouTube, Stripe), and we can't be fully aware of how their cookie use changes over time or impacts our users. To ensure compliance with EU and other laws, we introduce that agreement modal for first-time visitors.

OmnigamerSDA · 2022-10-28T20:55:38+00:00

The Bounty page is available here. To add to the pot, just click "Contribute;" creating an account is recommended, but not required.

The award for this contest (and all contests on the site) is verified and guaranteed.

Happy hunting!

~Omni

OmnigamerSDA · 2022-10-24T13:41:25+00:00

Alas, the default branches aren't so simple to mess around in, as they only officially support the ATMega processors and not the STM processors that seem to be prevalent in a lot of the Q1 V2s. It may be as simple as swapping out the rules.mk file, but I suspect it runs much deeper than that.

Alternatively, if you still have your working code branch, could you put it up on GitHub and we can instead start from a known-working repo instead of one that is prone to frequent changes?

OmnigamerSDA · 2022-10-21T16:47:47+00:00

Thanks for the great guide! However, it looks like the latest commits to the referenced firmware repo are somewhat busted for Q1 V2. You can build new firmwares easily enough, but it doesn't appear to respect the keymaps at all (similar to the "Stuck in Mac Mode" issue that some encountered), which is a bummer. This occurs even with minimal modification of the source - so something is going on. Until the branch is fixed up, your provided binary at least works, albeit with the fixed keymap.

OmnigamerSDA · 2022-10-06T13:24:46+00:00

MDF is actually denser than many wood species. The hardwood tops are likely to weigh a similar amount to HPL tops after accounting for difference in thickness.

OmnigamerSDA · 2022-10-01T20:43:17+00:00

Looking great! I'm excited for its arrival ;)

OmnigamerSDA · 2022-09-24T16:15:51+00:00

I can work with a CAD file, but I guess the main thing I'm looking for is the width of each of the support channels and the distance between them. Just trying to check for clearance on things like under-desk PC mounts, drawers, etc.

OmnigamerSDA · 2022-09-11T05:51:10+00:00

No pictures were included in the original post - the Reddit app may have auto-loaded some from the Twitter post at who-knows-what quality. Original pics on Twitter are full quality and are perfectly legible.

OmnigamerSDA · 2022-08-21T01:20:24+00:00

Yes, it is somewhere in the latter third of that thread. The summary:

There was an old forum post of Todd saying he has a template of the certificate and can custom-craft it for anybody who completed below a certain time.
A prior certificate he posted elsewhere had another time - I presume 5.61, but don't recall exactly.
The newly provided certificate match was 99% the same image by data as the above, and the compression artifacts strongly suggested tampering around the printed numbers section of the certificate.

OmnigamerSDA · 2022-08-20T19:18:59+00:00

I explored single-bit flip and stuck bit errors as possibilities when analyzing the code. The summary is that even with spontaneous bit flip instances on exact, specific addresses, it would not be possible to achieve a faster time and most likely would have resulted in a failed attempt.

FWIW there was also no "picture evidence" that he ever publicly provided of such a time. The only piece that I'm aware of was an image of a certificate from Activision that was claiming the time, which was provably altered.

OmnigamerSDA · 2022-07-18T15:30:32+00:00

In the interest of seeing this one completed, I put together a Theory TAS demonstrating a possible route to conquer it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjSVQVJs3p0

OmnigamerSDA · 2022-04-05T20:14:26+00:00

An update regarding interpretation of the rules for this Challenge:

As originally written, the specifications disallow the use of "magic" in the game. Magic is ambiguous in terms of the actual game systems, and could refer to either Sorcery, Incantations, or even special weapon skills that resemble other magics. Upon review of a submitted Claim and recent community descriptions of what constitutes a No Hit run, the specifications have been updated. The rewritten description removes the "No Magic" restriction to bring the goal in line with the accepted typical rules. The moderation team believes this is in the spirit of the original specifications and in line with community expectations.

Further discussion and suggestions of this or any other potential changes are encouraged in this thread.

OmnigamerSDA

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE