So Many Achievables!!!

Exchange Rate Notes #3: Dead Space

2011-07-29T04:54:00.000-07:00

DATA COLLECTED

Bronze Trophies worth 5G (4)

Crackshot, Marksman, Ragdoll Check, Z-Baller

Bronze Trophies worth 10G (17)

A Cut Above, Air Alert, Armstrong, Autofire, Big Spender, Brawler, Don't get cocky, kid; Eviscerator, Full Contact, Kickin it, Live With The Hot Ones, Merchant, Pack Rat, Playing Catch,
Pusher, Slugger, Tool Time

Bronze Trophies worth 15G (5)

Brute Force, Exterminator, Freeze, Get off my ship!, There's Always Peng

Bronze Trophies worth 20G (14)

All Systems Go, Betrayed, Cannon Fodder, Dead on Arrival, Exodus, Greenhouse Effect, Keeper of the Faith, Lab Rat, S.O.S., Story Teller, Strange Transmissions, Surgeon, True Believer, Wreckage

Bronze Trophies worth 30G (1)

Mindless Prey

Total Bronze: 41

Silver Trophies worth 30G (1)

Full Arsenal

Silver Trophies worth 40G (2)

Butcher, Legend Teller

Silver Trophies worth 50G (1)

Survivor

Total Silver: 4

Gold Trophies by Worth

One Gun (40G)
Maxed Out (75G)
Epic Tier 3 Engineer (150G)

ANALYSIS

Bronze/Silver split lies at 30G, Silver/Gold split could lie at 50G, if not for the single 40G outlier. This could just be a result of , "Oh shit, we've allocated all the rest of the gamerscore, not enough left to make One Gun 50G", but that's purely speculation.

CONCLUSION

Ignoring the one outlier, we can reject the null hypothesis and fail to reject the main hypothesis. Still more testing required. Three games so far, and I'd say I need a minimum of 5.

More testing required.

Exchange Rate Notes #2: Marvel vs. Capcom 3

2011-07-10T18:36:00.000-07:00

DATA COLLECTED

Bronze Trophies worth 10G (17)

A Hero Stands Alone, Average Joe, Back at 'Cha!, Be Gone!, Brave New World, Excelsior!, I Buy the Issues, Need a Healing Factor, Passport to Beatdown Country, Playtime Is Over, Raccoon City Incident, Turn the Tables, Ultimate Nullifier, Welcome to Avengers Academy!, Who Will Answer the Call?, World Warrior, Wreak "Havok"

Bronze Trophies worth 15G (6)

Avengers Assemble!, Badds to the Bone, Darkstalkers, Female Flyers, School for the Gifted, Weapon X

Bronze Trophies worth 20G (10)

Brusin' Bruce, Copy This!, Duty and Deus Ex Machina, Fate of the Satsui no Hadou, Fate of Two Worlds, Mega Buster, Passed the Field Test, Saving My Quarters, Steel Battalion, Whose Side Are You On?

Total Bronze: 33

Silver Trophies worth 30G (7)

Big Bang Theory, Champion Edition Hero, Charles in Charge, Combat Specialist, Herculean Task, Leading the Charge, One Step Ahead

Silver Trophies worth 40G (3)

A New Avenger, Full Roster, Galactic Smasher

Silver Trophies worth 50G (1)

Super Turbo Brawler

Total Silver: 11

Gold Trophies by worth

Comic Collector (50G)
Waiting for the Trade (50G)

ANALYSIS

For this game, the lines are clear-cut: Bronze/Silver lies somewhere between 20 and 30G, with no overlap. Silver/Gold is 50G. For this game, we can reject the null hypothesis and fail to reject the hypothesis. Still need to test more games.

Exchange Rate Notes #1: Fallout 3

2011-06-30T06:41:00.000-07:00

Been a while since I've posted, yes. In the intervening time, I've acquired a PS3 to sit alongside my 360. As you might already know, they too have achievables, only they call them "Trophies". And unlike XBLA, they merely rate the tasks as bronze/silver/gold (also platinum, but this is exclusively for 100% completions). Seems a bit more limiting in scope, if you ask me.

On the other hand, it has given me a scientific hypothesis to formulate and test.

SCOPE: Cross-platform games, that 1) are available for both XBox360 and PlayStation3, 2) have identical achievables (X360 achievements, PS3 trophies).

HYPOTHESIS: For any game within scope, an achievable with a given trophy level on PS3 will fall within a specific Gamerscore range on X360.

NULL HYPOTHESIS: There is no correlation between Gamerscore value and Trophy level.

PROCEDURE: Full list of Achievements will be acquired from TrueAchievements.com, and full list of Trophies will be acquired from PS3Trophies.com; lists will be compared. Minimum and maximum Gamerscore amounts will be determined for each Trophy level. Platinum Trophies will be ignored, as they are given exclusively for 100% completion, and Achievements for same on XBox360 Games are not always included.

Now that this is established, apply the procedure to some games. I'll start with the game I'm currently working through, Fallout 3.

DATA COLLECTED
Bronze Trophies worth 10G (6)
Mercenary, Protector, Psychotic Prankster, Reaver, The G.O.A.T. Whisperer, Vault 101 Citizenship Award

Bronze Trophies worth 20G (35)
Agatha's Song, Ambassador of Peace, Big Trouble in Big Town, Blood Ties,
Devil, Doesn't Play Well With Others, Escape!, Finding the Garden of Eden, Following in His Footsteps, Galaxy News Radio, Harbinger of War, Head of State, Messiah, Oasis, Picking up the Trail, Pinnacle of Survival, Reilly's Rangers, Rescue from Paradise, Scientific Pursuits, Slayer of Beasts, Stealing Independence, Strictly Business, Tenpenny Tower, The American Dream, The Nuka-Cola Challenge, The Power of the Atom, The Replicated Man, The Superhuman Gambit, The Wasteland Survival Guide, The Waters of Life, Those!, Tranquility Lane, Trouble on the Homefront, True Mortal, You Gotta Shoot 'Em In The Head

Total Bronze: 41

Silver Trophies worth 10G (1)
Yes, I Play With Dolls

Silver Trophies worth 20G (15)
Aiding the Outcasts, Alien Archivist, Among the Stars, Data Miner, Into the Pitt, Keys are for Cowards, Mill Worker, Not of this World, One-Man Scouting Party, Paving the Way, Silver-Tongued Devil, The Guns of Anchorage, The Local Flavor, Unsafe Working Conditions, Walking With Spirits

Silver Trophies worth 30G (6)
Death from Above, Last Best Hope for Humanity, Paradigm of Humanity, Scourge of Humanity, Shock Value, Weaponsmith

Silver Trophies worth 40G (2)
Bog Walker, Take it Back!

Total Silver: 24

Gold Trophies by worth
A Meeting of the Minds (20G)
The Bigger They Are... (20G)
Vault-Tec C.E.O. (30G)
Who Dares Wins (30G)
Free Labor (40G)
Operation: Anchorage (40G)
This Galaxy Ain't Big Enough... (40G)

Total Gold: 7

ANALYSIS
If you just look at bronze/silver, there's a clear dividing line at 20G. Only one achievable crosses this line (Yes I Play With Dolls, 10G/silver). If that were all, it could be dismissed as an outlier.

Adding in the gold trophies makes this result a bit more murky. I expected all of the gold trophies to be worth 40G or more, but more than half of them were less than this.

It might make more sense if Bog Walker(40/S) and A Meeting of the Minds (20/G) had their Gamerscore values switched. It would fit with the common pattern, established with other DLC packs, of the last quest being worth 40 and the extra non-quest task being worth 20.

CONCLUSION: Insufficient Data
Based on the data I've collected from this game alone, the hypothesis has been disproved, and the null hypothesis has not. Can't come to a final conclusion just yet, as I've only collected data for one game. I figure I'd need to do this for several more games.

More posts in this series coming.

Achievables #3: The Oregon Trail

2010-04-14T21:15:00.000-07:00

Get Out and Push
5 - Attempt to leave Independence, Missouri with no oxen.

Traveling in the Nude
5 - Leave Independence, Missouri with no sets of clothing.

Ride Along, Fagballs
10 - Give one of your party members a name that would be blocked by the XBox Live censors.

Died of Dysentery
10 - Have a party member die from every possible disease.

Tragedy Strikes
10 - Have a party member die from every possible non-disease disaster.

And We'll All Float On All Right
5 - Caulk your wagon and float it across a river.

Quick Shot
35 - Kill 100 rabbits, squirrels, or beavers while hunting.

What A Waste
10 - Leave behind 10,000 pounds of food while hunting.

No Rush
25 - Rest for over 100 days in a single journey.

Oh, Right, Learning History
10 - Read the blurbs about each location.

So Close
10 - Your last party member has drowned in the Columbia River.

Welcome to Willamette
10 - Complete a journey on the Oregon Trail.

Jack of all Trades
25 - Complete a journey as each job class.

Mass Migration
30 - Complete journeys with 500 total surviving party members.

Total: 200

BLEEP BLOOP.

Achievables #2: Ms. Pac-Man

2010-04-06T03:05:00.000-07:00

Yes, there already exist achievements for the XBLA release of Ms. Pac-Man. In my opinion, they're not particularly creative.

Out of 200, 90 is for eating one of each fruit. A further 25 is for eating all 4 ghosts off a single power pellet, and 30 more for doing it 4 times in a stage. 65 rests on the ability to reach level 22. These achievements are only slightly different from those they gave to original Pac-Man. Furthermore, they violate a key rule which I've just made up:

At least one achievement name must attempt to be funny or clever.

So if I could do this whole thing over, here's what I've got:

Wakka
1 - Eat one dot.

Wakka Wakka
10 - Eat 1000 dots.

Wakka Wakka Wakka
25 - Eat 25,000 dots.

Wakka Wakka Wakka Wakka
50 - Eat half a million dots.

Power Up!
4 - Eat a power pellet.

Wakka Wakka Fruit
10 - Eat a fruit.

Girl's Gotta Watch Her Figure
40 - Eat one of each type of fruit.

Wait, That's Not A Fruit
20 - Eat a pretzel.

Pills Here!
30 - Consume all 4 power pellets on a level without consuming any ghosts.

I Ain't Afraid Of No Ghost!
10 - Consume all 4 ghosts in a single power pellet.

Total: 200

BLEEP BLOOP.

Achievables #1: Commander Keen

2010-03-30T22:04:00.000-07:00

Seeing as how Steam has already released Episodes 1-5 of Commander Keen as a single pack, I'll treat Keen as a full 1000-gamerscore release. Oh, and because it's awesome, I'm including Episode 6: Aliens Ate My Babysitter as well.

from Episode 1: Marooned on Mars:

Boing
5 - Acquire the Pogo Stick.

You're In Control
25 - Recover the Joystick.

Charged Up
25 - Recover the Battery.

This Sucks
25 - Recover the Vacuum Cleaner.

Clean-Burning Fuel
25 - Recover the Everclear.

Voices in my Head
10 - Listen to all the Yorp Statues.

Dark Side of Mars
10 - Teleport to the dark side of Mars.

Martian Surprise
25 - Discover the Secret City on Mars.

from Episode 2: The Earth Explodes:

Who Turned Out The Lights
5 - Use a lightswitch aboard the Vorticon Mothership.

Respect your Elders
10 - Listen to the two Elder Vorticons in stasis.

London is Safe
15 - Disable the Tantalus Ray aimed at London.

Paris is Safe
15 - Disable the Tantalus Ray aimed at Paris.

Rome is Safe
15 - Disable the Tantalus Ray aimed at Rome.

Cairo is Safe
15 - Disable the Tantalus Ray aimed at Cairo.

New York is Safe
15 - Disable the Tantalus Ray aimed at New York.

D.C. is Safe
15 - Disable the Tantalus Ray aimed at D.C.

Sydney is Safe
15 - Disable the Tantalus Ray aimed at Sydney.

Moscow is Safe
15 - Disable the Tantalus Ray aimed at Moscow.

from Episode 3: Keen Must Die!:

I Am So Lost
10 - Use the teleporters on Vorticon VI 50 times.

It's not a Myth
25 - Ride the Lock Mess Monster to the secret level.

I Am Invincible
15 - Pick up an ankh.

Filicide
10 - A vorticon mother aimed a fireball at you and hit one of her own children.

The Big V
50 - Acquire the highest honor the Vorticon race has to offer.

from Episode 4: Secrets of the Oracle:

One Council Member
10 - Rescue one council member.

Quorum
25 - Rescue four council members.

This Meeting Will Come to Order
40 - Rescue all eight council members.

I CAN swim!
15 - Find the Wetsuit.

Swim Swim Hungry
5 - Narrowly avoid being eaten by the second-dumbest creature in the universe.

They'll Be Afoot
25 - Discover the Pyramid of the Forbidden.

Number Nine?!?
40 - Rescue the council's janitor.

from Episode 5: The Armageddon Machine:

Lower Level Breached
20 - Reach the Security level of the Omegamatic.

Upper Level Breached
30 - Disable all four devices guarding the upper level of the Omegamatic.

QEDestroyed
50 - Destroy the Quantum Explosion Dynamo.

The Planet Below
25 - Discover the secret base on Korath III.

Long Way Down
25 - Collect all the vials of Vitalin on Korath III in one jump.

from Episode 6: Aliens Ate My Babysitter!:

Beneath the Bean-With-Bacon
5 - Discover the secret tunnel beneath Keen's ship.

Cliffhanger
10 - Cross the cliff on Fribbulus Xax.

Om Nom Nom Nom
15 - Collect the second biggest sandwich Keen's ever seen.

Rocket Man
30 - Take the rocket to the Bloog Space Fortress.

Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Alive
45 - Rescue Molly.

To The Stars!
25 - Catch a ride to the Blooglab Space Station.

from no game in particular:

Now I Know My ABCs
25 - Learn the Galactic Standard Alphabet.

The Cake is Not a Lie
20 - Collect 100,000 points from cakes and pastries.

Brain Freeze
20 - Collect 100,000 points from frozen treats.

Sugar Rush
20 - Collect 200,000 points from sugary snacks.

Fast Food
20 - Collect 100,000 points from pizza and burgers.

Burp!
20 - Collect 150,000 points from sodas.

Achievement Unlocked
10 - Open 50 doors with keycards or gems.

The Enemy is Toast!
10 - Fire off 1000 shots.

The Many Secret Lives of Billy Blaze
10 - Collect 2000 total lifewater drops, Vitalin vials, and/or vivas.

Points After Death
10 - Collect an item after you die.

Total: 1000

BLEEP BLOOP.

Mission Statement

2010-03-30T21:08:00.000-07:00

I first encountered them in Portal, and they only became more common. The XBox 360 has them. The PlayStation3 has them. Steam games have them. World of Warcraft has them.

Achievements.

They're a relatively new phenomenon, yet at the same time, old enough to be parodied: simply play jmtb02's flash game Achievement Unlocked and you'll see why.

It wasn't until recently though, that I saw a hint of what lay in our future. While browsing through the games available on XBox Live Arcade, I discovered that not only had a number of classic games -- Wolfenstein, DOOM, the first Sonic the Hedgehog games, hell, even Frogger -- been rereleased, they now had achievements too.

And I realized that this was the future that lay ahead. All the great games of the past are now destined to be resurrected only to be saddled with a series of side tasks to accomplish in addition to finishing the main quest. Like colorizing black and white movies, it's probably not a good idea to mess with these historical relics. But it doesn't appear that anyone's going to try to put a stop to it.

I could only imagine what some of these games' new achievements might look like.

And that is why I started this blog: to share with you some of the possibilities I've seen, and some of my thoughts on the concept of achievements as a whole.