Alright folks, it's the moment you've been waiting for! Here is the brand new Whack-a-Ken!

http://www.dannyiachini.com/WhackAKen.htm!

For the time being, it's a rather rough draft. You just click on Ken, over, and over, and over, until you get tired of it (my high score is somewhere around 200). I'm looking for suggestions for improvement - a new scoring system, ways to lose the game, neat sound effects when you whack or miss, a cool background for the game, or anything you can think of!!!

As I mention on the page, the whacking of Ken is not because of hate, it is simply to play a game devoted to him.

I hope you all enjoy it, and give lots of feedback! (Using this thread or a Private Message are both good ways)

There should be a mallet for the whacking; or better yet, a cartoon fist, because Ken is "smarmy (and) punchable."

Pretty neat!

How about having Alex heads pop-up randomly. If you hit one you hear "oooooh, sorry!". Bash 5(3?) Alexs and the game is OVAH!

I found a Whack-A-Moleman (, Hans) game on Newgroundws I think. Maybe there's some inspiration there.


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eyekeyknee wrote:

I hope you all enjoy it, and give lots of feedback! (Using this thread or a Private Message are both good ways)

It reminds me quite a bit of the Slap-A-Spice-Girl game that I spent much of 1997 playing, except in this one no one tells me what they want, what they really, really want.

Personally, I think each podium should have "Ken" written in a different way.

Gator: Good call! I don't know if "ESPN: The Magazine" was correct though... so maybe just a mallet. That was actually one of the first things I was thinking about changing (right behind making a way that the game doesn't go on forever).

JayLewis: That's a really neat idea! That'd be a great (easy to program) way to make the game end. For the sound effects - does anyone have a clip of Alex saying "Ooooh, sorry!"? As for the Whack-A-Moleman, that game is great! I love the concept of the different levels, but it gets tough! (Level 5 with the TV?!! )

Maybe sound effects for each whack on Ken? Perhaps a set of 10(0,000) different correct answers that he gave during his span? (Did anybody count how many correct answers he gave?) Just throwing ideas out there to see what people think.

MFalk: LOL, that was definitely a terrific game (too bad it was discontinuedl ) At least they have their Punch-a-Celebrity game!

As for the "Ken" being written in different ways, that was another thing that I was planning on doing. Hey Ken? What were your 9 favorite signatures?

This is awesome. I'll put up a link in the blog next chance I get.

Different signatures on each podium is a good idea...I don't have all the signatures archived anywhere (though I should probably do that at some point...) but there's some web page out there that has 9 or 12 or so pasted into a single graphic. I think it's called "The Graphic Stylings of Ken Jennings" or something. You could easily pull them from that.

Awesome! The one thing I'd like to see, if it's not too cumbersome, is some kind of ending to the game. I've never worked with Flash, so I have no idea how easy these things are. Maybe you could have a finite number of Kens to hit (75 would be a natural choice, but 250 or 300 might make a better game). The mallet and signatures are good ideas too.

Ken: Is there any way you could wait a couple days before blogging a link? I'd like for it to be at least a little more presentable with some of the ideas brought up here to be incorporated. If you could wait until Wednesday or Thursday, that'd give me enough time to get it working and looking a little better.

rkd: This is the first thing that I'm planning on changing - making it end. I mean, it's entertaining to play, but playing for eternity isn't exactly the best idea... Instead of having a set number of Kens, I'm thinking about making a time-limit. Maybe 1 minute to whack as many kens as possible.

I'm also thinking about adjusting the speed of the game and the number of Kens allowed (the way I have it programmed now (although I'm not 100% sure that it's working) is that it pops up either 0, 1, 2, or 3 Kens every half a second). Maybe start off with only 1 or 2 Kens at the beginning and the increment being a full second. Every 15 seconds you'll add 1 to the possible number of Kens and you'll increase the speed by 100 milliseconds... Anyone like this idea?

I tried the link yesterday and again today, and can't get the game to load.


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That's a really neat idea! That'd be a great (easy to program) way to make the game end. For the sound effects - does anyone have a clip of Alex saying "Ooooh, sorry!"?

Actually... yeah. I snagged it off of an 11-year-old Jeopardy! computer game... Alex says "Oooh, I'm sorry. That's not right." But I imagine you could shorten it if you wanted to. It comes with a poor-quality Quicktime video, which you can probably get rid of. And since I'm slightly computer-challenged, I don't know how well I would be able to send it, but I'm willing to try. Anything to help the Whack-A-Ken game that I can't seem to run... Let me know if you're interested.

Alright, so I put in a little work last night (mostly "artistic" stuff, which was stupid of me... I should have been working on the gameplay). The mallet is now in there (with sweet animation when you hit a Ken!), there are 9 different Ken signatures (I turned it in to way too much work for such a small number of pixels), and "some kind of ending to the game"! The current ending is that you cannot miss 10 Kens (by either letting him go up and down without hitting him or by clicking on a podium where one isn't coming up).

I like the Alex Trebek idea, but I'm not sure how I should do that.. should I make it so that if you hit Alex instead of Ken it's a miss and that's the only way you can get a miss? What do you all think?

Also, should I make different levels? Level 1 can be a slow level with one or two Kens at the same time, level 2 can be a little quicker with more Kens, etc, etc... Or should there just not be levels? But if there are levels, do you go to the next one after a set time?, number of whacks?, or what?


Robert K S: Are you using Internet Explorer or Firefox (or something else?)? If you're not using Mozilla Firefox, I strongly suggest switching over (IMHO, it's a much better browser and you won't get that error...). However, if you don't want to make the switch (or you are already using Firefox..?), try it again. I changed a couple settings so it'll hopefully work for ya (if you don't have the Flash Plugin, you'll probably have to go HERE to get it (free)). Let me know if it's working for you now...

ModernMinerva: LOL.. I hadn't even thought of that. I have an older Jeopardy! game that definitely has that sound bite.. I can just get it from that. Thank you for reminding me about that! I appreciate your willingness to help! As for the game not working, I suggest reading my comment to Robert. I'm thinking (hoping) you two had the same problem (I can't really come up with anything else...).

Anyone who knows anything about copyrights: I really know nothing about copyrights, how they work, and what they allow (and don't allow). Before I go ahead and do it, would using a sound bite from a Jeopardy! game break copyrights? Does it matter that I'm not using it for profit or anything like that? How about if I say "(C) Jeopardy! and Hasbro and whatnot"? And if it's still copyright-infringement, how do I go about asking them for permission? Or what if I found someone who sounds like Alex Trebek to make the sound bite? Could anyone clear some of this up for me?

About the copyright for a sound file, you are definitely allowed to use an "imitation" sound file (somebody that "sounds" like Alex Trebek).

Since the sound clip would not be used for profit, and since the sound clip would not constitute a "substantial portion" of the original recording, AND since the sound clip would not effect the "potential market" for the original work, I am pretty sure that you can use the "real" sound file without legal issues. I don't know whether or not you would need to cite the copyright owner in this case.

Whoa, I just played the game and I think it should go slower!! It's a little too hard when 3 Kens come up at once. Maybe if they stayed up a little longer. At least at the beginning, maybe have just one at a time.

I think the "level" idea is good. Maybe after you hit 20 Kens, it takes you to the next level.

eyekeyknee, the "couple of settings" you changed appear to have done the trick! I can now whack Ken (not to mention, offer some real input on this game)!

I know about this ( |___| ) much about Flash animation, so please excuse unreasonable suggestions.

I like missing 10 Kens (either way) because any fewer and first-time players are rapidly discouraged. In my first game, I missed more Kens than I hit. Beyond that, it's hard to tell-I'm not sure I like the cumulative scoring feature. It's hard to measure improvement.

An online game I played a number of years ago had a game mode (where you could lose) and a "zen" mode (where you play until you feel like quitting). Is anyone interested? (You probably shouldn't call it "zen mode" though, because I don't know anything about copyrights either.)

I like the Alex Trebek idea too... Any chance someone could find a giant foam version of his head to photograph and send in?
I'd like to keep the method of earning "misses" the same. Perhaps instead of hitting Trebek counting as a "miss," it could deduct 5 or 10 points?

I like levels, perhaps changing after a set number of points has been reached. [see note below] And maybe give the person back one or two of their "misses" to use again. And between levels, have something entertaining, but Ken-related, like a quote ("What be Ebonics?", "If it's on the internet, then it's gotta be true!")

Along with levels... maybe more points for whacking Kens on higher levels? (level 1, 1point; level 2, 2 points... you get the idea) And multiply Trebek deductions by the level number, too.

Wow, ok, I'll stop now. I don't know how hard any of this actually is, so forgive me if I'm suggesting the impossible. Good luck!

Edited: Lilly posted her level change idea while I was typing this post. I think it's a good idea if two people can come up with it independently and at the same time. I think 20 whacks seems about right.

Whew. I was hoping to get more time this week to work on The Game, but my week just disappeared...

Lilly: Thank you for your copyright advice! That's some really great information for me, and hopefully I'll be getting Alex in there with his sound bite soon! As for the speed of the game - I'm going to be changing that in my next update (before Tuesday (hopefully)). It'll start off slower and increase with the levels (and there'll be fewer Kens at the beginning as well).

ModernMinerva: You gave me a boatload of suggestions, and I loved them all! The first one (the "zen mode") was a great idea! I added that in this evening and think that it'll be really good for getting more feedback. Basically, you can control the total number of Kens coming up at a time and the interval between each set of Kens. So you can have 1 Ken coming up every 5 seconds, (up to) 9 kens coming up every .1 seconds, or you can have 0 Kens coming up if you need a restroom break! (There are a couple small problems that I can't figure out right now, like increasing the interval to 10,000 breaking it, and decreasing the interval (even at 10,000) making a bunch pop up... I'll be debugging that sometime this week, but for now, it'll do.)

A giant foam version of Alex Trebek's head was something I couldn't find. I was hoping a simple Google Image search for "Alex Trebek Float" or something similar would yield some good results very quickly, but they showed nothing... I MSPainted a version, but I'm no artist, so I'll see if I can get a friend of mine to do it (unless someone here is artistic and would like to lend a hand....).

I'm thinking deducting points for hitting Alex would be a good idea.. still waiting to implement that though. Lilly and your idea of 20 Kens = new level is the best one that I've heard, so that's what I'll be putting in motion (soon... soon...). Adding a couple misses on each level up sounds fair enough. Maybe I'll turn the miss-counter into a count-down.

The Ken quotes are a really neat idea! So, what are everyone's favorite Ken Jennings' quotes?!? I can make a separate page full of all of them, and have them in between the levels!

The level 1 = 1 point, 2 = 2 points, is a terrific idea too! It'll definitely be tougher to whack the Kens when there are 6 coming up every tenth of a second. As for the Trebek deductions, I'm thinking that they might stay constant - when there are more Kens popping up on later levels, I don't think a simple mistake of missing an Alex should deduct too much (maybe, actually, deduct less than on the earlier levels?).

So there you have it. The Game now has a practice mode and will hopefully be updated again before Tuesday!

(Bringing this thread back to the front page for the newer folks to see.) (I hope the game still works -- I didn't check.)

it worked for me very cool. I would make it so after 10 successfull hits they speed up in poping up, then round 2 2 kens then at 30 hits they speed up a tad. Good work though I like what you have done.

*Claps Widly*!

Maybe it's my mouse, maybe it's my aged reflexes, but a few times I whacked on him and he didn't go away. Perhaps there is a glitch. It was fun though. It reminded me of a throw a banana at the Rug Rats game someone emailed me several years ago.

Ken Jennings wrote:

I don't have all the signatures archived anywhere (though I should probably do that at some point...) but there's some web page out there that has 9 or 12 or so pasted into a single graphic. I think it's called "The Graphic Stylings of Ken Jennings" or something. You could easily pull them from that.

Do you think that if someone were to test you that you'd be able to remember correctly what ones you did or did not do? 74 sigs is a lot--it'd be kind of neat to see if you had any cerebral flatulence in that department.

No way I could remember. Most of them were dreamed up on the spot, with impatient contestant coordinators hovering around making sure everyone knew how to use the light-pens.

haha!

Fair enough. I've noticed some people seem to have trouble writing their names with them--I'm surprised they went to air with some of the names looking so shoddy.

What a cool game! Thanks for bringing this thread back up so those of us new to the message board could try it out.