Puzzle of the Day timing is off

[fblezer]

Hello,

I completed todays Easy Puzzle of the Day and uploaded my score (1:29) using AW version 1.20. But in the best scores list (on my Palm) this entry is listed as 4:29 instead. So the score is 3 minutes off. I noticed this on other levels as well.

And were is tehe score uploaded to? I can't find anything on www.sudokuofthe day.com.

Greetings,

Frans

[Howard]

Hi Frans,

Hope you like the new puzzle of the day feature!

You managed to post *just* as I was writing a new post explaining this :D

The answer is that there are time penalties applied to try to compare fairly, for using auto-pencilmarks, hints, and making mistakes (if flag/forbid is on).

I wrote up the full details here:
http://board.astraware.com/viewthread.php3?FID=240&TID=4528


As for seeing the scores - you can always look at the top list on your handheld for that puzzle, or to follow the link it gives there.

I'm hoping to get a high score table system for the web site too, rather than the one formatted especially for PDA screens. Give me a little time to get that finalised though!

Howard.

[fblezer]

Thanks Howard,

That clarifies it (I was indeed using auto-pencilmarks). Sorry to have rushed you with your posting ;) . I was just fooling around with the new version. Keep up the good work!

Greetings,

Frans

[scauer]

I'd suggest making the penalty for auto-pencilmarks variable depending on the puzzle difficulty just like you do for mistakes.

Playing an easy puzzle with auto-pencilmarks makes it beyond trivial, no thinking at all, just look for the singles. How about increasing the penalty for easy puzzles up to 6 minutes (or even higher), keep diabolical at 3 minutes and the rest somewhere in between.

[Howard]

Could do... My wife ran some tests on how long it took her to solve with and without auto-pencilmarks and it came out scarily close to 3 minutes difference across a number of difficulty settings, so I probably won't change it for now ;)

Howard.