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From "Start" to Finish

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LMDAVE:

We all know the real "Start" is Level 5, but what happens during the game for each person from there to the end?
 
For me its been a series of wrong milestones and lack of concentration lately.
 
On my 1.1m quest, after Level 5 starts, I have two quick milestones, 200K then 300K, after that the next noticeable milestone is 12-3, a big gap. I tend to recognize this point in the game lately mainly because it is the halfway point of the game. It is also where a good portion of my games have been ending after acknowledging this.
 
Normally, I'll double my score after 12-3 and it's a pretty close gauge of pace.
 
From there milesstone will go back to scores for me, then places.
 
700K, 800K, 900K, 1M, #6, #5, #4, 1.1M.
 
 
So....that's way too many milestones.
200K, 300K, 12-3, 700K, 800K, 900K, 1M, #6, #5, #4, 1.1M.
 
 
So, I'm going back to: Four Marios, Four mental milestones between Start and Finish and see how it goes.
 
 
350K (10-1), 600K(13-2), 850K(17-5), 1.1M(22-1)
 

ChrisP:
Ideally I try not to think about milestones and just maintain the attitude that "there is only this screen."

It's not as easy as it sounds in practice.

LMDAVE:
Yeah, I agree, always take care of the current job. But, if you're lucky, you have one of those games where a zone takes over and you start racking up the boards. That's when that second layer of looking at milestones pop up, or a small break of concentration makes you do something stupid.....like interfacing with the chat and then jumping a barrel and landing right on top of it.   :-\

ChrisP:
I try to stay in the moment, but by the time I get to L17 or so, I'm definitely counting down screens.

I actually go to a particular effort NOT to mentally note that I'm at the halfway point. The end just feels so far away.

VON:
For me there is only one milestone marker, the beginning of level 13.  Once I reach level 13 I somehow relax.  Both consciously and subconsciously I recognize the game is more than half over and that soon enough I'll be on level 14, then 15, then 16 etc..  The last half of the game has always been the easy part for me.  This isn't to say I complete every game that passes the half-way point, far from it, but taking a game past the half-way marker is still the milestone by which I gauge whether a game has gone deep or not, and taking a game deep is the most exhilarating feeling in Donkey Kong.  Once I've entered the "teens" I stop worrying about whether or not I've lost an early life, I no longer think anything about my score, and in general I tend to play more fluid.  I believe this shift in attitude is mostly a product of "being warmed up" so to speak - tension disappears, and what will come will come.

Naturally I've completely jinxed myself with this declaration, but whatchagondo.

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