Post-Time is a horse racing game for the PC that features 200 unique horses that compete to become the champion. Throughout the race season you must consistently pick the best horses to win. During the season you will start to see which horses emerge, and at the end of the season you will watch as these horses square off against one another in the championship stakes races. Post-Time guarantees excitement whether you are playing alone, with friends, or with the family!
When you initially start the game you will see a setup screen where you can customize the game's video settings. When playing the game for the first time, select "Direct3D9 Rendering Subsystem" from the "Rendering Subsystem" drop down menu. After this is selected you will see the default settings appear. If you would like to change these settings, we recommend only changing the following:
- Anti-Aliasing - Higher setting improves game visual quality, but reduces performance.
- Full Screen - Run game in full screen or window mode (full screen recommended).
- Video Mode - Changes game screen resolution. The higher the resolution the better the game's visual quality, but the lower the performance (1024x768 recommended).
Click OK when you are ready to start Post-Time. Your settings will be saved so you will not have to set them again the next time you play.
- Sim Mode: If Sim Mode is ON then the game will skip the results screen and continue with the races so that users can leave their computer and allow the races to continue. This can be used to build horse stats while user is not present. Also note that the game will pause prior to the qualifying races.
- Game Music: Turns the music ON/OFF
- Shadows: Turns the shadows ON/OFF (turning this off helps game performance, although game automatically turns shadows off if performance is low).
- Horse Quality: Currently not available
- Announcing: Turns the announcing ON/OFF
- Split Screen: Turns the split screen of the television view ON/OFF. (Turning this off helps game performance)
Players can view current and future races by clicking on any day and race in the calendar. The horses for future races can be viewed, but the races cannot be run until that day and time. To run the next race, click on the next upcoming race day followed by the next race.
The "Top Horses" screen shows the top 10 horses in the game and their overall records. This screen shows the total number of races the horse has run in, and the number of wins, places (second place finishes), and shows (third place finishes).
The "Top Jockeys"screen shows the top 10 jockeys in the game and their overall records. This shows the total number of races each of the top ten jockeys has run in, and the number of wins, places (second place finishes), and shows (third place finishes).
The upper left corner of the screen displays the date, the race number, the distance of the race, and the countdown until post time (when the race begins). Below this are the player's names. The monetary value to the right of each name is the amount of money that player has. The main part of the screen consists of the horses that are entered into that particular race, and their statistics. The numbers of each horse and the horse names are located on the left of the main part, with the horse's odds to the right of the name of each horse. The odds indicate how likely it is that a horse will win the race. The lower the ratio, the more likely that horse is to win. For example, 5-2 odds are better than 3-1 odds, which are better than 20-1 odds. Underneath each number and name is the previous race history. The number on the bottom left indicates the number of races that horse has entered in, the three numbers to the right of that are the number of times the horse has won, placed (come in second), and showed (come in third), in that order. The list to the right of the name gives the past four races the horse has run in, the distances, and the place the horse came in. For example if the screen shows the following:
That means would mean that the horse named "Big White Whale" is horse #1 for this race, has 7-1 odds, has raced in 30 races previously, has won 4, placed in 8, and showed in 7. The past four races the horse has been in are a 6 furlong race (6f) where he placed 4th, a five furlong race (5f) where he came in 1st, an 8 furlong race (8f) where he placed 5th, and a 9 furlong race (9f) where he placed 8th. To the right of the odds is the jockey information. The name of the jockey is displayed on the top. Underneath from left to right is the total number of races that jockey has been in, the number of wins, the number times he/she placed, the number of times he/she showed, and the win percentage and the percentage of finishes in the top three. To place a bet, the player must first click on their name on the left side of the race screen. They then must choose the bet wager amount, which type of bet they wish to place, and then the horse or horses they are betting on. There are five types of bets: win, place, show, exacta, and trifecta. A win bet is placed on one horse, and in order to be successful that horse must finish first. A place bet is a bet placed on one horse in which that horse must finish in first or second. A show bet is a bet placed on one horse in which that horse must finish in the top three. An exacta bet is a bet placed on the first and second horses in which the player must get both the first and second horse in the exact order that they finish. A trifecta bet is a bet placed on the top three horses, in which the player must get the first, second, and third place horses in the exact order they finish in. Once a player selects the horses, the bet is then placed and will appear under the player's name. The player can cancel any bet that has not already been placed by pressing the "cancel bet" button. The more money a player bets, the more money they can win should they win that bet. Lastly, each person can place a maximum of 3 bets per race. The game records the horse race history, so each race run will contribute towards the overall statistics of the horses. Wins, places, shows, and the total number of races is all kept in the game. The game history can also be kept from year to year in the game, or can be cleared at the end of the stakes races if the user wishes to do so. The results of the past four races a horse has run is shown on the race screen. This includes the race distance and finish position for the last four races. See the "Race Screen" section above for more information. The game also records the history of the jockeys. Wins, places, shows, and the total number of races each jockey has run is kept in the game from race to race and season to season. The top ten jockeys are displayed with their records on the "Top Jockeys" screen. The horse ratings are based on four characteristics, acceleration, speed, finish speed, and endurance. Each horse has these four unique attributes. The acceleration is the speed at which a horse runs at the start of a race, speed is how well a horse runs in the middle of the race, and finish speed is how well a horse finishes the race. Endurance also factors in how well horses finish races. Horses that are better in longer races generally have better endurance. Each of these four attributes affects a horse's individual performance in each race. In shorter races, horses with better acceleration will fair better, whereas in longer races horses with better overall speed will be favored. The finish speed and endurance affects how well a horse runs down the home stretch and whether or not they finish strong or allow other horses to catch up with them. Each jockey has a rating that affects how well a horse will perform. Better jockeys run horses closer to their full potential. For example, a bad jockey at any given time during a race may run a horse at between 88% and 100% of his potential, while a good jockey may never drop its horse below 93% of its potential. Therefore if a horse has a rating of 100 and has a good jockey, he'll never drop below 93% throughout the entire race, while a bad jockey might allow that horse to get to 88%, decreasing his chances of victory. The Post-Time Qualifying Races consist of 10 races with 10 horses in each. The top 100 horses in the game at the time the Qualifying Races begin are automatically entered. The top 4 horses from each race advance to the Stakes Races.
The Post-Time Stakes Races consist of 3 rounds of races. A total of 40 horses qualify for the Stakes Races, based on their performance in the Qualifying Races. Round 1 is 4 races with 10 horses in each race, in which the top 5 from each race qualify for the second round. Round 2 consists of 2 races with 10 horses in each, where the top 5 from each race qualify for the third round. Round 3, the third and final round is one race, and the winner becomes the Post-Time Champion for that season. At the end of the Stakes Races the user has the option to reset all of the horse characteristics and attributes. Copyright © 2005-2007 Syntasoft. All rights reserved.
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