More on Tetris

[ceptimus]

I'm making a detailed study of Tetris, as part of my mission to beat liv's high score. My scores in the arcade sucked badly, like twenty thousand when I'm aiming for two million, so I've withdrawn to Pai Mei's training camp (my own PC) till I'm match ready.

The version here is different to many Tetris implementations, in that the playing area is only eighteen squares tall (most are twenty), and the 'up' cursor key causes the pieces to rotate clockwise - the opposite of the norm.

Anyway, I thought I needed to practice on the version that is implemented here, so I downloaded it from here (http://www.neave.com/games).

I already found that you can use the Z key to rotate the pieces the other way, and that saves valuable time when the pieces are falling fast on level 9 - to turn the pieces one way, use the 'up' key, and the Z key to turn them the other way. I bet liv and slimshady already knew that, but unlike me, they were not generous enough to share that knowledge. :confide:

I found that my main weakness was being overly anal in not allowing any 'holes' to develop under the Tetris pile - I was waiting for ages for the exact piece I wanted to appear, and while I was waiting, the pile was becoming too high. Now I've gotten over that, my scores are improving fast. :pleased:

[livius drusus]

Encroacher! :madrant:

[slimshady2357]

I already found that you can use the Z key to rotate the pieces the other way, and that saves valuable time when the pieces are falling fast on level 9 - to turn the pieces one way, use the 'up' key, and the Z key to turn them the other way. I bet liv and slimshady already knew that, but unlike me, they were not generous enough to share that knowledge. :confide:


No, I didn't know that! Thanks for the tip :wink:

Are you starting on level 10? That's what I do, start there and the tetrises are worth 12,000 instead of something like 2,000. And then as you increase levels (every ten lines) they increase in value even more. Sooner than you know it, they're worth 30,000!

Adam

[livius drusus]

Sweet Jesu, man, shut the hell up!

[slimshady2357]

Unlike the chicken :chicken2: :chicken2: :chicken2: , above, I'm not afraid of some healthy competition :P

[livius drusus]

Uh huh. Either that or you're just a big ol' blabbermouth. :blahblah:

[Dragar]

You can also 'slide' pieces under others - before they 'land' you still have a moment to move them sideways. Though this is difficult at faster stages.

[livius drusus]

Bunch of chatty cathies up in here.

/me grumbles.

[ceptimus]

Further practice on my PC has revealed another bad trait I had - changing my mind at the last moment. It goes like this:

Yeah, that T shaped piece will go there, and the square one that comes next can go on top of it.

Right. It's rotated and lined up.. Oh wait! If I move it over the other side and turn it sideways that will be even better, and there's plenty of time still... (click click click...)

Damn! I was wrong about that other side, my first plan was better after all.

Shit! I'm running out of time now (panic key pressing).

Bollocks! Now it's landed in the wrong place entirely, and covered up a huge hole. And I've no idea where to put that square piece now. Arrrgh!

(seconds later)

Game over!

I'm making big efforts not to change my mind now - a bad choice carried out as planned, is more effective than a better choice with not enough time left to execute it.

I'm also finding that I hardly have to think about steering the dropping piece anymore - it's on autopilot, and that gives me time to concentrate on where the next piece has to go...

Thanks for the tips Adam and Dragar. Like most of these things, all it needs is practice practice practice. If I could only make my brain run at twice the speed, I think I could take liv's highscore already. I wonder if there are any drugs I could use to speed up the old noggin? :giggle:

[Soubrette]

Guys guys...I'm at work at the moment and it's very unprofessional to make me laugh :fuming: but supressing it makes me look like I'm crying :fuming: :fuming:

Try caffeine cept - not a drug I'd muck around with myself but maybe you're willing to take the risk for that elusive tetris score :wink:

Just be prepared for the withdrawal :eek:

Sou

[ceptimus]

I tried caffeine - lots of coffee and cola, but it didn't seem to improve my play - just stopped me sleeping. :tired: :sleepy:

I also tried oxygen (I have an oxygen system for making high-altitude glider flights). I think that may improve my play a bit, but it's noisy and uncomfortable, and surely the height of geekdom. :frink:

I find it's best for me to take breaks (using the Pause key) every five minutes or so. I plan to do some aerobic exercise prior to play - I'll go out on my bike for a 10-mile ride, and play when I get back, while the blood is still pumping.

In the long run, I'm not sure going for tetrises is the best strategy. You have to delay completing rows in the hope that one of those long skinny pieces will show up, and then if no such piece appears, you're in big trouble. I think it's better just to complete rows whenever possible, accept that the game is going to take a long time, and take regular rest breaks.

[slimshady2357]

In the long run, I'm not sure going for tetrises is the best strategy. You have to delay completing rows in the hope that one of those long skinny pieces will show up, and then if no such piece appears, you're in big trouble. I think it's better just to complete rows whenever possible, accept that the game is going to take a long time, and take regular rest breaks.

Interesting strategy, out of interest, is that how you achieved your top 10 score?

I suppose I have a little bit of a combination strategy, in that I go for the tetrises mostly, but keep the stack fairly low. So if the height of my stack is getting to be two tetris levels high, I just get lines and reduce it down to about 1 - 1.5 tetris heights. So I don't tend to just wait and wait and wait for the long red one, because it causes major trouble if you don't get it. I just keep that tetris hole ready and try to keep the stack to a reasonable height.

Adam

[ceptimus]

Yes. That's how I did it. And my new top ten score too. :)

[livius drusus]

I can see I'm going to have to spend the weekend beating you rats back. That's cool. No problem, drill sergeant. Too easy.

:bull:

[livius drusus]

ceptimus, you unspeakable bastard. I am so going to make you hurt for this.

[wei yau]

Wonderful. I'm stuck here at the office. The wife is out at happy hour. The kid is sleeping on my office floor.

Plenty of time to post or chat.

But, no. Y'all had to get all hyper-competitive in Tetris.

I SUCK AT THE ARCADE.

I hate you all.

[livius drusus]

Don't worry, eldar. The carpal tunnel is already kicking in. God I hate that ceptimus. :shakefist:

[Ronin]

You want I should take him for a ride, boss?

:gangster:

[livius drusus]

YES! Hell yes. Pay particular attention to the three middle fingers of both hands. And take pictures.

[wei yau]

God I hate that ceptimus. :shakefist:

So, how do you feel about slimshady2357?

I don't know how you all do it, I suck at that game.

[livius drusus]

I feel he is an evil rat bastard whom I might just have to ban on principle. :adminpwr: