Announcing the Tetris Max High Score Contest, October 14

[LaPorta]

Haven’t even practiced yet…not enough time!

 

[bigmessowires]

Haha yes, can we edit some tetris pieces into this?



The truth is that I was never particularly great at this game, but I was better than I am now. With a 20000 minimum high score and a live competition audience of mostly casual beginners with old-guy reflexes like mine, I think there's a strong chance the prize might go unclaimed. I wouldn't be totally sorry about that, since the prize system that I built is nice. But I expect @3lectr1cPPC will trounce everybody in the online contest.

I think I've mentioned before that Tetris Max drew major inspiration from Jewelbox, which was released a year or two prior. It's a simple game but is very nicely polished. For the last two years of my college experience, there was virtually always somebody in my room playing Jewelbox or Tetris Max at any hour of the day or night, even when I wasn't there. I had to kick them out so I could go to sleep. We accumulated an awful lot of hours playing those games, and had plenty of chance to perfect our technique and earn some very high scores. I'm not sure where I found time to attend classes.

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

But I expect @3lectr1cPPC will trounce everybody in the online contest.

Well, we’ll see. Last time I practiced, I was struggling a bit to crack 20,000. Didn’t get a chance last night through.

 

[LaPorta]

Hey, it’s all in fun, honestly. Like a bunch of friends going bowling: no one cares who got over 200 and who sucks, just that everyone had fun.

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

Agreed.

 

[LaPorta]

We can also always turn it up a notch: the diamond piece set I made in the 90s messes with your vision.

 

[bigmessowires]

I played several games on the Mac IIci today, with a nice condition AEK II keyboard. Maybe it's a tiny bit easier than what I'd been experiencing under emulation, or maybe it's the keyboard, or perhaps all my practice is just starting to pay off. I had several decent games, including one where I reached 130-something rows cleared and that involved an extended period of survival at level 10. Since the difficulty doesn't increase any more after that, I think my scores could improve significantly if I could just get a tiny bit faster with my fingers. I can just barely keep up with level 10 when I maintain hypnotic levels of concentration, but any lapse in focus or a single missed keypress and I'm doomed.

With version 2.9.3 that I released recently, I noticed that the music glitches out every few minutes and briefly plays some garbled noise. I don't remember ever experiencing that before. Maybe it's my computer, or maybe I introduced a bug in that version. I need to install System 7 so I can go back to version 2.9.1 and see.

I also spent some time experimenting with the AI Autoplayer, which is only enabled if you have registered the game. There are two AI levels, "fast and dumb" and "deep thought". As I recall, fast and dumb only considers the current piece and the next piece, while deep thought also considers all the pieces that might come after the next piece. I watched deep thought for a while, and it made quite a few moves that looked sub-optimal or even like outright errors. Fast and dumb actually performed better.

 

[LaPorta]

I’d always wondered what was the difference in the autplay. My brother and I let deep thought go wild on a G3 once to see how far it would get. It froze before we could see…

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

Just practiced for over an hour. I got a couple of games over 20k but I couldn’t come close to the 28k I scored a few days ago.

 

[bigmessowires]

@3lectr1cPPC what hardware are you playing the game on?

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

PowerBook 540c, 33MHz LC040, 20MB RAM, 320MB SCSI HDD, 640x480 TFT Color LCD w/ an original Apple Extended Keyboard attached.

 

[jmacz]

I played a little bit today. Got to 24k and was about to enter my name but it crashed. Was on a IIfx, version 2.9.3b I think? Maybe I was dreaming it. This is hard. I am lacking skills.

 

[bigmessowires]

Nice score! I haven't been able to score that high yet. 2.9.3b was just released earlier this year to fix some incompatibilities with System 6, but I'm starting to think it introduced some bugs. I've been getting occasional music glitches with that version, and I don't remember ever having problems like that with any prior version. Try 2.9.1 and see if it behaves better for you.

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

I played a little bit today. Got to 24k and was about to enter my name but it crashed. Was on a IIfx, version 2.9.3b I think? Maybe I was dreaming it. This is hard. I am lacking skills.

Uh oh! Looks like I've got some competition! Or are you going in person?

 

[jmacz]

Uh oh! Looks like I've got some competition! Or are you going in person?

Can’t make it in person or virtual as I am out on business. But just playing for fun. Really addicting!

 

[bigmessowires]

I'm sorry to report that Moose will not be joining us at Mactoberfest to defend his Tetris Max world title. He broke his arm this week. It sounds like the intro to a joke, but no. Fortunately it's not his "tetris arm" so he should recover eventually.

 

[Crutch]

I’m sorry about Moose’s arm — ouch! Speedy recovery.

But I am pretty sure the best Tetris Max players control the pieces using only their mind.

 

[CC_333]

But I am pretty sure the best Tetris Max players control the pieces using only their mind.

You know, we may yet get to the point that, with the aid of some kind of implant or something, controlling things directly using only one's mind will actually be possible!

Not that I like the idea (it's totally creepy!), but... PROGRESS!

c

 

[LaPorta]

Got a funny thing to report. I’ve been having a tough time playing on my IIfx because of the slowness of piece movements. I only previously played the game on a PPC, and you can just slam the pieces against the wall near instantly. Not used to the drag and delay!

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

Did you enable the setting for "wall-slamming"?