Lockjaw oddities

[iphys]

Does anyone ever use the shift far left/right in Lockjaw?  Just noticed it on my DS when I tested the X and Y buttons to see if they do anything, and now I see it listed for the PC in the instructions.  Do any other games have that feature?  Seems like it would be a nice time saver if you could learn to use it and save yourself from wasting any time at all with DAS.

Also, I notice the tetrominoes played seems to include the hold piece, because there's always one more piece played than what I see left in the field at the end of 40 lines (unless I don't use hold at all), and this gets counted in the TPM.  Is that really fair to count that in the TPM if you haven't actually had to maneuver the piece?  Other games don't seem to do this.  In terms of keypresses per piece, it would also make it look like you're more efficient if you use the hold once as opposed to never, which seems kind of peculiar.

BTW, is there a way to change the background colour for DS?  I think it would be easier to see the pieces against a black background, or maybe I'm just more used to it, but I find the white background a bit overpowering.

[tepples]

Seems like it would be a nice time saver if you could learn to use it and save yourself from wasting any time at all with DAS.

Probably not; it increases mobility in 20G because you're essentially moving the piece at 10G.

[!--quoteo--][div class=\\\'quotetop\\\']QUOTE[/div][div class=\\\'quotemain\\\'][!--quotec--]I notice the tetrominoes played seems to include the hold piece[/quote]
Also notice that the first time you press hold, the jingle for the next piece plays and the randomizer is clocked once. Set hold to TNT-style (preload with random piece) and the problem shouldn't happen.

[!--quoteo--][div class=\\\'quotetop\\\']QUOTE[/div][div class=\\\'quotemain\\\'][!--quotec--]BTW, is there a way to change the background colour for DS?[/quote]
1. Find the (ancient) version of devkitARM that was current when I was still developing Lockjaw.
2. Change palette entry 0 from RGB(31, 31, 31) to something else.
3. Recompile.

[!--quoteo--][div class=\\\'quotetop\\\']QUOTE[/div][div class=\\\'quotemain\\\'][!--quotec--]I think it would be easier to see the pieces against a black background, or maybe I'm just more used to it, but I find the white background a bit overpowering.[/quote]
Tetris, Tetris DX, and Tetris Worlds had a light background; Tetris DS is the odd man out. (Or is that a Guideline thing?) You could try turning down the brightness down on your DS Lite.

[iphys]

You just don't think it would be practical, because I don't see how being able to move in 1 frame instead of 8 or whatever people set the DAS at doesn't save time?  Just managed to do an icheat 40 lines in under 30 seconds with it vs the best I've ever done with the icheat with 133 ms instant DAS is 38 seconds.

I'll try the TNT trick and see if I can compile for a black background.  GB Tetris wasn't backlit, so the light background wouldn't matter much.  NES and Tengen were black.  DX had changing background colours, which I found kind of annoying, but the stuff moving around in the Tetris Worlds background was the worst background possible.  I think TDS, T Party, and T Friends all use a black background, so it might be a guideline thing.

Thanks!

[tepples]

Sure it saves time, and it's acceptable in <1G competitions like 40 Lines and deathmatch. But in 20G, it increases mobility so much that the piece can get to places it otherwise couldn't.

In 0G, or in 20G with instant shift, this J tetromino can reach the left side and clear lines:
fumen
[fumen]105@LeA3hbA3lbB3gbE3gbI3gbI3pbGtc7eCmrcOfBAAA[/fumen]

In 20G without instant shift, it falls:
fumen
[fumen]105@LeA3hbA3lbB3gbE3gbI3gbI3pbGtc7eAeSB[/fumen]

[Kitaru]

You just don't think it would be practical, because I don't see how being able to move in 1 frame instead of 8 or whatever people set the DAS at doesn't save time?  Just managed to do an icheat 40 lines in under 30 seconds with it vs the best I've ever done with the icheat with 133 ms instant DAS is 38 seconds.

You're probably missing some pretty major optimizations, then. First off, turn on Allow Diagonal Motion. Hold left and press down 20 times as fast as possible, hold right and press down 20 times as fast as possible, get the 21st piece going to the right back to neutral, rotate, drop, rotate and drop the next 4 pieces in this column, rotate and drop 5 pieces in the column to the left (left rotate drop for ARS), repeat the process once. You should definitely be able to get some Maserati spec times like this.

I'll agree that send left and send right could really come in handy for optimizing things, though. However, they only engage on key hit and not key held, so don't forget about keeping DAS charged across pieces.

[iphys]

Hmmm, I thought diagonal motion was for keyboard users and causes problems with misdrops on D-pads, but I can see how that would be handy to be able to keep the DAS charged.

[hurtchow]

On Tetris DS my pieces do nothing when I press X or Y.

[tepples]

That's because TDS activates an item when you press X in 4-player.

I first experimented with send left and send right buttons in Luminesweeper for GBA. Lumines doesn't have hold, and one of the goals is to keep the stack narrow in order to keep checkerboard patterns from forming on the bottom row. So the L and R buttons were free for me to give the player a way to get a piece to the side quickly so that he can start to clear away blocks at the side.

[iphys]

TTC would never be so kind as to give us a game with instant wall shifts: most of their games don't even have decent DAS.