An update from Tetris Friends

[massi4h]

Hehe, Samoa is where I'm from. Yeah! But I live in NZ where it's like 5:40 PM Friday.

[m__]

you can pay to remove adds now as well.   looks like it's gonna be $5.00 a month to disable adds... that could add up quick.  it's currently 2.50 for the first month.

I block adds so it's a non issue for me, I just refresh the page when those pop-ups occur.

The second most requested feature is to have the ability to play real-time games against friends and rivals. We're pleased to announce this feature is coming soon to everyone, but if you would like to check it out in advance, simply sign up as a Beta User to receive special access to the new and improved Beta version of the game, titled Tetris Arena (formerly Tetris Live)!
See all news

[Blink]

Some great changes to Arena mode were released recently:

- Spectators limit increased to 10.
- Expert PLUS mode setting when creating a room (garbage blocking enabled!!!, combo garbage adjustments)

[holdnext]

Is the chat updated so I can say the words such as "glasses," "muffler", or "trapezoid", or phrases such as "doesn't watch", "of a game", "two p.m.", or "who really"?

[massi4h]

I don't know if I really like garbage blocking. If you set up a 10 combo with the slow dropping speed you could probably stall it out to 5 minutes easy. That's the easiest way to win Battle 2P, just get 1 KO quickly then make like a 4 combo and you should be able to stall out the rest of the 2 minutes.

[jujube]

massi4h, you mean rotating a piece indefinitely so it won't lock down? that needs to be fixed.

[massi4h]

No not that, that's something else I stall with lol. I mean just creating a well for a big combo and then letting every piece drop without hard drop or soft drop and holding as much as possible. Since you don't receive garbage until your combo is finished you could stall for a long time.

[jujube]

yeah i see what you mean. they need to fix that too hehe. you should start getting garbage after x seconds regardless. but as far as making a combo slowly, like at 50 tpm or whatever, and thinking about what you'll do next, seems like a reasonable strategy. you would have had to stack up quickly to set up the combo, so it's not like you'd not be trying to play "correctly".

[massi4h]

Tbh the normal drop speed should be at least tetris DS handicap 2. Maybe they could have increasing speed every minute? Kinda like tetris splash. But Splash just uses that instead of the killing garbage which I find as a very good idea.

[jujube]

i think the gameplay is much improved in expert+. it feels like a combination of TOJ and TDS. the garbage blocking with combos is like TOJ of course, and the garbage patterns feel like TDS:
[fumen]105@1dIwhb1lkbKw1lkbH3gbI3gbI3gbI3gbA3pbA4G7eE?JeBAAAHiBCdBkaBrdRpibaihbIwRp1lYilzhbKw1llzibH3?gbA3RpC3KwgbA3YiRptsoU9eB3aitscD8eC3pbAAA7eAAAA?[/fumen]
where you can generally count on the hole staying in the same column for the top row of the next bunch of garbage. i think there's a 10% chance of it happening in TOJ. it should be interesting, with slightly bigger attacks than you would see in TOJ.

Tbh the normal drop speed should be at least tetris DS handicap 2. Maybe they could have increasing speed every minute? Kinda like tetris splash. But Splash just uses that instead of the killing garbage which I find as a very good idea.

yeah i like that idea, if it's effective enough at keeping games short. you don't want people getting bored and leaving the room if 2 players can survive the increasing gravity for a long time. i'm not sure how it is though, because i haven't played Splash.

edit: although, the soft drop speed is slower in TF, so maybe attacks won't be any stronger.

[zaphod77]

Here's a simple fix for the delayed combo idea.

If the piece cannot move either right or left, AND it cannot move or rotate in ANY lower position, have it automatically hard drop and lock as soon as it goes past the point of no return.

In other words, once the game realizes that there is only one possible place and orientation the piece could be locked in, it should automatically drop it for you to prevent stalling

This should be checkable.

Alternatively, cancel the garbage block if you wait too long to drop a piece. Say 5 seconds from the initial garbage sent, and 5 seconds after each cleared line.

[jujube]

there are already a few things about Arena that make it better than TOJ.

1. free adjustable DAS. yeah you can use the DAS patch for TOJ, but custom DAS is built into Arena. all they need to do now is let you adjust it in settings instead of the url.

2. spectating. why not let people watch? people are doing it, so it's obviously a useful feature. if you don't want people watching you can disable it. "sit out next match"/"queue" fall into this same category and they're very useful too.

3. ability to leave a game before it's over. why can't you do this in TOJ?? you shouldn't have to watch other people play if you're ready to leave. maybe you want to join another room before it fills up, maybe someone should be able to take your spot in the room you're in, maybe you're mad at the person that KO'd you and you're sick of looking at them. there's no good reason to make someone stay.

i know this stuff has been in the game for a while, but i bring it up now because with the new expert+ room setting the gameplay is becoming similar to TOJ. with the gameplay roughly equal, i like Arena more because of these other features. they still have bugs to work out but i'm willing to play anyway while they fix them.

[Magnanimous]

So basically

TOJ:
Requires client download
Ergonomic friend system/messenger
Up to six players in a room; no spectators
Mostly English once you download the patch
No lobby chat; people rarely talk in games
Have to earn DAS or use Wojtek's patches
Have to upgrade your LCD/lock delay/soft drop speed, but you end up with a very fast game
Runs on a client, so there is barely any lag
Bugs are practically non-existent
Everyone has a level, which increases as you play more
Excellent 1-on-1 options

TFA:
Only need web browser
Friend system is a bit limited (up to 30 friends, and you can't easily tell who's online)
Up to ten(!) spectators and six players in a room
Entirely in English
No lobby chat; games are filled with 10 year olds who all typ liek dis! =o
Customizable DAS, though a little out-of-place
Everyone gets the same LCD/lock delay/soft drop speed, but the game is painfully slow
Runs in Flash, which leads to decent lag
Fairly buggy, though it's getting better
Everyone has a rank, which limits who you can play and isn't always an accurate depiction of skill
Can only do 1-on-1 in two-player rooms; still get "Hurry up" garbage

TOJ's definitely better, but TF's catching up fairly quickly.

[jujube]

[irony]TOJ is better at handling friends/chatting[/irony]

yeah you can make TOJ faster, and it mostly helps to serve T-spin players. it's debatable whether that's good or bad, with points on both sides.

[SecretSalamander]

TOJ has a few bugs, only a few but they are horrible, namely the getting killed by an ad in 6P and garbage getting sent to only one player when both players send in 2P games. (please tell me that isn't intentional)

Also I can't stand 1 on 1 in TOJ, I like to actually play the game and not be forced to sit and watch, with little to no warning as to when it's my turn again because I just went back to Firefox instead of actually watching the game.