The "Help Me!" Thread

[TetrisdAiSuki]

If I find the time, I'll do a level-by-level analysis of Wojtek's game. We really need a teaching tool for this. Student records replay, teacher records branches demonstrating different possibilities, adds comments, sends back to student... That's something else I'd like to work on if I find the time, haha.

Until then, I'll just throw a link to the mostly complete English version of J.O's TGM guide out there: http://files.getdropbox.com/u/790563/TGMGUIDE/index.htm

That's a nice idea Kitaru. It will definitely be very helpful. And thanks for the link to the English version of J.O's Guide.

@Wojtek:

How long have you been playing? Getting over level 200 isn't that bad for a beginner. Whatever you do it will take time and a lot of playing to get very good. ^^

[Wojtek]

How long have you been playing? Getting over level 200 isn't that bad for a beginner. Whatever you do it will take time and a lot of playing to get very good. ^^

Hard to say, because I play it only occasionally. I was able to reach level 300 few times. Of course level 300 means instant death for me.

Thanks for guide, looks like it will be good reading.

[KYLOL]

http://www.tetrisfriends.com/users/profile...amp;linkTag=nav
I've been playing since oct 1st. how are my times so far? what do I need to work on most?

[jujube]

i thought you made good stacking decisions in your best sprint game kyle. your pauses here and there were probably just from unfamiliarity with certain stack shapes, and that should work itself out fine as you gain experience.

some things to work on would be using both rotation keys and predicting your hold usage. it seemed like you only used hold as a last resort, instead of planning ahead of time to use it. i wouldn't stress that too much because it comes naturally with general practice, as long as you're using hold already, which you are. maybe you could try pausing before hard dropping each piece, and imagining the new shape of the stack, and deciding whether or not to hold the next piece? that could be a good exercise.

but using both rotations is something to work at, because practicing without it only makes it harder to learn at a later time. it would save you rotations with the J, L, and T pieces, and save movements with I, S, and Z, because with SRS rotation (the system Tetris Friends uses) the I, S, and Z pieces shift in the direction you rotate.

[GoldPlatedDish]

but using both rotations is something to work at, because practicing without it only makes it harder to learn at a later time. it would save you rotations with the J, L, and T pieces, and save movements with I, S, and Z, because with SRS rotation (the system Tetris Friends uses) the I, S, and Z pieces shift in the direction you rotate.

I'd like to add that you should try practicing rotating both ways with T, J and L-Tetriminos, as they are the only three with four distinct orientations.
Focus on those 3 first, only when you're comfortable with rotation finesse with them can you practice with the other 3 (I, S, Z). Forget about O, we don't care about the O.
SRS has four distinct rotation states:



Initial spawn is on the leftmost column.
Note that:
O's rotation states are virtually indistinguishable from each other. If a Mino is different from the default Minos, only then will it be worth it to use rotation on the O.
To the human eye, I, S and Z appear to have 2 distinct orientations. But note that, in the bounding box (black), a 180-degree rotation moves the I, S and Z one step to the left/right/up/down.
So, for example, a left rotation at intial spawn would move an S-Tetrimino would put the piece to the far left of its "bounding box", while a right rotation would do likewise, but instead of left, it goes right. This is what jujube was saying here.
Now to open a parenthesis...
In the Tetris the Grand Master series, rotation was handled differently:

[!--ImageUrlBegin--][a href=\\\"http://harddrop.com/wiki/images/b/b5/Tgm_basic_ars_description.png\\\" target=\\\"_new\\\"][!--ImageUrlEBegin--][img width=\\\"400\\\" class=\\\"attach\\\" src=\\\"http://harddrop.com/wiki/images/b/b5/Tgm_basic_ars_description.png\\\" border=\\\'0\\\' alt=\\\"IPB Image\\\" /][!--ImageUrlEnd--][/a][!--ImageUrlEEnd--]



Here, I, S and Z (respectively red, purple and green in the image above) only have two rotation states. This rotation scheme, called Arika Rotation System, has inherited its rotation states from Sega games, and added mild wall kicks.
Now, to close this parenthesis, and resume normal programming.

[iphys]

Does anyone know what the TF Sprint line clear delay is?  It doesn't seem like more than a couple frames.  It seems like every new PB I get looks messier and messier, so it's like you're better off playing a little out of control rather than stacking nice and careful for tetrises.

[Kitaru]

It is quite a bit longer than a few frames. My initial impression was that it took 15 frames. After taking a quick video, I found it is actually 18. A game of singles is 12 seconds of net line clear delay as opposed to 3 seconds of net line clear delay for a game of tetrises.

If you're curious, DAS is ~15 frames and the rate is 20hz.

[iphys]

Hmm, longer than I thought.  Good to know, thanks.

They say the default DAS settings for T Friends are 280 ms delay and 50 ms autoshift, so that sounds about right.

[ZZOmega]

I would like some insight on my 2 most recently played games. They were recorded about 10-15 minutes ago, and I did two runs, one on Blockbox, and the other on TetrisFriends.

I am well aware that I need to work on rotating both ways, I'm still trying to change my habits but I'm coming along slower than I had hoped. Whenever I feel rushed to fix a problem I end up over-rotating using only one direction, mostly rotating right.

Is there anything I'm doing incorrectly besides that though? As in, the way I'm stacking, tips to improve my speed, etc.

BlockBox 1:30
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70LgZkLa6lA

TetrisFriends 1:29 Warning! Explicit language used in this video!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGcIM2h3Jao
Ignore myself and my roommate talking...

BlockBox 1:22 (my fastest yet)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHSBXEOKw3M

I appreciate everyone's help so far giving advice, you're all doing such a good job. Thanks in advance!

[Anonymous]

ZZOmega, you should probably learn to double rotate. It would make you a lot quicker. jkjkjkjkjkjkjkjk!

But anyways, I think you're stacking is pretty good. For the most part, you make pretty good decisions, except in the tetris friends game lol. Try working on using your piece preview more efficiently. Also, you could use your hold better.

Also, in Blockbox, try using your DAS more; it's much faster.

[iphys]

I often got the feeling you were hesitating when you first got a piece like you hadn't already decided where to put it when you got it, so it helps to keep your eyes more focused on your piece previews so that you can input your commands the instant you get a piece.  Also, are you just playing with the default DAS in blockbox, because you can set it faster with the expert controls.

[ZZOmega]

ZZOmega, you should probably learn to double rotate. It would make you a lot quicker. jkjkjkjkjkjkjkjk!

But anyways, I think you're stacking is pretty good. For the most part, you make pretty good decisions, except in the tetris friends game lol. Try working on using your piece preview more efficiently. Also, you could use your hold better.

Also, in Blockbox, try using your DAS more; it's much faster.

LOL!

Okay, so, work on piece previews, and use hold better. Also, stop playing TF, gotcha!

I often got the feeling you were hesitating when you first got a piece like you hadn't already decided where to put it when you got it, so it helps to keep your eyes more focused on your piece previews so that you can input your commands the instant you get a piece.  Also, are you just playing with the default DAS in blockbox, because you can set it faster with the expert controls.

I currently have DAS set to 9, I tried 8 but it felt weird. I don't know what a good setting is but I pretty much like 9. Also, I'm working on piece preview I just can't seem to grasp it quite yet, I feel like my eyes are bouncing back and forth really quickly just to see whats going on! Is there any place I should keep my eyes when I play?

[Yokipi]

Finally managed to break 70 seconds yesterday on Tetris Friends, so I'm very happy about that. =) Still, my goal is sub-60, but I'm not sure what I need to improve and practice to break that seemingly impossible barrier.

http://www.tetrisfriends.com/users/profile.php?id=572010

I'm also very inconsistent at that speed, managing to clear 40 Lines successfully only about 5% of the time and usually getting around 1:15 when I do succeed. Any tips, advice, or notes about what I'm doing wrong would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

I'm still looking for help on this one. I haven't been able to break 70 seconds again, getting anywhere from 1:11 to 1:32. Could anyone tell me what I need to improve on?

[GoldPlatedDish]

My Tetris Friends profile
Feel free to dissect, analyze and nitpick my gameplay...

[XaeL]

My Tetris Friends profile
Feel free to dissect, analyze and nitpick my gameplay...

Your sprint stacking is nice

You should be thinking a piece in front, sometimes u get stuck and move the piece somewhere and then realise it should go somewhere else.

apart from that, good stuff. Learn to tap faster and/or stop playing tetris friends.