PetitPrince's recent activity
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Comment on Nintendo Direct: Nintendo Switch 2 – 4.2.2025 in ~games
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Comment on What's an atypical thing you do that you'd recommend to others? in ~talk
PetitPrince Link ParentI've used an Elitebook in my past job. For my Thinkpads I use the middle button as scroll, and that's something that's lacking in Elitebooks. You can sort of get around this with some arcane...Have you tried HP Elitebook / Dell latitude nubs? How do they compare?
I can chime in ! I've had both Thinkpad and Mac as personal laptop (Macbook Pro 2008, then Thinkpad x220t, then X1 Carbon 5 Gen, then Macbook Pro M3), and my various jobs have provided my with various Dell and Elitebooks for comparison.I've used an Elitebook in my past job. For my Thinkpads I use the middle button as scroll, and that's something that's lacking in Elitebooks. You can sort of get around this with some arcane registry hack to make left+right button press act as a middle button, but it feels clunky. What you're meant to do is to use the right button as a scroll toggle. Except I'm already using the right mouse button for mouse gestures (with software such as StrokeIt or browser extension like Gesturefy). With mouse gestures you use the right button as a drawing tool and depending on the shape you draw you trigger different action such as "back", "new tab", etc. This is equivalent to multitouch gestures on large Trackpads. Speaking of which...
Also have you tried a really good touchpad like on a macbook?
I'm currently back to using a Macbook as my main personal laptop (I got a very good deal). I don't miss the trackpoint because of the superb integration with the OS, but every time I have to work on the train with my nondescript Dell I long for a trackpoint (I'm using a mouse otherwise in the office).
Grab bag thoughts:
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Scrolling and browsing is pleasurable and tactile on a Mac because of inertial scrolling, but it's necessarily choppier than on a Thinkpad where you can have continuous scrolling. I feel that browsing through long files feel better on a Thinkpad compared to a Mac.
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While there's theoretically more possibilities with trackpad gestures, I found that I can have a pretty good equivalent with regular mouse gestures:
Function Mouse gesture Multitouch gesture Back ← 3 fingers swipe left Forward → 3 fingers swipe right Open in new tab ↑ from link 3 fingers click Close tab ↓ 3 fingers swipe up Focus previous tab < Rotate left Focus next tab < Rotate right -
Of course on top of that you can add Exposé control with four fingers (I use 4F up for all the windows, and 4F down for only the current app), but there's no equivalent in Windows (yeah I know about win+tab, but have you seen how slow it is ?)
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Comment on Confess your food crimes in ~food
PetitPrince Link ParentZarusoba is cold and with a dipping sauce, Yakisoba is fried just like any fried carb (fried rice, etc) .I understand that soba noodles are supposed to be eaten cold
Zarusoba is cold and with a dipping sauce, Yakisoba is fried just like any fried carb (fried rice, etc) .
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Comment on Perhaps I should write worse? in ~talk
PetitPrince (edited )Link ParentIn French too it's awkward to type but it gets autoreplaced by your word processor. What's the situation in proper publication (journal, government communication, etc) ?In French too it's awkward to type but it gets autoreplaced by your word processor. What's the situation in proper publication (journal, government communication, etc) ?
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Comment on Perhaps I should write worse? in ~talk
PetitPrince Link ParentI initially thought «man, that's like a lie by omission». But then I noticed that I could totally spot germanophone people because of their quotation mark („...“). And then I got curious and saw...I initially thought «man, that's like a lie by omission». But then I noticed that I could totally spot germanophone people because of their quotation mark („...“). And then I got curious and saw in the Wikipedia page that it's more of an eastern/northern European thing.
But sometime the context isn't right for quotes... Maybe it's a good time to follow non-english typographical rules !
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Comment on Steam Spring Sale suggestions in ~games
PetitPrince LinkTetrachroma is one of the most interesting take on Tetris of the last few years. The gimmick here is that each piece has a color and they switch back and forth like in revers. It's simple yet...Tetrachroma is one of the most interesting take on Tetris of the last few years. The gimmick here is that each piece has a color and they switch back and forth like in revers. It's simple yet complex, and happily messes with my brain and reflexes is a good way.
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Comment on Tetris The Grand Master 4 -Absolute Eye- in ~games
PetitPrince Link ParentAbout that fundamental change I mentioned: it's the behavior of lock delay reset. As a reminder: lock delay is that small amount of time where you can still move a piece after it has landed. Think...About that fundamental change I mentioned: it's the behavior of lock delay reset.
As a reminder: lock delay is that small amount of time where you can still move a piece after it has landed. Think of it as a timer.
Now, while having single timer that doesn't reset is possible (that's the behavior of Puyo Puyo), most of the time the some sort of reset mechanism to give you some leeway.
With TGM the behavior is set to "step reset", meaning the timer is reset each time the active piece move vertically.
You're probably seeing what this is going: guideline games does it differently. So the behavior name is called "move reset", and this means that the timer resets with every move: translation but also rotation. This thing gained infamy when it was first introduced because it could be exploited and effectively eliminated the time pressure element of the game. Waaaayy back then my teen self even took the time to produce a video that complains about it.
Worse: combined with way the guideline rotation works (the rotations are mathematically pure but that means that there's a state where the piece floats in the air) and cryptic wallkicks (being able to rotate a piece even if it's touching a wall or the stack) rules, that means that there's very little intentionality when placing a piece. You know that in general you can put a piece whenever you want; you just have to somewhat mash the rotation buttons. In extreme case you can also have some corner degenerate case like this T-piece elevator.
Now before you raise your pitchforks, note that this is a set of broken mechanic for a solo game. It took a while for people to figure this out (and my headcanon is that it's more accidental than anything), but this kind of behavior is perfectly good for multiplayer. If your design goal is to face one player against another, then deciding that piece placement is an inconsequential implementation detail is a valid choice (just like pulling out a special moves in Smash Bros have no execution complexity whatsoever). And with features such as t-spin requiring a particular piece setup, you even have an interesting tradeoff to make as a player: do you spend more time building you t-spin setup, or do you attack earlier with a Tetris ?
But... I'm going a bit astray and we're here to talk about step vs move reset in the context of TGM. However... before that I should mention that most game nowadays have a limit in the number of "reset" you can do, so that "mash the rotation button while soft dropping to get infinite point" exploit simply doesn't exist (and indeed TGM3's version of the guideline limits the amount of reset to 8).
Aaaaand... I need to go to another tangent still. What are the game design goal of TGM1-3 ? There's no official word on it, but for me nearly everything make sense if we assume it's "force the player to play as fast as possible". It's the thesis of the video I made and I talk a long time about it.
Now: I actually don't think it's possible to improve on the formula.
Let me explain: There's a number floating around saying that the average human reaction time is around 250ms. Let's take the top percentile and assume that an elite gamer have a 150ms reaction time. Assuming a standard 60Hz logic, this means 9 frames. Guess what the lock delay is in TGM3 as its worst ? 8 frames. And that's not for a one-off anti-air in that one tricky match, it's for Every. Single. Piece. By comparison in TGM1 you have a comfortable 30 (ARE) + 30 (lock delay) frames to work with.
To be perfectly pedant there's several things mitigating this: first, there's a tiny delay between each piece (technical jargon is ARE) that is at worst 6 frames. Second, with the next piece window you are not in a purely reactive mode (watching top players with an eye tracking device is revealing: they are essentially focusing a lot on the next piece, living in the future, and only confirming that their piece placements are ok ). But I think my point still stands: we're right at the limit of human capabilities. You just have to look at the global list of grand masters: it is was generally accepted that it progresses from order of magnitude to order magnitude: thereés several thousands TGM1 Gm, some hundreds of TGM2 Gm and only a handful of TGM3 Gm.
It's for all these reasons that I think it would be very hard to find a new game mechanic that would make the game even faster.
And I think this is more or less known by the devs. While there's a mention of in a tweet of description of a mode (or achievement ) that originally says "humanity's ultimate skill class", the main tagline that was revealed when the game was first announced is "Tetris that makes you good at Tetris".
And so this was a terribly round-about way (but entertaining I hope!) of saying that with this game design goal in mind, it's acceptable and even desirable to switch the behavior from step reset to move reset. It does make the game easier, but it doesn't give you a free lunch either.
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Comment on Tetris The Grand Master 4 -Absolute Eye- in ~games
PetitPrince Link ParentThere's the Switch and PS4/5 port by Hamster? I assume you're a pc gamer? There's one change in the core gameplay that were lost in the draft of what I wrote that's controversial, maybe mandated...I'm enjoying playing Heboris for now in lieu of any feasible legal ways to play the official series
There's the Switch and PS4/5 port by Hamster? I assume you're a pc gamer?
I get the impression from your comparisons that if it wasn't for the oddly positioned next box, it would still be a relatively faithful successor with some changes and tweaks to modes and grades
There's one change in the core gameplay that were lost in the draft of what I wrote that's controversial, maybe mandated maybe willed into being by Arika. I'll write about it later because it may be actually good or at least in agreement in what TGM4 wants to be. But uh... I'm at work at the moment.
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Comment on Tetris The Grand Master 4 -Absolute Eye- in ~games
PetitPrince Link ParentFun fact: I think that more or less correspond to what's inside the arcade machine (which is really a desktop PC with some Jamma arcade connector) TGM4 was initially developed for: a Sega RIngwide...Fun fact: I think that more or less correspond to what's inside the arcade machine (which is really a desktop PC with some Jamma arcade connector) TGM4 was initially developed for: a Sega RIngwide 2. But I wouldn't be surprised if the min spec ends up lower than that.
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Comment on Tetris The Grand Master 4 -Absolute Eye- in ~games
PetitPrince Link ParentTotal invisibility is a challenge that you have to unlock through your gameplay. When you launch the main mode it actually starts the same as all other Tetris with low gravity. Split second...Total invisibility is a challenge that you have to unlock through your gameplay. When you launch the main mode it actually starts the same as all other Tetris with low gravity. Split second decision is something you learn to do and definitely are not expected to master (eh.) from day one.
Also coincidentally, according to the press release the tagline for this version of TGM is "Tetris that makes you good at Tetris" so presumably there's more pedagogical and lenient element to the game (we already know there's a tutorial mode).
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Comment on Tetris The Grand Master 4 -Absolute Eye- in ~games
PetitPrince (edited )Link ParentI'd like to address that first. While I get what you're saying, I don't think that TGM1 is the purest of the bunch (and there's next to no Tetris Company influence in TGM2). While the latter...the purity of the first TGM.
I'd like to address that first. While I get what you're saying, I don't think that TGM1 is the purest of the bunch (and there's next to no Tetris Company influence in TGM2). While the latter installment have a bunch of mechanical changes and/or addition that enables an even faster gameplay, all three games are valid in their own rights. Bicycle race doesn't invalid long distance running, after all. In fact, all three games are still actively played and most world records are from the last 4 years1.
1 Ok the WR for TGM1 is from 2010, but that's more a proof of 777's monstruous skill than lack of activity
Do you think that [Tetris Company Influence on TGM] this applies to TGM4?
I'd like to preface the rest by stating that there's a tendency for the community in putting all the blame for the bad stuff that happens to TGM to The Tetris Company (henceforth referred as "TTC" or "guidelines", because the TTC publish a guideline document that all Tetris games has to follow). While there's definitely some precedent (TGM:ACE being the most egregious2, but the gameplay stagnation of the whole genre for 15 years is another one...), I have to force myself to remind my that some of the questionable decision may in fact comes from the dev.
2: TGM Ace was an Xbox 360 version of TGM. Putting aside the fact that putting a Japanese-only game on Xbox is suicide, TGM:Ace had to use a frankensteinian version of the TGM ruleset with some of the features from the Tetris guidelines overwriting some of the decision made by TGM (one of those being included in TGM4, see below). It was so bad that most people in the community act as if it doesn't exist. I certainly didn't even mention it in my video explained.
That being said: Yes, absolutely, and not for the bestL
- As you have notice, that frigging next box. I swear I'll run a virtual monitor app just to clone my screen to it, crop it and put it over the game window just to have it in the proper position. It's absolutely a TTC decision, not an Arika one and it makes no sense. I'm on the fence in just creating a thread in the Steam forum and encouraging people to voice their discontent repeatably. If there's a giga thread that keep saying that's a stupid position, maybe TTC will budge.
- They changed the historical naming scheme of the modes for no good reason. Master mode was always the main mode of TGM. It's a mode where you start at low gravity, then it progressively speeds up the game. But now you need to follow the TTC guideline, and that include the naming scheme With that, "Master" is analogous to "starts at 20G" (see: Tetris Party, Tetris Effect Connected. It's thus all confusing and weird. And doubly so because what used to be "Master" is now "Normal", but there was already a "Normal" mode in TGM2! As a I said, confusing and weird. Here's a table that clarify the situation
Purpose TGM1 TGM2 TGM3 TGM4 Score attack N/A Normal Easy Marathon Main game "Press start" Master Master Normal Start at 20G, survive past ludicrous speed N/A Death N/A Asuka Start at ludicrous speed , survive past the insane speed and the some weird gimmick with the playfield N/A N/A Shirase Master - The marathon game mode exists. Maybe I'm too quick to dismiss this game mode (and I even haven't actually played the game), but I feel that keeping this old mode (make X lines to gain a level, the game gets faster with the level) is kinda useless because the rest of the game fills a better role than that. Causal and survival games are perfectly serviced by Master (now called Normal") mode, and since T-spin is worth more point than Tetris, the game becomes a race to make as most crazy T-spin as possible (which you cannot do if you play with TGM rotation anyway), and at that point you're better be playing multiplayer versus. As a sidenote it's interesting that the common decision for the score attack mode in both TGM2 ("Normal mode") and TGM3 ("Easy mode") was to make the game shorter. It's true it's also a bait for casual players since the game is shorter, but ultimately it also limit the ressource you have at your disposal (you're pressured to make the most of your pieces)
- Simplified grade system ? This may be an actually good news, but it's a change nonetheless. According to this comment by Mihara in the Steam forum , the grade system was overhauled and simplified. While I agree that the COOL/REGRET system is overly complex in TGM3, but I'm convinced it's more a problem of transparency and communication rather than a of the system itself. Because the grade system is really Devil May Cry stylish gauge, except not all ranks are displayed (several ranks make one grade if you will), and you cannot reset the rank. Here's hoping the spirit is still there .
- No online: I will just paste the content of this tweet. Keep in mind that Arika is also the developper of Tetris 99, one of the best and smartest multiplayer Tetris I know of.
Thank you for all the positive comments regarding the offline feature in yesterday’s TGM4
These days, « online-only » seems to be the norm, but obtaining a license that includes online functionality is extremely challenging due to conflicts with other content. As a result, we decided to move forward with an offline-focused release for Steam, where we could secure a license.
While it’s true that having online support for TGM4’s versus mode would be ideal, we want to start by releasing it as a content-rich offline
We appreciate your continued support!
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Comment on ‘Pokémon Go’ video game maker Niantic acquired by Scopely for $3.5 billion in ~games
PetitPrince LinkInstead of Pokemon Go, I play Street Complete that fills a similar niche. And that time filling a giant database is the actual point since you're contributing to the Openstreetmap project.Instead of Pokemon Go, I play Street Complete that fills a similar niche. And that time filling a giant database is the actual point since you're contributing to the Openstreetmap project.
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Comment on Tetris The Grand Master 4 -Absolute Eye- in ~games
PetitPrince LinkThe latest installment of my favorite flavor of Tetris finally have a Steam page and is scheduled to release either this month or the next ! I talk a lot about Tetris (see my comment history), and...The latest installment of my favorite flavor of Tetris finally have a Steam page and is scheduled to release either this month or the next !
I talk a lot about Tetris (see my comment history), and seeing a Steam page for TGM4 is a little miracle by itself, as an earlier version of this game was announced, cancelled, re-announced and re-cancelled (there's a lot of drama and politics around Arika (developers) and The Tetris Company (rightsholder)).
The TGM series is dear to my heart because of its meticulous game design (see the video I made (and discussion on Tildes)). TLDW:
it's the Dark Souls of TetrisDark Souls is the TGM of third person action adventure RPG1 !1 TGM predates Demon Souls by 10 years
I'll probably continue to
spam youpost in this thread when the game actually releases.Oh and yes, it's going to be Steam Deck verified
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Tetris The Grand Master 4 -Absolute Eye-
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
PetitPrince Link ParentStuff that didn't resonate with you Isn't that intentional though ? I have the feeling that many of the characters and stories are illustration of how (and why ?) to endure/resist to hardship ....Stuff that didn't resonate with you
Isn't that intentional though ? I have the feeling that many of the characters and stories are illustration of how (and why ?) to endure/resist to hardship .And that's perhaps why the ending is irking us so much: it's prescriptive but not developed enough to feel earned/justified.
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Comment on Battery-storage project that will become the biggest in Finland has been given the go-ahead to start construction – can store power for two hours in ~enviro
PetitPrince LinkThat's a weird way, misleading way and negative way to represent energy. I doubt those kind of storage is designed to be used at full capacity (because the grid is... a grid). The official press...The 70-megawatt system — which can store power for two hours
That's a weird way, misleading way and negative way to represent energy. I doubt those kind of storage is designed to be used at full capacity (because the grid is... a grid).
The official press release says:
he project will add 70 MW/140 MWh of storage capacity to SEB Nordic Energy’s Finnish portfolio
Which gives us the output (70 MW, or like 20 wind turbines, or one large solar installation) and amount of energy stored (140 MWh).
Some napkin calc: A Swedish household uses about 20 KWh per day, so this battery (140 MWh) can power 7000 of them (i.e. a small town of 21 000 peoples) for a day (140 000 / 20 = 7000). Or 20 of them (a small village ?) for a year (7000/365 = 19-ish) . Or we can use the (wrong) assumption that half of the time it's not used (because it's using solar), so we say it's 14 000 households (42 000 inhabitants), which is a medium town for a day.
Which is any case is a better outlook than saying "this thing can only work for 2 hours lol".
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
PetitPrince LinkI've finished 1000xResist over the weekend and I found this is a really solid narrative experience. It's ostensibly a science fiction story with some heavy Evangelion inspiration (I mean...), but...I've finished 1000xResist over the weekend and I found this is a really solid narrative experience. It's ostensibly a science fiction story with some heavy Evangelion inspiration (I mean...), but it's really a story about a girl living in the West with parent coming from Hong Kong who end up in a fucked up situation.
Being a 2nd gen immigrant myself (but not this country nor this conflict) it was easy to be sympathetic to what Iris went through (... my parents are cool tho). But a bit like Everything Everywhere All at Once it's not only about the difficulties of mixing wonton and maple sirup, it's also about upbringing, toxic relationship, repetition, religion, politics and political systems, Hong Kong, the end of the world and the end of a world and of course resistance (how, when, why).
Those themes can probably resonates with the uh... political kerfuffle in the US of A I'm sure many of Tildes reader are experiencing.
Anyway, the story itself is very well constructed and you'll uncover the story and themes layer by layer, with each chapter recontextualizing what just transpired so far.
Earlier in another edition of this recurring thread @Gaywallet asked
Also, if anyone else out there played through this, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the story... what did you think? Do you have any lingering questions left over? Were there parts of the story that irked
you or that you found particularly moving?So here's my answers:
Lingering question
So what happened to the original sisters ? I mean, we find their graves, but how did they die ? We learned that Chapter 2 might be a fabrication of Youngest, and I doubt Iris would also kill the original sisters in a bout a rage (clone-Jiao is enough), and if I remember correctly she rather went in exile to do a perma communion with the Occupant.
Moving moment
The parents reminiscing about the protest and debating over the futility of it over the last drop of alcohol of the world. Probably one of the strongest moment of the game.
Irking moment
The epilogue feels a bit jarring. After so much meticulous narration then suddenly you ask the player for their opinion, just before forcing/judging/assessing their choice with some obviously bad choices (insta repeat, no real epilogue / credit sequence) and some without any real opinion on them (parents doesn't change anything).
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Comment on For decades, the Swiss city of Basel has been transforming its skyline, and now boasts some of the greenest rooftops in Europe in ~enviro
PetitPrince LinkYou can look at those yourself by looking at the aerial view of the city*. Depending on the area, there's indeed quite a number of rooftops that are green to brownish. *Swisstopo instead of Google...You can look at those yourself by looking at the aerial view of the city*. Depending on the area, there's indeed quite a number of rooftops that are green to brownish.
*Swisstopo instead of Google maps because it's better quality and publicly funded
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Comment on Obsidian is now free for work in ~tech
PetitPrince (edited )Link ParentStill since obsidian works with markdown (data is portable), in case of heavy enshitification you're free to migrate elsewhere, and note taking app / knowledge management software are not in short...Still since obsidian works with markdown (data is portable), in case of heavy enshitification you're free to migrate elsewhere, and note taking app / knowledge management software are not in short supply.
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Comment on Peeves, opinions, and hot takes about style in ~humanities.languages
PetitPrince LinkI don't understand : what is an abstract but a brief summary of the paper?An abstract should be... an abstract [...] a summary of the paper.
I don't understand : what is an abstract but a brief summary of the paper?
Even closer