My trip to Tetris Headquarters

Thread in 'Locations & Events' started by caffeine, 22 Jul 2008.

  1. Most of you already know that I entered the AT&T sponsored Tetris Mobile (by EA) tournament and won it. The prize was a trip to Hawaii for two people, four nights, and $2000. I left on the thirteenth and got back home on the twentieth. I had a blast. I got to go surfing, site-seeing, snorkeling, all the other touristy type stuff, but best of all I got to visit Tetris Headquarters!

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    Aloha!

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    Sweet smell of victory.

    On the sixteenth, I hung out with Chaos and z-flo, who both were finalists in the Tetris Cup earlier this year. Chaos and I met up at the Ala Moana mall and took a bus to downtown Honolulu. Chaos had called up Blue Planet Software's public relations guy Danny, and he gave us a tour of Blue Planet Software (BPS)'s facility!

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    Where Tetris babies come from.

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    These pictures are actually projected onto the wall in front of the elevator.

    The first thing I saw there was a very old and archaic computer that said on it... Electronica 60. I look over to Chaos and say, "that's not what I think it is." Chaos then explained to me that it was in fact the very Electronica 60 that Alexey originally programmed Tetris. I quickly snapped a shot on my cell phone.

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    The original Electronica 60, a device older than myself. Danny says it doesn't work anymore, unfortunately.

    Close by was a display of a very nice assortment of various Tetris games from Tetris handhelds to Tetris The Grand Master Ace to Tetris 4D--all in mint condition, I believe. Danny showed us around and explained how they mainly handled the many Tetris licenses and how BPS is concerned also with standardizing the rules of Tetris so that people can cross platforms and won't suffer tetlag (no he didn't actually use the word "tetlag.") All throughout the offices there were posters, toys, and other promotional-type Tetris thingies. They even had an arcade cabinet laying around, which I didn't get a very good look at.

    Later on we ran into KBR, who's actually a really funny guy in real life. Apparently KBR had beat Chaos pretty bad in a "just for fun" match during the Tetris Cup, so Chaos wanted a rematch. KBR and another employee Chad sat down with us and we duked it out on Tetris DS. Everyone at the table was very good at the game, and we had some great matches. Eventually a bunch of BPS guys came in and presented me with a super-cool-gonna-wear-it-all-the-time Tetris Cup t-shirt! After everyone got their fill of Tetris DS, we headed back to the mall.

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    This shirt has "I play Tetris, and I mean business" written all over it.

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    Thanks to Holly for helping me hold it up.

    After having some conveyorized sushi, we met up with z-flo at Barnes & Noble and had another intense Tetris DS match. We ended the session with some Planet Puzzle League (which z-flo pwned hard). Then we made the walk back to Waikiki and discussed a lot of Tetris stuff and also discussed food a little.

    Words I learned to pronounce correctly: Alexey (just like the regular name Alex + ee), Henk (Hank), and Korobeiniki.
     
  2. The original Electronica 60!! That is too cool.

    "Put it in H!"
     
  3. Wow! The original Tetris-Electronica 60! EXTREMELY cool, Caffeine!! [​IMG]
     
  4. What does "Put it in H!" mean?
     
  5. jujube

    jujube Unregistered

    the first pic is beautiful, and the second pic is even more beautiful, but Alexey's Electronica 60 is too beautiful for pictures [​IMG]

    i think that's a line from the simpsons. good episode anyway [​IMG]
     
  6. caffeine, your trip (or pilgramage) looks amazing. and that shirt is quite possibly the coolest i've ever seen. congrats again for your well-deserved accolades.
     
  7. Chaos

    Chaos Unregistered

    twas a pleasure touring you around. We may be seeing you and some of the others in the future with the upcoming tournament in works. We'll have to definitely go hang out and play tetris prior to the big tourney day. sorry neither of us had cars, i wouldve preferred driving everywhere haha.
     
  8. hova

    hova Unregistered

    did you told them that infinity spin sucks?
     
  9. No. I didn't really complain or anything. I just told them about how the current marathon goal line / score system isn't working properly.
     
  10. ...to put it mildly.
     
  11. jujube

    jujube Unregistered

    works for me. it's the same kooky system every game, every level, every time. i know if i do something good early in a level...BAM there goes all my goal. never fails!

    what did they say caffeine?
     
  12. Danny asked me what I thought of Tetris Friends, and I mentioned the problem with Marathon. At first he thought I was talking about how it ends at level 15 (which a lot of Facebookers don't like), but he wasn't aware of how the scoring is messed up. It was too complicated to really explain why there was a problem, so I don't think he really got what I was saying. I know from Tetris Zone that KBR is well aware of the problem, though.

    Games with the Marathon problem so far:

    Tetris Zone
    Tetris Evolution
    Tetris Splash
    Tetris Friends

    Anyone know of any others? It's so bizarre that the problem has made its way into all of these games and no one has bothered fixing it.
     
  13. Zaphod77

    Zaphod77 Resident Misinformer

    There are two ways to fix the problem.

    1) Add in a significant completion bonus based on playing time, to make up for all the points lost b not following the messed up strategy.

    2) remove goal bonuses completely. only lines actually cleared count towards goal. This makes high scoring clears important again.

    Even if you remove the two existing loopholes, it still is better to score singles, because a greater "pieces per goal line" yields more drop points. Even if you restrict drop points to pieces that clear lines, the same problem applies.

    You see, if you get nothing but tetrises, that's 10 pieces per 8 goal, or 1.25 pieces per goal. If you score only singles, that's 2.5 pieces per goal, which is twice as much drop points. And that's ignoring b2b.

    I believe they wanted to make a game mode where only survival and placement speed matters.

    Here is how to do it.

    1) remove any bonus less than 1 goal unit other than drop points. nerfs single/single.
    2) allow goal carry over.
    3) at end of game, divide total drop score by pieces dropped, then multiply that by 2.5*goal cleared to obtain a new (and greater) adjusted drop score.
     
  14. Could you elaborate on that? Do you mean giving a lot of points for finishing the game quickly?

    I think the best way to do it is number 2. Goal lines don't work.
     
  15. Zaphod77

    Zaphod77 Resident Misinformer

    Either when clearing a level, or when clearing the game. no other time is fair.
     
  16. I see what you're saying, but I don't think that's a good solution. That wouldn't change the strategy, it would just encourage people to do the same strategy faster.
     
  17. Clearly this calls for a 60 SECOND LINE CLEAR ANIMATION!!!!
     
  18. Zaphod77

    Zaphod77 Resident Misinformer

    no, because single single combos are much slower then tetrises and t-spins, so the time bonus would make up for not following the strategy. The time bonus would have to be enough that people who are using the suepr mega messed up strategy get none of them.
     
  19. Single combos, sure. But everything between "end of level" T-Spin Doubles would still not matter. Players can still get over 800k without utilizing single combos.
     
  20. Zaphod77

    Zaphod77 Resident Misinformer

    True the change of making goal carry over can only benefit the game, but if people keep b2b going, overflow tends to happen naturally.
     

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