Blockout 3D Tetris Thread

Thread in 'Discussion' started by herc, 14 Jul 2006.

  1. Air Gear

    Air Gear Unregistered


    The first two possibilities you gave are pretty cool, though "by acceleration" is better by far. All that needs to be added to that is a "press A while doing the movement" for each case, though I'm pretty sure that you were assuming that in the first place.


    Oh yeah, then there's where to put the drops...I haven't actually played with a Wii controller so I'm probably not the most qualified person for this, but it doesn't look like the 1 and 2 buttons on the wiimote are placed well for drops. The choices appear to be the B on the wiimote or the R and Z on the nunchuk. Since there's only the one on the wiimote, I'd think that the R and Z would be the idea. Logically these would hence be the soft and hard drops, though whether both lock or one locks (and if so, which one) would be good user options.


    As for the name, it can't include Tris plus it should include Blockout (I'd hope to get something close to an official ok on this one), so...Blockout Reloaded is another good one. The reason I came up with "Absolute" was less the TAP aspect of it as much as the fact that it implies that now the game is ready. Now we have what we need to make the game playable and intuitive with this control method. Another that came to mind along that line was "Blockout Final", which is sort of like saying that all versions were betas up to this point, given that we only got the wiimote that we needed to play it all along recently.
     
  2. here is something to think about:


    [​IMG]

    these are sensor readings of my wiimote, pointing towards the tv and performing whipping movements. really doesnt look easy to extract the desired rotation from the acceleration sensor readings [​IMG] ...
     
  3. Air Gear

    Air Gear Unregistered

    Hm. That looks like a tricky problem, but with more of a data set for what kinds of readings come out of certain motions...maybe we could find that as an average things are slightly nicer. Here's hoping, at least.
     
  4. i will do so. collect more data. and if nothing helps, training a neuronal network will do.


    also, i think a more natural posture to hold the wiimote is not pointing to the screen, but to the sky, i.e. holding it like a torch. this is

    1. more ergonomic

    2. roll movements are much easier (and this is the rotation you will perform most often, and the only you would perform in 2d tetris)

    3. i hope that sensor readings are more clearly distinguishable without the strange rebound effect you can notice in "pitch up, tvpointing"


    next step is figuring out how to read out sensor data using c++. there is an up to date library using C#, but it is not so easy to use a managed library with unmanaged C++ code. the problem with the pure C(++) libs is that they all date back to 2006, and do not seem to be actively maintained.... ( wiimote lib, C#: http://blogs.msdn.com/coding4fun/archiv ... 79033.aspx )


    anyone knows a working, fine C(++) lib for wiimote pc win32 access?
     
  5. Air Gear

    Air Gear Unregistered

    By the way, herc, let me apologize for being thoroughly useless right about now. I don't have a Wii, so that really doesn't help...I should pick up a wiimote anyway, though, and try hooking it into my computer. That way I might have some value with all of this.
     
  6. @air gear: why then not just buy a wii? ok, its some bucks, but its really great. for example Resident Evil for Wii is one of the greatest games i have played lately. nearly or as good as halflife 1+2.

    regarding just buying a wiimote: rather dont do it, because its kind of a mess to get it connected with windows xp. the default bluetooth drivers almost certainly wont do, you would need to use bluesolail commercial bluetooth stack. also, it is alsways difficult to connect the wiimote - i need to do it manually and in a special order and etc etc.. shitty. but at least, i got it to work, so i can soon test your and mine ideas. so i only suggest you to buy a wiimote-only, if you are ready for some serious frustration. on the other hand - using glovepie you can do alot of stuff - for example playing many games using wiimote via pre-made scripts.


    i have found a promising c++ library for Wii -access:


    http://wiiyourself.gl.tter.org/


    i will try to use this lib soon - probably tomorrow i hope to have a small demo-exe that allows to control normal tetris using nunchuck and wiimote.
     
  7. tepples

    tepples Lockjaw developer

    It's more expensive than an Xbox 360 core system because only online resellers that sell significantly above MSRP can keep them in stock. Typically, all one can find in the United States is the Wii Play bundle for about $320 plus $40 shipping.


    How easy would it be to control falling pentacubes with two analog sticks, such as those found on a DualShock connected through a USB adapter?


    Left stick: move

    Right stick: Move in direction and return to center to rotate about X or Y axis; move and rotate from there (e.g. Street Fighter II fireball) to rotate about Z axis

    L: hold

    R: drop
     
  8. @tepples: ok, didnt know that xbox 360 core is cheaper in usa.. here in germany, a wii is 250 euro, a xbox360 core goes for around 300.


    about analog usb controller: i would say: first analog stick: movements,

    second analog stick: rotate x axis, yaxis. now - z-axis is still missing. that could be done with tilting (on ps3) or the shoulder buttons or such.. any suggestions?


    (coordinate system i am using is as in OpenGL: right-handed with z-axis pointing out of the screen)



    edit: ahh didnt saw your suggestions! ok, that fireball like whirl with the right stick could work, but it would be slow, wouldnt it? the idea is cool, definitely something for beginners! but for faster gameplay maybe the more expirienced gamer should use buttons or such...
     
  9. tepples

    tepples Lockjaw developer

    In the United States, the suggested retail price for Wii is 250 USD and the Xbox 360 core is 300 USD. However, due to lack of supply from Nintendo, retailers find it much hard to keep the Wii in stock at MSRP, and only eBay sellers that price the thing at a significant premium seem to keep steady stock. Has Nintendo of Europe solved its supply problem better than Nintendo of America has?


    The N64 controller would be ideal: C buttons rotate about X and Y; B and A rotate about Z. I seem to remember 3D Tetris, a Blockout clone for Virtual Boy released by Nintendo/Elorg, using a similar scheme with its A and B buttons and C-pad. But not a lot of people have adapters from an N64 or especially VB controller to a PC.
     
  10. last time i was in my local electronics store, there were plenty of Wii in stock. there was a shortage around christmas and january + february, but since then afaik there were always Wii's available!


    i will try you suggested scheme, but first i will burn my fingers trying to use the wiimote [​IMG]

    edit: yeah, i managed to compile the Wiiyourself library. but i am too tired to continue.. but now i am very close to use the wiimote the first time for gravytris [​IMG]
    going to play ResidentEvil4Wii now.
     
  11. Air Gear

    Air Gear Unregistered


    At $8.15/hr. (and this is as good as it has gotten lately), I really don't want to go spending 250+ bucks at the moment. That's especially true when I have books to buy for future classes, plus there's the fact that I've yet to finish paying for books from awhile back...
     
  12. @airgear: i am sorry about that. the rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer... history repeating.
     
  13. Dear Blockout Fans, Blockout II from Jean Luc Pons is now also available for Linux! It is using open standards like OpenGL and SDL and thus might also now easily be ported to MacOS, Solaris and many other operating systems that support OpenGL and SDL.


    [​IMG]
     
  14. [​IMG]

    Blockout II from Jean Luc Pons got a Software Award from www.softpedia.com:


    "BlockOut II 2.3 - SOFTPEDIA "100% FREE" AWARD


    This software product was tested in the Softpedia labs on: 09 August 2007


    Softpedia guarantees that BlockOut II 2.3 is 100% FREE, which means it is a freeware product (both for personal and commercial use) that does not contain any form of malware, including but not limited to: spyware, viruses, trojans and backdoors.


    This software product was tested thoroughly and was found absolutely clean, therefore it can be installed with no concern by any computer user. However, it should be noted that this product will be retested periodically and the award may be withdrawn, so you should check back this page and especially the date of testing shown above. "



    http://games.softpedia.com/progClean/Bl ... 19068.html softpedia.com 100% Freeware Award


    http://games.softpedia.com/get/Freeware ... t-II.shtml softpeda.com Blockout II Page
     
  15. Jean Luc released blockout 2.4, now including a practice mode (zero gravity) and an advanced computer AI (including path planning etc)


    http://www.blockout.net
     

Share This Page