No new version on this page. I'm still working on a specification for the next killer feature. Rosti LFC: Two others have requested factoring out goal from gimmick. I'll put you down on the list. The rotation system determines the starting position. Try editing wkSpawnMove[] in wktables.c. I'll put you down on the list of votes for a rotation system editor, along with Needle and DIGITAL.
If only we could separate every single element and let the player assemble the rules himself and save presets.
don't worry, we'll help you get to the next page soon can i get on the list too? sounds like it'd be fun to mess with.
"I'm still working on a specification for the next killer feature." Sounds cool. Put me down for that list, the lines/time goal thingy list, and the 180 rotation with wall kicks list. =]
I'll be on those lists too, esp. the rotation system/orientation editor. I'd kill for ARS with SRS orientations.
Hello. I'm new to the forums and pretty new to Tetris. Well, of course I've occasionally played Tetris and the like for a long time, but just recently learned about TGM and Tetris Concept. In TGM1, my record is level 699 with S4, but like with many other new players, 20G is totally destroying me. And like many other players, I found Lockjaw with manual locking helpful for training. I still can't get to level 1000 even with that. I think this learning aspect of Lockjaw is very important and while playing around with it a bit I thought of couple of improvements. Sorry if any of these have been discussed before, but the thread IS 54 pages long. Training with manual locking takes away all need of hurry, which is good for learning how the pieces rotate and where to put them. But it's bad in the way it doesn't teach you any sort of speed when actually dropping the pieces. I've overcome this by creating this INGENIOUS system for myself where before locking the piece, I look at the next piece, picture its path and buttons I have to press, then I lock and execute my plan as quickly as possible. This still isn't too realistic though. So how about having a manual entry delay? So you could set the lock delay to normal, but after the piece is locked, the next piece doesn't fall until you press a button. Any rotation for IRS, hold for IHS or any drop for making it fall normally. This way you could keep the conscious cognitive effort for figuring out the best way for stacking, while still having to practice speed when actually moving the piece. This should be pretty easy to implement too. Also another thing for a "learning mode". Sometimes you make a huge mistake that results in a big unrecoverable hole. Also, sometimes you might want to try out alternative ways of stacking. I propose a mode where you can undo your pieces. Pressing undo once would remove the last piece you dropped, pressing it again would remove the one before the last piece etc. It might be good to add the manual entry delay after an undo. This would also be great for practicing difficult moves. You could stack a situation where you have to take a difficult path, then try it, undo, try it again, etc. Of course it might cause people to become lazy and not training recovery, but I think the overall effect would be very positive. I don't know how hard it would be to implement. I think it would be better that undoing would still keep the same pieces, so it might be obligatory to save the pieces in a list, so you could practice a segment of your play with the exact same pieces. One thing about Lockjaw that still puzzles me is: Is it supposed to be an enjoyable game in itself? Or mostly an experimental game for testing things and practicing? With Lockjaw, the customizability is its strongest point, but at the same time, in a way, its greatest weakness. Especially after changing the settings, I was completely lost on what would be a good way to play. I got questions like: "Was my run a good one?" "Are these settings too easy?" "What are other players playing with?" I got this very empty feeling. After a game, there was a big bunch of numbers, that had no meaning to me. If I don't browse through the huge results text file, I can't even compare my runs to my other runs. People love the feeling they've achieved something. Actually, I think that's one of the main reasons they even play computer games, if not THE most important reason. Lockjaw's lack of highscores, "black hole of customizability" and playing modes that feel a meaningless greatly decrease this feeling. IF the game is supposed to be enjoyed on it's own, I'd suggest that at some point you would create a playing mode with fixed settings. Or better yet, two fixed settings for TGM-like play and Tetris Guideline-like play. The mode should also have some sort of semi-interesting level system. I'm not saying you should make another clone of TGM, but maybe create your own "Lockjaw Master Mode". Preferably with highscores too. I realize this is sort of against the whole openness and customizability idea of Lockjaw, but the fun in games comes from rules and limitations. Have you ever tried playing Doom with wall cheat, god mode and infinite ammo for BFG9000? It's not exactly fun. I think the modes could co-exist. You could even make it possible to change a few settings, like in the Lockjaw records in the records forum, or allow unofficial runs of the "Master Mode" with custom settings. Yes, I do know that most of that stuff you probably already know, and you might have it on the todo-list or the "not the goal of this game" list, and I know it's just version 0.41, but I thought I'd go the long way and explain my motivation for the suggestions. Then... a bit more general improvement would be a system where you could save settings in files. So you would have a screen where you can browse, load and save settings. It would also be great if there was a set of default settings included with Lockjaw. At least the ones that are in the wiki. I'd guess most of the people who find lockjaw don't find the wiki page with different settings. I would consider these two previous feature suggestions a bit more low priority than the two first, mostly because they're much bigger, but IF you would want to make it even a bit more appealing I would suggest changing the default skin and making menu a bit more interesting. (And/or skinnable.) Of course these are just silly little details, but since there even is a skin system, I'd guess you're not wholly against eye candy? Damn, that came out pretty long... I always end up writing huge posts, that no one likes to read... Sorry for that.
Lockjaw isn't exactly a game within itself. I guess that's the job of the community. Lockjaw just provides us the means for doing so. Perhaps in the future, tepples may integrate some sort of customizable grades, achievements, and whatnot along with presets. If you're looking for something like that in the meantime, Heboris is the other big candidate among fangames/clones around here. No worries. I enjoy reading long posts. I'll let tepples handle the response to the rest of the post though.
Yeah, I know about Heboris. For some reason I didn't run into it when checking the wiki and stuff the first time a couple of months ago, but I've had it for a while now. I also managed to hunt down Mame 99u4, TGM2 and TAP, so I don't really have a specific need for yet another game. Just that I thought I'd mention my oppinion on the most obvious improvement. I DID mean to add a mention about Heboris and how it's doing a decent job on its own, but forgot. :/ EDIT: Oh yea, one thing I forgot. This is probably already known, but thought I'd mention it just in case. The "Enter above ceiling" in off state still enters partly above ceiling.
i think training recovery is a very important part of learning to be a better player. we all make mistakes, unless we're playing too slow. if you watch videos of the top players you'll see mistakes obvious to the beginner, but fixes fascinating to the experienced player. knowledge of those fixes is part of what makes those players so good, and keeps them on the path to achieving a great rank/score/time. i'm glad to see another enthusiastic player here, and i hope you have fun and see continued improvement.
It's been both for me. The only results I pay attention to are TPM and playing time. I find 40 lines mode gives me a sense of accomplishment. Why wouldn't it? It doesn't feel meaningless at all to me.
I find Lockjaw to be first and foremost a tool, rather than a 'game' as such. I play it to investigate styles, and mainly as a tool to measure speed. It's a game that allows speed to be restricted only by the speed of the player. You can change everything you want to make it suit how you play, and it'll allow you to find a true value for how quick you can actually play.
New suuggestion; Add an ArikaFK rotation system. "FK" stands for floor kicks. It can be done with a simply .DLL file written in C/Basic language. IN this example, val_1 is lock delay, and val_2 is the rotation key, val_3 is if it's colliding with another block, val_4 is the height of the block, and val_5 is step reset. val_5 = 1 if val_1 = 1, and val_2 = 1, if val_3 = 1, val_4 - 4 Chenge the values to match the games current coding and you're set.
You can already do this. Set "Rotation system" to "Arika" and "Floor kicks" to "Unlimited". (Or did I misunderstand what you suggested?)
It's a reference implementation of a front-end for Lockjaw Engine, which in turn is intended to document the tetromino game, much like MAME. As Rosti LFC said, it's a toy, much like SimCity is a toy. If you want a game in itself, play Tetris instead But you will have your presets very soon.
Perhaps the bigger picture would be to have a speedcurve editor and custom presets rather than have arbitrary speedcurves?
LOCKJAW 0.43 is out 0.43 (2008-02-10) Player can initial-rotate out of block out (bug 0090). Initial rotation doesn't use wall kick (bug 0059). Names for values in Drop scoring and Shadow fixed (0.42 regression, reported by Lardarse). Number of line clears in DS debrief should be cut off at the right side less often (bug 0089; fix based on a patch by kesiev). Fixed line clear gravity in cascade preset (reported by 4matsy). Fixed Fibonacci scoring with more than 8 lines per piece (reported by 4matsy). Debrief is more compact, allowing GBA to use debrief (bug 0031; fix based on a patch by kesiev). Debrief: Zigzag secret grade requires the hole in the top row to be covered (reported by Kitaru). PC: If installed.txt is in the same folder as the program, ignores the current directory and stores all writable files to the user's application data folder (bug 0091). PC: When loading skins, searches for files in the folder with the .skin file instead of the current directory (bug 0033). PC: Replay sets up playback gimmick (0.42 regression, reported by DIGITAL). PC: LJVorbis doesn't double-fclose the .ogg file (reported by kesiev). PC: Mouse drops to bottom after skin or replay selection (requested by jujube). PC: Options is separated into pages, like on GBA/DS (bug 0082). This frees up room for larger type (requested by jujube). This release is focused on quality improvements to the existing features. DIGITAL and mushroom: I'll put you two down as voting for bug 0040 (custom speed curves). But then how would that interact with replays? If a user tries to play back a .ljm that was recorded with a custom speed curve that the player doesn't have installed, what should be done? Likewise for custom rotation systems.
you could place the burden on the player. if they want others to see their replay they can make a video of it, or they can upload the settings they used for their custom speed curve or rotation system.
