Records: [Texmaster] Special and Sudden Ti

I think we're done here.

I should point out that this would presumably be a GM if Texmaster had implemented the grade. With an S9 and all cools, you only need 5 grades in the roll for MM. 6 grades would be a GM.

 

Oops, yeah, fixed.

For reference:
6:45:46 M8

Congrats, KevinDDR. That's damn impressive. I hope to follow close behind.

I presume more trips to Narrows are in order...? Make us proud, man.

 

I question the integrity of records on Termino Velocity.

Not even joking either. I think visually it gives a pretty huge advantage over other skins, which I would not necessarily say is unfair, but would say disreputes the validity of the records compared to regular skins.

 

(

KevinDDR can I have your save file, please. And congrats!

 

Anyone can skin the game however they want. If you don't take advantage of this, it's your loss.

 

By the same reasoning anyone can use tools that are freely obtainable in the public domain to TAS Texmaster, and if you don't take advantage of this it's your loss.

 

Skinning is built into the game. TASing is not. Actually, Texmaster detects TASes as shown by Steve's videos.

Anyway, if you think my score is invalid feel free to not put it on the fucking list. I'm sure Digital and I are incapable of even
getting Ms without the skin.

 

Someone's reaction in three, two, ONE!

 

Anyway, here's a video.

You may also add me on Facebook (Kevin Birrell) if you want to see a higher quality version of the video. Replay is uploaded on filefactory, PM for the link.

 

That was the sloppiest, most terrible Ti GM video I have ever watched.





Then again, every other video I've seen is jin8 or KAN. Congratulations, Kevin. You're probably the best in the world at Texmaster Special Ti. Now go get MM at Narrows!!!

 

The only one thing we could reproach is that the skinn can significantely slowdown the game..But may be not in the positive direction :

My best sudden ti 0-100 with skinn : ~26
My best sudden ti 0-100 without : ~24,5

My PC is not a shit..At least not for Texmaster I think.

 

1. Wow Kevin, CONGRATULATIONS! So awesome!

2. Lol, Rosti. Skinning is a function in the game as Kevin said. Of course records attained with a certain skin is valid... Also, you can't know if someone has used a skin or not, you could just change to standard skin and load your save file that you used a skin with, and take a screenshot.

 

The fact that skinning is part of the game still doesn't remove the issue that I think skinning makes it easier, and I don't like the notion that people should have to optimise their skin packs to set their best records.

And the "we can't know if someone has used a skin" argument is utter bullshit, because we don't know if the records in most of the leaderboards are legit. I could easily fake a Texmaster screenshot with a bit of work (or use an older version without the TAS detection), or I could also easily tool-assist TGM1 or TAP and take a screenshot, and you'd have no way of knowing.

I believe in this case, from my own experience, that the credit roll in the Termino Velocity skin is markedly easier than the credit roll in the regular Texmaster skin. The rest of the visuals I think makes a difference, but not a huge one, so it's specifically the modified credit roll that I have issue with.

 

Can you describe what makes the credit roll easier exactly? Because right now your case is very weak. Considering we don't force everyone to use a joystick, forcing the default theme seems a bit silly.

 

Let's just update the leaderboard and call it a day! Even if Termino Velocity did in some way serve as a visual aid, anyone can use it and the top 2 scores in fact both did use it. I think we're done here.

 

The standard credit roll in Texmaster has quite a lot of text, and it's all completely white (as in not faded) on the dark background. I've long said that I think I struggle on even the semi-invisible credit rolls on Texmaster because my eyes get screwed up by the bright wall of text moving up behind the pieces and it throws me off. As well as having the percentage things (which I'll agree are only an aid to the extent that you don't have to bother learning which names in the credit roll correspond to which time) the credit roll is mostly just black, with the bits of text that are there being quite dark and far less distracting to the eye.

None of this is anything particularly personal against Kevin. This isn't something I jumped to yesterday in a bitter "fuck, Kevin's score can't genuinely be right" moment. I've always had an issue with adding Termino Velocity screenshots to the leaderboard because I've always thought that it provides visual/aural aids to the player (this being what Digital has said he aimed to do with it). I've just never said anything before now because there's never been a score worth making a complaint about.

I've wanted to make a proper discussion thread on the effect of skins, screen size and other visual aids on gameplay for a good few weeks now, but I've been busy as fuck with work and other things, to the point where I've not even managed to properly manage/compete in my own Blockbox tournament, let alone make a huge opening post on my thoughts on this stuff.

I think to say skinning is built into the game is a little strong. Skinning is something which the game lets you do to it, and it's not as straightforward to get your own optimal skin as it is to configure controls or the like, especially when it gets to the levels of modification on Termino Velocity.

I'm not against the use of skins entirely but, as I said in IRC last night, I feel that the base level of difficulty should be the easiest, and all subsequent customisations on how you play the game can only increase the difficulty. In the same way that MAME scores could technically not be allowed on the TGM1 threads because they're not the real thing, but they are because you're handicapping the core gameplay with input lag by not using the real game on an arcade machine.

We don't allow scores on the TGM threads if they're not the authentic game at least emulated because there could be (and are) tiny differences in how clones handle the inputs and grading and whatever. Even if the clones were exactly correct, I'm not sure we'd allow them.
I question why miniscule differences in frame timing matter so much more than other things such as the skin or input method, when I think the effect on difficulty can be pretty similar. Sure, you can't specifically quantify it or draw a line on certain things, but I think there should still be recognition that the difference is there.

Tetris is a game that relies heavily on your eyes, and I think skins can have an important subconscious effect on speed as your mind distinguishes the pieces more easily depending on the skin. If you're playing on a background of tetris pieces or, to use a less extreme example, the same bright colours used for the blocks, it's going to take far more effort for your eyes to concentrate on the blocks than it is compared to a pure black background. If you re-skinned the grandfather blocks in Sudden Ti to be solid grey squares, it'd still be monochrome but I think it'd be a shitload easier because it would be easier for your peripheral vision to pick up the shape of the stack and where holes are.

The main issue I really have here is not that skins are allowed, but that there's no clarity over them. If I can put some sort of link or mirror to Termino Velocity in the first post with a side-note to state that using the skin could increase the capability of the player in Texmaster, then I'd have far less of a problem. Currently though it's pretty obscure for how people actually obtain this, or make their own skins (to a greater extent than just changing backgrounds), past just "figure it out". If someone makes a skin or soundpack or anything that assists their gameplay then they should make it public domain and easy to find so that others can use it and obtain the same benefits. Otherwise they're gaining an unfair advantage through their ability to tweak the game rather than their ability to play Tetris.

The base difficulty should be the easiest, which in this case would definitely be Termino Velocity for TM vs TV. If players want to use other skins to their own handicap then they can, because they'll be making things harder and not easier. Obviously with things like skins there are going to be parts which are open to debate over what is better, but I think there are aspects like higher clarity and contrast of the pieces with the background, among others, which are far more clear-cut to which is better. My issue is not with using skins themselves, but that the default being handed out to people is not the best in terms of assisting performance, and I think it should be. Players who are too busy with the Tetris aspect of the game to bother fucking around with changing the skins should not be at a potential disadvantage.

If I can add a link to Termino Velocity as an optimal (or more optimal than default) skin/version, then I have no problem adding scores. Until then though, I think there's in inherent unfairness.

Keyboards instead of joysticks promote a similar issue, which I can't be bothered discussing as well as this, but I would also say players using keyboards are perhaps gaining an advantage over people using arcade sticks. Personally I think it'd be a good idea to have a JOY/KEY/PAD column in most of the records leaderboards, just for comparison and in recognition that it makes a difference.

 

It is hard isn't it..

Don't worry I know what you feel..But honnestly, we don't have to be upset and jealous when some people can play 5 hours a day and other 15min..
Kevin is MM. end of the story.

 

it might not "personally" be against kevin but the fact that you didn't try to address the "problem" before a score "worth making a complaint about" was posted is tantamount to the notion that in your eyes using the skin was somehow only okay if the player "sucked with it"

 

You have something of a point there, but the credit roll is where I think the skin really adds a benefit worth discussing, seeing as Texmaster blacks out the playing area quite a lot regardless of skin. There are only two scores in this thread that are Termino Velocity screenshots and would have included the credit roll, and they're Kevin's MV and MM.

And like I said, I didn't think it was OK. I just didn't bother speaking out about it and let it slide.