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Post by pier0005 on Jul 26, 2008 9:44:39 GMT -5
I understand that the Devs decided against allowing users to run past blocks of three, but besides the strategic disadvantage of that choice, it also allows players to easily gain points by quickly swiping their finger across the screen, and simply allowing the feature to collect tons of points (that often count in multiple strings) automatically. It's my understanding that it's not interest of the game to allow users to cheat (especially in an MMO) so I would like to see this problem solved in some way...
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Post by asmeurer on Jul 26, 2008 11:50:47 GMT -5
Yeah, I noticed the same thing. Not only this, but the part where you can get combos if you make another group before one disappears lets you get combos this way too. Once, I was just swiping back and forth quickly, and I got a 5x combo.
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lc
Junior Member
Posts: 63
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Post by lc on Jul 27, 2008 17:39:03 GMT -5
I'm a little confused here as to what you mean by automatic compiling. As for being able to get combos by making a group before the last one disappears, I think it's a feature and not a bug. I've also found random swiping to not be as efficient as planning things so...
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Post by asmeurer on Jul 27, 2008 20:30:11 GMT -5
x@ y@ @zb@@ If you try to move the bottom-left @ over to the group on the right, it will "catch" on the top two instead. It's actually impossible to make a grouping and not have it destroyed, even if you make it on accident. This can allow "cheating," though I've also found it adds a strategy element to the game if you are trying to set up combos or similar because you have to move around any groupings that would be made. Also see aurorafeint.proboards100.com/index.cgi?board=wishlist&action=display&thread=95, the first two items and Danielle's response. This was long before 1.0.0.1.
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Post by pier0005 on Jul 28, 2008 4:52:20 GMT -5
lcI'd have to agree with asmeurer. While it's fun to try to figure out how to create the longest groupings and combos, there is simply no way I could ever do better than the computer itself and collect more points by strategy than by fast swiping.. While I agree that it's not a bug, I think it's an intrinsic problem that should be addressed, because it takes the need for strategy away.
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Post by ackrajag on Jul 29, 2008 1:13:22 GMT -5
you do realize that this "feature" is simply intrinsic of the game engine right? I don't think it's that the blocks "lock" when passing two or more of the same element, it's simply that when the game recognizes three or more blocks in the same vicinity it automatically scores. I don't think the game can recognize the difference between a block falling in to place and a block being dragged into place. So just as the game would register a score when a single block free falls past a set of two matching blocks, the same thing applies to a drag. While I understand your concern I do think that a fix to this would require a complete rewrite of the game's engine
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Post by auroragb on Jul 29, 2008 10:54:14 GMT -5
Indeed, this is the rule of the game and I think it works correctly the way it is. Though many of my combos are broken because I missed an intervening set. You just have to be careful. In your example, do this: x@ y@ @zb@@ move the top @ left (right works too but left is safer in your scenario) @x y@ @zb@@ then moving the @ right would be safe. see, not hard, just need to plan. If you do things accidentally, you might get a 2x or 3x, but it occurs much less frequently than planning it.
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Post by asmeurer on Jul 29, 2008 18:27:52 GMT -5
It is intrinsic in the game engine, but as you can see in the post I linked to earlier, it was a conscious choice on the developers' part.
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Post by pier0005 on Jul 29, 2008 19:54:53 GMT -5
well, maybe there might be a workaround to solve the "cheating" problem. Something like a limitation on number of moves per minute... I'm sure there are much better solutions out there that would not require a complete rewrite.
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lc
Junior Member
Posts: 63
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Post by lc on Jul 29, 2008 20:20:46 GMT -5
So what you're suggesting is that you should have to let go of the block before it checks whether it's a match or not? In a sense that you should be able to move a block wherever you want until you let go?
I quite like the strategy element of this the way it is, actually. And it makes sense in my crazy head that whenever 3 blocks match up at any time, they'll blow up. Essentially this is like many other games out there, where you swap blocks with adjacent ones to make matches. In this case, as you "drag" a block across the screen, you are making many successive swaps between two blocks. It lines up with something after one of these swaps, and boom.
But, I can see how it can lead to people just swiping everywhere and "cheating" as it were. Like I said before, I still think planning is more efficient than randomly swiping, and certainly more fulfilling, but that isn't to say that "cheating" in this way is fruitless.
A moves-per-minute limitation might get frustrating because I tend to move things around a lot, and if not done correctly could punish people for working too fast. But, it's the best thing I can come up with too. Any other ideas?
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Post by asmeurer on Aug 1, 2008 21:12:38 GMT -5
I just thought of another way that this could be solved that doesn't involve disabling auto match or the easy combo features. It's simple: add more elements. The more elements there are, the less likely this would randomly happen, which is pretty likely now (also try the swirl method mentioned by someone else. Turn your device in circles. You'll get huge combos, especially if you have lots of tools). I propose that as a character levels up, more elements are added to the mix. Maybe every 20 levels or so this could happen. Another idea is that you could buy extra elements from the store which could then be used to make special blueprints/magicbooks/scrolls.
What I don't know is, what other "elements" are there?
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Post by Danielle Cassley on Aug 5, 2008 4:55:42 GMT -5
Hey all,
We will take this into consideration. If I understand you correctly you are saying that random swiping allows for large combos because of the fact that matches are immediately taken out. We chose to do it this way because it actually requires additional strategy to set up chains. If a change was to be made to add additional strategy to the game we would probably enforce actual chains where blocks must cause other blocks to go out in order to register as a chain. We may do this to add additional skill, I will think about it. The way it works now is intended, but an adjustment may be needed.
Danielle
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Post by asmeurer on Aug 5, 2008 10:39:12 GMT -5
Actually the biggest cheating comes from "Swirling" or rotating your device in circles. This seem to be because you don't lose if groupings are being made even if the blocks are shaking.
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Post by Danielle Cassley on Aug 6, 2008 3:28:09 GMT -5
The swirling technique should not work in the update! We nuked that cheat! BAM
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Post by asmeurer on Aug 6, 2008 22:32:06 GMT -5
I have to exault you for killing that, even though I myself have used it a few times. It kept on twisting up my headphones, though, so I didn't use it too much.
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