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Solitaire

localthunk.com

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Re: Solitaire

#101

Post by djeastm »

banannaise wrote: post #81
sdwr wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know how you can say that with a straight face. Balatro is building on 50 years of addiction-seeking game design. Everything from the sound effects, to the random round rewards, to the pacing of unlocks is optimized to be as attention-grabbing and dopamine-releasing as possible. It's like praising Coca-Cola for not tasting as sweet as Pepsi

It's a roguelike deckbuilder. The randomness is necessary to the genre. I think you've missed something important: none of these elements in Balatro are monetized. The only way the developer makes more money is through players telling other players how fun the game is, which convinces them to buy it.

>I think you've missed something important: none of these elements in Balatro are monetized.

Monetization doesn't really affect addiction, which was the question at hand.

Re: Solitaire

#102

Post by Waterluvian »

Trasmatta wrote: post #52
ksynwa wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reminds me of Miyazaki from FromSoft who said he doesn't play his own games.

No, he said he doesn't play them AFTER they release. But he plays them constantly when they're in development. One of the difficulty rules at FromSoft is that each boss and area has to be beatable by Miyazaki (which he said is a good baseline, because he likes challenge but doesn't consider himself good at games).

It would be truly impressive if he was able to direct the development of Souls games into what they are without actually playing them.

Re: Solitaire

#103

Post by bigstrat2003 »

cwizou wrote: post #30
superultra wrote: post #3

I love this post a lot. Our entire world is perpetuated by platforms that are desperately begging us for engagement. It feels to me at least that I'm being pulled in a hundred directions, for all my time for all time. My engagement with Balatro is not quite the same as localthunks. I go in phases where I play a lot and then put it down and walk away, and then weeks later I get back into it. But that also feels like i…

> It's a comfort game. A pasttime rather than an addiction. Balatro is a stress reliever for me and I can jump in, play, and jump out and it's fine. Exactly. To me there are two specific things that gives it that stress reliever, jump in/out spirit of Solitaire : - You know from the start you may not win every round. - Things can instantly and dramatically turn one way or another. I think both are perfectly captured…

I think Balatro is way too hard to be a good stress reliever. Unlike solitaire, I can barely win a run in Balatro and there's no indication as to what I could do better. I actually find it stressful more than stress relieving, if anything.

Re: Solitaire

#104

Post by djeastm »

palsecam wrote: post #75
bbkane wrote: post #14

I love Solitaire - it's such a nice way to kill a few minutes while waiting for something else. Unfortunately, many solitaire phone apps are filled with ads, slow, or have clunky controls. A few years ago, however, I found https://f-droid.org/en/packages/de.tobiasbielefeld.solitaire... . Its free and open source, and quite fast with nice shortcuts to move the cards. I love this app and have played multiple Klondike/S…

Using a lightweight PWA (progressive web app) is also an option: https://FreeSolitaire.win (self-plug). Doesn’t generate unwinnable games[1] & detects dead-ends. Works offline after the first visit. No ads until game over, and they aren’t obtrusive. Often lauded on HN, e.g. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41972075 or https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42031052 . 1: The probability that a random deal is unwinna…

Thanks! I like the rewind feature. One of my key frustrations with the game solved!

Re: Solitaire

#105

Post by bigstrat2003 »

Trasmatta wrote: post #52
ksynwa wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reminds me of Miyazaki from FromSoft who said he doesn't play his own games.

No, he said he doesn't play them AFTER they release. But he plays them constantly when they're in development. One of the difficulty rules at FromSoft is that each boss and area has to be beatable by Miyazaki (which he said is a good baseline, because he likes challenge but doesn't consider himself good at games).

I wonder who he does consider good at games. FromSoft games are so hard that Dark Souls is a synonym for "really hard game". If someone can beat one of those games, I think it's fair to say they are good at games.

Re: Solitaire

#106

Post by rpigab »

palsecam wrote: post #75
bbkane wrote: post #14

I love Solitaire - it's such a nice way to kill a few minutes while waiting for something else. Unfortunately, many solitaire phone apps are filled with ads, slow, or have clunky controls. A few years ago, however, I found https://f-droid.org/en/packages/de.tobiasbielefeld.solitaire... . Its free and open source, and quite fast with nice shortcuts to move the cards. I love this app and have played multiple Klondike/S…

Using a lightweight PWA (progressive web app) is also an option: https://FreeSolitaire.win (self-plug). Doesn’t generate unwinnable games[1] & detects dead-ends. Works offline after the first visit. No ads until game over, and they aren’t obtrusive. Often lauded on HN, e.g. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41972075 or https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42031052 . 1: The probability that a random deal is unwinna…

First time I've played any game through the end just because I wanted to see an ad! It's really well made, gotta confess I went the CLI route because I don't know how to design GUIs with moving parts. Also, I wanted to play my game with controls tailored for the keyboard layout (ASDFGHJ keys control the columns if using QWERTY).

Re: Solitaire

#107

Post by adamrezich »

cglong wrote: post #97
joemi wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I absolutely love the Zachtronics solitaires. I play at least one a day on my phone. That said, I wish they were slightly better designed for phones, since the text/images and touch targets can be a little small. It's too bad Zachtronics is no more -- it'd be nice if they were able to do some UI updates.

I heard from an obscure source (a former Zachtronics intern in a stream chat) that they're currently building a new game

Since Zachtronics only ever had one intern, I heard the same thing from the same source (but through different means)!

Re: Solitaire

#108

Post by themadturk »

I bought Belatro and Zachtronics solitaire a few weeks ago, more or less on impulse. The Zachtronics was disappointing primarily because the UI is too small on my iPhone, and I have old eyes. Belatro is great.

I'm something of a Solitaire addict. In addition to Belatro, the Microsoft Solitaire Collection is the only game on my iPhone, and I happily pay Microsoft $10 a year because the design is the most comfortable for me. Klondike soothes me like nothing else, but it's nice to be able to put a little variety in the game for me with FreeCell, Pyramid or TriPeaks (I'm not a Spider fan).

Re: Solitaire

#109

Post by yapyap »

themadturk wrote: post #108

I bought Belatro and Zachtronics solitaire a few weeks ago, more or less on impulse. The Zachtronics was disappointing primarily because the UI is too small on my iPhone, and I have old eyes. Belatro is great. I'm something of a Solitaire addict. In addition to Belatro, the Microsoft Solitaire Collection is the only game on my iPhone, and I happily pay Microsoft $10 a year because the design is the most comfortable f…

lovely comment, it is spelled balatro by the way.

Re: Solitaire

#110

Post by joquarky »

bombcar wrote: post #95
ronyeh wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe it’s a comfort game for you. But it’s an addiction for me. I need to stop, so I can find something else to get addicted to.

Hello, it's me, Factorio.

Factorio is not a game, it's a lifestyle.
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