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Solitaire

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Re: Solitaire

#121

Post by yoz »

AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #27
havblue wrote: post #21

"To force players to get out of their comfort zone and explore the design of the game in a way they might not if this were a fully unguided gaming experience." It's great how rogue like/lite games such as slay the spire and Hades have riffed on that concept. Guess what, you won't have the same power ups this time. You're going to have to learn to play the same game in a different way. So in Balatro you're playing dra…

I mean, that might be the intent on paper, but when I was going through a game like Dead Cells, I still had specific weapons or layouts that I was especially effective with--and in practice that just meant that if I didn't manage to get my favorite bat or nun-chuck weapons to drop, there was a good chance I wasn't going to be able to complete that run.

Dead Cells's "Custom Mode" lets you eliminate loads of objects from the set offered, making it much more likely for you to get weapons you want.

It's somewhat unique among the roguelites I've seen in not only offering this but also treating it as valid play: any wins/achievements in this mode (e.g. more BC) will unlock properly.

So, no need to put up with Spartan Sandals ever again!

Re: Solitaire

#122

Post by yoz »

jerf wrote: post #63
AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, that might be the intent on paper, but when I was going through a game like Dead Cells, I still had specific weapons or layouts that I was especially effective with--and in practice that just meant that if I didn't manage to get my favorite bat or nun-chuck weapons to drop, there was a good chance I wasn't going to be able to complete that run.

Non-twitch based roguelites make it somewhat easier to learn and deploy those alternate strategies in my experience because you can read a bit of a clue online, think about it, and then play through a round slowly and thoughtfully. In an action game, you know, you pick up the sickle weapon for the first time and you may have literally seconds of experience with it before you die. I spent some substantial time in Ente…

Yep. Enter The Gungeon is my personal favourite among roguelites but it's punishingly hard to get the hang of, and the huge number of weapons makes it quite likely that you'll only get semi-decent guns for an entire run – even when you're playing as the Gunslinger, who activates all synergies automatically.

The upside of putting in the time is that when you get good, it feels fantastic.

If you haven't tried it, I'd recommend Dead Cells. Yes, it's twitchy action, but it's easier than Gungeon to get good at, and the parkour-like flow looks and feels wonderful from quite early on. TBH it's a better game than Gungeon in most respects.

Re: Solitaire

#123

Post by 7thaccount »

bombcar wrote: post #96
7thaccount wrote: post #91

Interesting to see this here. I've commented a few times on HN about recently getting into card games (e.g. various solitaire games, gin rummy, presidents, spades, trash...etc) and domino games. It's a lot of fun, social (even solitaire as we teach each other new versions), and mentally engaging. There's no screen and it all just feels less wasteful in some weird way. Board game night would do the same thing, but the…

What you're looking for is Bridge. THAT is a card game you can teach someone the basics of in an evening, and still be learning more 3 decades later.

Lol. I tried. Went to several classes and somehow still never learned to play. I can't tell if all the structure and complexity is worth the extra headache compared to games like Spades or other bidding/trick games. I have heard that it's supposedly by far the best there is though, so perhaps I should try again. I do play Texas 42, which is kind of like bridge with dominos. It's wildly popular in Texas, but hasn't reached much further. There's a lot of strategy to the bidding, but I'm not sure how closely it ranks to Bridge.

Re: Solitaire

#124

Post by zfg »

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…

> Unfortunately, many solitaire phone apps are filled with ads, slow, or have clunky controls

Here's one written in C# and compiled to WebAssembly:

https://solitaire.xaml.live/

Source code:

https://github.com/AvaloniaUI/Solitaire

Re: Solitaire

#125

Post by bombcar »

7thaccount wrote: post #123
bombcar wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you're looking for is Bridge. THAT is a card game you can teach someone the basics of in an evening, and still be learning more 3 decades later.

Lol. I tried. Went to several classes and somehow still never learned to play. I can't tell if all the structure and complexity is worth the extra headache compared to games like Spades or other bidding/trick games. I have heard that it's supposedly by far the best there is though, so perhaps I should try again. I do play Texas 42, which is kind of like bridge with dominos. It's wildly popular in Texas, but hasn't re…

The best is often to have one player who knows some of the conventions, and the rest know nothing, and all learn to play together.

Whist is basically no-bid bridge, which can be fun, too.

Re: Solitaire

#126

Post by runevault »

bigstrat2003 wrote: post #105
Trasmatta wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

My understanding is he uses AI summons/etc so he's not one of the git gud crowd who believes if you don't beat it straight you suck.

Re: Solitaire

#127

Post by junon »

ronyeh wrote: post #114
bigstrat2003 wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Hey! I've played it for a while now (and haven't even followed any Reddit / YouTube guides yet). Early game: Get a joker that gives you a big mult (e.g., Half Joker w/ +20 Mult for small hands). This will allow you to survive while you build out your points engine. (You can survive with flushes in the early game, but it can get harder to win with flush later, due to Bosses, unless you have flush friendly Jokers and a…

All of this, though unless I have a planet-based joker, then I don't personally find the planets all that appealing - it really feels like a drop in the bucket compared to jokers in terms of base chips and mult.

Re: Solitaire

#128

Post by junon »

bscphil wrote: post #85
banannaise wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> players telling other players how fun the game is I wonder if we've collectively been trained to perceive addictiveness as fun. It's good that the developer isn't being directly monetizing eyeball-hours, but when users have grown to expect that specific dopamine hit that proves addictive, you end up having to include it anyway.

Idk, I think it's also just fair to say that one finds Balatro fun. Not everything has to have a psychological basis for harm.

Re: Solitaire

#129

Post by beeflet »

bigstrat2003 wrote: post #103
cwizou wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

On the first day I played, I would always get stuck ante 5-6. The thing is, you need to build your strategy around the "X Mult" jokers in order to progress past that point, which often involves completely pivoting your strategy in the middle of the run.

I think the term they use online is "CMX": First get CHIPs-boosting jokers, then get MULT, then get X Mult.

You also have to have good economy and take advantage of interest or some other money-generating card. It's very much a win-more game where you need to get the steamroller going. I don't think I've ever beaten the game without a good money generator, either a money-generating joker or interest.

Re: Solitaire

#130

Post by addy34 »

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…

I wrote a cat-themed web version a little while ago for fun.

It's not overly configurable, but there are zero ads, trackers etc. and it's very lightweight with hopefully no (significant) bugs.

https://www.solitairecat.com/

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