0724: "Hell"

[chocolate.razorblades]

http://www.xkcd.com/724/
Title text: "There's also a Katamari level where everything is just slightly bigger than you, and a Mario level with a star just out of reach."

lmao. This is the best xkcd comic in a long time!

[The Scyphozoa]

Title text was boring. But the comic was good.

[Faranya]

Aww, I thought I might finally have the first post, but alas slow internet conspired against me...

But I'm sure there is a way to make that work, right?

[TheChewanater]

Title text was boring. But the comic was good.

Agreed. I don't really get why the text is funny, but I virtually lol'd at the comic.

[helo darqness]

No. Randal got this one wrong.

Hell, in the Katamari Universe is the Rose level in We Love Katamari.

Im not saying more. Either you know it or you dont.

And if you don't, you are lucky.

No, wait. Hell is collaboratively playing several games for weeks on end with my friends PSP and the memory card fritzing and losing all our data.

[aleflamedyud]

Now I have an urge to make this game so that I can torture Randall with it.

[menace101]

How about a level of space invaders that actually coordinate their shots into a straight line across the screen?

[b.i.o]

I really want to play this game.

I think it'd be possible (although difficult) to create a level surface by starting in the middle and only building up from there.

[Kow]

A level in sonic where it's all steps.

[pyroman]

This comic particularly resonates with me as I have spent the last few weeks coding a tetris program... in assembly... = ( Yea not the most fun language to work in for the higher level stuff.

[Methoxychlor]

Pacman ghosts with a hivemind.

[fusillade2]

Randall reads my mind... I just signed up for tetris friends today. It's so addicting.

[Litof]

Neat comic. *proceeds to reminisce about youthful days of Tetris*

[Nereid]

The Katamari Damacy text reminds me of this.

[phlip]

Well, this does exist... I once tried to figure out how a Tetris version of that would work, what a "line" would count as... but I couldn't ever come up with anything.

[Agent Anderson]

No, this game is hell:
http://spongebob.nick.com/games/play/sp ... at-o-cross

[-.Mateo.-]

The mario star was the one that got to me the most

[Nihiltres]

Also, it's not just Tetris, but Bastet.

Great comic.

[Simon80]

+1 for bastet, the real tetris hell. There's a flash version online, but it's missing an important feature: the next block box taunts you with the most desirable block, which bastet is not going to give you.

[readerofxkcd]

How about: A Sim City classic level that's all water, or water with tiny scattered islands with land tiles smaller than 3x3

[ARandomDude]

Being an avid tetris fan, I can only shudder at the nightmare (yet somehow my mind is telling me to play it in a Riemann sum-esque manner, if that makes sense).

[Omegaton]

I'd actually try a tetris game like this for a few minutes just to see if it is possible in any way...

[StClair]

I admit it - I barked like a seal.

[pretzil]

I would say a paper mario level with an unjumpable gap that is always only just out of your reach.

Mario himself would call it a 'Peach'

[phlip]

+1 for bastet, the real tetris hell. There's a flash version online, but it's missing an important feature: the next block box taunts you with the most desirable block, which bastet is not going to give you.

I'm halfway through making a Flash version of bastet myself, which does have that feature...

The main core is done (though needs optimisation), I just need all the trimmings, like menus and scoreboards and not-ugly-making and such...

[undecim]

and of course, you will never start off with a straight piece to put in the middle and get a level surface to start on.

[JoePa]

The "Star just out of reach" isn't really hell for Mario. I think hell would be a pit, near the end of a long, brutal level, that is just a tiny bit too far to jump. It doesn't make for the punchiest alt-text joke, but it would be maddeningly hilarious in practice--battling all that way to get to that point, only to die every time--and after 3 tries, you have to go back to level 1-1 and work your ass off just to get back to that point.

[eva]

But... you don't need to start with a long piece. You just need to start with a piece that has 2 or 4 squares on at least one side, to start perfectly centered. Not hell at all after you make yourself a nice table and play on top of that.

[Sisyphus]

That's not hell. You've got the high score.

[Exüberance]

Even better for Tetris:

Gnometris (the tetris game that comes with Ubuntu) has an option that, when checked, makes the computer look at all possible blocks and chooses the one that will be least usefull. It's pretty much impossible to do anything since you have to set up your blocks such that ANY block can be used to clear the row, which is really really really hard to do. Also, hilarious. I think my high score (though I only tried it like 3 times) is 1 row cleared. Yeah.

[Magnanimous]

Finally a Tetris comic. I suppose now would be the right time to shamelessly direct people to Hard Drop...

Though really, Tetris hell would be more like a V-shaped well. As it is, it's basically regular Tetris after the first few blocks. (Still hilarious, though.)

Also, the tetraminos are the wrong colors, if you go by modern guidelines. /pedantics

Randall reads my mind... I just signed up for tetris friends today. It's so addicting.

*twitch*

[skeptical scientist]

Yeah, someone should make tetris with a physics engine just to fuck with people. Although to my mind, tetris hell is just like ordinary tetris, but the blocks alternate between s blocks and z blocks.

[Kailen]

You realize, of course, that if someone hasn't already built a version of Tetris like this, they will now.

[pretzil]

Gee Willikers, More than any of those others, Hell is a classic Doom level which requires a keycard that doesnt exist and you spend eternity pressing on walls looking for secret passages

I want to throw up just thinking of it

[mastermz]

This must be the opposite of hell.
http://www.tetris1d.org/

[rpgamer]

Also, the tetraminos are the wrong colors, if you go by modern guidelines. /pedantics

I wondered if anyone else would notice. >.>

[Introbulus]

It is easy to tell that I'm a gamer. I actually physically cringed when I saw this. It...yeah...I can't even...wow.

Other examples of Hell:

Running out of Bullets in Doom, and you haven't got a chainsaw or a Berserk pack.

All the enemies in Berzerk are replaced with Evil Otto.

A Megaman stage with nothing but a long, long, long disappearing block puzzle and spikes.

A Sonic level exactly like the Megaman level above. Alternatively, Mystic Cave Zone. You KNOW what I mean.

A Kirby area with nothing but Scarfies.

A Civilization game where you are on a single tile of land at the start.

I could probably keep going with these.

[Magnanimous]

Pokémon Hell: Instead of there being 495 pokémon, there's only one. And it's Bidoof.

Yeah, someone should make tetris with a physics engine just to fuck with people. Although to my mind, tetris hell is just like ordinary tetris, but the blocks alternate between s blocks and z blocks.

It's been proven that you can't play forever with an endless SZ spawn. When I get to grad school, I'm definitely writing my thesis on Tetris.

[Introbulus]

Pokémon Hell: Instead of there being 495 pokémon, there's only one. And it's Bidoof.

The Hell Level of Pokemon: Endless stream of Zubats. Forever.

[chiguire]

There is also the Purgatory: 99 Bricks -> http://www.kongregate.com/games/weirdbeardgames/99-bricks