Version: unspecified (using KDE 4.5.1) OS: Linux I use Kubuntu 10.10. In the old Kblocks verison the speed increase after X minutes and make the game harder. But in this version it isn't. Is a bug or a feature? Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: Just play the game.
I have seen the same behaviour in KBlocks 0.3 running under KDE 4.6.0 and OpenSUSE 11.4. In single-player mode the game seems to stay at its basic speed no matter how long you play it. Previous versions would increase the speed at intervals, which is sort of expected in this type of game.
So I think it is a bug, not a feature. Right?
It seems to be a regression against 0.1.
And what we can do?
The maintainer has to state his opinion on this.
Hi, fellows. This is a bug. But I am pretty sure that in previous versions I had tested the program and the bug did not exist. Maybe it has something to do with the K-? library used in the program. I am sorry that I could not give fast response to bugs for now, as I am pretty busy working on my thesis. I should be back and get into these bugs by April. Anyone who is willing to help me out is welcome! Thanks~
Can you give a hint where the concerning code is? I only have a crappy editor and a small terminal to work with at the moment, which makes browsing a pain in the neck.
@Zhongjie Cai: Thanks for the reply! @Frederik Schwarzer: I hope Zhongjie can help you and you can solve this problem. :)
Any progress with the bug?
Not from me yet, sorry. I am in the process of moving to another town, which swallows a huge amount of my leisure time. I might be able to look at it next week, but no promise there.
Looks to me like the game speed actually does increase, but only hardly noticeable, in particular during the first levels. And it is hard to reach high levels, because for each level it takes longer to reach the next level. Actually in high levels the speed increase becomes drastic until it reaches an upper limit.
This is the behavior in KBlocks 0.4 (Oct 25 2015, latest git commit: 65a1b8136535758c77f66b505255206fd13f3117): The speed is given by KBlocksGameLogic::mGameInterval (which sets KBlocksSingleGame::,GameInterval). The game interval are milliseconds between two updates. A smaller value thus means a faster speed. Initial values: Easy: 500 Medium: 375 Hard: 250 Level ups occur when the following points are reached: (level*level*1000) 0 (with the first line removed) 1000 4000 9000 16000 ... Each level up reduces mGameInterval by 25 milliseconds. Thus, as the speed is the inverse of the game interval, the speed does not increase linearly with the level, but instead it increases almost exponentially. Thus, the first level increases are hardly noticeable, while later ones lead to big increases in speed. However, this is a design choice and not a bug. I think a linear increase in speed should be filed as a wish request.
Thank you for the bug report. As this report hasn't seen any changes in 5 years or more, we ask if you can please confirm that the issue still persists. If this bug is no longer persisting or relevant please change the status to resolved.
Since there is a discussion of whether this is a bug or not, I think it is up to the maintainer to decide if the bug should be closed. The game still behaves as reported in 2011 when the bug was first filed: Level increases are spaced so far apart that (to me) it just becomes boring. For that same reason I had not played it in years, and had to reinstall it in order to test it. Back in 2011 this behaviour was new and, to some of us, unwanted. The previous version behaved more like the classical Windows game (from back when Windows was an unstable app running on top of DOS). The bug was filed, I think, on the assumption that the changed behaviour was a glitch, not a design feature. However: The fact that some of us find KBlocks boring does not imply that there is a bug in its code. Others might find the widely spaced level changes better suited to their taste. In fact, since the present behaviour has survived for 10 years now, maybe someone out there likes it? SO: The game maintainer(s) should decide if this is something to be fixed, or if it is the way this game should be. Of course, one COULD consider fitting the game with a switch - "Level change strategy" or something - to let users decide if they prefer pre-2011 level changes or are good with the new, slower pace. The two options might be named "Classic" and "Meditative"?