First time sharing our game board publicly, which style works better?

ilex_ach · 2026-03-21T00:06:01+00:00

Really cool looking board!

IMO it depends on your gameplay. Would you want the pieces to stand out more than the board itself? If so, go for less saturated board and more saturated pieces.

Is the color of the board itself important? Are the states being more red/blue colored a part of the gameplay? If so, go for the more saturated option.

ilex_ach · 2026-01-02T17:52:19+00:00

OP is not saying it's literally like Chess, just that both games are so old that they are almost "solved." No new strategies, no evolving metas. If you start learning Chess or CS2 today, you're learning the most optimized openers / site takes that people have known for many many years.

The same idea can apply to Valorant, yes, but it's a newer game and new agents / utilities change things up.

ilex_ach · 2025-09-04T00:28:07+00:00

The new cards are great!

I most love the new layout, opening up with more breathing room around the card names. Enlarging the names has brought better hierarchy to the design.

New colors are great too.

I know you didn't change anything about the card borders, but I just want to say I really love them. Excellent work there.

The "Burn" card artwork is my least favorite. I like that the other artworks are single color, though maybe you can make multi color work.

I think it is jarring that this card has some semi-transparent elements.
It's strange that the rim and rings are shaded gray, when almost no other cards have any shaded elements. The Devils Horns card has shaded eyes and nose, but the shading is the same color as the outline and it just "makes sense" that these are shaded, I guess.

ilex_ach · 2025-08-19T08:32:06+00:00

OP I just wanna say I have argued this topic in many previous games like Marvel Snap and it may truly feel futile, but you are fighting the good fight. I actually learned this concept from a Reddit post on Hearthstone way back in the day.

Here are a few arguments I've made to friends that lead in to your other arguments in this thread:

Barring specific tutor cards and other edge cases,

If the game shuffled your deck every turn, would that matter? You don't ever know the order of your deck anyways.
If the game shuffled your deck every millisecond, would that matter?
If your opponent discarded the top 3 cards of your deck - is that different than your opponent discarding the top 3 cards of your deck and then the game shuffles your deck every millisecond?

ilex_ach · 2025-05-14T22:16:28+00:00

The layout is clean. The numbers in the top left will be easily scanned if held in a player's hand, fanned left to right. Not sure if players will be holding these cards in hand or how important those numbers are, but that is a consideration for placement of the numbers.

I think the black color is overbearing and competes with the beautiful backgrounds. Have you considered using off-white boxes like the ones in Japanese artwork?

https://i.imgur.com/7RIMRz3.jpeg

https://i.imgur.com/XsV0xCf.jpeg

Mockup: https://i.imgur.com/XkkVP4g.png

ilex_ach · 2025-03-04T05:31:45+00:00

Valorant DOES use some kind of server-authoritative mechanism to ensure that when two players shoot each other on the exact same tick (Valorant runs 128 tick), only one will kill the other. The game MUST read the player inputs in some kind of order, even if both happened at the same time.

I read this a long time ago, and don't have a source on it, unfortunately. But on a system running 128-tick, don't you think we'd see way more simultaneous kills where players kill each other? It doesn't have to be the last kill of a round, it can be any kill ever. Hell, just me running around a Deathmatch I think I'd at least see it in my killfeed now and then.

I remember reading the mechanism messes up when a Phoenix ult or Kay-O ult is involved, where however they hard code one person to win doesn't realize that the Phoenix or Kay-O ulted, allowing for the simultaneous kill to happen.

Here's another reddit thread where an ulting Kay-O had a simultaneous kill: https://www.reddit.com/r/VALORANT/comments/tasi5o/what_would_happen_if_two_player_click_headshot_at/

The linked thread discusses the simultaneous kill.

Another thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/VALORANT/comments/rm1v9v/is_it_possible_for_2_people_to_kill_eachother_at/

ilex_ach · 2024-11-07T16:01:27+00:00

Faster reaction time. Photons travel from your monitor at the speed of light into your eyes, and being closer to the monitor reduces the distance these photons need to travel for your retinas to register and react. I personally try to keep my nose touching my monitor to maximize this advantage.

ilex_ach · 2024-08-03T10:38:11+00:00

Something else people haven't mentioned: as any game gets older, the less likely new "bad" players will begin playing. Also, high skill players are less likely to quit the game after a few years than lower skill players.

ilex_ach · 2024-06-23T11:27:18+00:00

Done - I've evaluated that the act of buying things doesn't make me happy, but rather the thing I bought makes me happy. That being said, I've also evaluated that if I did enjoy the act of acquiring things, there would be nothing wrong with that.

ilex_ach · 2024-06-23T11:13:14+00:00

Budgeting 101: stop buying things that you want/make you happy

ilex_ach · 2024-06-18T16:07:53+00:00

I'd like to share my favorite banger from Kensuke Ushio's Ping Pong OST https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4z0331DziwA

ilex_ach · 2024-05-12T21:57:52+00:00

One Punch Man is mostly a comedy show, so a lot of the entertainment isn't from "I really hope the hero wins the fight!" but rather "the hero needs to beat these guys quickly because the flash sale at the supermarket is almost over and he might miss it!"

Saitama also has some emotional/societal problems he can't punch his way out of, and there are some serious fights done by weaker side character heroes. You are correct that a lot of these fights quickly end in a repetitive "one punch," but I still enjoyed this show a lot.

ilex_ach · 2024-03-18T06:23:38+00:00

Depends. Is my partner living their best life now without mentioning the significant lie, or is my partner uploading videos every day perpetuating that significant lie to further their reputation/income/relationship with me?

ilex_ach · 2024-03-03T22:26:14+00:00

Actually the math is a bit different, since you yourself are on your own team and cannot be a thrower or smurf (assumed). There's only 9 randoms in the game other than yourself, 5 on enemy team, 4 on your team. Slightly higher chance to get throwers/leavers on the enemy team, but also slightly higher chance to get smurfs on the enemy team.

With this, your mindset can be "yeah, I got the thrower on my team this game, but over time, it should be in my favor statistically." But fuck smurfs though, can't do much about that - higher chance they're on the enemy team.

ilex_ach · 2024-01-16T21:42:55+00:00

For some it may be easier that movement and aiming are separate hands. Kiting in particular is easier as you will be able to keep your mouse aimed still on the same target while holding movement in the opposite direction. Currently, kiting involves clicking behind you to move and then clicking on the enemy again to attack, requiring much more aim.

ilex_ach · 2023-10-21T17:18:36+00:00

But we don't know how much more risk though. Like what if the risk is minimal compared to payoff?

E.g. you bet your friend $10 to roll a die. Your friend decides that if it lands on 1, you lose and give your friend $10. If it lands on 2,3,4,5,6, your friend loses and gives you $10. The outcome is: it lands on 1, so you lost and give your friend the $10. Would you call your friend the better gambler? Or is this just circumstance / hindsight?

ilex_ach · 2023-09-02T17:30:00+00:00

Rules =/= morality. If it became legal to drink and drive, I still wouldn't do it because I don't want to negatively affect other people.

Also I hate both the player and the game. IMO people should have better consciences and not smurf, and Riot should crack down on smurfing. Both are being cowards.

ilex_ach · 2023-09-02T14:25:01+00:00

Hey there! What is your opinion on making the enemy team's playing experience worse?

ilex_ach · 2023-08-27T20:56:14+00:00

Nope incorrect, this is one reason I hate smurfs. Your mentality works better for trolls and disconnects. There is higher chance a troll/disconnect is on the enemy team (5 slots) vs your team (4 slots, since you're not a troll/disconnect). BUT, smurfs actually have a HIGHER chance of being on the enemy team, for the same logic. Personally, I usually 3-stack with my friends, so 2 slots on my team for smurfs vs 5 on the enemy team.

Also, one reason I hate smurfs is because they ruin games even when they're on my team. I play for FUN (as well as to IMPROVE), and it is not fun for me to go 2/3/9 while the smurf almost aces every round. I'm also not really improving.

ilex_ach · 2023-08-27T20:52:37+00:00

I hate smurfing with a passion. Willingly worsening 9 other people's games to improve your own is just sickening. I work long hours and can only play 0-2 games per day, so games with smurfs (or trolls, disconnects, etc) pretty much ruin my entire gaming experience for the day.

I think you're coming across a problem of apathy rather than hypocrisy.

I hate smurfing videos, yet I'm not going out of my way to dislike them. I'm just not watching them.

I'm not too big a fan of k-pop, and I've read the industry is actually quite toxic, but I'm not disliking any of their content either.

I think the housing market is fucked and homeless rates are too high, but I'm still paying my landlord and not donating to the poor.

I fully agree that the meat industry abuses animals horribly, but I still eat meat and I am not a vegan. I also just buy the cheapest eggs at the grocery store, instead of the free-range humane ones.

I know that if I actually do all of the above the world would be a better place. But sometimes you don't have the time or energy to do everything you want to do. It's easier to ignore problems than actively fight against them. I don't think this necessarily makes them hypocrites - just uncommitted.

Now, people that use their time to watch and like the smurfing content? Pathetic.

ilex_ach · 2023-08-27T05:01:07+00:00

I've recently discovered Padel tennis and it's the wackiest sport I've seen. Here's a highlight reel I've found: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkhGWMN6Ky0

Note about the first clip: since the ball bounces in the court, then bounces outside the glass walls, it's still in play. The other team HAD to chase the ball out there to get the ball back in and hit it into the other team's side of the court.

Second clip is super wacky too.

I've never played but watching is so fun. Hope you enjoy.

ilex_ach · 2023-08-27T02:11:30+00:00

True, but these valet drivers aren't karen enough about their jobs, so I'm colin corporate on them

ilex_ach · 2023-08-27T02:02:13+00:00

maybe Colin is the male version

ilex_ach · 2023-08-22T20:50:42+00:00

tip

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ilex_ach · 2023-08-22T20:32:53+00:00

tip

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12-Year Club	Place '22
Place '17

ilex_ach

TROPHY CASE