With all the other comments, it becomes pretty obvious that the easiest way to do it, would be being a multi-billionaire in the first place… Wait a second…

See, you are right and that’s exactly why I started with “This might be a little on the side of the main topic”…

This is a fantastic timeline if you want to go into details.

Well then… To stay true to the history, we probably would have to go back to Galaxian from ‘79, which introduced 1-UPs / additional lives, bonus stages and player upgrades, plus simple summary / statistics for hits and misses.

Well, when I was writing that, after midnight I will add, I had this feeling that Mario was doing this thing earlier but for me Mario stands as an icon for the first level design overall as a golden standard for introduction to mechanics and really efficient use of memory for data, and one of the first uses of dynamic music… So you are totally right, Mario brought a lot of things, I’ve just played Crash much more.

This might be a little on the side of the main topic but there was always something cool about Crash Bandicoot 100 Apples > 1 Life, and you could grind more to make some levels more forgiving, like semi-adjustable difficulty level based on your previous approach… And later on — warp zones, you get to choose from a few options so the progression has variation.

Another thing that comes to mind, not sure if a first game to do it, THPS for unlocking movies and later cheat codes, modes and characters for finishing the career. Plus the whole gap marathon for Private Carrera.

Oh, and chanting from Oddword where it had various uses, for saving friends or for changing into enemies, or using special abilities. This definitely was something, because I still remember thinking as a kid, “how cool is that this one ability has so many different uses”.

As I am now more in “jump in, jump out” mode, CS2 from time to time, but mostly The Hunter (COTW) with friends and family, mostly as a background to talk and hang out, eventually some solo missions if there is more time or on a rainy day.

Funny, sounds like a Lumon propaganda to me…

Someone asked about the motherboard and you’ve answered it is brand new, but still, are there any updates for it?

What is the PSU situation, what brand / model? Is it new too? Is any of the components bought used or from old build?

What about storage?

Is there any way to add it to App Library without adding it to the home screen? If there is, I don’t need the app at all, probably.

Yeah, I have a tab opened to check it out too, do they have any ios app?

Your idea to use AHK script is probably the best and least intrusive. You sit down, run the script, whatever you need can be in it, you can actually really tune your input experience with some AutoHotKey magic. I catch myself adding a few more lines every year as new ideas come.

Just remember to unload the script when you are ending your work and the next person won’t even know about it.

Okay, all makes sense. When you are using the keyboard a lot, your comfort is most important. The worst part about Caps Lock is that it is more embedded into the system inner-workings, as for example — it is used for certain crucial shortcuts, especially when using Chinese language.

It is just a comment for the InstallKeybdHook command just bellow it, as it is crucial for this magical code (that I don’t fully grasp yet) to work.

But it does.

Okay, so make a script, name it whatever you feel like and paste this:

; The keyboard hook must be installed.
InstallKeybdHook
SendSuppressedKeyUp(key) {
    DllCall("keybd_event"
        , "char", GetKeyVK(key)
        , "char", GetKeySC(key)
        , "uint", KEYEVENTF_KEYUP := 0x2
        , "uptr", KEY_BLOCK_THIS := 0xFFC3D450)
}

; Disable Alt+key shortcuts for the IME.
~LAlt::SendSuppressedKeyUp "LAlt"

; Test hotkey:
!CapsLock::MsgBox A_ThisHotkey

; Remap CapsLock to LCtrl in a way compatible with IME.
*CapsLock::
{
    Send "{Blind}{LCtrl DownR}"
    SendSuppressedKeyUp "LCtrl"
}
*CapsLock up::
{
    Send "{Blind}{LCtrl Up}"
} 

Save it, run it and you should be good to go.

edit: This is V2, just in case.

I was asking because it is actually a problem for two reasons, one is that capslock has more states than other keys, plus it is more complicated to tinker with via AutoHotKey, they even documented it nicely buuut… the official method did not work for me — I just tested it.

I did it in a hurry so there might be “me” problem somewhere too.

Okay, it works.

Sorry for asking but is there any reason why caps lock? Because… You are a lucky winner of “choosing one of the most problematic keys to remap” award…

This is one of the most influential games ever for so many different reasons… I am definitely a big fan and have a lot of great memories with the classic one on NES, especially the 1v1 mode. It was a pure joy to play with my uncle, brother, friends or mom, she preferred Battle City tho!

This was long time ago, now if I play, I go for the Tetris Effect — which doesn’t change the main formula, it mostly builds around it or plays with it.

One of — counterintuitively — not so many games that you can just keep playing to get better at them, as your brain rewires itself and conscious decision making process goes into the deep, unconscious brain backroom magic. Of course to be the best there is a lot of technical knowledge or some tactical aspects but the base gameplay loop just keeps you in self-learning mode or more often than not, in the flow state.

Yeah, got this page opened in my browser already, just for the v2. I will definitely play with that and do some testing on what can be achieved with all that.

I still have no clue why I didn’t even consider AHK as a solution or at least a partial solution when it was the solution so many times before already…

Why… Why I haven’t thought about that…

Thank You! I am using my AHK script for so many different things already but I have never thought that I even could map controller inputs to do anything there… When I was rewriting things from v1 to v2 and tidying everything up, I was reading the wiki a lot but not even once saw controller mapping as an option.

Or maybe I just don’t remember?

I always knew AHK was really versatile but it just keeps on coming with yet another pleasant surprise! Plenty of reading ahead of me!