I was bored

[kiwibonga]

[MODDED]


Up: Hard drop

Down: Soft drop

Left/Right: Move


Z: Rotate left

X: Rotate right

A: Hold


Escape: Quit

[tepples]

Dang, that's good for an ASCII game. Here are a few things I noticed:

You can zip the exe so that it doesn't throw an "Unknown Publisher" alert box whenever someone downloads it and tries to run it. (The other way to suppress the alert is to pay VeriSign $500 per year for an Authenticode certificate.) You can use UPX (http://upx.sourceforge.net/default.htm) to shrink the exe. This is the first PC-based text mode game that I've seen that has a shadow (aka ghost, TLS) and non-locking soft drop. Color "cyan" appears to match the color of I tetrominoes in TDS a bit more than your color "dithered mixture of blue and white". Compared to the DAS rate, the DAS delay is a bit too short, resulting in misdrops. You have T, Z, and other 3-wide tetrominoes showing up in columns 5-7 like on the NES. Nowadays, I'd guess more people are used to SRS and ARS, which put them in 4-6. The I tetromino appears to be IRS'd counterclockwise by one. The T-spin single twist works, but the T-spin triple twist do not work. Instead, the other rotation that I would have expected (i.e. what ARS does in the same situation) works. What were your ideas behind this rotation system? One game started with the sequence OZOZLIL. What were your ideas behind the randomizer?

[kiwibonga]

You can zip the exe so that it doesn't throw an "Unknown Publisher" alert box whenever someone downloads it and tries to run it. (The other way to suppress the alert is to pay VeriSign $500 per year for an Authenticode certificate.)
Yeah, but my goal was to allow anyone to run it just by clicking the link without having to save it :p I guess I'll zip it when I implement high scores and settings.
(You can use UPX (http://upx.sourceforge.net/default.htm) to shrink the exe. )
Cool. Originally, it was 17kB, but it required the MSVC 9.0 runtimes, so I compiled it with /MT instead of /MD, but it made the size jump over 100k... UPX drops that to 58kB, not bad!
(Color "cyan" appears to match the color of I tetrominoes in TDS a bit more than your color "dithered mixture of blue and white".)
Oh yeah, blue + green! Don't know why I didn't think of that -- I thought it was weird that it was "impossible" to get a light blue, even though I had seen it before!
(Compared to the DAS rate, the DAS delay is a bit too short, resulting in misdrops.)
You're right, it's set to 88 ms... That's pretty short... I guess I got used to the crazy short delay when I kept playing 20 minute games every time I compiled..
(You have T, Z, and other 3-wide tetrominoes showing up in columns 5-7 like on the NES. Nowadays, I'd guess more people are used to SRS and ARS, which put them in 4-6.)
Oh yeah, that's basically a beginner's "arrays start at 0, not 1" mistake :p Also, for some reason, I'm making Is spawn vertically instead of horizontally.
(The I tetromino appears to be IRS'd counterclockwise by one. )(The T-spin single twist works, but the T-spin triple twist do not work. Instead, the other rotation that I would have expected (i.e. what ARS does in the same situation) works. What were your ideas behind this rotation system?)
I made the rotation system a bit more lenient than most games I've played. Basically, if you try to rotate it and that would cause a collision, it'll look for other places to put it (pretty standard kick algorithm) -- it checks (1,0), (-1,0), (1,1), (0,1), (-1,1), (0,-1), etc... But does it in reverse if you're pressing left (i.e. it checks to the left). That prevents things like Mihara's conspiracy... It also allows for a couple of things that are actually impossible in most games. I didn't implement anything to check whether rotation around the T's "arms" would work, that's why you can't TST (or do weird L/J twists). I'll probably implement that as a special case when I get to the part where I actually count scores :p
(One game started with the sequence OZOZLIL. What were your ideas behind the randomizer? )

I generate 14 piece bags with two of each piece and shuffle. Isn't that what most (recent official) games do?

[mat]

cool!

[tepples]

it checks (1,0), (-1,0), (1,1), (0,1), (-1,1), (0,-1), etc... But does it in reverse if you're pressing left (i.e. it checks to the left). That prevents things like Mihara's conspiracy...
Another way to do this is to try one set of kicks for Z and the mirror image for X, like DTET does.

I generate 14 piece bags with two of each piece and shuffle. Isn't that what most (recent official) games do?

I haven't seen one that uses the 14-piece bag. It was discussed, but I think Tetris Online went with the 8-piece bag.

[kiwibonga]

Oh yeah... For some reason, in my mind, TDS used 14 piece bags because it's not uncommon for two identical pieces to show up in a row... But that really only happens at the "junction" between two bags. With 14 pieces, you can actually get 4 of the same in a row, which is just downright wrong!

[kiwibonga]

Updated, you can redownload it through the link in the first post.


Changes:


- UPX'd, was 123 KB, now is 58 KB (could be 9 KB if I didn't disable dependencies to MSVCRT http://www.tetrisconcept.net/forum/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)

- Made I the correct color

- Made DAS delay 120 ms instead of 88

- Made pieces start at column 4 instead of 5, moved O to the right so it starts in the center.

- Changed to a 7 piece bag


I'll work on twists this weekend, and of course scoring, a GUI and stuff, different game modes.


On another note... Any ideas for names? I'm pretty sure "ASCII Tetris" is a bad idea :p


Oh and thanks for the advice, tepples!

[jujube]

I'm pretty sure "ASCII Tetris" is a bad idea :p

what about ASCIItet? http://www.tetrisconcept.net/forum/images/smilies/icon_razz.gif or askytet? awesome blocks? i think the name "blockstar" is available.


edit: asskicktet

[johnberhenry]

I generate 14 piece bags with two of each piece and shuffle. Isn't that what most (recent official) games do?

No, it's 7-bag.

Edit:
Changes:
...
- Changed to a 7 piece bag


Sorry for being ignorant. Must have been rushing when I said that.


Edit 2: DELETE THIS POST

[Quad]

I like it :)

[tepples]

You can shrink it further if you compile against msvcrt (MSVC 6 runtime library) instead of the 7+ one. Can newer MSVC do that? Or would you need to use MinGW?

[kiwibonga]

There's apparently a hackish/unsupported way to do that, but it's pretty complicated, and it bars you from using the Visual Studio 2008 debugger... I'll probably look into it when the project's finished; it'll be a good learning experience. Haven't really touched a makefile since I dropped out of computer science.. http://www.tetrisconcept.net/forum/images/smilies/icon_cool.gif

[kiwibonga]

I found a name: Wrong Century. Seems fitting of a modern Tetris clone running in a console window :p


I made a little video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NTYOduRKDQ


Anyway... Still needs plenty of work... I'll hold off on releasing it until I have a proper opening screen/menu/etc.

[johnberhenry]

Tip: For the T you could try a dithered mixture of 25% blue and 75% magenta.


Use this character:

? (Alt+178)

[kiwibonga]

Unfortunately, it doesn't look quite right... I did however find a way to change things like the character size (so I don't need to represent blocks as two characters anymore, and won't require the player to go into the console window's properties), and the color palette (so I can have colors that don't induce strokes, including real, non-dithered orange) without having to hack up the registry or globally affect all console applications. Unofficial kernel32.lib FTW :X

[muf]

Any chance of a version that imitates the Elektronika 60 version graphically? With optional choice of light grey graphics or bright green graphics http://www.tetrisconcept.net/forum/images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif.

[johnberhenry]

Or SRS-colored graphics? http://www.tetrisconcept.net/forum/images/smilies/icon_lol.gif

[kiwibonga]

NEW TEASER TRAILER OMZG


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f10AF3ph9U4


What do you think of that audio idea?

[DIGITAL]

NEW TEASER TRAILER OMZG

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f10AF3ph9U4

What do you think of that audio idea?


Hah, that's a really interesting idea. It's sort of like a cross between Beatmania and Tetris. It's intriguing to see what can happen as a player increases his TPM. Also, it's a unique way to keep track of the "time".

[johnberhenry]

Um, sir/ma'am, you're missing one note.

[kiwibonga]

Actually, there's one note too many!

[Meroigo]

I like the tags. ;D "tetris SRSly lol musical"


But yeah, it's a cool idea. =) Would be cool if there was some system that gave you better points of you played to a certain beat or something... ...something that makes you want to stack good, get tetrises, AND playing the music as good as you can.

[jujube]

so, what would your TPM be if you made the song play perfectly?

[Red_Star]

for the tetris A song it would have to be something like 120 tpm. of course tetris A isn't all quarter notes so you would have to change your speed for different notes but in the end if it was played correctly something like 120 tpm sounds right.

[Ghett0]

"Thank you for creating this setup, but your princess TST is in another castle." (http://img391.imageshack.us/img391/1985/notsthn4.png)


Please make your SRS handle overhangs correctly.

[jujube]

I made the rotation system a bit more lenient than most games I've played. Basically, if you try to rotate it and that would cause a collision, it'll look for other places to put it (pretty standard kick algorithm) -- it checks (1,0), (-1,0), (1,1), (0,1), (-1,1), (0,-1), etc... But does it in reverse if you're pressing left (i.e. it checks to the left). That prevents things like Mihara's conspiracy... It also allows for a couple of things that are actually impossible in most games. I didn't implement anything to check whether rotation around the T's "arms" would work, that's why you can't TST (or do weird L/J twists). I'll probably implement that as a special case when I get to the part where I actually count scores :p

[Ghett0]

I made the rotation system a bit more lenient than most games I've played. Basically, if you try to rotate it and that would cause a collision, it'll look for other places to put it (pretty standard kick algorithm) -- it checks (1,0), (-1,0), (1,1), (0,1), (-1,1), (0,-1), etc... But does it in reverse if you're pressing left (i.e. it checks to the left). That prevents things like Mihara's conspiracy... It also allows for a couple of things that are actually impossible in most games. I didn't implement anything to check whether rotation around the T's "arms" would work, that's why you can't TST (or do weird L/J twists). I'll probably implement that as a special case when I get to the part where I actually count scores :p


Nevermind then.

[kiwibonga]

I like the tags. ;D "tetris SRSly lol musical"

But yeah, it's a cool idea. =) Would be cool if there was some system that gave you better points of you played to a certain beat or something... ...something that makes you want to stack good, get tetrises, AND playing the music as good as you can.


Already thought about it, that'll be a separate game mode http://www.tetrisconcept.net/forum/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif

[kiwibonga]

Wait... What's rythm mode? :X

[Zaphod77]

rhythm mode means that the game forces your TPM speed to be at least as high as the current BPM by automatically hard dropping and locking your pieces as needed.

[Pineapple]

I have a suggestion. Instead of it playing one note per piece, have it play a fixed length of the tune (like an eigth note) each piece.

[kiwibonga]

rhythm mode means that the game forces your TPM speed to be at least as high as the current BPM by automatically hard dropping and locking your pieces as needed.

Oh, ok... So it's somewhat different from what I envisioned... I was thinking of something more forgiving -- it would reward you depending on how close to the beat the pieces lock, a bit like in Beatmania, as DIGITAL mentioned. Basically, you'd have a gauge that goes up if you get a "PERFECT" or an "OK" but goes down if you miss a beat, and if your gauge empties, you lose.

I can picture it... "Rythm mode for pussies!"

Wait, sorry... I'm being told the PC term is "casual gamer." http://www.tetrisconcept.net/forum/images/smilies/icon_lol.gif

I have a suggestion. Instead of it playing one note per piece, have it play a fixed length of the tune (like an eigth note) each piece.


Yeah, that sounds like a good idea... But that means I have to write a midi player :p

[Red_Star]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=PaGsX9jv9fc


do you mean something like this? trying to match the drops with the beats?


I think that a beatmania sort of thing could be a pretty cool addition to tetris and would add something different for people to do with tetris.

[kiwibonga]

I don't think we have a big enough userbase to make that type of rythm game worth it, though... It would probably involve converting MP3s to OGG and having users create custom-made beat patterns for each song, like stepmania does... Plus it's kind of limiting, since songs usually have a running time around 3-4 minutes...


Right now I think the best course of action is to have a fixed tempo for the beats that speeds up slowly as the game progresses, that way it can pretty much take any midi file...

[Zeta]

...Plus it's kind of limiting, since songs usually have a running time around 3-4 minutes...IIDX songs are longer than DDR songs, and the longest ARCADE song I know of is a little over 2 minutes (~2:10).

now, we can always go for having a generic sequence of sounds mapped to a little text file that contains note lengths and use that instead.

however, I personally think the "different sound for each piece locking down" is a good idea. might have to hack that one into Heboris.

I can picture it... "Rythm mode for pussies!"

Wait, sorry... I'm being told the PC term is "casual gamer." http://www.tetrisconcept.net/forum/images/smilies/icon_lol.gifactually, it's "American Gamer" http://www.tetrisconcept.net/forum/images/smilies/icon_lol.gif

[kiwibonga]

Secret jesus grade!


http://www.kiwibonga.com/secretjesusgrade.png

[Ghett0]

Secret jesus grade!

http://www.kiwibonga.com/secretjesusgrade.png


That's an upsidedown cross. 0_o Satanic freak....