Tetris Clone Feature Request

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Tetris Clone Feature Request

Postby Eclipzer » Mar 14, 2008 2:38

Lately, I've been working on a tetris clone to get back into the groove of programming. Tetris has always held a special place in my heart, my favorite version being Tetris DX on the GBC.

Anyway, in the process of creating this clone I've started to think of ways to enhance the core gameplay experience. Not alter it, but simply enhance it. My first thoughts were to track lots of stats, such as points, line clears, singles, doubles, triples, tetrises. Then I thought about adding bonuses for achieving "goals" during gameplay. For example, if you clear the playing area you would get a point bonus. The bonus amount could even be determined by how you cleared the field (single, double, triple, tetris). From here I thought about adding combos and or multipliers into the mix. A combo would occur if you cleared lines in succession. So say you cleared a double, followed by a single, that would be a 2x Combo. My initial thought with multipliers is that they are linked to the number of successive lines you clear. So if you clear a double followed by a triple, that would be a 5x multiplier (this would also be a 2x Combo). Then I started to consider other events that could warrant bonuses, like advancing a level (happens every N-lines), 10+ consecutive line clears, back to back tetrises, etc.

With these ideas in place, I started to get a feel for how this type of point system would affect gameplay. In essence, you would be rewarded not for simply clearing lines, but HOW you clear those lines and with that in mind, it would throw another scoring dimension into the mix, namely time. In a marathon mode of tetris, your goal is simply a high-score. With a deeper point system in place, your high score can now be weighed against the length of time it took to attain that score.

So, I'm looking for some feedback on these ideas. What about some situations I may have overlooked? Should there be combos and multipliers, or just one of the two? How do you see the combo/multiplier system working? Looking forward to some good discussion.

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Postby nkk_kan » Mar 14, 2008 10:58

Multipliers and Combos would increase the gameplay and game replay value of game nicely.
Marathon mode does get a bit monotonous after a while so these can increase the excitement rating of the game.
Also, If you add powers like Faster Fall, Colored Blocks (like the on Hezad used in his clone), Bombs (Lachie used them effectively in his Invatris), Scramblers (In case of Coloured Blocks),Clumpers (Clump coloured blocks) ,Stone Pieces (Cannot be used to make line i.e stay there for whole level) and what nots..there are loads of ideas which would make a tetris a fun,exciting game!(p.s. The only problem is that i don't know how to code such things yet :P), Time should be considered when scoring. Maybe you could add something like "Fossil challenge" in Yahoo's Dynomite.
Lachie Dazdarian
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Postby Lachie Dazdarian » Mar 14, 2008 22:40

Have in mind that a lot of things has already been done, so before attempting to be original do your homework.

I think my article about QBasic tetris games (it covers some non-QB tetris games too) is a very good start: http://www.petesqbsite.com/sections/exp ... tml#tetris
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Postby ciw1973 » Mar 15, 2008 19:26

To be honest, I'd say just stick with the original game-play but for God's sake, make sure it plays well. The world is already full of utterly atrocious Tetris clones.

People tend to get the basic game elements in place and then start adding all manner of other nonsense into the game without actually spending the time getting it to play as it should.

For me, the original Gameboy version of Tetris was the best. It was simple, but played amazingly well, and they managed to incorporate a two player version which didn't involve messing with the original game concept.

Whilst it's always tempting to "enhance" it by adding things like continuous smooth movement, this just doesn't work properly in a strictly block based game like Tetris.

If you're going to add extra challenges, then try to have them so they can be achieved by playing the original game - e.g. levels where you need to get a specified number of sets of four lines etc.

Also, make sure that the level of difficulty increases properly. Lots of Tetris clones which may play OK suffer because they are either too easy for *way* too long, or just get fast too quickly or in uneven steps. The first 2 minutes or so of play should be easy enough for anyone to get into and enjoy, and that should build so by 5 minutes things are challenging, and by 10 minutes I'd expect it to be very difficult indeed.

With a simple game like Tetris, the core of which can realistically be coded in an evening, you should be putting all of your effort into gameplay and presentation. Once the game-play has been properly nailed down of course.

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