atx4us Posted April 28, 2009 Share Posted April 28, 2009 I have been exchanging questions and ideas on the Atari 800 forum about Tetris programs for the Atari computers. Original Tetris thread: http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=142977&hl= Here is the "Proof of Concept" version of my Tetris program called TextTris for the obvious reason that I used only text characters to represent the Tetris blocks. I developed the entire program in the Action! language which compiles directly into machine language. Despite the minimalist design of this version, you'll probably find that it's game play quality is one of the best among all the versions available out there for the Atari computers. The controls are smooth and responsive. When comparing with some other Tetris programs, this program has one major feature difference is that the connected lines will blink/flash before they are removed from the screen. I'm finishing up my color version in GTIA mode 10 and I will release it soon CONTROLS: Left - Joystick left Right - Joystick right Rotate - Joystick up Drop - Joystick down Next - "N" key toggles on/off Quit - "Q" SCORING: Maximum possible points for each block: ------------------------------------------------- |Levels | 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9| |Points | 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42| ------------------------------------------------- One point is subtracted for each drop ("beep"). Therefore, the sooner you drop the blocks into place, the more points you'll get for that block. Level Changes: ---------------------------------------------------------- |Levels | 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 | |Score | 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 5000| ---------------------------------------------------------- Have fun! PS. I can't seem to upload the file! I got a message that says, "Upload failed. You are not permitted to upload this type of file" Can anyone please help? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+bf2k+ Posted April 28, 2009 Share Posted April 28, 2009 (edited) PS. I can't seem to upload the file! I got a message that says, "Upload failed. You are not permitted to upload this type of file" Can anyone please help? You need to 'ZIP' it. How about keyboard controls as an alternative option to Joystick? Edited April 28, 2009 by bf2k+ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted April 28, 2009 Share Posted April 28, 2009 We really need some permissions set up here... Rediculous that on an Atari-centric forum where homebrew software is a centrepiece that we can't stick attachments up of common type XEX/ROM/BIN/ATR without having to Zip them first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atx4us Posted April 28, 2009 Author Share Posted April 28, 2009 PS. I can't seem to upload the file! I got a message that says, "Upload failed. You are not permitted to upload this type of file" Can anyone please help? You need to 'ZIP' it. How about keyboard controls as an alternative option to Joystick? Thanks for the tip. Please see the .zip file now. As for the keyboard control, you can use the keyboard through the emulated joystick control (assuming that you're using an emulator). My next program version does have true keyboard support. The purpose of this program is for "Proof of Concept" only. I very much appreciate your feedback. Txtris1a.zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thelen Posted April 29, 2009 Share Posted April 29, 2009 Nice teris game ! Where is it programmed in ? Ik think when you press down the block goes a little bit to fast Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yorgle Posted April 29, 2009 Share Posted April 29, 2009 Great game. I kinda like the letters inside the blocks. It gives the game a nostalgic typed-in-from-magazine feel. I agree that the blocks drop too fast when you pull down though- I end up dropping blocks by accident. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+therealbountybob Posted April 30, 2009 Share Posted April 30, 2009 Great work atx4us ... some (lots of) feedback: very nice to play, only tested on the emulator (I'll get this down to my 130XE sometime soon for real testing!) Started on Level 6, play is quite comfortable but level 9 is too fast, even for an excellent Tetris player (and modest) like myself The rotation and dropping are spot-on on level 6 but on level 0 the rotate takes too long and you end up pressing up several times; the level based delay should affect the pieces descent not the users control. The noise/delay for a line done is maybe a little long... You might want to consider making the level up every 10 rows (as most Tetrises (is that the plural ) do) as otherwise you are effectively penalising the better player who drops and gets more score and goes up levels quicker for the same number of lines completed... the played should be out when the speed of the game gets too much that they are eventually overwhelmed but are still able to control the pieces. You should be able to start on level 1 and play through to level 9 etc if you are good without spending all day playing a go. Now if only you and NRV could get together and use his multi coloured graphics techniques on your game engine we would have a winner. Plus a saveable high-score table! That's all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sikor Posted April 30, 2009 Share Posted April 30, 2009 Nice. Congratullation Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allas Posted May 1, 2009 Share Posted May 1, 2009 Good work, just what is need to start a good port of tetris. The PM overlay consist on 4 layers of Player+Missile (10 pixels wide) at the maximum wide. You need an OR effect of player + background and you have 6 colors per block (with his own 2 extra color for border shadows). On the graphics you waste 3 colors for black background+grays for shades, and finally you have 2 colors free (for background, or additional color blocks or a mix of both) Maybe you could start to add on you own graphic the 4 layers of sprites covering all the ingame area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atx4us Posted May 1, 2009 Author Share Posted May 1, 2009 Great work atx4us ... some (lots of) feedback: very nice to play, only tested on the emulator (I'll get this down to my 130XE sometime soon for real testing!) Started on Level 6, play is quite comfortable but level 9 is too fast, even for an excellent Tetris player (and modest) like myself The rotation and dropping are spot-on on level 6 but on level 0 the rotate takes too long and you end up pressing up several times; the level based delay should affect the pieces descent not the users control. The noise/delay for a line done is maybe a little long... You might want to consider making the level up every 10 rows (as most Tetrises (is that the plural ) do) as otherwise you are effectively penalising the better player who drops and gets more score and goes up levels quicker for the same number of lines completed... the played should be out when the speed of the game gets too much that they are eventually overwhelmed but are still able to control the pieces. You should be able to start on level 1 and play through to level 9 etc if you are good without spending all day playing a go. Now if only you and NRV could get together and use his multi coloured graphics techniques on your game engine we would have a winner. Plus a saveable high-score table! That's all Many thanks to the valuable feedback from everyone. This is my first publicly released program. So, to tell you the truth I didn't know what to expect. But, the AtariAge group definitely exceeded my expectations! All your feedback will help to improve the game play quality even further. As for the comments about the fast drops, I will implement a slow & fast drop in the next version. On the keyboard, Space=Fast/Hard Drop and Down Arrow=Slow Drop. On the joystick, Firebutton=Fast/Hard Drop and Joystick Down=Slow Drop. The point about level up every 10 rows is duly noted. I definitely gave serious thoughts about incorporating NRV's multi coloured graphics techniques in future color versions - what a cool concept. My current color version in GTIA 10 mode (not released yet), does have a high score screen. But, I'm not sure about adding the save feature. I'll give this some more thoughts. Here are my current Move/Rotate Rate & Drop Rate tables in Jiffies (1/60 second NTSC): Levels =[ 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9] DropRate=[86 69 54 41 30 21 14 9 5 4] MoveRate=[14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 6] Can you please make your recommendations on these rates for each level? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+therealbountybob Posted May 2, 2009 Share Posted May 2, 2009 Hi, just been playing on the real hardware Ignore some of my previous comments: the rotation delay was just when a piece comes on this is fine. The line done effect/delay is also fine, gives you a chance to think. Level 8 is playable but on level 9 there isn't enough time to rotate and move the piece to the sides unless you are really low down... I suppose it's got to get too hard at some point though... maybe tweak this or have more levels... I am playing in the UK so am on 50hz, bear this in mind. Maybe you could even be the first(?) game to have a choice of speed so that US users could play at the same slower speed as we do. Then if we play this in the HSC it would be fairer?! There is a minor cosmetic - when you are rotating as a piece lands it sometimes makes a hole in the top of the box. Saveable High-Score table showing score and level (with an option to wipe it) would be great... the PC version I loved had top 20 players scores. atx4us, I think TexTris is (already) one of the best version's of Tetris on the Atari, excellent gameplay is the key. If you do add Graphics you could sneak the text version in there somewhere as a bonus!. Check it out folks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+therealbountybob Posted May 3, 2009 Share Posted May 3, 2009 One more thing - do you/maybe you should - get more points for making multiple rows 2/3/4 :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atx4us Posted May 3, 2009 Author Share Posted May 3, 2009 One more thing - do you/maybe you should - get more points for making multiple rows 2/3/4 :-) Good idea. I have this bonus feature in the Color version. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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