TETRIS for the Atari ST (monochrome only)
DESCRIPTION
Tetris is a game involving dropping shapes. While a
shape drops, the player can move it to the left, right,
and turn it (anti-clockwise). If a shape can't drop any
further, it will be fixed and a new shape will enter
the playing field. If the entrance of a new shape is
blocked the game is over.
When one or more rows of the playing field are entirely
filled, they will be removed and higher rows will shift
downward thus effectively gaining room for more shapes
to enter the playing field.
The level will change depending on the number of rows
the player has removed (level = rows/10 -1).
Tetris always displays the next shape to come in the small
window next to the playing field.
SHAPES The shapes are each build up of four elements (squares).
For each new shape Tetris will choose randomly out of
one of these seven shapes:
** **** * *** *** ** **
** *** * * ** **
SETTINGS
Before starting a new game, the player can affect any of
the following settings (default in brackets):
Level (0)Any number between 0-9. The level determines
the speed by which the shapes drop.
Advanced (off)The dropping speed will be multiplied by 2
for each level.
Rows (0)Tetris will randomly occupy the indicated
number of rows.
PLAYING MODES
There are three different modes to play Tetris:
PLAY Play a normal game of Tetris.
HELP For each new shape Tetris will give his best guess
where to place it.
ROBOT Tetris will play the game himself.
In the latter two cases the high score will not be effected.
KEY BINDINGS
Move the shape left (also h key)
Move the shape right (also l key)
Turn the shape (also k key)
Drop the shape
<1-9>Change the current level (upward only)
Pause the game
Quit the current game
SCORE The player gets points for every shape positioned on the
playing field. The number of points depend on the current
level, and the height where the shape is positioned.
Extra points can be obtained by dropping the shape (HELP key)
or playing in advanced mode (see SETTINGS).
BUGS The ROBOT mode doesn't consider the next shape in his choice
for the most efficient position of the current shape.
The robot plays quit well however (I measured an average of
12500 points over 40 games, with a maximum of 42598!).
AUTHORJan van der Steen, Amsterdam.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Jan van der Steen, CWI the Netherlands
jansteen@cwi.nl (or uunet!mcvax!jansteen)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-