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[muku]

I've been holding off on playing this so far even though the concept is intriguing (or perhaps because of that and I didn't want to spoil it for me until it's done), but I just tried it, works just fine for me here.

One thing that really bugs me though is the controls. I'm a bit surprised no one seems to have brought this up so far, so maybe I'm missing something, but is there a reason you don't use the standard Tetris controls where the up arrow rotates and left/right arrows move? It seemed to me that I had to use my left hand on A/D for moving and my right hand for rotating, and I keep confusing which hand does what.

[Pishtaco]

One thing that really bugs me though is the controls. I'm a bit surprised no one seems to have brought this up so far, so maybe I'm missing something, but is there a reason you don't use the standard Tetris controls where the up arrow rotates and left/right arrows move? It seemed to me that I had to use my left hand on A/D for moving and my right hand for rotating, and I keep confusing which hand does what.

Thanks, I had been meaning to ask for feedback about the controls. I couldn't remember what the normal Tetris controls were and the things I tried all felt equally strange, initially. I think I'll move it to what you say, but maybe leave Z and X as alternative keys for rotating.

[Gainsworthy]

Well Pishtaco, how's this all going? You can't just give us an awesome demo and vanish. :D And the compo is a week out from completion.

[Pishtaco]

There will be something for the competition. I moved to a new apartment on Sunday, so things are kind of in flux right now. But I'm hoping that with the extension I will be able to do two more levels.

I got passable front end and high score screens done at the end of last week. Unfortunately, since then when I've tried to work on it I end up playing through level one again and worrying about balance. I've done this enough times that I'm a bit burned out on it and can't see the charm any more - I hope this is me rather than the game. Anyway, level two will need some new technical things so hopefully getting on to that will get me going again.

[Gainsworthy]

God Speed, Good Sir!

Uh, also, I think the current 45 line limit is a biit of a killer. Unless I'm just crap at it. I can only make it to around 30 - though that's due to another little problem, which is over responsive controls. Sometimes, the blocks just don't want to sit still. Veer left and right, like a wild bronco they do.

I'd also like to provide Moral Support (the free-est kind of support) by assuring you that the game itself has not lost any of its charms. To me. I still love it. And the promise of "new technical things" is rather exciting.

[thewreck]

tried it!

looks very awsome, however i found the controls to be the opposite of what i expected!

To me it would feel more natural to move the black around with the arrow keys and spin it with A / D

otherwise awsome.

[Gainsworthy]

Got the 45 lines!

And was instantly rebuffed by the 20,000 point minimum score. I had ~9,500. Now that's just crazy.

I was iffy about a & s controls at the start, but it grew on me fast. Makes sense now. Just need to learn. Still bothered by the fact that sometimes items just slide around.

[Pishtaco]

I've changed the controls to use up to rotate, and left and right to move, as suggested above. This feels better (now that I'm used to it), and with return to flip the inventory as well it means you can do everything with one hand.

I think I've fixed the thing with the slippery control. Then I was worried that it was feeling oddly sluggish, but I worked out that this only happens when I am running Firefox as well. Hopefully switching GameMaker to run on highest priority will fix this (and not have any weird side-effects).

In the current version it's easier to not die, but I've actually upped the number of lines to 50, as a nice round number. But reading the replies here, maybe this is a mistake and I'm guilty of padding. The scoring has changed, but I want to leave it a bit hard so that the player has to think about trying to complete multiple lines at once as well as just survival.

Thanks for the support . Level 2 is progressing, but more slowly than I hoped. I forgot to factor my bone-idleness and inability to concentrate into my timing plans. If level 3 makes it in, it will be rushed, incoherent, and focus on unimaginative combat... but wait!

I'm torn on whether to keep my TV effect or try to work out what I need to do to make it run for everyone. Any more feedback from the people who were having problems would be very helpful.

If I make it home sober tonight I will clean up the current version and post it here.

[Stargoat]

I love the old-tv-effect .

If you do take it out, can you keep a version with it still intact?

[Pishtaco]

First post is updated with the current, still-old-TV-ish, version. Probably I will fiddle with the colours and the font on the front-end screens. Everywhere it says "space", "enter" will also work.

[Andersonger]

Love:

+The wonderful use of the STALKER thematic. The name is also genius.

+The TV effect! Maybe make it an option?

+Strategy Tetris! *guitar coming up* "Hm... Too much vodka in there, gonna get really wasted if I clear this mass now. I'll just stash the guitar to help me recover, and make a four-line clear with that piece of wood instead. Oh shi- GRENADE!" Never thought I'd play Tetris like this :D

+Difficulty. Really like how the target score forces you to, as you said, focus not only on surviving but on clearing multiple lines as well.

+Artifacts. I've played a few Tetris variants where you have "diamond bricks" or whatnot that gives you a bonus when you clear them. It's never made sense until now. Also love how the effects they have forces you to choose whether you want to save them so you can clear them whole for the score bonus, or just clear them quickly to get rid of them.


Plz fix:

-Might just be me, but the controls still feel a bit finicky. Of course, I've always preferred my Tetris a bit sluggish. Maybe this could also be an option, "Sensitivity" or something?

-I sometimes get swarmed by radioactive blocks, making it almost impossible to survive. Thinking it might be on purpose, to simulate walking into a heavily radioactive area or something?

-There's no level 2 and 3!


Going to play some more and see if I can think of any good feedback. Must say that what I really love here is how the gameplay and theme works so well together. It's what kept me playing and loving the game, despite the controls turning me off a bit. Really looking forward to seeing the final game, so keep it up!

[mrfredman]

Oh man! This is very clever! I'm totally impressed. The changing colors are a great effect that somehow makes it feel like the original, but I can't even put my finger on why. The attack dogs kept attacking and stressing me out, I really got into it. I certainly hope we get a lot of votes when judging time comes, because one of mine is definitely going here!

[Gainsworthy]

I really love the old-tv look. I say keep it. It really helps the atmosphere. Atmospheric Block Stacker. Never thought I'd say that.

And, in review, the sizeable difficulty IS a good thing. Really requires you to get skilled and learn the game well.


Aside: I think this is going to be the Zic Zac of the competition. In my eyes. Genius puzzle game, from a new member, and an entirely new take on something. Also fun and very, very catchy. You've got my vote.


EDIT: Downloaded new version. Broken? Extremely unresponsive. Keys occasionally work. Sometimes seconds after holding them down. What happened?

In other news, dig new presentation. Story, maps. Very nice!

[Pishtaco]

Thanks to everyone for the kind words!

-Might just be me, but the controls still feel a bit finicky. Of course, I've always preferred my Tetris a bit sluggish. Maybe this could also be an option, "Sensitivity" or something?

-I sometimes get swarmed by radioactive blocks, making it almost impossible to survive. Thinking it might be on purpose, to simulate walking into a heavily radioactive area or something?

-There's no level 2 and 3!

I'll put in a delay between the first time an object moves and when it repeats. Maybe that will fix it. Or I could just slow down sideways movement more.

The last area is meant to pile on the radiation, but you can prepare for it by stashing anti-radiation objects. Otherwise, you just got unlucky.

[Pishtaco]

I've updated the download in the first post. Level 2 is now in, but not balanced etc. You can unlock it by typing "strugatsky" at any time in the front end. Hopefully I can put something together for level 3 tonight, and then do polishing etc. tomorrow. The competition finishes midnight on Sunday, in some American time zone, right? So early Monday morning in Europe?

One thing I should ask - I tried this on the computer at work last week, and noticed that game maker seemed to be drawing primitives differently. In particular the health bars were a pixel too wide. Now I've made them half a pixel smaller, but I don't know if that has made a difference. Let me know if you see anything odd like that, especially for the water in level 2 (which is draw with primitives).

I put in an extra delay for the controls. It feels more precise now, but... uneven.

Edit: I just realized that the version I posted has player death turned off. I've left it like that for now.