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1989-02-04
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Tetrix Version 1.1 Copyright 1988, by David Corbin All Rights Reserved
GENERAL
Tetrix's playfield consists of a pit 20 blocks deep and 10 blocks wide.
During play, objects fall from the top of the pit to the bottom. Each
object is one of seven shapes, consisting of 4 contiguous blocks. As this
object falls, it can be controlled by the player. It can be moved left,
moved right, rotated (counter-clockwise), or dropped to the bottom of the
pit. When an entire row of the pit is filled with blocks, then that row is
removed, and all other blocks above it fall one row. When an object
collides with the bottom of the pit, or with another object by downward
motion, the object stops falling.
The object of the game is to keep the pit from filling up. By moving and
rotating the falling objects, the player attempts to fill in rows, which
keeps the pit from being filled. For every 10 rows that are removed, the
play level increases. As the level increases, the pieces fall faster and
faster.
SCORING
You score is based on the level you are playing, and the speed with which
each objects reaches bottom. When the object is in the desired position
and orientation, you my drop the piece into place. This will score you
more points than waiting for the piece to drop all the way to the bottom.
STARTING TETRIX
TETRIX EXPECTS THERE TO BE A LOGICAL DEVICE "Tetrix:" WHICH CORRESPONDS TO
THE DIRECTORY WHERE TETRIX IS LOCATED. THIS CAN BE ACCOMPLISHED EASILY
USING THE ASSIGN COMAMND.
Tetrix can be invoked from the CLI or from the WorkBench. To invoke it
from the CLI, simply type "Tetrix", followed by the <RETURN> key. To run
it from the WorkBench, double-click on the Tetrix icon. There are several
options that can be controlled from the command-line, or from the WorkBench
ToolType. These are explained in the OPTIONS section.
FOR EACH GAME...
For each game, you can adjust the starting level (which will affect the
speed objects fall, and the points scored for each object), and the
difficulty. You can also elect to play a brand new game, or you can play
the same game you just finished playing.
Starting Level - The starting level can be any value from 0 (easy) to 9
(very difficult). If you wish to change the starting level, click inside
the box, press BackSpace, and type the level you wish to start at.
Difficulty - The difficulty level controls the starting playfield. It's
value can be from 0 to 15. If you enter a value other than 0, then that
many rows (starting at the bottom) may have some blocks randomly placed.
This in effect, shortens the depth of the pit at the start of the game. If
you wish to change the starting level, click inside the box, press
BackSpace, and type the level you wish to start at.
Starting The Game - There are two boxes labeled "Same Game" and "New Game".
If you click in the New Game box, then a new game is started. If you click
in the Same Game box, then the same random sequence used in the previous
game is re-used for this one. This is handy if you and a friend want to
play the same game and see who scores better. If you select the Same Game
box for your first game, you'll be able to get the same game the next time
you invoke Tetrix-this essentially takes all variation out. Note: if you
select Same Game, but you have a different difficulty level selected, the
game will not be the same.
PLAYING THE GAME...
Moving Objects - Objects are dropped from the top of the pit. The player
uses keyboard commands to control the falling object.
on the numeric keypad-
4: Move Left
5: Rotate Piece
6: Move Right
2: Increase Level
Space: Drop Piece
When you press the spacebar to drop the piece, the object falls at high
speed as far as it can. Once an object can fall no further, a new one is
released.
Pausing Play - Press the P key to pause the game. Any keystroke will
resume play. The game can also be paused by clicking outside of the pit.
When you click inside the pit, the game will be resumed. Note: if the
right mouse button is depressed to select a menu-item, the games is paused
until the button is released.
Stopping Play - Pressing the ESCape key or clicking on the pit's CLOSE
gadget will end Tetrix.
OPTIONS
There are three options that can be switched while playing the game. They
can also be preset during program invocation. SOUND can be turned on or
off. The only sound is a simple beep when a row is removed. The
Distribution of dropped objects can be shown, including the total number of
objects. Also, the player can preview the next piece to be dropped.
In addition to the runtime options, when the program is started, options
can be set for default Starting Level, default Starting Difficulty, default
Screen, and whether to show the TitleScreen.
When a Tetrix is invoked from the CLI, options are specified on the command
line. When invoked from the WorkBench, options are set in the INFO section
of the icon.
SCREEN: Normally, Tetrix uses its own 8-color screen. It can however be
forced to use the WorkBench screen. To do this, either specify "-wb" on
the CLI command, or "WORKBENCH=" in the ToolTypes entry.
TITLESCREEN:
When the 8-color screen is used, a neat animated TitleScreen is displayed.
If you get tired of this, you can prevent it by specifying "-t" on the CLI
command, or "NOTITLE=" in the ToolTypes entry.
SOUND:
Normally, sound is enabled. It can be disabled with the "-s" option on the
CLI command, or the "SILENT=" options in the ToolTypes entry.
PREVIEW:
Specify "-n" or "NEXT=" to have the Show Next Piece option enabled.
DISTRIBUTION:
Specify "-d" or "DISTRIBUTION=" to have the Show Distribution option
enabled.
STARTING VALUES:
When invoked from the CLI, default values for Starting Level and Starting
Difficulty can be set by specifying -l# and -d#, where # is the value to
set them at initially. (Example: Tetrix -l3 -d12) To set them from the
WorkBench, the ToolTypes LEVEL=# and DIFFICULTY=# must be set.
A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR.
As I am sure you know, the Amiga computer is the best buy for the money.
But, no hardware is any better than its software. In writing Tetrix, I
have attempted to follow all the rules for writing friendly Amiga software.
I have tried to allow for different operating environments (such as
interlace workbench screens). If I missed something, or if you think I
have done something poorly in this respect, PLEASE let me know.
David Corbin.
Enjoy!