TETRIX v1.2¢by Darryl Yong¢Tetrix Documentation by Mark McCracken¢Copyright 1989 by Darryl Yong¢¢¢NOTICE: This program and documentation is not in the Public Domain! It may be, however, freely distributed to all so long as the program and documentation are not changed in any way. This program and documentation may not be sold in any way without the author's expressed written consent. This does not exclude normal connect charges for online data services such as GEnie and CompuServe, nor does it prevent User Groups from making a nominal charge for club diskettes.¢¢¢INTRODUCTION¢¢Tetrix is a remake of a popular Russian game with a similar name. The object is simple: shapes, or blocks fall into a pit. Your job is to rotate the shapes, and fit them at the bottom of the pit. Whenever a row of blocks is completely filled up, it disintegrates with a boom. The game ends when there is no more room for the shapes to enter the pit. Nine levels are provided in the game, to successfully pass one level, you must complete 10 lines. A surprise is in store for the most adept player at the completion of all 1-9 levels.¢¢¢CONTROLS¢¢At the main menu, select the starting level using either the SELECT key or the joystick. Starting at level one gives you normal play, whereas starting at any level other than one will give you a "practice" mode; you cannot advance levels.¢¢During play, simply use the joystick to move the piece left and right, or use the 'J' and 'L' keys. To rotate a piece, push the trigger or press 'K'. To speed up game play and receive bonus points, you may drop a piece from any height by pressing the space bar. (Pushing down on the joystick achieves a similar effect, except that the fall of the piece is much more gradual, thus, allowing control over the rate of descent.) Also, a Next feature is implemented to show you which piece will come next, but the point value for that piece will be reduced. To toggle this feature, pull up on the joystick, or press 'N'.¢¢If you need to pause sometime in the game, press 'P'. To resume play, press any key. To quit anytime during gameplay, press 'Q'.¢¢¢SCORING¢¢Each piece that is successfully placed earns a score of the number of rows it has traversed. For example, a piece that falls 10 rows before coming to a rest earns 10 points. When the Next feature is on, all score that you would normally receive is halved. Dropping a pieve yields 2 points for evert row the piece has fallen. Completing a level gives you 100 points, and if you manage to complete four levels with one piece (the long skinny one) you will receive a 1000 point bonus.¢¢Tetrix also keeps track of high score. When the game is loaded, it looks for a TETRIX.HSC on D1:. If, at the end of your game, you have tied or beaten the high score, Tetrix will prompt you for your initials. Only letters, numbers, and a few symbols will be accepted, any other key will restart the entering process. After entering your initials, you have the choice of saving your score or not. If any errors occur during the save, Tetrix will abort, without attempting a retry.¢¢¢HINTS AND TIPS¢¢Each Tetrix player will gain his or her own style with practice, but here are a few tips. Don't leave pieces where they obstruct others, and don't put pieces in places which limit your possibilities. Finally, practice, practice, practice, is the only thing that will give you success!¢¢¢FINAL WORDS¢¢Please remember that for any shareware program, contributions will encourage the author to create more products. Your generous donations will also pay for the costs incurred, and time the author has devoted. Again, please do not hesitate to support shareware authors; by doing this, you support the Atari community as well.¢¢I truly hope you enjoy Tetrix.¢¢---Darryl Yong--Proverbs 16:3¢---2371 Cobble Oak Court¢ Rancho Cordova, CA 95670-4230¢¢ Complaints, comments? Don't fret!! I can be reached on Compuserve, 72717,1450.¢¢ I can also be found wandering (aimlessly?) around the Sacramento Quadrature:¢¢ ACCESS BBS: (916) 423-2544¢ BREAKFAST CLUB BBS: (916) 331-4722¢ CITY OF GREY: (916) 338-1695¢ SELECT BBS: (916) 392-7279¢¢Thanks to Marty A., and Mark M. and all others who helped me test Tetrix.¢
