Schik
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I like Erik's idea - it would be nice to be able to avoid the 'neather by skill.

I had an idea for another DROD twist you could add: Have one of the pieces that drops be a 4-length serpent. Instead of normal tetris rotating however, you steer him like a serpent. Thus, he could end up being in different configurations depending on how you steer him.

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bradwall
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Schik wrote:
I had an idea for another DROD twist you could add: Have one of the pieces that drops be a 4-length serpent. Instead of normal tetris rotating however, you steer him like a serpent. Thus, he could end up being in different configurations depending on how you steer him.

Wow... that is a cool idea. I don't know how soon something like that would be incorporated. The way my code is set up right now, it might be difficult to add this in. I will have to look into it. Thanks for the idea... it is definately a good one.

Oneiromancer
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It shouldn't be too hard...pressing left or right (or Q or W) makes the head move in that direction (rotation relative to the serpent would be more accurate). Pushing the up arrow would make it move forward one square in the direction it is facing. If it hits a dead end, it shortens by one unit, otherwise its length always stays the same. If you want to fit it into a tight space, you need to move quickly at the right time, because it still falls like a normal DRODtris brick.

Game on,

____________________________
"He who is certain he knows the ending of things when he is only beginning them is either extremely wise or extremely foolish; no matter which is true, he is certainly an unhappy man, for he has put a knife in the heart of wonder." -- Tad Williams

StuartK
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Left, right and down arrows would function as normal?

The different ratios of snakes to other blocks could make for entirely different game styles. Also, games where certain blocks (squares and lines) are disabled would spice things up. Perhaps each time the snake is 'pushed' the Neather snake is also advanced, giving an encouragement towards efficiency The snakes would start in randomised configurations...

And lets have some different ingame options so we have the choice between all these different playstyles, rather than sticking with just one and going with it. The currently in use idea is good (though it needs tweaking *) and all the others have potential as well. I'd also like to see a 'powerup' type game, where you get bombs, randomise area of blocks, reverse area of blocks, compact single column, destroy row or column, single blocks, acid which dissolves any single squares on contact etc etc etc.


* After a while (later than level 8-10) none of the line removal effects even made a dent in the snake, except a full tetris. After further thought, I think the snake should increase in speed, commensurate somehow with the speed or rate with which the blocks are being dropped, and the amount removed from the snake when completing lines should remain constant throughout the game. If that can be achieved, there would have the added benefit of making the game easier to balance, with a straightline ramping up of the challenge as the game gets faster, instead of the accelerating difficulty (provided the speed problems can be finally fixed ** ) we have at the moment.

** I got up to level 16, and it was playing pretty slow. I'd been near the top, and battled down to about halfway. I'd also paused the game at some point, and unpaused an hour later. I couldn't get any further down (to see if it sped up again) since the Neather was becoming more active.

Bradwall, have you considered, or are you, skipping animation frames at higher levels?

Oneiromancer
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Er, oops, I don't know what I was talking about. I forgot what the rotation buttons were if you aren't using Q and W. I guess it makes the most sense for the rotation buttons to rotate the serpent's head, while the left and right movement buttons move the entire serpent as a whole. And the down button just makes the serpent move a little closer to the bottom. The up button advances the serpent's head, as suggested before.

Game on,

____________________________
"He who is certain he knows the ending of things when he is only beginning them is either extremely wise or extremely foolish; no matter which is true, he is certainly an unhappy man, for he has put a knife in the heart of wonder." -- Tad Williams

Sokko
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Personally what I'd like to see most is a SPF2T-style game, but that's totally different from regular Tetris (even though it has a few of the same concepts) and will probably never be done. I'd do it myself but 1. I'm too lazy, and 2. I have only an unregistered copy of GameMaker 5.1, which has totally destroyed my will to write anything with it because it puts a GM advert on the loading screen.

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bradwall
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New version (0.1.0)

I went from 0.0.... to 0.1.. becuase of changing the game play.

New features:
- The tar merges when it lands. There are a few bugs with it.... which you will see, but, for the most part... it kind of works.


I have not added Eriks idea about the serpent yet, because I had another idea about what could be done. Maybe, the serpent could continue what it is doing (by getting longer with time)... above it, there could be another slide bar... this is split into two parts. The left side has the neather, the other side has Beethro. Everytime a person gets a line or two, it slowly moves from the Neather side to the Beethro side. By the time that serpent reaches the end, if the other progress bar is on the side of the Neather, then a bad thing happens (like the Neather dump, or an ugly piece drops), but... if it is on the side of Beethro, then something good happens (not sure what that will be yet)... maybe a sword that allows you to pick a line on the board you can remove.

Anyways, let me know what you think of that.

mrimer
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File: drodtris.jpg (51.7 KB)
Downloaded 167 times.
License: Other
From: Unspecified

Hey, the tar's great! I think it works well. (I'll get you, Neather!!! ...see attached image) The balancing meter sounds intriguing and definitely deserves further thought.

The trick to deciding whether tar should show up (this error was in the DROD 1.5 beta for a while) is to do check whether each piece being examined is part of at least a 2x2 block of tar (i.e. there are three pieces plus this one forming a square). We coded it something like this:

//*****************************************************************************
bool IsTarStableAt(
//Determines whether tar placed at this square would not turn into a tar baby,
//according to the rule that a minimum of a 2x2 square of tar can exist.
//
//Params:
	const UINT wX, const UINT wY)	//(in) square being considered
//
//Returns:
//True if tar would be stable here, false if it should be a tar baby.
const
{
	bool tar[3][3] = {{false}};	//center position is square being considered
	UINT x, y;

	//mark where tar is
	for (x=wX-1; x!=wX+2; x++)
		if (x < wNumCols)  //boundschecking
			for (y=wY-1; y!=wY+2; y++)
				if (y < wNumRows)
					tar[x-wX+1][y-wY+1] =
							roomSquares[x][y] == T_TAR;

	return (
		(tar[0][0] && tar[0][1] && tar[1][0]) ||	//upper-left corner
		(tar[0][2] && tar[0][1] && tar[1][2]) ||	//lower-left corner
		(tar[2][0] && tar[2][1] && tar[1][0]) ||	//upper-right corner
		(tar[2][2] && tar[2][1] && tar[1][2]));	//lower-right corner
}

(Hmm...I'm not sure I like all those extra CRs that show up in that code snippet...wonder why it's like that...)

____________________________
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Gandalf the Grey. That was my name.
I am Gandalf the White.
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bradwall
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Yeah, so far my code looks like this:

For d = 35 To 10 Step -1
For e = 10 To 19
pSN = G1(e, d)
If G1(e, d) <> 0 Then

drawx = (e - 10) * 14
drawy = (d - 10) * 14

If G1(e, d) = 6 Then 'Tar is 6
If (G1(e + 1, d) = 6 And G1(e - 1, d) = 6 And G1(e, d + 1) <> 6 And G1(e, d - 1) = 6) Then
'Tar is bottom tar.
DrawBlock drawx, drawy, 9, 1, 1
ElseIf (G1(e + 1, d) = 6 And G1(e - 1, d) <> 6 And G1(e, d + 1) <> 6 And G1(e, d - 1) = 6) Then
'Tar is bottom left tar.
DrawBlock drawx, drawy, 10, 1, 1
ElseIf (G1(e + 1, d) <> 6 And G1(e - 1, d) = 6 And G1(e, d + 1) <> 6 And G1(e, d - 1) = 6) Then
'Tar is bottom right tar.
DrawBlock drawx, drawy, 11, 1, 1
ElseIf (G1(e + 1, d) = 6 And G1(e - 1, d) <> 6 And G1(e, d + 1) = 6 And G1(e, d - 1) = 6) Then
'Tar is left side tar.
DrawBlock drawx, drawy, 12, 1, 1
ElseIf (G1(e + 1, d) = 6 And G1(e - 1, d) = 6 And G1(e, d + 1) = 6 And G1(e, d - 1) = 6) Then
'Tar is middle tar.
DrawBlock drawx, drawy, 13, 1, 1
ElseIf (G1(e + 1, d) <> 6 And G1(e - 1, d) = 6 And G1(e, d + 1) = 6 And G1(e, d - 1) = 6) Then
'Tar is right side tar.
DrawBlock drawx, drawy, 14, 1, 1
ElseIf (G1(e + 1, d) = 6 And G1(e - 1, d) = 6 And G1(e, d + 1) = 6 And G1(e, d - 1) <> 6) Then
'Tar is top tar.
DrawBlock drawx, drawy, 15, 1, 1
ElseIf (G1(e + 1, d) = 6 And G1(e - 1, d) <> 6 And G1(e, d + 1) = 6 And G1(e, d - 1) <> 6) Then
'Tar is top left tar.
DrawBlock drawx, drawy, 16, 1, 1
ElseIf (G1(e + 1, d) <> 6 And G1(e - 1, d) = 6 And G1(e, d + 1) = 6 And G1(e, d - 1) <> 6) Then
'Tar is top right tar.
DrawBlock drawx, drawy, 17, 1, 1
Else
DrawBlock drawx, drawy, 6, 1, 1
End If
End If

End If
Next e
Next d

This obviously doesn't check for tar being the way it should be... but, I will have to look into it and see what I need to do to get it to work right. Thanks for the snipit of code... it will be handy.

Zmann
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I can't believe I didn't see this post until now.

Anyway, this is turning out to be something actually desent to play. I really like the 'Neather bar. It adds more to the gameplay. Good job, and keep up the good work.

Zmann
Level: Master Delver

Rank Points: 241
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bradwall wrote:

I have not added Eriks idea about the serpent yet, because I had another idea about what could be done. Maybe, the serpent could continue what it is doing (by getting longer with time)... above it, there could be another slide bar... this is split into two parts. The left side has the neather, the other side has Beethro. Everytime a person gets a line or two, it slowly moves from the Neather side to the Beethro side. By the time that serpent reaches the end, if the other progress bar is on the side of the Neather, then a bad thing happens (like the Neather dump, or an ugly piece drops), but... if it is on the side of Beethro, then something good happens (not sure what that will be yet)... maybe a sword that allows you to pick a line on the board you can remove.

Anyways, let me know what you think of that.

Does the slider ever go back to the 'Neather side once it reaches the Beethro side? If so how will this be done? Will it just jump to the 'Neather side when the snake hits the end? Or will it always be moving towards the 'Neather side? Thanks.

bradwall
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It would go back to the Neather side once the serpent reaches the end.

However, it has been a while since I have worked on this... I am writing a program for my company right now and it is consuming a lot of my extra time. I hope to get back to it as soon as possible. If people still have ideas, I will be checking the web site and writing them down so that I can add them in later.

I am also going on vacation for about two weeks, then moving into my new house... so, it may be a month until you see a new update.

Mattcrampy
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It's hardly the most appropriate time, but every time I try downloading the zip file it's empty.

What have I done wrong?

Matt

____________________________
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bradwall
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I just got back from a long business trip. I was excited to get back into programming this. But, there is a problem. The problem that I am having is that I just received a large project from my boss. He wants me to program something for the company. It is a big project and I am the only one that will be working on it. So, I will have to put this program a side for a while. I am fine with giving the source code out if anyone wants to help me with it. It is written in VB.

ErikH2000
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bradwall wrote:
I just got back from a long business trip. I was excited to get back into programming this. But, there is a problem. The problem that I am having is that I just received a large project from my boss.

Hey, just curious... Is this your first professional software job? If so, congratulations! If not, uh... congratulations.

-Erik

____________________________
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bradwall
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No, there is one other program that I created for the company. This one will take a lot longer than the last one I created. Thanks for the congrats.

DiMono
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Just an idea for the 4-long snake piece, what if you can move and shape it using the rotation keys and the drop key (advance the head one square), and you have total control over its movement, over a timed period; if you don't have it in place when time is up, it just drops as-is.

I think this would slide in a little bit of a break from the high-stress tetris environment for a few seconds, allowing some straight-forward planning with a piece you can mould to fit your whimsy.

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The_Red_Hawk
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I think it would be an interesting visual effect if the monsters blinked, moved, etc. like they do in DROD when they are standing still.

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Slashing, whirling, diving, twirling,
Snapping, turning, rising, swirling,
Screeching, flipping, gliding, sliding,
The red hawk's dance of death.

.....the king of the skies.....

bradwall
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Thanks for the ideas everyone... I hope to get back to programming this soon. I hope to get back to programming this more soon.

The_Red_Hawk
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I have another idea for DRODtris which would be called a "Mimic". It would be very rare, but when it appears, it has sword pointing down and falls through the stacks eliminating anything in its path. At the end it lands at the bottom. Of course it cannot go through serpents or tar corners, so if it hits one it stops there.

____________________________
Slashing, whirling, diving, twirling,
Snapping, turning, rising, swirling,
Screeching, flipping, gliding, sliding,
The red hawk's dance of death.

.....the king of the skies.....

DiMono
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I like that, Hawk

____________________________
Deploy the... I think it's a yellow button... it's usually flashing... it makes the engines go... WHOOSH!

bradwall
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That is an interesting idea.

agaricus5
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The_Red_Hawk wrote:
I have another idea for DRODtris which would be called a "Mimic". It would be very rare, but when it appears, it has sword pointing down and falls through the stacks eliminating anything in its path. At the end it lands at the bottom. Of course it cannot go through serpents or tar corners, so if it hits one it stops there.

Yes, it would be perfect for clearing that single column that's almost empty for making a full tetris, except that you'd made a mistake and blocked it up by accident. I like it

____________________________
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joker5
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This isn't being updated soon is it?

I think what you've done so far is awesome, and I understand real life takes precedence, but we'd all like this patched and polished and gleaming and finished. That would be cooler than it is now!

~joker5

____________________________
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www.badgerbadgerbadger.com

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DiMono
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joker5 wrote:
This isn't being updated soon is it?

I think what you've done so far is awesome, and I understand real life takes precedence, but we'd all like this patched and polished and gleaming and finished. That would be cooler than it is now!

~joker5

joker, your bubbly enthusiasm is cool, but please don't feel the urge to reply to as many posts as you can just for the sake of it. I'm sure you don't mean it, but when I see you've replied to a thread I'm starting to think "heh, joker likes something again." It's cool to support an idea, but I personally try to keep my support silent unless I have some new item to contribute to the thread, or else the board just starts getting cluttered. In summation, enthusiasm is cool, but too much of anything can be bad.

____________________________
Deploy the... I think it's a yellow button... it's usually flashing... it makes the engines go... WHOOSH!

bradwall
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joker5 wrote:
This isn't being updated soon is it?

I think what you've done so far is awesome, and I understand real life takes precedence, but we'd all like this patched and polished and gleaming and finished. That would be cooler than it is now!

~joker5

I just finished the project for my work. I should have time to pick it up again. I hope to get back on this game soon. The issue is that I may want to write most of it over... or, at least a huge part of it. I want to do some new things with it, but it will almost be impossible with how I have it coded currently. I will keep everyone posted and let you know what I am up to. I am just polishing up a different game right now and I will get back to this one when I am done with the one that I am on.

joker5
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DiMono, pardon this humble bubblebrain. If I'm overbearing please stamp me down, I need it occasionally. Bradwall, sorry, I didn't know you were involved in multiple projects(I can't cope with multiple deadlines myself).

~joker5

____________________________
Criminals, like other people, dislike being shot. ~FBI study on guns

www.badgerbadgerbadger.com

"Two words: Beam Waffle!" -me

Oneiromancer
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Don't worry about it too much, joker. DiMono started out replying to almost every thread like the rest of us. I think most people don't really care if you post a lot, as long as they are quality posts.

Although I admit I'm ignoring almost every single new idea so far in the Feature Requests forum...it's almost an overload. Except that Ray Gun idea, it's totally awesome!

Game on,

____________________________
"He who is certain he knows the ending of things when he is only beginning them is either extremely wise or extremely foolish; no matter which is true, he is certainly an unhappy man, for he has put a knife in the heart of wonder." -- Tad Williams

Krishh
Level: Master Delver
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Maybe make more of the elements drod-related:

Roach queens could produce roaches in all the free places around them when they land.

If you implement the sword, you could have goblins randomly move to the left or right when the sword is above them, if there is a free squre to the left or right of it.

A 2 squares wide tar mother witch would expand all the tar to all the free squares around it each time a new piece appeared at the top. It would comtinue this until you cleared it or it cleared itself by filling the row it is in.

Mattcrampy
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Oneiromancer wrote:
Don't worry about it too much, joker. DiMono started out replying to almost every thread like the rest of us. I think most people don't really care if you post a lot, as long as they are quality posts.

Hee hee. Burn!

I have a similar problem with the feature requests forum - I actually can't go in there because I can't help teasing people about what I know is in 2.0, and it's all tragedy. And the feeling's gone and you can't go on it's tragedy.

But still, I'd like to see this continue development, so keep us in the loop!

Matt (who's survived only one level of palace style)

____________________________
What do you call an elephant at the North Pole?