I wrote it, you made it: Montris
Sometimes I post ideas that would blow me away if they could actually be made real (I’m still waiting for someone to build an Ant Desk). But occasionally I do hear from people who have taken one of my more practical ideas and actually turned it into reality. I keep meaning to write about them, so I’m starting with this one: Montris.
About a year ago, I came up with an idea for a game I described as Tetris, one brick at a time. I called it “Montris.”
I was eventually contacted by a reader named Chris Kastorff who decided to make a working Montris game. We discussed various factors that would affect game playability: The number of colors, the width of the playing field, etc. He wrote a proof-of-concept game that allows users to adjust all of those factors. (Note: In his conceptual implementation, bricks do not fall on their own. You must press the down arrow to progress the game).
More recently, I heard from a reader who has actually taken the concept and fleshed it out completely into a functional game! He calls it Sirtet. You can find it along with other games on his website.
I like that he penalizes players for making pieces of more than 4 squares. It adds another level of complexity to the game. Nice work!
Comments
It’s interesting, but not as good as normal Tetris.
The early game is extremely easy because you can just have a bunch of columns. Later on, L shapes are relatively easy to make and extremely effective.
The real difficulty comes when multiple blocks start dropping at the same time; the next blocks start getting caught on taller parts of the field.
Posted by: James | January 19, 2009 10:01 PM
Here’s a very interesting “1-block Tetris” game that I found. There are, of course, all sorts of 1-block tetris-style games such as Dr. Mario or Wario’s Woods, but this one is unique in that it requires some understanding of color theory.
http://www.eyehook.com/games/colorBox/
Posted by: Gordon D | January 25, 2009 12:27 PM
The shapes in this game reminded me of those ESP test cards (the ones that have a square, circle, three wavy lines, cross, etc.)
Then it hit me— keep this type design for a Tetris game, but don’t show what the next block is— the first game for ESP enthusiast who have to “read ahead” with their mind what the next block will be!
Posted by: Jack T | May 23, 2009 4:02 PM
Here’s a very interesting “1-block Tetris” game that I found. There are, of course, all sorts of 1-block tetris-style games such as Dr. Mario or Wario’s Woods, but this one is unique in that it requires some understanding of color theory.
Posted by: Metin2 yang | November 14, 2009 3:48 AM