Show HN: Angularis – like Tetris, but based on triangles(angularis.mondaybits.com) Angularis is a game similar to Tetris, but based on triangles instead of squares. Which is why it also has diagonal movements. I had this idea about a month ago and built the game in my spare time. I think it is a bit more difficult compared to Tetris. You kind of have to get used to "think diagonally". Maybe it can be a nice little challenge for you. I'd be happy to receive some feedback. Thanks! |
1. Given you have triangular blocks and diagonal movements, the board should probably be angled too instead of rectangular. Maybe experiment with having a tapered bottom to the screen.
2. In Tetris ever piece can connect with every other piece to form a new block. This isn’t true here. You have some blocks that are squares (orientated with a flat bottom). Some that are squares by diamond orientated (ie rotates 45 degrees). Some that are entirely diagonal. This means that a lot of the pieces do not work together. You’re also effectively creating 8 different orientations to match rather than 4 while still only allowing shapes to rotate in 4 different orientations. So you need to spend a lot more time deciding upon what pieces are available. I don’t think having more pieces is the solution here either because you just reduce the likelihood of a piece you need from dropping.
The controls work surprisingly well on mobile though the drop button is a little too Easy to accidentally hit. But that’s nit picking because it’s a pretty decent experience otherwise.
It also had a very wide playfield though, which made clearing lines take for EVER. Playing well also involves making good use of bombs to fix mistakes, because a big problem with this as a concept vs. normal tetris is that it's possible to make unfixable gaps.
Just a small quality of life request: could you add a little more delay when the block touches the bottom? I feel like when I try to fast drop the block it finishes dropping a little too quickly and I can't slot it into place easily without gently tapping the down arrow to adjust the speed.
The keyboard controls are non-intuitive as observed by others.
The playing "field" is plain and for me at least (possibly due to vision issues) this means I can never be confident of the position of the piece before it is very close to the surface.
And fundamentally the square base and horizontal clearing make it a question of being lucky enough to get at least one of the two door-wedge pieces at the right time; otherwise you get too many unfixable gaps.
What this means is that the initial difficulty is too maddening to make the game fun to play, and I feel you must hate me.
Make the base and row clearing a V shape and you might have a game, rather than a cognitive punishment beating!
It is much easier to play on a touch device -- great work here! -- but at the same time in Safari on a 2018 iPad Pro (no slouch) it suffers slowdowns and non-responsive moments as play continues. Which may be out of the developer's hands.
(I only managed to clear one row.)
With this, I am not convinced that the pieces are allocated in a way that remains playable. I have cleared a couple of rows (in different games!) but there just seems too much stacked against me for progress.
It could be due to my eyesight; the board area needs visual hints. It could also be due to the controls, which seem like deliberate hardship.
It is cool, but it's too difficult to be fun; there's almost no recovery possible from accidents and there are too many ways to have accidents.
I like your sound design choices to use drum machine samples.
edit: and playing some more I see 45 degrees wouldn't even really work.
Took a while to get used to it, but I was very satisfied to clear a few lines.
I was curious what effect it would have to change or add to the concept of "row" to be not horizontal, but instead a "strip of contiguous triangles from the bottom to one of the sides." I might also try instead of a flat bottom, one shaped like an inverted triangle.
* Configurable controls would be nice. Most (modern serious) Tetris players would be more used to Z/X for left/right rotate and Shift or C for hold. (Don't listen to the people who want only one rotate button; two are essential nowadays.)
* Ghost piece would be nice as well (I think someone mentioned it elsewhere). Even grid lines would help.
* Pause doesn't work, at least on desktop.
* Line counter is missing.
* The title mentions a version 0.7. Is there a corresponding changelog?
The approach for the project so far was to use only „VanillaJS“ (so no frameworks, except for CSS) and to keep it as lightweight as possible. I think I might deviate a bit from this strict approach in the future.
An annoying thing is that the apparent buttons on the left don't work since a mouse click rotates the block instead. I needed to mute the browser tab because I couldn't click on the sound button.