Tetris

This is an experimental project in which I build Tetris on a stream and talk through the process. The goal is to build a system that not only works well, but is very easy to read and extend. So, over time we don't only add features, but iteratively refactor toward a beautiful machine.

The main branch is the most up-to-date. There are branches marking the endpoints of each stream.

• End of Stream 1
• End of Stream 2
• End of Stream 3
• End of Stream 4
• End of Stream 5

How to Run

This project requires php 8.0 and the readline extension (should come with your PHP). You need to run the game from a terminal that supports ANSI character codes.

Clone this branch locally with git clone git@github.com:ShawnMcCool/tetris.git.

All dependencies are inside the repo, so no need to install packages.

To play Tetris:

$ php ./play.php

To run the tests:

$ php ./tests/run.php

Controls

QWERTY controls:
A / D = move left / right
; / ' = rotate left / right

DVORAK controls:
A / O = move left / right
s / - = rotate left / right

Development Notes

Everything in the project is written by Shawn McCool except the Thermage/Thermage package which is used to render the nice blocks in the terminal. There's another render option, it uses ascii characters like O and 0, and while it's fun, it's not as fancy.

Completed

• 7 tetriminos: O, I, T, L, J, S, and Z, each made up of 4 minos
• the matrix: the play-field may be of any size, however standard is 10 minos wide and 40 minos tall (with 20 visible to the player).
• line clear: when a line is completely cleared, remove it from the board and drop lines until all empty lines are above the top-most mino in the matrix
• lock down: the moment a tetrimino locks into place and can no longer be moved
• keyboard controls
• basic display: text-based terminal display
• block display: nice graphics built with Thermage/Thermage
• 7-bag tetrimino spawn randomizer

Todo

• tetris notification: reward the player with a notification when they clear a tetris (4 lines at once)
• soft drop: increase the speed at which a tetrimino falls by holding 'down'
• lock down delay: extra time given to the player to rotate the piece before it's permanently snapped into place
• wall kick