Tk Tetris (Game, */F, includes artwork from 15 different artists!)

[Ilohnoh1]

BEBOB4999, BELLA DONNA, CHESHIRE CAT, DAVE2112, FEATHERHEAD, FMILLING/ BOMBERS, ILOHNOH, KALAMOS,
PENMASTERRULE, RAJEE, RAVEN KIRSAEN, SHORTY02, SCAVENGER, SMADE, SNAIL SHELL.

See any names you like? Then you might be interested in this game!

TK Tetris is a Tetris game containing the artwork of no less than 15 different artists, most of it NEVER SEEN BEFORE! Brand new or dug up from dusty archives and finished.

Beware, this game is rather addictive, and it is NOT easy, especially as you progress!

Contains, but not limited to: armpits, bondage, chairs, doctor, feathers, feet, fins, furry/neko, gags, gamecontrols, mermaid, nudity, nurse, palmtrees, picturemanipulation, realistism, robotics, sides, stocks, swimsuits, tentacles, tetrisblocks, toes, 3D

DOWNLOAD:
I have included two files to this thread; you only need one.
Either...
A) Pick up the executable (zipped: Exe_only.zip) 1224 kb
Or...
B) Pick up the installation package (zipped: TkTetris_install.zip) 2566 kb

If you have any of my other games installed, the executable is enough. Otherwise you might need a few extra files to be able to run the game, which are included in the installation package.

- - - - - - - - - - - -
And now a useful guide to playing the game:

TK TETRIS!

All of you probably know the game 'Tetris'. So I probably don't have to explain the basics. TkTetris is "tetris with a twist" so I will limit myself to explaining this twist.

First of all, the game includes TWO game types. A regular level-based game (Classic mode) and a hard mode with extra blocks (Extended mode).

WARNING: You're strongly adviced to start with the CLASSIC mode. The extended mode is for experts!


TETRIS VS. TKTETRIS in general
==============================

The biggest difference with regular tetris is that this one contains ARTWORK (Tk artwork to be precise) and the goal is to uncover the complete piece of artwork. You can see a light background with at the bottom a bit darker 'square' area. The meaning of TkTetris is that you fill up this entire dark area with blocks, so that the complete picture is revealed. Doing this means you win the level and you can proceed to the next (not to mention that you can enjoy the picture in it's completeness!)

Whenever blocks hit the bottom (or another block below them) they will become transparent and you can see a glimpse of the underlying picture. However, to see the picture CLEARLY (ie. not through the transparent blocks) you will have to complete the entire row. This will only work as long as there are no GAPS in the rows below the just completed row... so try to make sure you leave as little gaps as possible or work them away as soon as you can! Whenever a row is filled while there was a gap on one of the lower rows it will simply disappear and all above rows will be lowere one position (like in the regular Tetris game).

The purpose is to reveal the complete picture, so work from bottom to top as much as possible, completing row after row upwards!

Alike in the regular Tetris game you have to prevent that your blocks pile up against the top of the screen. That is a game-over situation.

As you are getting closer to completing your picture, you will start working closer and closer to the top of the screen, which of course is trickier. To prevent things getting really hectic, a block delay is activated once your static blocks approach the upper area of the screen. The block (once inserted) slowly fades in and while this is going on you can freely rotate it and move it to the left or right without the block starting to descend. If you lower the block manually then this effect terminates and the block will drop.

In the regular Tetris game the drop speed of the blocks increases with every level. This makes every level harder than the previous one. You might be happy to hear that this is not done in TkTetris. It is not a race against the clock. Instead, if you make it through level one and you proceed to level 2 and above, you will start seeing that the play-field contains so called 'pockets'. These will make it trickier to play as they may be 'in the way' (level 2 and 3) or they will have to be cleared first before you can complete the lowest row (level 4 and above).

Levels and pockets are NOT in use in the 'Extended' game mode, that one works different but don't expect it to be easier!


CLASSIC MODE
============

This is the level-based play, containing classic Tetris Blocks (except the vertical 4-size block is in this game a 3-size block). You generally start playing at level 1, unless you have already cleared one or more levels and obtained the password for subsequent levels. If you want to start playing a certain level, you can type its password in the 'level password' field after launching the game. If you typed it right you will see "Level n" appear in the top of the screen (where 'n' is the level's number). Each level contains its own artwork, by one of the artists that submitted artwork for this game. The artwork linked to a certain level is always the same, so e.g. level 1 will always contain IloHnoH's artwork.

Once you clear a level you will see the complete picture (not seen through the transparent blocks but for real!) and you will be given the password to the next level (provided you didn't just clear the last level, at which point there simply is no password). Pressing Enter on your keyboard will then take you to the next level and you can do this whenever you are ready.

This game mode is recommended. Its difficulty is 'normal' (sorry, there's no 'easy mode') and as the levels increase it becomes harder and it will take longer in order to complete a level. Naturally it takes both skill and a little luck (of getting good blocks) in order to do so. Patience is a virtue that will come in real handy with this game, especially as the levels increase.

However, if things are going completely out of hand, of course you can quite easily just pile up the blocks to force a 'lose' situation and start the level over.


EXTENDED MODE
=============

Extended mode has no levels. Every time you play extended mode you are basically playing 'level 1', with the crucial exception that you will be seeing the 'extended blocks' pop up. Most of these are nasty buggers that you will learn to hate sooner than later and you have to be lucky to have a spot for them. If you do not, they can cause quite a gap in your nicely organised patterns. There are no 'pockets' (that's why I say this is always 'level 1') because with those it would become completely impossible to complete the extended mode.

So, this is the EXPERT mode (or HARD mode) and needs good planning as well as luck. Not for the beginner!

The advantage of playing in EXPERT mode is that you can get to see artwork from any level in the
classic mode - out of order! They are presented randomly, so the first time you play extended mode you might very well be presented with the artwork that comes with Classic Mode level 10 to name an example.

Also, instead of typing passwords, you can preselect a picture by typing the first three letters of the artist's name in the text box after the game launches. If you typed the three letters correctly then you will see the text 'Level 1' on the top of the screen change to the name of the artist in question. Also the 'Classic' button will get disabled because you can only play this in extended mode.

Artists are as follows (in alphabetical order)

beb = Bebob4999
bel = Bella Donna
bom = Bombers (aka Fmilling)
sca = Scavenger
che = Cheshire Cat
dav = Dave2112
fea = FeatherHead
fmi = (Fmilling aka Bombers)
ilo = IloHnoH
kal = Kalamos
pen = PenMasterRule
raj = Rajee
rav = Raven Kirsaen
sho = Shorty02
sma = Smade
sna = Snail Shell

--------------------

UPDATE: Easy mode added.
For those who are not that good at Tetris or just want things to be a bit easier.
Note: Images are watermarked ("TkTetris EasyMode") in two corners of the image, and the images have been masked with a Sepia layer. This doesn't make the pictures entirely colourless, but still makes it worth it to play the real game if you possibly can.
Note: This version of the game does ALSO contain two difficulty levels and they are different from what you see in the original version of the game (even though one is also called 'classic'). The 'classic' version is basically the same type of level as 'advanced' was in the original game, but then with regular tetris blocks (so still easier than even the original game's level based play).

I attached an executable only, if you don't have the required support files to run this separately, you can also just install the install package and then overwrite the executable with the one found in the EasyMode_exe.zip file.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Note: These are all scanned for viruses before uploading (and none were found, otherwise I wouldn't upload). The games were created for you to have fun, not a nightmare! Please do NOT play these at work or in another environment where you might run into trouble. By downloading and installing these games you take all responsibilities for effects it might have on your system or personal environment. I take no responsibilities whatsoever to caused damage or other negative effects.

 

[Ilohnoh1]

Game status:
RELEASED!

A big hand to all the participating artists! Each of you have done a wonderful job bringing a nice diversity of personal styles and mediums into this project! From 3D rendering to photo manipulation to cryon colouring... we've got it all. And I think you'll agree with me, that the end result looks great!

Kudos!

IloHnoH

 

[Smade1]

And a bigger hand to you for all you hard work making this project happen! I think only someone who has tried this sort of project before can appreciate how much work and enthusiasm is involved to make it all happen.

Great Job!.


Smade

 

[Ilohnoh1]

Thanks Smade!

And yes, it did take a bunch of work as making a game usually does. The funny thing is that it was ready for about two and half a week, but I didn't want to contact any artists before I knew it was a 'go' and not another thing to end up in the 'cancelled' basket. In those two-ish weeks I did however make still small additions, improvements, fixes and such... making it work even smoother than the demo (that was posted for artists only) did.

Besides, this is the first game where I'm using transparency, something I recently picked up and with earlier knowledge I wouldn't have been able to make the game just this way.

 

[Kunzite1]

iloHnoH, I've always been a fan of your games but this one just shows the kind of creativity and drive that makes the tickling community such a great place. I've played through the first few levels and the mechanics work very well indeed. I congratulate you for the effort of not only programming such a great game, but for bringing so many excellent artists together into a project you all should be very proud of! Fantastic work, everyone!

 

[julian_sleek]

this is pretty neat! you forgot to mention renaissance in your list of stuff Ilonoh. i saw that Bella Donna's pic is of a gypsy and a musketeer! I love the old history based stuff way more than all the dragon ball z Japanamation stuff but it was all good in the game!

 

[Kleptomaniac1]

Very well made. No bugs I can see, and in a nicely-contained .exe, too.

...So when are you going to make cheat codes for the people who can't even get close to finishing level 1 on Classic mode?

 

[Ilohnoh1]

iloHnoH, I've always been a fan of your games but this one just shows the kind of creativity and drive that makes the tickling community such a great place. I've played through the first few levels and the mechanics work very well indeed. I congratulate you for the effort of not only programming such a great game, but for bringing so many excellent artists together into a project you all should be very proud of! Fantastic work, everyone!

Thanks a bunch, Kunzite! Comments like this make it all the more worth the time and energy spent into it!

this is pretty neat! you forgot to mention renaissance in your list of stuff Ilonoh. i saw that Bella Donna's pic is of a gypsy and a musketeer! I love the old history based stuff way more than all the dragon ball z Japanamation stuff but it was all good in the game!

Ah yes, and I forgot 'demon-girl' too I guess. Was a bit hard to mention everything, but I think I got most of it. And indeed, there's bound to be something for everyone in here! PS: To see Bella Donna's picture, did you play extended mode or did you already make it all the way to level 12? Just curious.

Very well made. No bugs I can see, and in a nicely-contained .exe, too.

...So when are you going to make cheat codes for the people who can't even get close to finishing level 1 on Classic mode?

One glitch I know of is when you almost lost (blocks in the middle piled up way high) and you get a block which start position is covering the top position of an already existing block. If you have space you can then rotate or move it, but it will change the colour of the earlier covered block to the colour of the new block. It's really a minor thing and maybe the correct way of addressing it is to trigger "you lost" if your new block would cover the top of the top block on entry mode. But... this way it does give you one extra turn to save yourself!

This game does not have cheat codes built in. I can give the level codes (although if the latter levels are too hard for you, you'll surely have an easier time giving the extended mode a shot, typing the first three letters of the artist whose art you want to see). Each and every time you play 'extended' you have the same odds of winning, no matter which artist's picture is used... you just have to use your skill and a bit of luck that you get good blocks.

But, as this game contains basically two modes (Normal and Hard), I have no problem at all releasing an "easy mode" version of the game at a later point. The way I have set block creation up, it is extremely easy for me to redefine the blocks and just remove some parts of them, making them 3-tile blocks instead of 4-tile blocks. Having more of those will make the game suddenly a load easier. I'll probably water-mark the images then (Reading a transparent text "Tk Tetris Easy Mode" in two corners or something) so that playing the real game is still the more preferred way and so that THAT won't lose its value.

Rewards for those who take up the challenge!

 

[julian_sleek]

i used the feature that let me put in the artists' names in extended mode

I did it to look at everybody's stuff, since Im soooo not good at video games. I'd never make it far enough to see what everybody did.

 

[Kleptomaniac1]

One glitch I know of is when you almost lost (blocks in the middle piled up way high) and you get a block which start position is covering the top position of an already existing block. If you have space you can then rotate or move it, but it will change the colour of the earlier covered block to the colour of the new block.

Ya know, I did see that happen, but I wasn't sure, because the blocks melded in such a way that they formed a "normal-looking" block.

There's another thing (I don't count it as a bug cause it does seem to go with the "rules", but is a bit annoying), where if you shove all the blocks to one side and pile them up there, if it touches the top, you lose. Even if there's space in the middle for new blocks to appear and move down, because a block on the far left or right is touching the top, it's game over.

I'll probably water-mark the images then (Reading a transparent text "Tk Tetris Easy Mode" in two corners or something) so that playing the real game is still the more preferred way and so that THAT won't lose its value.

With permission, you could also turn the artists' pictures into grayscale (easy Photoshop thing, possibly even able to do in MSPaint), which means that by playing on Easy mode, the player not only has images with watermarks, but the pictures are in black & white instead of full color glory. More incentive to play on the Normal or Extended modes.

I'm not horrible at Tetris, persay, it's just that I have bad luck since the blocks are random. All I need is, say, the 3-blocks-in-a-line piece to fill in a nice gap... and I'll end up getting 6 those 5-block pieces in a row.

 

[Ilohnoh1]

There's another thing (I don't count it as a bug cause it does seem to go with the "rules", but is a bit annoying), where if you shove all the blocks to one side and pile them up there, if it touches the top, you lose. Even if there's space in the middle for new blocks to appear and move down, because a block on the far left or right is touching the top, it's game over.

Yeah, that's not a bug. In this game, reaching the top means game over, so you really want to avoid that.

With permission, you could also turn the artists' pictures into grayscale (easy Photoshop thing, possibly even able to do in MSPaint), which means that by playing on Easy mode, the player not only has images with watermarks, but the pictures are in black & white instead of full color glory. More incentive to play on the Normal or Extended modes.

I could do something like that as well. I'll think about it some time...

I'm not horrible at Tetris, persay, it's just that I have bad luck since the blocks are random. All I need is, say, the 3-blocks-in-a-line piece to fill in a nice gap... and I'll end up getting 6 those 5-block pieces in a row.

Hehe, I hear you. I've played several of the levels multiple times and sometimes it's losing while waiting for just that one block... piling up things on the side and getting into trouble. Sometimes just making a little gap and clearing the row shortly after that can get you further... but it's extra head against the desk if that block you needed then pops up when you can't place it there anymore. Also, in the beginning an easy cure is to throw blocks (press space bar a couple times in a row) and start over. At later levels you don't likely want to do that unless the start went really bad, because it takes time to clear away those marble tiles and if you already got a good deal cleared you're losing a bunch of work...

I never said it would be easy.

 

[Ilohnoh1]

UPDATE!

TkTetris EASY MODE has been uploaded.

Please see the Original post above.

 

[AngelOfDarkness]

I liked it....frustrating since the blocks wouldn't fall after a line was cleared. GRRR! It is good fun though!

 

[Ilohnoh1]

I liked it....frustrating since the blocks wouldn't fall after a line was cleared. GRRR! It is good fun though!

Yeah, that seemed the best way to include picture-reveal. If the lines would be cleared you'd either have to lift up the picture on the background or put it next to the play-field or something. Would have been possible too but I thought it was nicer this way.

Thanks for the comment

 

[AngelOfDarkness]

Fun stuff! I've beaten levels one through ten as of now.

 

[Dave2112]

This is totally awesome. We NEED more tech-minded people to devise tickling-based video games as we progress into the 21st century. That you have done this on your own time and offering it free speaks volumes to your commitment to the true community. TT is lucky to have you and extremely appreciative of your efforts.

I was honored to be a part of this, and also wish to personally thank each artist who took the time to create something special for this endeavor, again...with only appreciation as a reward. That's what art is about, folks. It is people like you guys and Ilohnoh that have honestly allowed me to rediscover the fun in the tickling community.

If you decide to do something like this again, you don't even have to ask, I'd love to be a part of it.

 

[AngelOfDarkness]

Yeah, that seemed the best way to include picture-reveal. If the lines would be cleared you'd either have to lift up the picture on the background or put it next to the play-field or something. Would have been possible too but I thought it was nicer this way.

Thanks for the comment

Just saw this. ^^;;

Ahhh, that is understandable, and you're welcome.

Trying to get past level 14 right now.

 

[Ilohnoh1]

This is totally awesome. We NEED more tech-minded people to devise tickling-based video games as we progress into the 21st century. That you have done this on your own time and offering it free speaks volumes to your commitment to the true community. TT is lucky to have you and extremely appreciative of your efforts.

Thanks Dave. And you know all my stuff is free here. My intention is not trying to earn money with this, just doing it for fun. Oh, and someone here was planning to make a flash based game, but haven't heard anything about that for a little while now... the small demo I saw was not bad at all IMO.

It is people like you guys and Ilohnoh that have honestly allowed me to rediscover the fun in the tickling community.

Glad to hear this. You're welcome.

If you decide to do something like this again, you don't even have to ask, I'd love to be a part of it.

You'll not be seeing any games from me any time soon I think, but this worked real smooth and people were cooperating really well so maybe sometime in the future I might launch another project like this. Not tetrisII, it'll be something different then.

Just saw this. ^^;;

Ahhh, that is understandable, and you're welcome.

Trying to get past level 14 right now.

Oh, you're almost there! There's 15 levels in total.

Actually, there is a 16th level (but that one is empty and undocumented. I reserved it for the 16th artist, who never sent in their artwork and so it remained empty. You won't get a password for it in-game but you can still type it: 'spinningworld'. Not exciting to play that level though... As I said, it's empty.)