The best multiplayer Tetris experience I have had was Spaera beta 1.
Beta 1 refers to this version of Spaera:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dnTOAZE_kM
Spaera still exists, however it is not the same game anymore because the original puzzle mechanics was replaced by different puzzle mechanics due to the developers not wanting to risk a legal battle with The Tetris Company.
In the past I was considering writing a post about why I thought Spaera was such a great game but I lacked the motivation to do it and with the Tetris community being split between so many different games and everyone having different opinions I wasn't even sure if anyone would be interested in hearing what I had to say. This does seem like a good opportunity to share my thoughts on Spaera so I'm going to take it.
Spaera combines elements from puzzle games with elements from fighting games. Because of my experience with Tetris, I was quickly able to figure out the puzzle game part of Speara. A single line clear sends one garbage line, and if you do the math it turns out downstacking is how you maximize your attack per piece and it also helps your survival, therefore you should never upstack, you should just downstack, all the time. Knowing that I could simply treat the puzzle part of the game as a singleplayer downstacking challenge and never have to worry about switching stacking styles or trying to build some sort of attack or anything like that, I was able to play the downstacking game on "autopilot" and focus 100% of my attention on the fighting game aspect of Spaera and that is where all the fun and all the depth is.
The fighting game part of Spaera consists of 8 different characters, each with 4 unique spells. Some have positive effects for yourself and some have negative effects for your opponent. The spells are balanced in a manner that makes different characters able to counter each other in interesting ways. The next queue shows 4 previews and is shared between both players meaning the next player to place their piece gets the piece at the top of the queue. Generally, the best players play at the same speed and fall into a rhythm where each player takes every other piece so it's almost like playing with two previews. Occasionally players opt out of that rhythm in attempt to get a different piece than they otherwise would have gotten or to try and prevent the opponent from getting a certain piece.
Some pieces have orbs in them. You accumulate orbs by clearing lines with orbs in them and the amount of orbs you have accumulated when you use a spell determines which spell you will use.
As a side effect when you use a spell, your current piece and your opponents current piece vanishes and you are guaranteed to get the top piece from the queue and your opponent will get the second piece. Advanced players make use this mechanic to manipulate the next queue and gain some control of who is getting or not getting certain pieces.
The shared next queue and all the different spells and the way the different game mechanics work together allow for quite a lot of strategy and depth to exist. When you're an experienced Tetris player who can play the downstacking game on autopilot and focus all of your attention on the fighting game, your thoughts during a game can go something like: "What spell is my opponent likely to use next? How can I best counter that? That J piece that's coming up looks really good for my downstacking but there is an orb piece coming after that so if I take the J piece I'm giving my opponent a free orb. How much better would my downstacking be if I take that J piece? Is it worth it? How much would my opponent benefit from that orb? Maybe it's better for me if he takes that orb because if he clears it, that would put him on his level 3 spell which means he can't use his level 2 spell as a counter to the thing I am going to do. Is my opponent smart enough to realize that and try to not take the orb, or take it but not clear it?"
What I experienced when I was in the zone downstacking and I had all these deep strategic thoughts flowing through my head is difficult to explain and it's something I have not experienced in any other Tetris game. I have experienced flow in many other Tetris games but this is different, it's like experiencing flow and something else, something profound, at the same time. That is why Spaera beta 1 is the best multiplayer Tetris game I have played.
There are many things I consider good about Spaera, things that have to do with various game mechanics, the pace of the game, the various delays that exists, how the pieces move and rotate and I could write a thousand words about that but ultimately what makes the game good is that experience that I haven't had in any other Tetris game. I wonder if other good Spaera players experienced something similar.
Beta 1 refers to this version of Spaera:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dnTOAZE_kM
Spaera still exists, however it is not the same game anymore because the original puzzle mechanics was replaced by different puzzle mechanics due to the developers not wanting to risk a legal battle with The Tetris Company.
In the past I was considering writing a post about why I thought Spaera was such a great game but I lacked the motivation to do it and with the Tetris community being split between so many different games and everyone having different opinions I wasn't even sure if anyone would be interested in hearing what I had to say. This does seem like a good opportunity to share my thoughts on Spaera so I'm going to take it.
Spaera combines elements from puzzle games with elements from fighting games. Because of my experience with Tetris, I was quickly able to figure out the puzzle game part of Speara. A single line clear sends one garbage line, and if you do the math it turns out downstacking is how you maximize your attack per piece and it also helps your survival, therefore you should never upstack, you should just downstack, all the time. Knowing that I could simply treat the puzzle part of the game as a singleplayer downstacking challenge and never have to worry about switching stacking styles or trying to build some sort of attack or anything like that, I was able to play the downstacking game on "autopilot" and focus 100% of my attention on the fighting game aspect of Spaera and that is where all the fun and all the depth is.
The fighting game part of Spaera consists of 8 different characters, each with 4 unique spells. Some have positive effects for yourself and some have negative effects for your opponent. The spells are balanced in a manner that makes different characters able to counter each other in interesting ways. The next queue shows 4 previews and is shared between both players meaning the next player to place their piece gets the piece at the top of the queue. Generally, the best players play at the same speed and fall into a rhythm where each player takes every other piece so it's almost like playing with two previews. Occasionally players opt out of that rhythm in attempt to get a different piece than they otherwise would have gotten or to try and prevent the opponent from getting a certain piece.
Some pieces have orbs in them. You accumulate orbs by clearing lines with orbs in them and the amount of orbs you have accumulated when you use a spell determines which spell you will use.
As a side effect when you use a spell, your current piece and your opponents current piece vanishes and you are guaranteed to get the top piece from the queue and your opponent will get the second piece. Advanced players make use this mechanic to manipulate the next queue and gain some control of who is getting or not getting certain pieces.
The shared next queue and all the different spells and the way the different game mechanics work together allow for quite a lot of strategy and depth to exist. When you're an experienced Tetris player who can play the downstacking game on autopilot and focus all of your attention on the fighting game, your thoughts during a game can go something like: "What spell is my opponent likely to use next? How can I best counter that? That J piece that's coming up looks really good for my downstacking but there is an orb piece coming after that so if I take the J piece I'm giving my opponent a free orb. How much better would my downstacking be if I take that J piece? Is it worth it? How much would my opponent benefit from that orb? Maybe it's better for me if he takes that orb because if he clears it, that would put him on his level 3 spell which means he can't use his level 2 spell as a counter to the thing I am going to do. Is my opponent smart enough to realize that and try to not take the orb, or take it but not clear it?"
What I experienced when I was in the zone downstacking and I had all these deep strategic thoughts flowing through my head is difficult to explain and it's something I have not experienced in any other Tetris game. I have experienced flow in many other Tetris games but this is different, it's like experiencing flow and something else, something profound, at the same time. That is why Spaera beta 1 is the best multiplayer Tetris game I have played.
There are many things I consider good about Spaera, things that have to do with various game mechanics, the pace of the game, the various delays that exists, how the pieces move and rotate and I could write a thousand words about that but ultimately what makes the game good is that experience that I haven't had in any other Tetris game. I wonder if other good Spaera players experienced something similar.
