Quantro: tetromino/tetracube game for Android

[MarioThePhenom]

The interface is beautiful, though the controls don't feel quite comfortable.

used to playing *that other game* where the previews/hold are swapped. Obviously if you swapped urs you might get sued...

LOLOL i didnt even notice they were swapped


and yellow, the red blocks connect with he red ones, and the blue ones connect with the blue, its like having two separate games at once

[Sisu]

[riisssaaa]

In terms of 180 spins: Swipe up
(That should work?)


(:S I thiink I did alright playing the game for the first time and w/ Sisu. Haha.)

[XaeL]

@ 180 spins -> no.

[Taciturn]

Announcement: I just uploaded an update to Google Play, with changes based on this thread and some other feedback I've received.  It will probably take a few hours for the update to version 0.9.1 to appear.

Here's a more detailed change list than the one that appears in the app:

• Android Beam ™
  • When in a WiFi or Internet lobby, tap your phone or tablet against another to send an invitation via Android Beam.
  • If the other phone/tablet doesn't have Quantro installed, they'll be taken to the Google Play download page.
  • If it does, they'll be taken to the appropriate lobby list page and given the option to immediately join the lobby.
  • This feature requires Android 4.0 or higher and a device supporting Near Field Communication (NFC).
• Gamepad customization options
  • For those using "Gamepad" style controls, an Advanced Customization option is available in the Settings menu.
  • The position of the "move" and "turn" buttons can be swapped.
  • The width of the "down" button can be adjusted: Standard (same width as "move" buttons), Panel-to-Panel (exactly the width of the game field -- this can change with different game types), or Custom (adjust the width to 40% - 240% of Standard).
  • The height of the movement buttons can be adjusted to 25% - 125% of standard.  Growing the button height compresses the area available for Next Piece preview, Reserve, Score and VS. Mode Thumbnail.
• Tweaks piece entry and reserve behavior
  • Changes should make the game slightly easier
  • Line ("I") pieces now rotate towards the right side of the screen with clockwise turns, towards the left side with counterclockwise.
  • Pieces enter at a standard height (same as before).  However, if this row has existing blocks, they will enter at most 1 row higher.  In other words, you get 1 more row of leeway before the game ends.
  • When a reserve piece is used (or a special piece, in "Quantro" mode) it will appear at the top of the game field (following the policy mentioned above), instead of exactly where the previous piece was.
• Higher level cap in single-player games
  • Previously, score and fall-speed scaling capped at level 20, with the level itself capped at 99.
  • Now score scaling caps at level 100, level capped at a million.  Fall-speed still capped at 20.
• Fixes a crash bug in custom game modes

EDIT: The next update will address the complaints about sluggish lock and row-clear animations.

[!--quoteo--][div class=\\\'quotetop\\\']QUOTE[/div][div class=\\\'quotemain\\\'][!--quotec--]Can you give some insight about what's happening with the two layers of blocks? I can't figure it out. [/quote]
"Quantro" game modes are played in an 18x8x2 field.  Solid red or solid blue game pieces are in only the foreground and the background, respectively.  Some pieces (tetracubes) have both red and blue blocks, and you'll need to position them while considering both the foreground and the background.

Most foreground and background blocks don't interact, meaning you can clear a row in the background regardless of what's happening in the foreground, and vice-versa.  This also makes tetracubes easier to deal with, since although their red and blue blocks fall together while you're controlling them, once they lock in place they separate.

In "Retro" game modes (standard 2D gameplay), you can move 1 piece at a time to a reserve, and use it to later substitute it for the current piece.  In "Quantro" game mode the reserve is replaced by a randomized series of "special pieces," which are entirely optional but can give a major advantage if used correctly.  These special pieces use the 3D nature of the block field in unique ways, usually interacting with or connecting blocks in the foreground and background simultaneously.

[!--quoteo--][div class=\\\'quotetop\\\']QUOTE[/div][div class=\\\'quotemain\\\'][!--quotec--]The interface is beautiful, though the controls don't feel quite comfortable.[/quote]
You can switch to Gesture controls if you want (I find them a bit too floaty and "casual" for this type of game, but some people prefer them).  The most recent update (0.9.1) also allows some more advanced customization of the Gamepad setup -- changing button heights, widths, and swapping Move and Turn buttons.  I'll also see if I can include an option to swap the sides used for "Next Piece / VS thumbnail" and "Reserve Piece / Score" in the next update, which will probably be ready in about 2 weeks.

[!--quoteo--][div class=\\\'quotetop\\\']QUOTE[/div][div class=\\\'quotemain\\\'][!--quotec--]@ Taciturn,
Would you mind sharing your personal "falling block games" experiences and/or achievements?[/quote]
Sure!  I got Tetris™ as a Game Boy pack-in, so that version was my first (and most extensive) experience with the genre.  I also rented the NES game a few times (never bought it).

Since then I haven't really been following the genre, and I'm far from an expert in the game type.  My goal in designing Quantro was primarily to take the gameplay I remembered, push it in a new direction, and give people a new experience, the same way Tetris™ on Game Boy was a new experience for me.  It's great to hear that people with much more experience and skill than me like my game!  I was worried that since I'm not a great "falling block game" player myself, I wouldn't be able to keep things interesting for experts.

For example, I'm currently the single-player record holder for Quantro Endurance mode, but I know for a fact that you (Sisu) are a better player than me.  I was just able to exploit the "score multiplier" mechanics to get my score up before the increased fall speeds crushed me at level 23.

Here's a tip if you're trying for a high score: using a special piece is risky and it might interrupt your "game flow," but they can provide substantial benefits if used successfully, including boosting your multiplier.  My single-player strategy is use as many of them as possible early on and then coast for a while as the multiplier slowly drops back to 1.

[salami_pastrami]

I finally downloaded this yesterday and found it pretty awesome.
Way too much going on for me to keep up with however.. gonna take some time to get used to the two layers.
It is an awesome game though.

[salami_pastrami]

When I finish a round or try to start a new game it will sometimes force close on me. In the last few minutes i've been playing it's done this about 5 times.
Is it just my phone?

[Taciturn]

Apparently the update to 0.9.1 wasn't made available on Google Play when I made the last post.  After checking the Play developer console, somehow the update wasn't committed -- probably I forgot to hit a 'save' button somewhere.  Thanks Sisu for pointing it out to me!

[!--quoteo--][div class=\\\'quotetop\\\']QUOTE[/div][div class=\\\'quotemain\\\'][!--quotec--]When I finish a round or try to start a new game it will sometimes force close on me. In the last few minutes i've been playing it's done this about 5 times.
Is it just my phone?[/quote]
Quantro up to and including the current release (0.9.1) had a bug related to the ad library's interaction with the Android OS, causing a memory leak on certain devices and certain OS versions.  I had trouble pinning down the problem because I don't have access to a test device on which the crashes reliably occur.

This bug is fixed in the current codebase, and update 0.9.2 is planned for around 12/28.  I'm not sure whether the problem you're reporting is the same one I've fixed, but it sounds very similar.

Out of curiosity, what phone were you using, and what version of Android?

[salami_pastrami]

[!--quoteo--][div class=\\\'quotetop\\\']QUOTE[/div][div class=\\\'quotemain\\\'][!--quotec--]Out of curiosity, what phone were you using, and what version of Android?[/quote]

It's a sony ericsson. It's a hand me down from my brother so I am not sure about the version.. (first smart phone don't have it down yet).

[Taciturn]

Happy Holidays everyone!

The second Quantro update to be based on your suggests and comments is now available on Google Play.  Version 0.9.2 has the following changes (more detail is available here than the app listing).

• Faster animations -- This was probably the most important suggestion from this thread.  Caffeine, Lucho, MarioThePhenom and Xael all requested that the average delay between pieces be reduced to keep the gameplay moving.
  • As I suggested before when we were discussing this idea, all the individual animations still play out at the same speed.  What's changed is that the game will often progress to the next "event" while the previous one is still animating.  For example, you get the next piece immediately while the previous locking animation is still playing.
  • Nearly every animation sequence will see some speed-up as a result of this change.  The most common animation, piece locking w/o a clear, is actually over 90% shorter.
  • Here's some hard numbers (different devices render at different speeds, so these numbers are approximate):
    • Expected 'piece lock' delay (from piece to piece) 0.42 seconds before, 0.03 seconds now
    • Expected Quantro 'row clear' delay (from piece to piece) 1.43 seconds before, 1.06 seconds now
    • Expected Retro 'row clear' delay (from piece to piece) 0.984 seconds before, 0.71 seconds now
  • The last set of changes (to version 0.9.1) made the game slightly easier; this change makes the game slightly harder, especially at higher levels, where the previous 0.4 second delay between pieces gave you time to plan your next move.
• Fixes some out-of-memory crashes.  In particular, I think this will address the issues salami_pastrami was having.
• Adds option to swap "Next" and "Reserve" piece previews.  This is for Xael.  Enabling this option will also swap the "score" and "VS thumbnail" regions.
• Reduced load times.  Self-explanatory.  Mostly you'll see the improvement when returning to the most recently played game type.
• Fixes a rare multiplayer desync bug.  Occasionally one player would send garbage rows to the other, and each phone would end up with a different idea of when that garbage actually arrived.  This lead to (at best) one player seeing a sudden change in their game field a few pieces later, or (at worst) the game itself being closed.

Thanks again to everyone who gave their thoughts on how to improve Quantro.  I think these two updates have covered most of your suggestions (caffeine: your ideas on 180 turns and 4-state vs. 2-state orientations are still buzzing around in my head, I just haven't figured out the best way to address them yet).

I've still got a lot of features and improvements I want to add, but hopefully Quantro 0.9.2 is much more in line with what everyone here wants out of a tetromino game!