Eczetris
Eczetris is a simple falling blocks style game in a minimized format.
The goal is to achieve as high score as possible and make it to the top of the online highscore list.
It features an Online highscore table which enables players to compete for the highest score in an easy way.
Download the Eczetris exefile version 1.6 here (186kb).
Screenshots
View this screenshot of Eczetris in action.
Requirements
- Windows® 98 or later operating system is required.
- DirectX® 8 or later is required (or actually dinput8.dll is the only required file)
- The program consists only of a single exefile so there is no installation necessary.
- No new files are generated by Eczetris, all settings are saved under the following registry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Eckas-garage\Eczetris
- An internet connection is required to view the internet highscore list or upload results to it.
Basic Eczetris rules
- When the game starts, figures called tetroids will drop from the top of the game window.
- The tetroids always consist of combinations of four blocks.
- The tetroids touch down at the bottom of the game window or get stuck on top of already landed tetroids.
- When one row is completely filled with blocks it will disappear and all blocks above that row will fall down one row.
- The falling tetroid can be rotated and moved sideways by the player to position it strategically.
- When the game field is so fully occupied of fallen tetroids that the next planned tetroid can not fit at the top of the game field, then the game is over.
How the Eczetris scores are calculated
- Each new Tetroid generates a pot of 10 points but is decreased by 1 point for each row it falls
- Completing one single row gives 10 points
- Completing two rows simultaneous gives 50 points
- Completing three rows simultaneous gives 250 points
- Completing four rows simultaneous gives 1250 points
How the Eczetris level system works
- The game starts at level 1 and at this level the tetroid drop interval is 1 row every 500ms.
- Every 30 seconds the current level increases by 1 level.
- At level 01 - 25, each increased level decreases the tetroid drop interval by 10ms.
- At level 26 - 70, each increased level decreases the tetroid drop interval by 5ms.
- After level 70, the levels continue to increase but the drop interval is not changed.
Keyboard interface
The five actions used during game play can be configured by personal preference in the settings dialog.
This table describes the game actions that can be configured and the default keys used if not configured otherwise.
| [Move Left, Arrow key Left] | Move the tetroid to the left |
| [Move Right, Arrow key Right] | Move the tetroid to the Right |
| [Rotate CCW, Arrow key Up] | Rotate the tetroid 90 degrees counter clockwise |
| [Move Down, Arrow key Down] | Move the tetroid down one single row |
| [Drop, Spacebar] | Drop the tetroid immediately until it hits something |
The Game Menu
| [New Game, F2] | Start a new game, note that this automatically stops any ongoing game |
| [Pause, P] | Pauses/Unpauses the game, max three pauses are allowed per game |
| [Music, M] | Enables/Disables the music, this setting is remembered between executions of Eczetris |
| [Highscore] | Opens the local highscore table, more choices are available from there |
| [Settings] | Opens the setting dialog where various settings can be changed |
| [Help, F1] | Attempts to open an explorer window to view this online help file |
| [About] | Displays an in game about box |
| [Quit, Esc] | Quits Eczetris |
The Highscore Dialog Box
| [Local Highscore table] | This is the local highscore list, visible only on the local machine and only for the currently logged on user |
| [Clear list] | This will clear the local list, a warning will be given before the list is actually cleared |
| [Upload to Server] | Tries to contact the game server and match the local list with the global online list. If any of the local highscores fit on the global list they will be inserted in the global list and be stored |
| [View Internet list] | Tries to open an explorer window to view the online highscore list |
| [Close] | Closes the highscore dialog |
The Settings Dialog Box
| [GameServer] | Sets the game server name and path. There should be no "Http://" before and no "/" afterwards |
| [Musictrack] | Select which musictrack that should be used when the music is enabled |
| [KeyMapping] | Select which key to press to perform a certain game action. Hover the mouse over the action key you would like to change and press the left mouse button. The text will change to "Press a key". Press the new key you would like to use for this game action. |
| [KeyRepeatDelay] | Selects how long time in ms that should elapse before a key starts to auto repeat. |
| [KeyRepeatRate] | Selects how fast a key should repeat itself when hold down. The time is in ms. |
| [RestoreToDefaults] | Restore all settings in the dialog to the default values. The values are not saved until OK is pressed. |
| [OK] | Saves and activates the new settings and closes the dialog. |
| [Cancel] | Discards any changes and closes the dialog. |
Eczetris version history
Eczetris 1.6.0.0
- Updated default game server string to the new homepage.
- Fixed a shadow mask bug when "game over" occurs after a drop action
Eczetris 1.5.0.0
- Fixed graphics bug when using 1600*1200 resolution.
- Fixed the lost instrument bug in the midi tracks.
Eczetris 1.4.0.0
- Exchanged the original midi to a better sounding one
- Fixed Exit menu command that did not work in version 1.3.0.0
- Added an in game about box
- Added a "restore defaults" button in settings dialog
- Don't show the highscore dialog unless the user accepted a highscore
- Increased the compiler warning level to enhance quality
- Added CurrentPos window in settings dialog for the sliders
- Add linker flag /opt:nowin98 to decrease exe file size (sets section alignment to 512 bytes)
Eczetris 1.3.0.0
- Introduced Selectable keyboard mapping from the settings dialog.
- Introduced Configurable in game keyboard repeat and delay mechanism.
- Reduced timer jitter by switching from Win32 timers to Win Multimedia timer API.
- Reduced keyboard lag by switching from Win32 keyboard input to DirectInput API.
- There is now a limit to the difficulty level in the game.
- Block shadows has been added to improve the visual appearance.
- New Tetroids are now spawned at the very top of the play field.
Eczetris 1.2.0.0
- Fixed the Windows height problem in Windows 2000
- Moved the highscore windows to not block the status window
- It is now only possible to start one instance of the application, otherwise the music could behave oddly
- It is now possible to upload from within config-scripted proxied networks
- The achieved level is now displayed in the status window as well as in the local and global highscore tables
- The game server scripts can now be stored in a subfolder on the server
- Improved the appearance of the Eczetris icon
- The complete application is now compiled with the Microsoft C compiler
- Added a function to drop the Tetroid step by step and changed the keymapping accordingly
- Added a new default music track, the old is still available from the settings dialog
Eczetris 1.1.0.0
- Improved visual appearance of the blocks
- Reduced flickering due to background erase
- Added cancel button in new highscore dialog
- Added warning dialog before local list is really cleared
- The preview tetroid icon now also has the right rotation
- Added Help in the game menu which accesses this page
Eczetris 1.0.1.0
