Design: Tetris Platformer

So, over the summer, I took a Game Scripting class. In it, I made a tetris platforming game that I have since expanded somewhat upon, and am still in the process of expanding. Currently, development is in somewhat of a lull - classes are picking up, and I've gotten to a point where I'm fairly happy showing what I've got, even if it doesn't have the full game structure and all the features it will eventually have. It can be found here: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/45496374/Tetris%20Platformer%20-%209-30.zip

Anyway, the basic concept is Tetris - that standard falling blocks, lines clearing that we all know and love - but with the extra twist that in addition to controlling the falling blocks, you control a person inside the tetris well. That person can move and jump, and it's the person's goal to avoid being crushed by the tetris blocks. This, in itself, is fairly easy - but enemies also occasionally fall from the sky into the well, necessitating extra movement there as well. Lastly, pickups that give you points also fall from the sky, meaning that you want to shape your blocks in such a way that it is possible to get to the falling points and away from falling enemies.

It's a fairly simple concept, but it's a lot of fun to play - at least I think so, and I've gotten pretty positive feedback from others. In its current state, it has 3 modes and two difficulties - normal mode, which is a standard tetris well, lava mode, which covers several bottom rows of the well in lava, making it much more difficult for the jumping person, and water mode, where your movement is slowed, jumping ability increased, and you have to get bubbles at least once every 25 seconds or you will drown. Increasing the difficulty decreases your ability to jump, meaning that in standard and lava mode, you can only jump up 1 tile's worth of space (as opposed to 2), and 2 tile's worth in water mode, in which you can normally jump three. Your movement speed is also slowed slight in the harder difficulty.

The initial project in the class was to pick some sort of old, arcade-style game and put your own unique twist on it. I, obviously, chose Tetris. I wanted a puzzley game that wouldn't be too hard for me to make yet could be of a high enough quality - once I put more time and effort into it - to go into my portfolio. I think that I've somewhat accomplished that, but I still definitely have plans to push this game further.

I intend to add sequences of levels that you progress through one at a time, which get harder and harder. I intend to add more types of enemies - ones that shoot, notably - and powerups for the little guy at the bottom. The three modes that currently exist will become "endless" modes. Obviously, the graphics will be improved at some point in here, as will the sound.

I tried to apply the principle of putting the player in an unexpected role in a familiar situation with the design of the game - something that I've found can be quite fun. It's a basic principle of media design, after all - be predictable, but also unpredictable.

In the end, I think that I've created something here that could help me to get a job by showing off my design and scripting skills - something fun, interesting, and at least somewhat original. I hope that anyone reading this enjoys the game as well. Once I make more progress on it, I'll be posting a revised version with exciting new features.