cdixon@eagle.wesleyan.edu (07/31/90)
Does anyone know of any games (PD or commericial) that are like tetris but expand upon the idea? I'm not talking Weltris, I mean a game similar to the arcade tetris with added features (like added blocks and lines, two-player simultaneous, etc). Being a huge fan of tetris, I've been looking for a better version of it for a while without success. Also, does anyone know if there was such a game, would it be a copyright infringement? Even if the game was based on the same idea but greatly expanded and changed? Since 9 out of 10 games released are ripoffs of older games (like defender, space invaders) it would hardly be an exception. The only case of copyright infringement I've heard of was between Atari (who owned the home rights to Pac-man) and some other company (I think Oddessy 2 for their KC Munchken), but their are probably a number of others. Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated (its been burning a hole in my mind for days now). xxx Chris Dixon Wesleyan University
dmb@wam.umd.edu (David M. Baggett) (07/31/90)
> Also, does anyone know if there was such a game, would it be a >copyright infringement? Even if the game was based on the same idea but greatly >expanded and changed? Since 9 out of 10 games released are ripoffs of older >games (like defender, space invaders) it would hardly be an exception. I could be wrong about this, but I believe that game _concepts_ can not be copyrighted, trademarked, patented, or anything else. I think only the game characters can be legally protected. E.g., the Pac-Man character's appearance, name, etc. can be (and is) legally protected, but the concept of "you're in this maze and you have to eat dots" isn't. I believe Odyssey lost in the Atari (Pac-Man) vs. Odyssey (KC Munchkin) case because the "munchkin" looked a lot like Pac-Man and the ghosts in KC looked a lot like the ghosts in Pac-Man. When it comes down to it, though, these things are determined by whether or not the company that owns the rights to the game really wants to go and sue the company or individual responsible for the "rip-off". In the case of Atari vs. Odyssey, it was definitely worth it, since the Odyssey II was competing with the Atari 2600 (aka VCS). One interesting new twists to this whole issue is the "look-and-feel" verdict in the recent Lotus case. I suppose if you made a game which "looked and felt" like someone else's game you'd lose in court. Considering how many tetris ripoffs (or clones, for that matter) have shown up in the PD archives, I don't think Spectrum Holobyte would get too excited about new PD tetris-type games. Commercial software, however, is another story. If Spectrum felt that the sales of the competing ripoff were hurting them, I bet they'd sue in order to get it off the market. (A guess only; I have no affiliation with or special knowledge of Spectrum Holobyte.) Dave Baggett dmb%wam.umd.edu@uunet.uu.net
lord_zar@ucrmath.ucr.edu (wayne wallace) (07/31/90)
dmb@wam.umd.edu (David M. Baggett) writes: >Considering how many tetris ripoffs (or clones, for that matter) have >shown up in the PD archives, I don't think Spectrum Holobyte would >get too excited about new PD tetris-type games. Commercial software, >however, is another story. If Spectrum felt that the sales of the >competing ripoff were hurting them, I bet they'd sue in order to get it >off the market. (A guess only; I have no affiliation with or special >knowledge of Spectrum Holobyte.) >Dave Baggett >dmb%wam.umd.edu@uunet.uu.net Uhhh...hate to tell you this but Spectrum-Holobyte already has started that. In comp.sys.amiga, it's been really getting a going-over.... S-H even forced (because he doesnt have the resources to fight a lawsuit) Fred Fish, keeper of the Fish Disks, to remove all the PD Tetris clones from the archives. However, since Nintendo apparently holds a better share of the rights (there are SEVERAL companies each trying to hold the copyright on Tetris and prevent the others from using it) than S-H, we in comp.sys.amiga wonder how S-H even has a leg to stand on! Suffice to say S-H generally gets a negative opinion......it doesn't seem to have shown any good qualities to us.... I still know of a few BBSes where I can get a PD tetris clone far better than S-H's! An idea came up recently: if pirating hurts companies, and can cause them to go bankrupt, show your support for the good companies by encouraging pirating of the BAD companies' software! If they don't make money, they won't be able to make bad software! Nice idea ey ? Any scofflaws out there who wanna start this ? :-) (This does mean you have to stop pirating GOOD software!) (Yeah so I APPEAR to be encouraging illegal stuff! I'll claim insanity before they haul me off to jail... :-) Wayne
krieg@jupiter.uucp (Andrew Krieg) (08/01/90)
Here is an article from ZNET #525: Author: James R. Glenn File names: VSQUARED.LZH; VALGUS.ARC File type: Game Program names: VALGUS SQUARED; VALGUS --------------------------------------------------------------------- From the docs to Valgus Squared: "...In VSQ, the seven familiar Valgus pieces are back, but they are tired of falling straight down the screen! Instead, they will come at you from all four sides of the 27x27 playing area. In the middle of this area is a solid 3x3 block. When a piece hits this block or any other pieces that have fallen before it, it will become locked into that place, and a new piece will drop from a randomly chosen side. The object of the game, instead of completing lines across the screen, is to complete squares around the center block. The first square out is 5x5, the next is 7x7, and so on. To help you keep track of which square each position on the screen belongs to, once a piece has fallen, each of its four constituent blocks will change colors. Thus, at the beginning of each round, blocks in the 5x5 square will be blue, those in the 7x7 will be green, then yellow, orange, red, purple, and back to blue again to restart the cycle. When you complete a square, all the squares on top of it will move in. Once you complete a certain number of squares (5 on the first level, 7 on the second, and so on) the round will end and you will be awarded a bonus. Your bonus is determined by the number of empty squares around the perimiter and how far you are into the game. The playfield is then cleared and a new round begins..." As you can see, Valgus Squared is Tetris with a good twist, a twist that should keep PD/shareware game players happy until the next variant comes along. The program ran well...until I finished a round and let the game run for awhile on _my_ machine. Then I got a "FATAL ERROR" and was forced to go back to the desktop. Shucks. But as you can also see from the clear docs above, VSQ has a lot of potential. On to Valgus. Yo, ho-ho! After playing it for about half an hour, I could tell this game has a couple of nice touches. Valgus is much more faithful to its parent than its brother above. The one major difference I noticed between Valgus and Tetris was a vertical wall that had been added to each side of the 'well' on one of the levels. I got an error on my machine when I ran the game from a floppy, but I got no such error when I ran it from the same floppy with the hard drive online. -- ========================================================================= = Andrew Krieg Marvel Historian = = krieg@ylum.med.ge.com Keeper of: The LIST, 2to1 list = ========================================================================= = Sheriff Truman: Do you think they spotted us? = = Agent Cooper: Gimme a doughnut. - Twin Peaks = =========================================================================
minar@reed.bitnet (Nelson Minar,L08,x640,7776519) (08/01/90)
There are at least 15 different PD/Shareware versions of Tetris for the IBM. Many of them are unremarkable. They are mostly two-dimensional tetris, with some 'extended' block sets - pentominoes (based on 5 blocks), allowing diagonal connections in the block set, and the like. They are pretty boring. I do recommend the commercial game BlockOut, however. It is a true 3d version of tetris (unlike welltris, which is just bizarre). There are three block sets: a flat set, a basic set (4 unit blocks), and the 'extended' set - 5 unit blocks. One plays down a well, the pieces falling to the bottom. Game play is good. One eventually builds up the skill that, when given a piece allows one to move it into a new orientation effortlessly (even with 6 rotate keys). The only problem is the piece sets don't seem to work too well. The flat set is very boring, the simple set only has about 6 pieces and becomes a game of speed in narrow wells (or trivial in wide wells), and the extended set has some pieces that just can NOT be places simply. Its still a great game, good for 3d visualization..
Bob_BobR_Retelle@cup.portal.com (08/01/90)
Chris Dixon asks about Tetris sequels..
I've seen one game that takes the "Tetris" play mechanic to another order
of magnitude.. it's called "Valgus ^2", or "Valgus Squared"...
Valgus was an Atari ST clone of Tetris, and Valgus Squared is a complete
takeoff on the idea..
The blocks come in from all four directions, and the object is no longer
to simply make lines from the falling shapes, but to make complete squares
in the middle...
I guess I'm going to have to figure out how to send UUEncoded files from
Portal, eh...?
:)
BobRjnorman@gmuvax2.gmu.edu (Sci-Fi) (08/04/90)
In article <1990Jul30.204750.32015@eagle.wesleyan.edu> cdixon@eagle.wesleyan.edu writes: >Does anyone know of any games (PD or commericial) that are like tetris About the best one I/ve seen is Blockout by Calif. Games... a 3-D Tetris type game.... -- _ , _ , jnorman@gmuvax _jnorman@gmuvax2.gmu.edu/ ' ) / / ' ) / (Bitnet) // _/_ (Usenet) _/_ / /--/ _ __/ /-< ______ _ . . // / __. ____ / / / (_</_(_/_ / ) (_) / <_/_)_(_/_</__<__(_/|_/ / <_<__ o