tt − a hoopy real-time puzzle game.
tt [ −s [ num ] ] [ −b ] [ −g ] [ −N ] [ −3|4|5|7 ] [ −l level ] [ −m num ]
tt is an implementation of the well-known game tetris. Quadominoes (groups of four squares joined orthogonally together) fall slowly down the screen, accumulating at the bottom, and when the pile reaches the top of the screen the game is over. The pieces may be moved to the left or right, and rotated as they fall, with the aim of making them tessellate with the pieces already at the bottom of the game area. The height of the stack of pieces can be reduced by filling a complete row of ten squares, at which point that row will disappear, and those above will fall down into its place. It is possible (and desirable) to destroy multiple rows at once.
The keys with which these operations can be accomplished are displayed on the screen during play. The game also recognises suspend, redraw and quit keys.
In between games, when the program is waiting for a keypress before restarting, pressing the "n" or "q" key will end the session, and pressing the "s" key will list the top ten entries of the high-score table.
The high-score table stores only a single score for each user at any game-level. Thus a user exceeding his own level-zero high-score would have his old entry in the high-score table (if any) replaced with the new score. However, a single user may have multiple high-score table entries for different game-levels.
−s [ num ]
Causes tt to print the top num entries in the high-score table. Currently, a maximum of one hundred high-scores are maintained. If num is not specified, the top ten scores are listed.
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−b |
Causes pieces to rotate backwards (ie. clockwise). |
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−g |
Causes "ghost" pieces to be displayed. These curious apparitions show where the piece would be if you dropped it right this instant. |
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−N |
You will see the box telling you what the Next piece will be. |
−3|4|5|7
These are different types of games. 4 is the default, vanilla tetris. 3 contains pieces that have only 3 squares. 5 has 5-square pieces. 7 has both pieces from 3 and 4.
−l level
Causes tt to play on level level, which must be between −10 and 20. Each level of play starts at the same speed, and increases in speed at the same rate. They are differentiated only by the fact that non-zero levels drop a number of pieces, equal to the absolute value of the level onto the screen before the game starts. Negative levels drop pieces down the middle of the screen, positive levels place them randomly. The author recommends that the optimal game-levels are 0, 10 and −6. The default level is 0.
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−m num |
If non-zero, don’t use all pieces. |
If the environment variable TTKEYS is set, it contains the keys which will be used for the operations, respectively, move left, move right, rotate piece, drop piece, suspend game, and quit game. The keys ^L (redraw screen) and s (print the high-score table, when pressed between games) cannot be rebound.
If the environment variable TTNAME is set, it contains the name which will be used in the high-score table if a good enough score is obtained to merit inclusion. If this variable is not set, tt will use the environment variable NAME and if this is also not set, the account-name will be used.
/ssl/mirk/lib/ttscores
− high-score table.
/ssl/mirk/lib/junk/ttlock − lock file for high-score
table.
The program tt was written by Mike Taylor (mirk@uk.co.ssl), based on the original tetris idea, by a frustratingly anonymous "Russian Researcher".
None known − Please report any bugs to the author.