Xetris info document -------------------- I. History ------------ The legend goes that in medieval times the fortress of Count Zordoba was under attack from Saracen forces. During the siege that lasted for 7 months, the Count and his 6 daughters Xenia, Elise, Tania, Rose, Isolde and Sophie gave shelter to the civilians of the neighbouring countries inside the walls of the fortress. Finally the fortress fell and the Count was killed. The Saracen army marched into the fortress, killing all the people that sheltered there. But the Count's daughters threw themselves from the highest tower of the fortress, rather than being caught by the Saracens. Their sacrifice was not in vain, because from that moment on, the fortress was enchanted. The doors of the fortress closed themselves, and from the tower, blocks of debris fell on the Saracen forces, killing them all. From then on the ghosts of the sisters would haunt the tower until someone would be able to free them. Thus is the legend... In more recent times, a space program to use the black holes of the universe as gateways to other worlds, encountered a strange phenomenon: it appeared that the machines were connecting to another dimension in which they encountered the ghosts of the XETRIS sisters. It was clear from the legend that the only way to free the sisters was to clear all the blocks being thrown from the tower. It is your duty as an engineer for the space program, to clear all blocks and free the XETRIS ghosts. You must make sure that the blocks don't pile up too high, so that the storage pit becomes full and your machines crash. II. Game Play -------------- On the main screen you can use the joystick in port 2 for the following purposes: - left/right: in-game music on/off - up/down: select level for practice If you choose a level for practice (i.e. level selector different from 1), then no new high-score can be achieved, nor can you jump to a higher level after having completed the chosen one. There are 16 levels, each consisting of a number of block rows that need to be cleared. A row of blocks in the pit is cleared whenever the row is complete without any gaps. You can make full rows by rotating the blocks so that they fit. The joystick in port 2 controls the blocks in the following way: - up: moves block down rapidly - right: moves block right - down: moves block down - left: moves block left - fire button: rotates the block clockwise For each full row, 100 bonus points are added to your score. If, however, you manage to clear multiple successive rows at once, then the bonus points are increased with 100 points with each new full row. Ex. Clearing 4 rows 1 by 1 gives you 100+100+100+100=400 bonus points Clearing 4 successive rows at once gives you 100+200+300+400=1000 bonus points! After each level a bonus of 100 points is added to your score for each empty row in the pit. With each new level, the pit may be already filled with a certain pattern of blocks, and the speed at which the blocks fall is increased. During game play, the game can be paused by pressing the space bar. The game screen consists of the following parts: - top left: level indicator - left: a view on the tower with the XETRIS ghosts whirling around - middle: blocks storage pit - top right: rows still needed - top far right: preview window with the next block - right: message window - bottom right: score III. Acknowledgements --------------------- This game wasn't possible without the following people: - Game graphics, sound effects and coding: Danny Biesmans - Music: Richard Bayliss (a.k.a. TND) - Main screen logo: JSL - Additional support: Neil Kendall (Rubic Wizard), Marco Mäkelä and Lasse Öörni Many thanks to Richard for composing the music and for having so much patience with me when I wasn't satisfied with what the game looked like. Many thanks to JSL for painting the bitmap logo. Many thanks to Neil for giving me a character set to start with, and for showing me where I could find all those neat tools for developing games on the C64. Many thanks to Marko for answering all my questions concerning the VIC II, on how to program stable raster interrupts and much more. Many thanks to Lasse for letting me use the GoatTracker music player and for giving support on how to use it properly. This game has been developed between december 2003 and june 2004, after an arcade game I used to play in the early 1990's. I don't know who holds the rights to the original game. Contact info: danny_biesmans@hotmail.com (Member of Civitas) --------------------------- Danny Biesmans, May 2004.