Setris – Tetris with Sand Physics

[amikazmi]

Super cool!

One thing that looks a bit off is that part of the physics engine runs in reverse -

When a piece touch the high part of a pile, the sand is going UP from the bottom of the valley to the top, instead of from the top DOWN to the bottom

When the process finishes the end result is the same, it's just a bit strange :)

Example in https://youtu.be/Hp4nV4EjLgM?t=133

[zamadatix]

The sand is going down. Each tick one bit of sand falls from the top left to the bottom of that valley. Over many ticks the sand from the top accumulates up the side of the valley, from over the "cliff". The strange bit is the pieces teleport in one tick one at a time. No matter how you do it you'll end up with some sort of tradeoff like that when using pixel grids instead of particles.

[janosdebugs]

Cool game, pretty hard too, I love it!

If you are trying to get it running on Linux (e.g. in WSL), you need libfontconfig, libxrender and libxtst installed. This worked for me on Ubuntu:

    sudo apt install libfontconfig1 libxrender1 libxtst6
    export LIBGL_ALWAYS_INDIRECT=0
    ./Setris-1.2

(I use WSL as a more powerful sandbox to run things. Windows Sandbox is, unfortunately, not capable enough to run graphics-heavy stuff as it seems to use RDP.)

[Cu3PO42]

WSLg (Microsoft's implementation of graphical programs for WSL) also uses RDP internally. So I wouldn't think that is the issue with the Sandbox, unless you set up some other way of X forwarding. WSLg is still hardware accelerated and Sandbox might not be, however.

[jjordan]

And this is why gaming on Linux never took off.

[VPenkov]

This looks like a lot of fun. I'm curious, where did inspiration come from? I love playing creative versions of classic games like that and if something inspired you to build this, I'd like to try it too :)

This reminded me of a physics-based Tetris that a friend of mine built many years ago: http://phystris.pi-dev.com/

[noobcoder]

The yellow section in the video dissolved a bit earlier than I anticipated, around 0:23, but I noticed that there are a few missing pixels on the left edge. It could be due to lower resolution or the need for clearer indications. Perhaps improving either the resolution or providing clearer visual cues, such as eliminating shaded edges on the border, could enhance the experience. But sitll, I find this variation of Tetris with sand elements to be quite fascinating and a unique twist on the traditional game. Great job bro!

[Liquidor]

That's really cool :-)

I like how it looks and how hard it seems.

I see that you're into Java, so I was thinking maybe you could look into transpiring your game into JavaScript so it can be embedded on a website.

Checkout GWT for that: https://github.com/gwtproject/gwt

[snerbles]

The author mentions that they used LibGDX. It's been a decade since I've done anything with it, but I do recall LibGDX can be transpiled with GWT with a bit of work:

https://libgdx.com/wiki/html5-backend-and-gwt-specifics

[alex_duf]

I had no idea GWT still existed!

[keyle]

This is nutty, I love it.

One word of caution, I wouldn't mention the word Tetris anywhere, just use "falling block classic game" or whatever else, as it's one of the most trigger happy IP I know of after Nintendo.

That said it's so far detached from the original you might be fine.

[bena]

Just looking at the gameplay video, they have a bit of work to do to avoid a DMCA request from maybe both The Tetris Company (I think that’s the name) and Nintendo.

The game lifts a lot of design elements from the Game Boy version of Tetris. Clearly to evoke the nostalgia. Down to specific graphical elements like the style of the blocks and fonts used.

The Tetris Company would have a point here. The game wants you to think of a very specific version of Tetris. I forget where Nintendo exactly was involved in the game, but it’s possible they hold some rights to the Game Boy version as well.

I’d strip out all the Game Boy elements. I doubt you’d get by on a parody claim.

[thegabriele]

I suggest Darude as an alternative, memeish, name.

[tim_hutton]

Sandy Crush

[Biganon]

Even a word that sounds like Tetris, such as Setris, can be enough for a trademark issue

[userbinator]

Or as the Chinese seem to like to call it, "Russia block".

[dcuthbertson]

Bricks of Dune is a silly name I just thought up. On second thought, it reminds me of sand art in glass jars, just more dynamic.

[nurettin]

Have you tried writing a Rubik's cube game? They hire professional law firms to go after you.

[thomastjeffery]

They could just wait until they get a complaint and change it then. There's no reason to just avoid the name outright.

[zakki]

Sandblock is a good name.

[remram]

7 days later, it's been DMCA'd. The notice mentions the music, which is weird because I didn't hear any music in the gameplay videos posted here.

[otterpro]

Tetris has become so universal that it feels like a generic term, similar to how we usually say Kleenex instead of tissue and chapstick instead of lip balm. "Setris" sounds fine as name of the game, although I also like "Sandtris", which sounds less similar to Tetris, and probably less likely for IP issue.

[frankfrankfrank]

Ammatis - Combines the Greek for sandy soil with tennis, as a reference and nod to its technology and game legacy.

[yoyopa]

so your advice is basically, go ahead and make your derivative tetris game but just call it something else?

[WatchDog]

Any chance of macos support? I tried running the jar, but didn't get very far, the jar seems to include binaries macos binaries for both x86 and arm, but it didn't want to start.

[ankitg12]

Tried running with following JDK on mac, but don't see any screen after the initial few messages:

Setris-1.2_LINUX % java -version openjdk version "17.0.7" 2023-04-18 OpenJDK Runtime Environment Temurin-17.0.7+7 (build 17.0.7+7) OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM Temurin-17.0.7+7 (build 17.0.7+7, mixed mode, sharing)

Setris-1.2_LINUX % java -XstartOnFirstThread -jar setris-desktop-1.0-SNAPSHOT-jar-with-dependencies.jar [30.05.23][12:16:41] Loading Assets [30.05.23][12:16:41] Done. [30.05.23][12:16:41] Starting UI Subsystem ^C% Setris-1.2_LINUX %

[mslivo]

It's not officially supported as I can't test it myself. It should work in theory but as far as I know it nobody got it to run yet.

[DiscourseFan]

I just have it running on an emulator on my machine, unfortunately.

[mertens]

* Got taken down ( https://itch.io/takedowns/2073998 ) and was subsequently republished as Sandtrix.

* Now also available as a web game on CrazyGames: https://www.crazygames.com/game/sandtrix

[parpfish]

looks cool, but it took a long time to realize that "rows" don't matter and "color" is what matters.

[infinitedata]

I misread and thought it said Sextris. Which makes me wonder how a Tetris flavor like that would look like!

[sashk]

This has been done long-long time ago - https://zxart.ee/eng/software/game/puzzle/sex-tetris-2/sex-t...

[1m2r3a]

You brought some forgotten memories for me. X-tetris was the real deal https://archive.org/details/xtetris

[justsomehnguy]

https://www.old-games.ru/game/screenshots/11893.html

[ugh123]

Awesome! But why not Sandtris =P

[parentheses]

Nicely done. I don't think I've seen a redo of tetris that dropped so much that was still good.

[cjsawyer]

There’s also Not Tetris https://stabyourself.net/nottetris2/

[Unit520]

Destructible Tetris blocks: https://unit520.net/deadtrees/

Silly physics fun in the browser, but not a complete game (yet).

[29athrowaway]

One of the main elements of Tetris is planning ahead. With this mechanic it becomes harder.

[isoprophlex]

Maybe with 3 colors things might have remained relatively sane, but this looks hella difficult indeed

[layer8]

The 4x1 blocks should transform into sandworms. Call it Dunetris.

[Kiro]

Interesting that both the top comment and the bottom comment are the same thing (complaining about browser support), as of this writing.

[hutzlibu]

You always have to keep in mind, that the majority of commentors, did not had a project yet, that made it to the front page. But at least that smart criticism can make it top comment for a while ..

[Grustaf]

Really cool, I wish it was available for Mac!

One thing, I think it would look nicer if it waited until the sand settled before remove a "row".

[waqf]

I watched the demo video but I can't get over using E in the bass in bar 5, where D would normally be expected. (Yes, it should be possible to use chord V11 here instead of IV if you really want, but you would need to fill out the harmony a lot more to make that work, not just the bass line.)

[ben7799]

This made me think of trash panic on PS3 back in the day too.

It was like tetris but with random pieces of trash you dropped a dumpster. Heavy trash could compact lighter trash, you could find a piece of trash that would explode or burn other trash, etc..

Definitely not as elegant and perfect as Tetris but very amusing.

[mmvora]

This is so much fun! Brings me back to the old days where I used to spend hours on Facebook's Tetris Battle, except the sand makes it feel like a cheat code lol

[tracker1]

Would be cool, if so desired to see a source repo of this... really cool game and would be nice to see a port that can run in-browser or on SteamDeck, etc.