TetriNET

Infobox VG
title = TetriNET


developer = Various
designer = St0rmCat
version = 1.13 (TetriNET) 0.7.11 (GTetrinet)
released = 1997
genre = Puzzle
modes = Multiplayer
platforms = Windows, Unix

TetriNET is a multiplayer online Tetris game for up to six people, developed by St0rmCat in 1997 that supports team play. [cite web
url=http://www.worldoffreegames.com/factsheet.php?id=81&cl=3
title=TetriNET
publisher=worldoffreegames.com
accessdate=2007-07-26] The last official version is 1.13. St0rmCat later released TetriNET 2, which features improved graphics, more types of special blocks, additional features (such as hold piece and block shadows), and a master server.cite web
url=http://www.tetrinet2.com/?page=info_about
title=About TetriNET2
publisher=TetriNET2.com
accessdate=2007-07-24]

Game play

TetriNET plays like standard multiplayer Tetris but with a twist: clearing rows will cause special blocks to appear in the player's field. If a line containing a special block is cleared, then that special block is added to the player's inventory. Clearing multiple lines at once increases the number of special blocks received.

At any point, a player may use the special block at the beginning of their inventory on one of the six fields (either their own or an opponent's). The effect depends on the type of special block:

* a : Add Line - Adds one broken line to the bottom of the target field.
* c : Clear Line - Clears the line on the bottom of the target field.
* b : Clear Special Blocks - Causes all special blocks on the target field to return to normal blocks.
* r : Random Blocks Clear - Random blocks are removed from the target field, often creating gaps in lines.
* o : Block Bomb - Causes any Block Bombs on the target field to "explode", causing surrounding pieces to scatter throughout the field.
* q : Blockquake - Causes blocks on each line on the target field to shift, creating an earthquake-like effect.
* g : Block Gravity - Causes blocks on that target field to immediately fall into any gaps and instantly deletes any complete lines which are created.
* s : Switch Fields - User and target switch fields.
* n : Nuke Field - Removes all blocks from the target field.

The last player still able to place pieces in their field is the winner.

Depending on the server used, some alternative rules may be available.
* pure: special blocks are disabled, providing gameplay similar to traditional multiplayer Tetris.
* 7tetris: the first player to make seven Tetris is the winner.

Variants

In addition to the rules implemented by the standard TetriNET 1.13 client, there are a number of variants available.

TetriFast

TetriFast removes the one second delay between pieces found in the standard TetriNET gameplay. As the piece delay is implemented client side, a trivial modification was made to the network protocol to prevent TetriFast clients connecting to standard TetriNET games.

TetriNET/TetriFast 1.14

The 1.14 protocol is another variant, where every player will receive the same sequence of pieces. [cite web
url=http://en.tetrinet.no/tetrinet-1-14-and-tetrifast-1-14-page-11.php
title=TetriNET 1.14 and TetriFast 1.14
publisher=TetriNET.no
accessdate=2007-07-24]

Blocktrix

Blocktrix is an alternative TetriNET client for Windows. [cite web
url=http://www.blocktrix.org/about.html
title=Features of Blocktrix
publisher=Blocktrix.org
accessdate=2007-07-24] In addition to supporting traditional TetriNET and TetriFast protocols, it has a newer Blocktrix mode that includes a number of additional special block types:

* l : Left Gravity - Pulls all blocks as far left as possible, leaving any horizontal gaps at the right edge of the field.
* p : Piece Change - Changes the current piece.
* z : Zebra Field - Clears every second column of the field.

TetriNET2

TetriNET2 is a new multiplayer Tetris game by the original creator of TetriNET. In addition to the special blocks found in the original TetriNET, it has five new ones: [cite web
url=http://www.tetrinet2.com/?page=overview_specials
title=Overview: Specials Guide
publisher=TetriNET2.com
accessdate=2007-07-24]

* Immunity - Target cannot be affected by any special for a default of 15 seconds.
* Clear Column - Deletes a random column from the target field.
* Mutate Pieces - A certain number of the target's next pieces (default 3) become large and awkwardly shaped.
* Darkness - Target cannot see anything on his field besides the current piece and its immediate surroundings for a default of 10 seconds.
* Confusion - Causes target's controls to "mix up" for a default of 10 seconds (for example, the key that normally moves the piece left may start moving the piece right instead.)

"As of late 2007, TetriNET2 has been shutdown. The TetriNET2 website and servers are no longer available."

Popularity

With clients for various platforms available, the game was also well received in the Linux community. [cite web
url=http://www.linuxgames.com/?dataloc=/reviews/gtetrinet/
title=Review: GTetrinet 0.7.5
publisher=linuxgames.com
accessdate=2007-07-26] The Linux conference linux.conf.au even included a programming contest where contestants tried to program TetriNET playing bots, who could connect to the game server and play the game. [cite web
url=http://www.linux.org.au/conf/2004/hackfest.html
title=The IBM HackFest
publisher=linux.conf.au
accessdate=2007-07-26] The prize for the best bot was a AU$40,000 IBM pSeries server. [cite web
url=http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/01/06/1073268011946.html
title=Winner of Linux conference programming contest to get IBM eServer
date=2004-01-06
publisher=The Age
accessdate=2007-10-18]

External links

* [http://www.tetrinet.de/ TetriNET.de - German TetriNET community]
* [http://www.tetrinet.fr/ TetriNET.fr - French TetriNET community]
* [http://www.tetrinet.ru/ TetriNET.ru - Russian TetriNET community]
* [http://en.tetrinet.no/ TetriNET.no - TetriNET resource]
* [http://www.tetrinet.us/ TetriNET.us - TetriNET community]
* [http://supacup.tetridome.com/ Supa-Cup - TetriNET tournaments]

erver Addresses

* TSRV.com
* Tetridome.com
* TetriNET.us
* TetriNET.de
* TetriNET.fr
* TetriNET.no
* [http://www.blocktrix.org/servers.html Updated list of TetriNET and Blocktrix servers]

Downloads

Clients

* [http://www.blocktrix.org/ Blocktrix - advanced Windows client]
* [http://atwin.sourceforge.net/ aTwin - open source client for Windows]
* [http://gtetrinet.sourceforge.net/ GTetrinet - open source client for Linux]
* [http://www.g7software.net/ Tetrinet Aqua - open source client for Mac OS X original site] (offline), [http://en.tetrinet.no/tetrinet-aqua-page-9.php Tetrinet Aqua download mirror]
* [http://pagesperso-orange.fr/cvincent/logiciels/benettris.html BeNetTris - freeware client for BeOS]

ervers

* [http://jetrix.sourceforge.net/ Jetrix - open source server in Java]
* [http://tetrinetx.sourceforge.net/ Tetrinetx - open source server in C]
* [http://ptns.sourceforge.net/ Ptns - open source server in Perl]
* [http://pytrinet.ddmr.nl/ PyTrinet - open source server n Python]

Tools

* [http://tetristats.sourceforge.net/ Tetristats - open source tool to convert winlist files to HTML]

References

* [http://gtetrinet.sourceforge.net/tetrinet.txt The TETRINET.TXT file that comes with the original TetriNET client/server] written by the author of TetriNET.
* [http://docs.blocktrix.org/ Blocktrix Documentation]