becoming predictable while still making one player’s game comparable to another’s.
Over the course of a game, players will get a few hundred pieces. The number of times
players get just the piece they were looking for is evened out by the times they do not
get the piece they want. It may be that players will fail to get exactly the right piece at
the right time and that, since the box is already full of pieces, the game ends as a result.
However, in order to get to a situation where they could not use whatever piece was
given to them, players have already made a number of mistakes. In the end, the random
piece picker found inTetrisprovides a fair, consistent challenge to all players.
Escalating Tension..............................
Tetrisis very ruthless in the way it escalates tension throughout the game. Unlike a
game such asCentipede,Tetrisplayers get no reprieve when a wave ends, nor do they
get the ability to “start fresh” when they lose a life. InTetrisplayers “die” when the
box fills up with pieces that fail to make complete rows, and their game is over, period.
This means that players must be constantly on their guard, constantly considering
what to do with a piece before it reaches the bottom of the screen. Even a fast-paced
game such asDoomprovides players with plenty of respites from the action. In that
first-person shooter, there are safe corners to hide in and rooms where, once all the
threats have been eliminated, players can wait indefinitely without being threatened.
Tetrisnever lets up and constantly confronts players with a new challenge that must be
addressed.
The only reprieve players find inTetrisis when they “battle their way back” from a
tricky situation. Say players have dropped some blocks in bad locations, thereby block-
ing off uncompleted rows below. Now the game is harder because they have less space
and time to manipulate their pieces before they are stopped at the bottom of the screen.
The game’s tension has escalated as a result of the players’ mistakes. Players may be
able, through careful placement of subsequent pieces, to erase the poorly placed bricks
and finally complete the rows below. Now the game’s tension has decreased and players
are back to where they were, with more space and time to manipulate the falling pieces.
Players feel a sense of accomplishment and relief. They are able to relax momentarily,
knowing they have a “clean slate” to work with once again. Of course, this only lasts
until other mistakes are made, and then the game’s tension increases once again.
Further escalating the game’s tension is the acceleration of the speed at which the
pieces fall over the course of the game. When the players’ score increases above cer-
tain specific amounts, the pieces in the game start moving at a faster rate, which makes
the game more nerve-racking for players. Since the pieces fall down the board more
quickly, players have less time to figure out the best position for a given piece, and also
less time to manipulate the piece into that position. At the game’s fastest speed, most
players will be incapable of placing a piece in an ideal location, and with a piece in the
wrong place the game only gets harder. Just before the speed increases, players might
start to feel that they have mastered the game and could playTetrisindefinitely. But
when the speed increases, whatever sort of rhythm players had established is thrown
off. Now players need to do everything they were doing before, only faster.
Once players start making mistakes inTetris, these mistakes compound, making
the game harder and harder to play. As players fail to complete rows at the bottom of the
148 Chapter 8: Game Analysis:Tetris