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[GAME] DiamondTris - Tetris with support for VGA, stylus & wheel sensor

Updated: 2009-01-03, 21:05 (GMT+1)
Me and Swoop2 is creating a Tetris game for us HTC Touch Diamond users out there in need for a great one! Why I wanted to create a new Tetris game for the HTC Touch Diamond was because all of the Tetris games out there got some flaws (imo); not supporting VGA resolution, visually looking bad, running slow etc.. The closest thing I got was TeKnowMagic Tetris, but I wasn't satisfied either way. There's simply no Tetris game out there filling my requirements.
DiamondTris so far:
VGA resolution
Moving pieces - with the wheel sensor or via the on-screen buttons
Rotation of pieces - with the enter button or via the on-screen buttons
Line completion and destruction
Statistics: score, hi-score, level, lines done/remaining
Difficulties: easy, medium, hard (different speeds)
What needs to be done:
Some minior GUI tweaks
Sound effects
Settings (sounds, controls)
You'll need .NET Framework 3.5, which you'll find here
Changelog:
DiamondTris_20090103.cab:
Installs on device or internal storage
Creates a shortcut in Programs\Games
Pause function implemented
DiamondTris_20090102.cab:
New, better looking on-screen buttons
Added some statistics
Disabled piece rotation by tilting the device (needs further tweaking)
Application icon added

+1
sounds like a fairly simple and easy project... if only i had listened in class...

Why don't you get some pledges to encourage a developer
I would pay around £3 for a tetris game designed for our device
Not loads, but if enough people were too pledge their support...

hays said:
Why don't you get some pledges to encourage a developer
I would pay around £3 for a tetris game designed for our device
Not loads, but if enough people were too pledge their support...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
good idea.
i'll let hays pay £3 for a Tetris game
(and i suppose i could chuck a few quid in as well )

Of course I'm in for some donations if this game is created

I started a very basic Tetris app for my touch diamond a while ago - just as a play around as my first Windows Mobile application. It uses the wheel for moving the current piece left and right and I was going to have a go at using the accelerometer to turn the piece clockwise/anticlockwise (i.e. a flick to the left or right).
I've never used OpenGL or anything so it was just done using a timer and the graphics object off the OnDraw event. I got as far as creating the grid, drawing the pieces, moving them around and knowing when lines were completed, etc. Still had a lot to do but it was a proof of concept more than anything else.
I'm just a normal application developer and develop form based applications and back end stuff. If I can get to where I am with my effort in the time I have, then someone who knows how to write games properly could easily do something really good.

Swoop2 said:
I started a very basic Tetris app for my touch diamond a while ago - just as a play around as my first Windows Mobile application. It uses the wheel for moving the current piece left and right and I was going to have a go at using the accelerometer to turn the piece clockwise/anticlockwise (i.e. a flick to the left or right).
I've never used OpenGL or anything so it was just done using a timer and the graphics object off the OnDraw event. I got as far as creating the grid, drawing the pieces, moving them around and knowing when lines were completed, etc. Still had a lot to do but it was a proof of concept more than anything else.
I'm just a normal application developer and develop form based applications and back end stuff. If I can get to where I am with my effort in the time I have, then someone who knows how to write games properly could easily do something really good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, that sounds great! Got any plans on continuation of your work? Onscreen buttons instead of accelerometer sounds even better imo, and is easier to do I think..?
Care to share your source? I can have a look at it myself and see if I can get into Mobil application programming too... or at least someone else here can continue on your base work.

I do plan on finishing it at some point - though I'm not 100% sure when! I don't mind sharing the code anyway, so once I'm back home I'll try and remember to put it on here.

Swoop2 said:
I do plan on finishing it at some point - though I'm not 100% sure when! I don't mind sharing the code anyway, so once I'm back home I'll try and remember to put it on here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds cool. Looks like I might get a good weekend after all! Do... not... forget... the... add... the source code!

Here's the source code. It is VERY much a work in progress. I started it as a windows application and ported it over to WinMob6. Here's a list of things that I know I still needed to do:
1. Optimise the graphics to get rid of the irritating flicker.
2. Add the piece rotation.
3. Add the score and level display, etc.
4. Decide on the size of the grid (considered leaving it customisable).
5. Add score saving and option saving, etc.
6. Add some backing music.
They're the things I can remember off the top of my head anyway. Lemme know if you have any ideas or questions, etc.

Swoop2 said:
Here's the source code. It is VERY much a work in progress. I started it as a windows application and ported it over to WinMob6. Here's a list of things that I know I still needed to do:
1. Optimise the graphics to get rid of the irritating flicker.
2. Add the piece rotation.
3. Add the score and level display, etc.
4. Decide on the size of the grid (considered leaving it customisable).
5. Add score saving and option saving, etc.
6. Add some backing music.
They're the things I can remember off the top of my head anyway. Lemme know if you have any ideas or questions, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sweet! I'm at home now, downloading all the requried applications to put up a proper environment here... big packages, so it'll take a while until I'm set.
I'll see if I can manage to do anything, and in case - I'll get back to you

Hi there again Swoop2!
Just tweaked the grid some, added some stats + onscreen buttons (stretched until later ;P) and changed some minor stuff. Here's my latest source. Thanks for sharing!
There's still bunch of stuff to tweak and add. Adding rotation to the game would make it fairly playable. The screen flickering is quite annoying, but perhaps we'll manage to get it working right in the future
Also adding a screenshot of how it looks with the current source.
EDIT: removed the source code, since there's a newer one out there.

Hi Sibbor
That's looking pretty good mate - I like it! I already have some ideas on how to fix the flicker - for the majority of the time anyway. Rendering the image as a bitmap in the background and then just drawing that should hopefully work like a double buffer or something. Also, only invalidating the relevant part of the screen instead of all of it should make a difference too. It worked for my other application anyway.
I'll try and have a play with it this week and send you an update

Swoop2 said:
Hi Sibbor
That's looking pretty good mate - I like it! I already have some ideas on how to fix the flicker - for the majority of the time anyway. Rendering the image as a bitmap in the background and then just drawing that should hopefully work like a double buffer or something. Also, only invalidating the relevant part of the screen instead of all of it should make a difference too. It worked for my other application anyway.
I'll try and have a play with it this week and send you an update
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds great! Made a few more changes but haven't got the latest source available here at work. I'll see if I can get time to upload it later. Otherwise it doesn't matter too much.
I reacted at the code where the grid updates, but have too less experience with WM6 and .NET to actually optimize this to a grade where we'll have no flicker at all. So with other words: I'm looking forward to your anti-flicker code !

I should finally have some time to look at this at the weekend so if you have an updated version can you post it on here?

Swoop2 said:
I should finally have some time to look at this at the weekend so if you have an updated version can you post it on here?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi again mate! Good to hear. Sadly I haven't been able to get too much done since last time, but I'll attach the current source now.
Thought about the rotation and how to create it. Had an idea where you could destroy the current piece when rotating, and creating a new - rotated - piece at the given location. You got any ideas about it otherwise?

I've been looking for a decent Tetris game for Diamond/TP myself.
Question: are you planning on implementing the scrollwheel to move the pieces? I think that would be a nice touch.
Good luck on this. I'll donate to the cause when you guys have something.

hefman said:
I've been looking for a decent Tetris game for Diamond/TP myself.
Question: are you planning on implementing the scrollwheel to move the pieces? I think that would be a nice touch.
Good luck on this. I'll donate to the cause when you guys have something.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The requested function is already supported We'll make sure to setup donations when we're ready

this is definately a worth while project, i wasted my time for about 3 hours looking for a nice tetris game 4-5 days ago and came up with very nasty looking basic tetris clones.
which all sucked, id donate £5-7 just for saving me the time!!
thanks

CDMA Tetris
I am so all about Tetris.
I also spent some time looking for some decent versions of Tetris but they all flopped.
I cannot wait till you guys complete this.

Porting a game from PC to ppc

Hi, I never did that, but I was playing to Anthelion 2 on my PPC and I thank that it could be great to port Homeworld 1 or Cataclysm to the PPC, and I would like to know how to do that, I think that I could "recompiler" it, but I don't know how, and I would like to know if a tutorial has been created somewhere on the net?...

I'm not sure if it would be even technically possible. Well, the newest pdas _might_ be powerful enough to run something like HW1 but i'm not sure if it's such a good idea. Did you try to run homeworld in 640x480 resolution? Most of the time you'll see ships as groups of two to eight pixels. Now imagine it all squished on a phone three-inch screen: try ordering your corvettes to smash that annoying bomber on a screen that small I think that a bit better idea would be porting really old games, that were designed to run in VGA or even lower resolutions (SubCulture, Command&Conquer, I-War, Dark Forces are some of the titles i'd pay for ).
Anyway, back to porting subject.
First of all you would need the source code of the program you want to port - in case of homewrld1 it's not a problem.
Secondly, you would have to make sure that all libraries (graphic, sound, input, etc) used by a game have windows mobile/windowsCE versions. Again, homeworld1 seems lucky since it has been ported to SDL - a multiplatform opensource graphic/sound/input library.
But that's where good news end. Porting a game is not just a matter of grabbing the PC version source and recompiling it. If it was as easy, we would have hundreds of PC games already ported You need considerable programming skills to actually create a port because usualy not all libraries used by a game a compatible with WindowsCE. An example - the opensource version of homeworld uses OpenGL for graphic rendering. The pocket version would have to use OpenGL's "little brother" - OpenGLES. As far as i know, they're not 100% identical, so to put it simply, you would have to make the game talk in OGLES language, instead of standard OGL. And doing changes in graphic rendering routines usually breaks something else, so you'd have to go and fix it.
I'm not trying to discourage you here but i'd suggest learning to program for WindowsCE (or at least for PC) _before_ attempting to port anything - doing it the other way around will be just a waste of time and a source of frustration.
There are some development resources that can help start the adventure with programming here on xda. You could also search for some general C/C++ tutorials targeting PC's. If you consider getting into programming, i suggest checking out SDL - Many games use it, and thanks to this library you can skip the OS-specific part of coding and get right to the fun stuff - a program that actually does/displays anything For an even easier start, you might want to check out QuickCG - a SDL wrapper simplifying the coding even further.

Oki, thanks for your answer, I've a friend who is learning to program in C++, so, I'll ask him if he can help me to do that, it would be great to have this game on a PPC (perhaps the Diamond, because it has D3D and OpenGL Drivers, or of the iPhone, but I guess that the programming language is not the same as the PPC...
[EDIT] STARCRAFT would be great to, and easier to port on PPC, because of his age and that he uses 2d Graphisms...

You should look into the stratagus engine.

antrak said:
You should look into the stratagus engine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice Engine, but it's not Starcraft, but I can't find the Source Code on the net, they could give the source code with the game when you buy it

Psycho said:
Hey, it's Calvin, I found him
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Stargus a starcraft's clone, I'm trying to download it, but I don't know if it works for PPC...

You might want to check this thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=497086&highlight=starcraft

Racing stopwatch ?

Hello all,
I am looking for a racing stopwatch.
I had a WM6.5 phone and the guys at ageye have worked with me to release the perfect program (G-RACE) but they are not planning to make it for android, therefore I need to find something that is close enough under Android or find someone that would be able to code it for me.
I work in truck racing and we have other requirements that the existing things I have seen, the best being ultrachron lite but basically I need to be able to time more than 1 vehicle with the program, so i need to be able to assign this laptime to this vehicle and this one to that vehicle and so on, and then sort out the results by fastest lap time, name of driver and/or other stuff.
If someone writes this app for me he gets invited to any race he wants in the european championship, possibly with a ride in the truck if we have a press day, anyway, we'll find a way
Thanks in advance for the help

Sounds like a great app. I'm a NASCAR fan though, do you include airfare and room? LOL (I'm in the U.S.)

I can find you a bunk in the mechanics trailer anytime
For the airfare it's going to be more complicated....
But a trip to the Nurburgring would thrill any nascar fan, more turns in 1 lap than in the entire season...
More seriously we can always work out something on team clothing and goodies if you're willing, it would be a quite simple app to do since I know exactly what is needed, but I can't code anything....I have a DOS program that does exactly what I need and I can send it if you want.

try sportstimer in the market

sry double post..

Hello,
Thanks for the sporstimer tip but it si not possible to use it for me.
I need a program where the tapping on the screen part is separated from the assigning this tap to that truck.
When you have 3 or 4 trucks passing by almost together you cannot look at the screen to see on which truck you are tapping and be accurate enough to tap when it passes the line, they are doing 162 when the pass so it means 44m/s...
Thanks again

[Q] FPSE newbie has assortment of thoughts/questions

Hey guys, I bought FPSE within the first day of getting my Xperia Play. The thing is an emulator machine and FPSE is a fitting addition. Love it so far. Few questions/problems:
1) My phone is unrooted/stock. It seems enabling the g sensor involves editing .ini files and such? Is it possible for me to do without compromising my warranty? Could you provide a link/video that explains how to do it on one of the more recent versions of FPSE?
2) What is the deal with the options for touchscreen analog and "Swipe" analog? I've only tried with Medal of Honor Underground but they're EXTREMELY hard to use. They take a strong push to get started moving, then JUMP in the direction you''re holding extremely fast, making aiming very very hard. Is this the norm with these options? Is it difficult to emulate the analog sticks of playstation?
3)Both of the above questions have to do with shooting games on FPSE. What settings do you guys use for first person shooting games? especially on xperia? I'm starting to think I should just give up on the genre for use with FPSE. (I'm not going to harp on the touch-stick support for xperia play like most, I understand thats probably really annoying to incorporate, especially with Verizon users STUCK in 2.3.2!!)
4) For PS ISOs with the "track 1" and "track2" parts, what do I do?? SF Alpha 3 has those components and I'm not sure what to do/how to rename it so it will work (with just track 1 it boots up like ps one boot screen, then black)
5) I found a SF Alpha 3 that only is one .bin file, but it runs SOO slow on FPSE, no matter what system/video options i tinker with. Does anyone have a definite rom/config for SF Alpha 3 on FPSE that they could tell me? Its one of my favorite games for PsONE.
Thanks in advance for anyone who answers any of my questions/thoughts

I can't answer everything, but I'll tell you all I know
1. I've tried the G sensor on FPSE once or twice and it worked fine without having to change any .ini settings. Can you tell me exactly what you did and I'll try to replicate this
2/3. I've only used the d-pad for movement in FPS games. without the touch pad supprt I stay away from them in FPSE. I do wish there was a way to impliment the analogue sticks better without touching the screen, but till then my advice would be to stay away.
Others on here may know of a better way to emulate them
4/5. We don't like any kind of warez/downloading. My advice would be to buy a disk and rip it to get a true legal copy of the game to play on FPSE. This should also miss out any anomolies. For anything else, it would be worth going on their own forums and asking about specifics of game support.
IMO (educated guess) I think the files need to be in one file format. So when you rip the file, rip it into one iso, this should put all files on the disc into a single file, as the iso is an image of the disc
Hope that helps, let me know how you get on - especially with the touch pads/analogue sticks

Tiger Mame Can't Change ROM Settings

Hey Guys
As much as the need & love for save/load state has been discussed.
In tiger arcade you cannot change the mvs settings e.g the difficulty of the game, everytime you play the game it is on normal difficulty.
I remember pc base emulators like neoragex allowed you to change the settings through dip switiches before the game started, or you could emulate the same rom as a console version, you could then go into the games menus and change the difficulty that way.
this is a huge requirement for me as playing the game on "normal" settings is pointless i like a challenge.
anyone else notice this or overcame this issue.
please help
harlzden

Having access to the test/service and dipswitches would be VERY nice.

you guys rekon its worth contacting tiger king about this, might be a big aspect he did not notice, i tried looking for contact info could not find.

Jrioni does not give dip switch access either.
Not sure how much hassle it is for them to implement in all honesty.
Must be quite difficult or they would of done it already.

It's not difficult. The dip switches are just controlled by flipping a bit on or off.