THIS IS AN OLDER CUSTOMIZED VERSION Please try the current release of the project here: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/666490757/ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - NOW WITH HARD / INSANE MODES, and PAUSE Columns is a game similar to Tetris, except that the falling blocks form a straight column and you can rotate the order of the blocks in addition to moving it to the left and right. Move the column by TAPPING/Clicking to the sides of the column or Press the arrow keys ( <-- --> ). Rotate the column blocks by TAPPING/Clicking on it before it lands, or pressing the Up/Down arrow keys. Press SPACE to drop the column as it is. You can also TAP/Click below the column to drop it. Press P or the PAUSE Button to pause and unpause the game. Score points for groups of 3 or more blocks. STAR blocks will match all other blocks. Get bonus points for clearing rows or the whole board. The game ends when the board fills up and you land beyond the top of the board. Most Importantly: Have Fun! I made this game for my nephew, after he became interested in Scratch! Other players may wish to disable the birthday message using the constants, but keep an eye out for a secret game! dave
For the Current Release Game version: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/666490757/ Starting the Game: Please be sure to press the Scratch GO Flag button to start the game for the first time. If you don't see any blocks when you press "New Game", the project was probably stopped. Credits: I used or modified some of the default Scratch assets to spiff up this project. I appreciated that they were there! Menu Options: - Choose a block style: the default Fruit or optional Solid blocks - Choose between Large (7x14) and Small (5x10) game boards. - Enable a flood mechanic with Hard Mode - Adjust game volume - Set game speed to adjust difficulty. Difficulty will also naturally increase as time elapses (though there are limits on how fast Scratch will be able to play this game). Performance: To the extent possible, I endeavoured to make this game playable in standard Scratch! without any modifications or extensions. You may find that performance and game response improve if you enable TURBO MODE from the Editor's Edit menu (as side effects, the clouds will zoom but you won't have to wait for the Loading Screen). Game Board Size: The game menu supports switching between a large (7x14) and small (5x10) game board. Using the smaller board should improve performance by reducing the number of block sprite clones. You also have the option of manually reducing - but not increasing - the dimensions of the game board to reduce lag. The maximum game board dimensions supported are 7x15, but you can improve performance by reducing this. Technically, the only hard limit is on the board width at a max of 7 columns. If your game locks up: Several steps were taken in the design to avoid issues and lock-ups related to rapid asynchronous player events. In the (I hope) unlikely event that your game still manages to become locked on our control logic, pressing the BLOCK STYLE (FRUIT/SOLID) BUTTON in the menu should unlock it.
