Cambridge

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Cambridge
Cambridge logo.png
Cambridge logo
Developer(s)Joe Zeng, Milla
Platform(s)Windows, macOS, Linux
ReleaseMay 2019
Latest releasev0.3.4 (July 16, 2023)
Gameplay info
Next piecesvariable
Playfield size10 × 24, 20 visible rows
Hold piecevariable (may have IHS)
Hard dropAll variants supported
Rotation systemARS (Classic, Ti, Ace, Ace2), SRS (Ti, Ace), Cambridge, custom
Cambridge title screen.png
Cambridge gameplay.png

Cambridge is a Lua-based falling-block-game engine dedicated to creating a robust, easily customizable platform for creating new, custom game modes. It was originally made by Joe Zeng, and starting with version 0.1.5 on October 8, 2020, Milla took over development of the game.

The first public release of Cambridge coincided with the first Carnival of Darkness.

Game modes

These game modes are exclusive to, or originated from, Cambridge:

  • Marathon 2020
  • Survival 2020
  • Strategy

These game modes from other creators are also supported:

  • Phantom Mania, originally from Nullpomino
  • Phantom Mania 2

These modes from published Tetris games:

These modes used to be in the main game, but were removed from it and are available as a modpack:

Cambridge originals

  • Interval Training
  • TetrisGram™ Pacer Test

Modes from published Tetris games

  • Race 40 (40 lines mode)
  • Marathon C89 (A-Type from NES Tetris)

Modes by other creators

  • Demon Mode, created by Oshisaure

This is not a complete list and will be edited in the future.

Marathon 2020

Marathon 2020 is Cambridge's own "Master" game mode, that endeavours to take the level-based game system from the TGM series up to 20 (twice), referring to the year 2020.

Gameplay

The goal of this mode is to reach level 2020. Every piece placed increases the level by 1, and every line cleared also increases the level by 1, with bonuses for large numbers of lines:

Level Bonuses
Lines cleared Levels advanced
1 (single) 1
2 (double) 2
3 (triple) 4
4 (tetris) 6

When the current level reaches one less than the level at the bottom of the display (usually a multiple of 100), the level will not advance until a line is cleared.

Levels

Each section is 100 levels long, except for the last section, whose levels go from 1900 all the way to 2020.

However, it is possible to be stopped early on if you do not play fast enough.

Torikans

There are certain checkpoints at which your current time will be checked and you will be stopped if your time is over a set objective time.

Level Time limit
500 08:00:00
900 10:30:00
1000 10:45:00
1500 12:30:00
1900 13:15:00

At levels 500, 1000, and 1500, you will be stopped immediately if your time is not under the objective.

At level 900, the next section will be capped at 999, and you will get a short credit roll when the last section is over.

At level 1900, the next section will be capped at 2000, and you will be stopped immediately with no credit roll.

Speed

Marathon 2020 gets faster in two different, independent ways, the gravity curve and the delay curve.

The gravity curve is always the same at a particular level, while the delay curve can vary based on your previous section time.

Gravity Curve

The gravity curve is the same as it is in the original TGM and TAP.

Internal Gravity
Level Internal Gravity
(1/256 G)
Level Internal Gravity
(1/256 G)
0 4 220 32
30 6 230 64
35 8 233 96
40 10 236 128
50 12 239 160
60 16 243 192
70 32 247 224
80 48 251 256 (1G)
90 64 300 512 (2G)
100 80 330 768 (3G)
120 96 360 1024 (4G)
140 112 400 1280 (5G)
160 128 420 1024 (4G)
170 144 450 768 (3G)
200 4 500 5120 (20G)
Delay Curve

The delay curve is shown as in the following table. Line ARE is always equal to ARE.

Level ARE Lock DAS Line Cool
0 27 30 15 40 45.00
100 24 30 12 25 41.50
200 21 30 12 25 38.50
300 18 30 9 20 35.00
400 16 30 9 15 32.50
500 14 30 8 12 29.20
600 12 26 8 12 27.20
700 10 22 8 8 24.80
800 8 19 7 8 22.80
900 6 17 7 6 20.60
1000 6 15 6 6 19.60
1100 6 15 6 4 19.40
1200 6 15 6 4 19.40
1300 5 15 5 4 18.40
1400 5 15 5 2 18.20
1500 4 15 4 2 16.20
1600 4 13 4 2 16.20
1700 4 11 4 2 16.20
1800 4 10 4 2 16.20
1900 4 9 4 2 16.20
2000 4 8 3 2 15.20
Section COOL

The delay curve advances according to your performance on each level. If you can get to level 70 of a particular section fast enough, you will get a section COOL that advances the delay curve faster.

In order to get a section cool, your 0-70 section time must be below the cutoff and no more than 2 seconds slower than your previous 0-70 time.

In the first 10 sections, if your time in a particular section from 0 to 70 is smaller than the "cool" requirement at that level on the delay curve, your delay curve will be bumped up an extra level at the end of the section.

From level 0 to 499, the delay curve does not advance unless you get a section COOL. From level 500 to 999, the delay curve will advance one level normally, and two levels if you get a section COOL.

The earliest level it is possible to reach the final level of the delay curve is level 1500, if you achieved a section COOL for every section up to that point.

Grading

Grades in Marathon 2020 are represented as number ranging from 0 to 50, then GM.

Basic grades

Internally, the grade counter is a number that can range from 0 to 30.

At the beginning of the game, it starts at 0. To increase it, you must bring an internal grade point counter past a certain threshold.

The threshold is set at 50 points for the first grade, then 100 more points for the next grade, then 150 points for the grade after that, and so on. You reach the maximum level of 30 at a total of 23,250 points.

A table of the thresholds in grade points required to reach each level is provided below:

Grade Threshold
0 0
1 50
2 150
3 300
4 500
5 750
6 1050
7 1400
8 1800
9 2250
10 2750
11 3300
12 3900
13 4550
14 5250
15 6000
16 6800
17 7650
18 8550
19 9500
20 10,500
21 11,550
22 12,650
23 13,800
24 15,000
25 16,250
26 17,550
27 18,900
28 20,300
29 21,750
30 23,250

Points are given according to a different scale, the point level. The point level is calculated by taking your current actual level, and adding the delay level to it.

The points given for clearing certain amounts of lines is given as follows at particular point levels:

Point level Single Double Triple Tetris
0 10 20 30 40
100 10 20 30 40
200 10 20 30 48
300 10 20 30 60
400 10 20 36 72
500 10 21 42 84
600 10 24 48 96
700 10 27 54 108
800 10 30 60 120
900 11 33 66 140
1000 12 36 72 160
1100 13 39 81 180
1200 14 42 90 200
1300 15 45 99 220
1400 16 48 108 240
1500 17 52 117 260
1600 18 56 126 280
1700 19 60 135 300
1800 20 64 144 320
1900 21 68 153 340
2000 22 72 162 360
2100 23 76 171 380
2200 24 80 180 400
2300 25 84 189 420
2400 26 88 198 440
2500 27 92 207 460
2600 28 96 216 480
2700 29 100 225 500
2800 30 104 234 520
2900 31 108 243 540
3000 32 112 252 560
3100 33 116 261 580
3200 34 120 270 600
3300 35 124 279 620
3400 36 128 288 640
3500 37 132 297 660
3600 38 136 306 680
3700 39 140 315 700
3800 40 144 324 720
3900 41 148 333 740

Past level 1000, a 4-line clear will always give (30 * current grade), regardless of point level.

The remaining 20 grades come from section cools. Every section cool you get boosts your score by one grade. There are no regrets.

Points are also taken away with the time it takes to lock down a piece. The delay counter starts at 0, and increases by (current grade + 2) every frame. When the counter reaches or exceeds 240, it resets to 0, and 1 grade point is taken away.

Grades are based on the maximum grade points achieved. Once a grade has been attained, it cannot be lost even if grade points drop below the threshold for that grade.

GM roll

The GM-roll is unlocked if:

  • you reach level 2020,
  • with a grade of 50,
  • with a final total of at least 25,000 grade points,
  • in less than 13:30.

The credit roll lasts for a total of 4,000 frames (1 minute and 6.67 seconds). If you qualify and survive the roll, you get GM at the end of the roll.

Survival 2020

Survival 2020 is the Death mode to Marathon 2020's Master mode, and introduces a new mechanic known as total delay. If your piece has been active for the length of the total delay, it will lock down regardless of how much lock delay the piece had on move or step reset.

Strategy

Strategy Mode flips the normal "figure out where to place a piece as you move it" logic of Tetris inside-out. In Strategy mode, most of your time is spent waiting for pieces before executing a fast sequence of inputs to get them where you want them to go.

The goal of the game is to get to level 999, just like TGM, except with the following speed curve:

Delays
Level ARE/Line clear
(frames)
Lock
(frames)
DAS
(frames)
000-099 60 8 6
100-199 54 8 6
200-299 48 8 6
300-399 42 8 6
400-499 36 8 6
500-599 30 8 6
600-699 24 8 6
700-799 21 6 6
800-899 18 6 6
900-999 15 6 6

Interval Training

Interval Training is a mode specifically for players who are attempting to break the 2:28 torikan in Survival A3, or play more consistently at the top speed bracket in Marathon A3.

The game will stay at the same speed level throughout, which is the top speed level in Master mode, or the level 300 speed level in Shirase:

Delays
Speed level ARE
(frames)
Line ARE
(frames)
DAS
(frames)
Lock
(frames)
Line clear
(frames)
0 - unlimited 6 6 7 15 6

The time limit is 30 seconds per section, and resets to 30 seconds (without adding the unused time from the previous section) at the beginning of a new section. Players play until they top out or run out of time in a single section. There is no maximum level — play can continue infinitely as long as the player can manage under 30 seconds per section consistently.

TetrisGram™ Pacer Test

The TetrisGram™ Pacer Test is a multi-stage piece-placing capacity test that progressively gets more difficult as it continues. In each segment, you must clear 3 lines. The line-clearing speed starts slowly, but gets progressively faster each minute after you hear a particular signal. Each segment is marked with with a different signal. The second time in a row you fail to clear 3 lines before the segment marker sound, your game is over.

Phantom Mania 2

Main article: Phantom Mania

Phantom Mania 2 is a successor to Nullpomino's Phantom Mania. Just like Phantom Mania is based on Speed Mania, Phantom Mania 2 is based on Speed Mania 2 (known in Cambridge as Survival A3).

Delay Timing

Cambridge counts delay timing differently from either Nullpomino or the original TGM games. The timings are based on making it easy to add up the times for delays without running into fencepost errors.

  • ARE is counted from the first frame that a piece locks to the first frame that the next piece appears.
    • For example, if a piece is locked at 01:35.08 and ARE is 30, the new piece will appear at 01:35.58 (exactly 30 frames later).
  • Line delay is counted from the first frame that a piece locks to the first frame that the lines appear cleared.
  • Line ARE is counted from the first frame that lines appear cleared to the first frame that the next piece appears.
    • For example, if a piece is locked at 01:35.08 and clears a line, Line delay is 40, and Line ARE is 27, the line will finish clearing at 01:35.75 (40 frames later) and the next piece will appear at 01:36.20 (27 frames later).
  • DAS is counted from the first frame that the piece moves to the first frame that the piece moves again.
  • Lock delay is counted from the first frame that a piece touches the ground to the first frame that a piece locks.

When counted this way, the delays in several of the TGM games are different from the delays that are stored in memory.

  • ARE generally has two frames added to account for one frame of lock flash and an extra frame where the ARE counter is 0 before the new piece enters.
  • DAS generally has one frame added because the autorepeat starts the frame after the DAS counter reaches the limit.

Given below are the speed ratings programmed into the various games:

Marathon/Survival A1
Speed level ARE
(frames)
Line ARE
(frames)
DAS
(frames)
Lock
(frames)
Line clear
(frames)
0 - 999 30 27 15 30 44
Marathon A2
Speed level ARE
(frames)
Line ARE
(frames)
DAS
(frames)
Lock
(frames)
Line clear
(frames)
0 - 499 27 27 15 30 40
500 - 599 27 27 9 30 25
600 - 699 27 18 9 30 16
700 - 799 18 14 9 30 12
800 - 899 14 8 9 30 6
900 - 999 14 8 7 17 6
Survival A2
Speed level ARE
(frames)
Line ARE
(frames)
DAS
(frames)
Lock
(frames)
Line clear
(frames)
0 - 99 18 14 11 30 12
100 - 199 14 8 11 26 6
200 - 299 14 8 10 22 6
300 - 399 8 8 9 18 6
400 - 499 7 7 7 15 5
500 - 999 6 6 7 15 4

The primary difference between these delays and the delays from the original game is that Cambridge does not exclude any frames when charging DAS. Every frame that a direction is held increases the DAS counter by 1, while some frames are "dead zones" for DAS charging in the original games.

External links