TETR.IO

TETR.IO
TETR.IO logo
Developer(s)	osk
Platform(s)	Web (Native) Windows, Linux, macOS
Release	INDEV Feburary 19, 2019 INFDEV January 31, 2020 Alpha March 22, 2020
Latest release	5.2.2 / December 22, 2020 Desktop v6 / December 18, 2020
Gameplay info
Next pieces	5 (default)
Playfield size	10 × 40 (22 visible rows)
Hold piece	Yes (default)
Hard drop	Yes (default)
Rotation system	SRS, SRS-X, SRS+, ARS, NRS, ASC, Tetra-X, None

TETR.IO is a free-to-play online multiplayer and single player fan game developed by osk. Players can play against others online in multiplayer matches and claim a spot on the leaderboards, found in the Tetra Channel.

Gameplay

TETR.IO offers multiplayer and solo play. There are currently four single player modes and two multiplayer modes.

Multiplayer

In multiplayer, the player can play matches against other players. A player can choose to play in the game's Quick Play room where players can play a match with default settings. The Custom Play option allows for creation of custom rooms, with the ability to change settings for the room such as spin bonuses, player limit, the amount of next pieces shown, and others. The player can view public rooms in the Room Listing menu. Each multiplayer game with 3 or more players plays similarly to Tetris 99 along with alike targeting options, minus the ability to manually target by default, included. A garbage/gravity margin time system is also in the game, in which the amount of garbage sent/gravity present on the active piece is multiplied more and more after a static period of time.

An illustration of the Tetra League mechanics.

Tetra League

Tetra League is the ranked mode in TETR.IO. As of its public release, players must be registered and their level must be at least level 10 to enter, and anonymous players cannot play this mode. When the mode was first released, INFDEV testers and supporters were only eligible for the mode. Each game of Tetra League is a 1v1 match, with a first-to-3, FT5, or FT7 format based on one of the players' rank. The rating system is called TR, which is based on Glicko-2. TR increases for each win and decreases for each loss. When playing this mode for the first time, the player must play at least 10 ranked games to display their TR. The letter rank is based on the top percentage on the leaderboard. In order for the player to be shown on the leaderboards as well as their rank, their RD must be below 100 as to comply with the GLIXARE. RD decreases every time the player plays a Tetra League game, and slowly increases at a flat rate of 1RD per day after a week of inactivity.

Solo

The game also includes solo modes, two of which have leaderboards: 40 Lines and Blitz. For all modes except Zen, Stride Mode can be activated. This option speeds up the countdown by changing it from "3-2-1-Go" to "Ready-Set-Go", enables tap-to-retry (by default, players will have to hold the retry key to do so), reduces the time to exit a solo game by holding the forfeit key, and speeds up all animations at the start and end of games. 40 Lines and Blitz have an option called Pro Mode which shows the finesse counter. In 40 Lines, it also displays the number of lines remaining on the board and the key presses per minute on the left.

40 Lines

In 40 Lines, the objective is to clear 40 lines as fast as possible.

Blitz

Blitz plays identically to Ultra, with the exception of a level system present similar to Marathon with a variable line goal before increasing the level.

Zen

Zen is an endless mode with no top out game overs and a special level system, inspired by the mode of the same name from the Bejeweled series, starting with Bejeweled 2. Gravity is adjustable by the player, and garbage is toggleable. It can also be played while waiting for the next match in Quick Play, Custom Rooms, or while waiting for your next opponent in the Tetra League queue.

Custom

The player can create their own solo mode with most of the settings carried over from the Custom Play room creation menu. By default, the Custom Room options are set to match those of the fixed-goal Marathon mode from Tetris games.

Rotation System

As of version 5.0.0, TETR.IO uses a modified version of SRS, in which the I wall kicks are symmetrical along the y-axis, similarly to TGM3; however, the left-side kick tables are mirrored instead of the right side. This allows certain situations that are impossible in regular SRS to be made effectively.

As in Guideline SRS, the shown placement can be achieved by rotating clockwise.

In the symmetric position, this can now be achieved by rotating clockwise or counter-clockwise.

Tetra Channel

The ingame Tetra Channel contains leaderboards for 40 Lines and Blitz with replays, as well as personal bests and their replays in either Blitz or 40 Lines, personal Tetra League replays, and your last ten submitted solo replays in the "ME" section. The Players screen lists the top players sorted by their league rating or by the total amount of experience points (XP) accumulated throughout the game. Unfortunately, due to technical limits, all of these leaderboards are capped at the hundredth player/replay.

In addition to the features above, it also shows players who are currently streaming with the TETR.IO category on Twitch. The Tetra News section displays achievements done by players, such as reaching the top ten in either solo mode with a leaderboard, or winning one of TETR.IO's many partnered tourneys. There is also a simple "search bar" at the top of the Tetra Channel, where you can input specific replay IDs or URLs to access them, as well as access specific player cards with an exact player name.

Standalone Tetra Channel

After the 5.0.0 update, a standalone Tetra Channel site was released. This site would accomplish most of the same things the ingame Tetra Channel would do, with the added benefit of more detailed userpages, extended leaderboards, free access to anyone without an anonymous or registered account, and more detailed server statistics. Specifically, solo leaderboards would be extended from the top 100 to the top 1000, the Tetra League player leaderboards would be extended to every ranked player, and the XP leaderboards would be extended to every player above level 100. Furthermore, both "player leaderboards" could now be filtered by specific countries as well.

A similar "search bar" to the one found in the ingame Tetra Channel is present in all pages on this site as well. This search bar will only accept exact usernames, and when utilized, takes the user to the requested userpage. A userpage is far more detailed than their ingame player card counterpart, and includes highly detailed information about a given user's 40 Lines and Blitz personal bests, as well as links to their top ten replays in both solo modes, and their last ten most recent submitted replays. Additionally, Tetra League statistics and the last ten Tetra Leage replays can be found here, coupled with simple Zen mode counters signifying what score and level a user has in that mode.

An extended "Tetra News" section would be included with this site as well. Normally, from the front page, the Tetra News section mirrors that of the Tetra News from the ingame Tetra Channel. However, below all of the "global news" lies a button labeled "VIEW ALL". This link will take you to a dedicated Tetra News section of the site, where a news ticket is created whenever any registered user gets a new personal best, ranks up to a "personal best rank", meaning this is the first time they've ever been in that given rank; and achiving any of TETR.IO's many badges. This page will only fetch the last 100 news events, and updates on its own whenever new news events occer. These news events are known as "Local News", and show up on the newsholder's userpage long after they expire from this global local news section.

Development

TETR.IO began its life in the INDEV stage on the 19th of Feburary, 2019. This phase would have extremely closed testing, limited to only osk and their personal friends. Less than a year later, TETR.IO would enter the INFDEV stage on January 31, 2020, when access to the game was opened for testers on a per request basis. During the Infdev release, players required to represent their IP address to osk via Discord DMs in order to test this version. A month and a half later, the game entered the public Alpha stage on March 22, 2020. This time, all players are free to create/log in to their accounts and play the game.

On May 22, 2020, a desktop client of TETR.IO was released. Aside from being able to open the game without a web browser, this also allows users to play single-player modes offline.

External links

• Official website
• Desktop client download page
• Issue tracker
• Release log