GAME DESIGN DOCUMENT (GDD): TETRIS

©Tetris Holding. Licensed to The Tetris Company

version ​
1.0

Written by ​
Felipe Nuñez Cassina
TETRIS ​©Tetris Holding. Licensed to The Tetris Company
Game Design Document, version ​ 1.0
by ​
Felipe Nuñez Cassina

Table of Contents
1.0 Game Overview
2.0 The Matrix
3.0 Tetriminos
3.1 Anchor Point & Super Rotation System (SRS)
3.2 Spawning
3.3 Drop Rates
4.0 Mechanics
4.1 Movement Mechanics
4.1.1 Shift
4.1.2 Rotation
4.1.2.1 Twist
4.1.2.2 Wall Kick
4.1.3 Drop
4.1.3.1 Soft Drop
4.1.3.2 Hard Drop
4.2 Auxiliary Mechanics
4.2.1 Ghost Piece
4.2.2 Hold Piece
4.2.3 Next Queue
4.2.4 Bleach Piece
5.0 Behaviour of the Tetrimino
5.1 Default Behaviour
5.2 Collision & Lockdown
5.2.1 Infinity
5.3 Behavioural Flowchart
5.4 Speed
5.3.1 20G
6.0 Clearing Rows
6.1 T­Spin Clear
6.2 Back­to­Back
7.0 Win/Loss Conditions
8.0 Scoring System
9.0 Gameflow
10.0 Sound Design
10.1 SFX (sound effects)
10.2 Music
11.0 Interface Design & Menus
11.1 Menu Flowchart
12.0 Control Scheme
12.1 Mouse
12.2 Keyboard

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TETRIS ​©Tetris Holding. Licensed to The Tetris Company
Game Design Document, version ​ 1.0
by ​
Felipe Nuñez Cassina

1.0 ​
Game Overview
Tetris is a single player, tile­matching puzzle video game in which the player organizes
falling pieces known as “tetriminos” into rows on a grid. Every time a row is filled it disappears,
thus collapsing everything on top of it and freeing space on the field (called “matrix”).
The player aims to fill as much rows as possible before the tetriminos, which fall at
increasingly higher speed over time, tower up to the top of the matrix.

2.0 ​
The Matrix
The Matrix is the main field of Tetris in which
the game takes place. On the screen, it’s the place
where the player actively engages with the game.
The Matrix is conformed by a ​ 10 x 22 grid​ , the
last 2 rows on top remain hidden from the player by
the matrix’s frame. These hidden rows serve as the
place where the tetriminos will spawn to start falling
row by row until they “lock” either to the bottom of
the Matrix, or on top of a previously placed tetromino.
The pieces will pile up from the bottom of the
matrix, filling the grid and stacking up. A space in the
grid may be considered ​ “vacant”​if no tetrimino is
locked onto that space, or ​ “occupied”​ if a piece has
already claimed it.
Falling and locked down tetriminos may only
exist within the boundaries of the grid.

3.0 ​
Tetriminos
Originally called “tetrominos”, the tetriminos
are a set of geometrical shapes made up of 4 (four)
squares that connect to one another orthogonally. There are 7 (seven) tetriminos in total. Each
one is identified by a letter and a given color:

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TETRIS ​©Tetris Holding. Licensed to The Tetris Company
Game Design Document, version ​ 1.0
by ​
Felipe Nuñez Cassina

Every tetrimino has an ​

anchor point​
that determines how the piece will exist in relation
to its surroundings.

3.1 ​
Anchor Point & Super Rotation System (SRS)
The ​
anchor point​is a virtual point, placed inside the shape of the tetrimino, that
serves as a parameter to calculate the piece’s position and shape in the grid. It may be
said that tetriminos “grow” from their anchor point, as they are the center of any action
the tetrimino takes.
The ​
Super Rotation System (SRS)​ , is a system that defines the space a tetrimino
occupies within a predefined square. Inside, the tetrimino is placed with its anchor point
I​
at the center. Tetriminos ​ and ​O​are placed on a 4x4 square grid, while ​L, J, S, Z​
and ​
T
are all placed on 3x3 squares, starting at the two top rows.
The figure below displays each tetrimino with its correspondent anchor square.

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TETRIS ​©Tetris Holding. Licensed to The Tetris Company
Game Design Document, version ​ 1.0
by ​
Felipe Nuñez Cassina

3.2 ​
Spawning
Tetriminos will always spawn at the top of the matrix’s grid, within the hidden
rows. ​Only 1 (one) tetrimino will spawn at any given time​ , and they will do so in a
horizontal position with their flat side looking down, that is, as it can be seen above on
figure 3​. Only when a tetrimino has locked down in play and becomes inactive will the
next tetrimino spawn into the field.
Also, the type of tetrimino determines in which columns it will spawn. The ​ I​
and
O​ tetriminos spawn in the middle columns, while the rest of them spawn in the
left­middle ones.

3.3 ​
Drop Rates
To determine the order in which the tetriminos are spawned on the grid, ​Tetris
uses the ​
Random Generator​ algorithm.
The Random Generator provides a randomly ordered sequence of the seven
tetriminos, one of each. This is then dealt into the piece sequence and queued to spawn
for the player, before generating a new batch.
This system allows for 5,040 possible batches of the seven elements, and
arranges them in such a way that players won’t have to wait a long span before getting
the specific piece they need. A maximum of 12 (twelve) pieces can occur between any
type of tetrimino and its next spawn, and “snake sequences” will be limited to no more
than 4 (four) pieces. A “snake sequence” corresponds to the alternate or constant
spawn of ​S​or​Z​type tetriminos, for example ​SZSZ​ ZSSZ​
or ​ .

4.0 ​
Mechanics
4.1 ​Movement Mechanics
Tetris,​
In ​ the player has control over the tetriminos as they fall. She can move them
within the grid as she aims to fill the rows of the matrix. From the moment a tetrimino spawns
to the moment it effectively locks, the tetrimino is active and the player can control it.
Actions involving movement can be of three types: ​ ,​
shift​ , and ​
rotation​ drops​
.
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TETRIS ​©Tetris Holding. Licensed to The Tetris Company
Game Design Document, version ​ 1.0
by ​
Felipe Nuñez Cassina

4.1.1 S​hift
Shift is the action used to move the tetrimino to the left or right in the
grid. Whenever the player shifts, the tetrimino moves 1 (one) columns in that
direction. Multiple shifts result in the piece
traversing the grid to find the best place to fall to,
but a tetrimino may only shift to a vacant cell in
the grid. And pieces cannot pass through
occupied cells to move to vacant ones on the
other side.
As shown in the scenario to the right, the
red tetrimino can’t shift to its desired location
(marked pink).

Note that shifting does not stop or decrease the

fall, but rather the tetrimino shifts ​
while falling​
.

4.1.2 ​
Rotation
During gameplay, the player can ​ rotate​ the pieces
in order to find the better way to fit the tetrimino
within the stack. Rotation spins the tetrimino by
90 degrees​ , and can be​clockwise​ or
counterclockwise​ , depending on the player’s
input command. The piece can be spun as much
as the player wants, unless lockdown occurs, in
which case the tetrimino becomes fixed at its
lockdown position.
It is worth noting that while rotating, the
tetrimino keeps falling down, although it neither
increases or decreases its speed compared to a
non­rotating tetrimino.
Whenever a piece is rotated, the shape shifts
around its anchor point. ​Figure​6​
​ shows every
tetrimino within their SRS box and all their
possible rotations.

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TETRIS ​©Tetris Holding. Licensed to The Tetris Company
Game Design Document, version ​ 1.0
by ​
Felipe Nuñez Cassina

4.1.2.1 Twist
This corresponds to the ability the player has to rotate a tetrimino
while in lock delay (see ​Collision & Lockdown​ ). As the piece rests on its
landing spot but has yet to lock down, the player may rotate the piece to
fit into an otherwise impossible place. Twist can only be performed if any
occupied cells in the tetrimino’s box do not occupy a cell needed for the
rotation. Everytime the player twists the tetrimino, the lock delay count
will rest, enabling ​ (see ​
infinity​ Infinity​
).

4.1.2.2 Wall Kick

When a tetrimino is adjacent to the grid’s border or an occupied
cell which would overlap with the tetrimino if this were to rotate, a ​wall
kick​is performed.
Wall kick makes the active tetrimino automatically shift away of
the obstruction by just the amount of columns needed to make space so
that the piece can rotate freely. However, if obstructions exist on both
sides of the tetrimino where no shift results in the piece finding a vacant
space, wall kick does not occur.

4.1.3 D
​rop
The drop action allows the player to accelerate the tetrimino’s fall. There
are two types of drop actions: ​ and ​
soft drop​ hard drop​.

4.1.3.1 Soft Drop

Increases the gravity of a falling piece so that it falls ​
20 cells per
second​ . This effect persists as long as the player holds its input key,
meaning that a soft drop may be stopped mid­air if the player releases
the key, and the tetrimino returns to its spawn gravity value. Player may
also hold down the soft drop key continuously to affect any desired
sequence of tetriminos.
As difficulty progresses, so does the soft drop gravity value by a ​ 2 cells
per second for every level cleared​ . The soft drop gravity escalates up to
60 cells per second​ at level 20.
When a soft dropped tetrimino hits the ground, it enters in lock delay.

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TETRIS ​©Tetris Holding. Licensed to The Tetris Company
Game Design Document, version ​ 1.0
by ​
Felipe Nuñez Cassina

4.1.3.2 Hard Drop

Hard drop action forces the tetrimino to fall at a ​
20G​
speed. The
piece will immediately become locked upon collision, no lock delay is
activated.

4.2 ​
Auxiliary Mechanics
We call these “auxiliary mechanics” as they exist to help the player during
gameplay. They don’t affect the tetrimino’s movement directly, but they influence the
player’s approach to the game.
4.2.1 Ghost Piece
The ghost piece function is a feature by
which the player is always shown a “ghost” image
of where and in what way the tetrimino will fall
on the stack. As the player shifts and rotates the
active tetrimino, the ghost piece ​ mimics its
movement​ and adjusts itself to fit into the stack.
The ghost piece will never overlap with an
occupied cell. If the player rotates the tetrimino in
such a way that its ghost piece will overlap, the
ghost will simply move to the closest place where
the rotated shape can fit. When doing this, the
ghost never changes columns, it finds a place
within the columns the active tetrimino currently
occupies.
In short, ghosts hold the ​ same X axis
position​ as their active piece counterpart, and
seek the ​ bottommost Y axis position​ where they
fit, without overlapping or passing through any
occupied cells.
Note that this feature ​ may be turned on/off​ in the “Options” menu.

4.2.2 Hold Piece

This is used when the player wishes to ​save a spawned tetrimino for
later​
. By using the hold piece input, the active tetrimino is stored away out of
play, bringing into play the next queued piece. Later, the player might decide to
use that stored piece, and by pressing the “hold piece” key once more the stored

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TETRIS ​©Tetris Holding. Licensed to The Tetris Company
Game Design Document, version ​ 1.0
by ​
Felipe Nuñez Cassina

piece is brought back to play at the top of the matrix. Any tetrimino active at the
time of summoning back the stored piece, will be stored itself for later.
Hold piece may only be used ​ once per lockdown​ , meaning that after
storing (or summoning back) a piece, the action cannot be used again until the
now­active tetrimino locks down.
Stored pieces will be displayed on a special box outside the matrix, visible
at all times for the player.

4.2.3 Next Queue

During gameplay, the player will always be shown the next 3 (three)
tetriminos that will come into play in the ​
Next Queue box​
.

4.2.4 Bleach Piece

The ​
Bleach Piece​ Tetris​
is a new feature in ​ . It works like a ​
power up​ that
when activated transforms the active piece into a ​ white tetrimino​ . This does not
alter the tetriminos shape, trajectory or movement in any way.
White tetriminos are unique because ​ when they lock down they
disappear​ and​
​ ​
they take with them any occupied square that is making contact
with​. It may be thought of these tetriminos as erasers.

To activate the Bleach Piece power up the player must first fill the ​
Bleach
Gauge​ . This gauge rests besides the Matrix and it shows the progress towards
the next Bleach. The gauge fills by building up score. At level 1, it takes ​
700
points​ to fill it. When the player activates the Bleach Piece, that gauge drains
and a the cost to gain the power up again ​ doubles​. This happens every time the
Bleach is activated.

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TETRIS ​©Tetris Holding. Licensed to The Tetris Company
Game Design Document, version ​ 1.0
by ​
Felipe Nuñez Cassina

5.0 ​
Behaviour of the Tetrimino

5.1 ​
Default Behaviour
A spawned tetrimino will always behave the same way if the player takes no
action. Once spawned it will automatically begin to fall through the grid in a straight
line. The piece will move down ​ one row at a time​ using as a parameter the tetrimino’s
anchor point position​ (see ​
Anchor Points​ ) on the grid.
This will continue until the tetrimino collides against the bottom of the matrix, or
a previously fixed tetrimino.

5.2 ​
Collision & Lockdown
As stated before, collision occurs when an active tetrimino encounters an
occupied space in the grid or whenever the piece hits borders of the matrix. A falling
tetrimino can collide from its sides or bottom. When colliding against the left and right
borders of the matrix or against a tetrimino that stands on an adjacent column to it, the
object will only hinder the tetrimino’s ability to shift rows in that direction, but it does
not prevent the tetrimino from rotating.
However, if the piece collides on top of another (or the bottom of the matrix) it
will enter in ​
lockdown​ . Lockdown has two phases:

● Lock delay:​ the tetrimino lands on top of a surface but it remains active
for 30 frames (0.5 seconds). While in lock delay, the player can still move
the piece. She can shift, rotate, or even land a ​
T­Spin​
. Any successful
movement will reset the delay timer, thus entering ​ Infinity​
. If the player
does nothing for a span of 0.5 seconds or inputs a drop command
(whether hard or soft) the delay ends.
● Lockdown:​ when lock delay finishes, the piece finally becomes locked. It
stays inactive and cannot be moved. Lockdown summons a new
tetrimino from the queue to enter play.

5.2.1 I​
nfinity
This refers to the feature by which a piece in lock delay may be infinitely
spun, preventing lockdown. Player can even shift from space the piece while
spinning.

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TETRIS ​©Tetris Holding. Licensed to The Tetris Company
Game Design Document, version ​ 1.0
by ​
Felipe Nuñez Cassina

5.3 ​
Behavioural Flowchart
This flowchart shows the process of a falling tetrimino.

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TETRIS ​©Tetris Holding. Licensed to The Tetris Company
Game Design Document, version ​ 1.0
by ​
Felipe Nuñez Cassina

5.4 ​
Speed
The speed at which the pieces fall through the grid is measured in ​
Gravity units
where:
1G = 1 cell per f rame and 0.1G = 1 cell per 10 f rame

The gravity over a tetrimino is always constant, this means that a spawning piece
will fall at the same rate until it locks. There is no acceleration or deceleration on the fall
of a single tetrimino unless the player inputs a drop.
But as the game progresses and the player clears rows, the speed at which a
newly spawned tetrimino falls will increase. ​ For every 10 (ten) rows cleared, the gravity
increases by 1G.

5.3.1 2
​0G
Upon reaching a gravity of 20G, tetriminos will fall 20 cells in a single
frame. That means that as soon as they spawn, they’ll be already landing to
lockdown.
Gameplay at this speed is only possible because of the ​ SRS​ and ​Infinity
mechanics. The player must rely on SRS to properly accommodate the tetrimino.

6.0 ​
Clearing Rows
Tetris​
In ​ the player progresses by clearing rows. To clear a row, one must fill all its cells
so that there are no vacant spaces. As soon as the row fills, it automatically clears. The player
may clear multiple rows at a time if by placing a single tetrimino she completes more than one
row. The maximum amount of rows that can be cleared simultaneously in 4 (four). When this
occurs, it’s called a “​
Tetris​
”.
Clears may be grouped by “easy” and “difficult”. An ​ easy clear​is considered to be a
single, double or triple clear. While a “Tetris” or a “T­Spin Clear” are considered to be ​difficult
clears​
.
After the row clears, any occupied cell above the cleared one will collapse by the
number of rows that have disappeared.

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TETRIS ​©Tetris Holding. Licensed to The Tetris Company
Game Design Document, version ​ 1.0
by ​
Felipe Nuñez Cassina

Note that when the stack collapses, it holds its shape. This means that no cell may
collapse more than the number of rows cleared, ​ even if there were a vacant space below​
.
For every 10 rows cleared, the player advances to the next level:
Level 1:​
rows 0 – 9
Level 2:​
rows 10 – 19
Level 3:​
rows 20 – 29
Level 4:​
(…)
With each level, difficulty rises as gravity increases by 1G per level.

6.1 ​
T‐Spin Clear
The ​
T­Spin Clear​ happens when one,
two or up to three lines are cleared after
performing a twist action with a ​T​
tetrimino
(known as a T­Spin).

6.2 ​
Back‐to‐Back
This happens whenever ​ the player follows a “difficult clear” with another
“difficult clear”​
. For example, the player makes a T­Spin clear, followed by a four line
Tetris.

7.0 ​
Win/Loss Conditions
The game ends when the tetriminos stack so high that they ​ Top out​. There are a
number of ways in which the player may top out. These are:
● Block out:​ when a tetrimino spawns overlapping one or more blocks in the
playfield.
● Lock out:​ when the active piece locks completely within the hidden rows of the
grid.
● Partial lock out:​same as lock out but the tetrimino only locks partially within the
hidden rows. This takes place even if when locking the tetrimino has cleared a
line.

Tetris​
Winning in ​ is an evasive concept as there´s really no way to beat the game. As the
player keeps clearing rows, and speed increases, ​Tetris​
naturally moves towards the end of the
game, the player should aim to build up as much score as she can.

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TETRIS ​©Tetris Holding. Licensed to The Tetris Company
Game Design Document, version ​ 1.0
by ​
Felipe Nuñez Cassina

8.0 ​
Scoring System
Tetris​
The score in ​ is calculated mainly by clearing rows, but special drops also build up
score. Below, the list of scores by type and description.

Name Description Score

Soft Drop When performing a soft drop, earn points equal to x1 Distance
the number of rows the tetrimino falls.

Hard Drop When performing a hard drop, earn points equal x2 Distance
times 2 the number of rows the tetrimino falls.

Single Line Clear Clear a single line. 100

Double Line Clear Clear two lines simultaneously. 300

Triple Line Clear Clear three lines simultaneously. 400

T­Spin Perform a T­Spin. 500

Tetris Line Clear Clear four lines simultaneously. 800

T­Spin Single Clear a single row with a T­Spin. 800

T­Spin Double Clear two rows simultaneously with a T­Spin. 1200

T­Spin Triple Clear three rows simultaneously with a T­Spin 1600

Back­to­Back Perform a Back­to­Back sequence. 0.5x Tetris or T­Spin

* Scores are multiplied by current level.

9.0 ​
Gameflow
By putting together all the elements exposed, a gameflow chart can be defined that
shows player progression and difficulty rise rate.

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TETRIS ​©Tetris Holding. Licensed to The Tetris Company
Game Design Document, version ​ 1.0
by ​
Felipe Nuñez Cassina

10.0 ​
Sound Design
Here we will breakdown the elements of sound design.

10.1 SFX (sound effects)

Play SFX for:
● Shift action (same for left & right)
● Rotate action
● Soft Drop (same for automatic drop)
● Hard Drop (like soft drop, but quicker)
● Hold input
● Hold input denial
● Line clear (one, two and three)
● Tetris
● Level Up

10.2 Music
At least 3 different version of the Tetris Theme “​
Korobeiniki​
”. Player may choose
which type will play during game. The music should be on constant loop while in
gameplay and as level progresses it should ​ speed up gradually​
, though not beyond
recognition of the tune.

11.0 ​
Interface Design & Menus
Gameplay screen should
be clean, colorful and unclustered
from information. The Matrix
must be clearly in the center. All
information is displayed in boxes
that surround the playfield. There
are 4 (four) boxes in total, plus
the “game pause” button:
This interface will remain
the base of every screen in the
game, though functions will
change or become nulled
depending on the menu. During
gameplay, all boxes are active.
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TETRIS ​©Tetris Holding. Licensed to The Tetris Company
Game Design Document, version ​ 1.0
by ​
Felipe Nuñez Cassina

When in the ​main screen​ , the Matrix functions as the ​game setup menu​ . Surrounding
boxes will be deactivated and remain that way until game start. Also, the Pause Button will not
be visible.
There are 4 (four) other screens which summon a pop­up menu. These menus are:
● How to Play:​ a series of 3 consecutive screens which hold the basic information
for the player to become familiar with the games rules.
● Options:​ in this menu the player may change control input, adjust music and
sound settings and turn on or off the ghost piece feature.
● Game Pause:​ offers the possibility to access other any other menu while
gameplay is paused. Also allows the to quit the game and return to the main
menu.
● Game Over:​ this menu is triggered automatically when the player ​ tops out​
.

11.1 ​
Menu Flowchart

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TETRIS ​©Tetris Holding. Licensed to The Tetris Company
Game Design Document, version ​ 1.0
by ​
Felipe Nuñez Cassina

12.0 ​
Control Scheme
Tetris​
To play ​ , the player may use ​ ,​
Mouse​Keyboard​
, or a combination of both to input
commands.

12.1 ​
Mouse
When using only a mouse the
player has the ​Hard Drop​ ,​
Bleach​ and
Hold​ actions mapped to the mouse’s
buttons. However, there is no button
to shift or rotate the tetriminos.
Instead, the player slides the
cursor through the matrix to shift the
piece from left to right. And the
tetriminos will ​rotate automatically
based on which cell the cursor is
pointing​ . There is ​
no Soft Drop​when
using only a mouse.

12.2 ​
Keyboard
Using a keyboard allows for a more controlled game, as every possible action is
mapped to a button.

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TETRIS ​©Tetris Holding. Licensed to The Tetris Company
Game Design Document, version ​ 1.0
by ​
Felipe Nuñez Cassina

13.0 ​
Sources
● http://tetris.com/
● http://tetris.com/play­tetris/
● http://tetris.wikia.com/wiki/Tetris_Wiki
● http://harddrop.com/wiki/Tetris_Wiki
● http://colinfahey.com/tetris/tetris.html

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