LrnceTetris is a game I wrote in April 2010, just at the tail end of the second year of my Comp Sci degree (an explanation of the name ‘Lrnce’ and its derivatives is a whole other blog post). It’s not the first in its category of did-all-the-fun-stuff-then-got-bored hobby coding projects I’ve worked on over the years but it is the first I’m willing to exhibit with only a slight accompanying cringe.

lrnce tetris

Download the game: LrnceTetris.jar

The premise of the game is… Tetris! Of course. It’s a Tetris clone. What budding games programmer hasn’t seen appeal in Tetris’s simple action, it’s easy art, it’s instant familiarity. There’s something about creating your own version of a game you’ve previously consumed with unblinking glee that really makes a project exciting.

The main USP of this particular incarnation is the degree of graphical flair. The board is framed by a picture of me, gazing more or less in the direction of the player and wearing a strikingly neutral expression. Each block has a picture of one of my school friends on, and I was pretty proud of the end-game animation too.

I decompiled the .jar thinking the five-year-old code within would be positively hilarious (If you’re into that sort of thing), but found that in reality it was just long and boring. All swing.Timer this and extends JPanel that. Nevertheless, it was a nice trip down memory lane.

Bonus content: The gif Google Photos made of all of my frame images. I vaguely recall having plans to have my face react when certain game events took place. Sadly, this dream was never realised, but at least we retain this small momento

lrnce tetris frame images