Ehhh... I've played a lot of pointless games before. Can't say that this one was particularly inspiring, although it tricked me for about 10 minutes thinking that there was something worthwhile to play here.
Well, I enjoyed it, but good tetris mechanics make it an exercise in how long until you get bored. Does at least make me remember the joy of finishing all the wonders in the New Tetris for n64 though.
I am having a very difficult time dealing with the fact that playing this game feels exactly the same as the programming I normally find myself doing; like, I spent a lot of time last night improving the design of my website backend code, and today while playing Futilitris the state of my mind and what I'm experiencing as I slowly decrease my aspect ratio feels pretty much identical :/. (Uhh... I hadn't actually read the quote at the top yet; I'm now having a really horrible existential moment...)
Even today, HTML5 games won't function properly across all modern browsers without using Flash via soundmanager2.js as a crutch to get around unacceptably poor audio tag implementations.
In particular, the audio tag implementation in Safari makes pure HTML5 games range from annoying to unplayable, because there is a completely unavoidable 500 +/- 1000 ms delay between calling play() and the audio actually playing through the speakers.
There's something scary in this experience. You're conditioned by years of Tetris to expect that sweet gratification, but it never comes. All your errors will haunt you forever, and you will never get any reward for your achievements.
My favorite comment:
Jari, 2012-10-31 02:21:17
Hey I think I found a bug with your game. I managed to complete it. Turns out life isn’t futile – it’s just a matter of thinking outside the box and pursuing your definition of life’s goals, not those imposed by someone else. Here’s a screenshot of the end screen. [EDIT: NSFW]
http://i.imgur.com/rGg77.png
This is the same guy that did Frog Fractions, which if you haven't played it, is one of the most surprising games ever made about amphibians and scientific notation. http://twinbeard.com/frog-fractions
30 comments
[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 80.6 ms ] threadThe intention is not to provide an itch to scratch, but to lead the player towards contemplating compulsion itself.
Brilliant.
[1]: http://www.kongregate.com/games/banthar/hell-tetris
Makes me wonder if there's an "easter egg" hidden somewhere.
In particular, the audio tag implementation in Safari makes pure HTML5 games range from annoying to unplayable, because there is a completely unavoidable 500 +/- 1000 ms delay between calling play() and the audio actually playing through the speakers.
Turns out that the board expands upwards too.
Truly futile.
http://tetris.wikia.com/wiki/Random_Generator