Tuesday, October 2, 2012

TetroCrate: urgent update to 1.0.14 - new acid colors & legal issues

Dear users of TetroCrate!

As it turns out, the word Tetris is a registered trademark in the US and Japan, and we have been pointed out that among some other things our app "uses the same colored Tetriminos as Tetris Holding's Tetris branded games."

So, in order to comply with GooglePlay rules and re-list our app on the US/Japan markets, I have had to make changes to TetroCrate's title, description and content (brick colors).

NB When publishing an app, one has to be aware that a lot of keywords or keyword combinations you may want to use in your app description or search criteria (e.g. Ping-Pong, Tower Defence, Asteroids, etc) are in fact, registered trademarks in some countries. So a formal complaint submitted by any interested party will make you app disappear from the market. Re-listing your app can be a long-winded process.
Meanwhile, please post your feedback, and I'll try to address any issues as soon as possible.

Thank you.



Related stories about app removals due to "Alleged trademark infringement":

Sunday, June 24, 2012

TetroCrate 1.0.6: a bunch of new features

New animations, sounds and preferences added in the latest update



TODO:
  • Global online scoreboard
  • UI Graphic themes
  • Arcade/time trial mode
  • Multiplayer 
Please post your comments/feedback/suggestions/new feature requests either here or on my Google Play page.

Monday, June 11, 2012

TetroCrate: a 3D Block Puzzle Android

A new tetris-like 3D puzzle board game, without time pressure of the original Tetris and thus offering a drastically new tactic and strategy.

While the original Tetris works great on PCs, its controls are not great for touch screens, missing the tactile feedback and robustness of the physical keyboard.

Tetrocrate offers a different gameplay and a new touch screen oriented approach to in-game user interface. Simply drag and push falling blocks to available position. However, unlike Tetris, you cannot rotate pieces, since there's no easy way to implement it intuitively without overcomplicating UI and overall user experience.

Complete either horizontal or vertical lines, so full lines can disappear from the board. Get significantly more bonus points for completing multiple lines at once.



OpenGL ES 1.0 hardware support required, otherwise on some low end handsets without GPU (something like Huawei U8160)  framerate will drop below acceptable level.

TetroCrate on Android Market
TetroCrate on SlideMe (direct link to .apk available there)
TetroCrate on AndroidPIT
TetroCrate gamepllay on YouTube