nglTetris

tetrisVideo.mp4

This project demonstrates a basic implementation of Tetris mechanics, lit and rendered in OpenGL using the NGL graphics library. The mechanics and tetromino types are taken directly from the original Tetris game. Additionally it uses Qt to display the window and handle user interations.

It uses NGLScene from here to draw the scene every tick / whenever a block is moved.

Building

Before you can build and run this project, you need to have the following installed:

C++ compiler supporting C++17
Qt5 or Qt6
NGL (NCCA Graphics Library)
vcpkg (for dependency management)

To build use

mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make

and to run use

./nglTetris

Controls

Keyboard Controls

• Arrow Up: Rotate the tetromino clockwise.
• Arrow Down: Move the tetromino down faster.
• Arrow Left: Move the tetromino to the left.
• Arrow Right: Move the tetromino to the right.

Mouse Controls

• Left Mouse: Drag to rotate around board.
• Right Mouse: Pan camera.

Project Structure

• 'src/': Contains all '.cpp' source files
• 'include/': Contains all '.h' header files.
• 'shaders/': Contains GLSL shaders used by NGL.
• 'CMakeLists.txt': Contains CMake configuration for building the project.

Key Components

• NGLScene: Manages the OpenGL context, drawing operations, and Qt window interactions.
• Cube: Handles the properties and rendering of cube objects.
• Board: Manages the game logic for the Tetris gameplay.
• Tetromino: Represents the individual Tetris pieces (Tetrominoes).

Development Process

To begin with I researched tetris logic in C++ ("Code-It-Yourself! Tetris - Programming from Scratch (Quick and Simple C++" - javidx9 on Youtube, 2017), and displayed the results by printing a grid of 1s and 0s onto the console with 1 representing an occupied space on the board and 0 representing an empty space. This allowed me to build the classes and logic required for the game before incorporating NGL to bring it into 3D space and Qt to handle the user input.

Functionality/Improvements

Current functionality:

• Tetrominoes move down each tick.
• User can use arrow keys to move tetrominoes left, right and down and rotate them clockwise.
• Consistent collision detection with board edges and other tetrominoes.
• Clears full rows, moving all rows down once a row has been cleared and adding to the player score.

Potential improvements:

• Display player score on screen.
• Add "Game over" state when tetrominoes can no longer spawn without overlapping.
• Improve shading/background.
• Increase efficency, for example rotate tetrominoes via an algorithm rather than cycling through predetermined shapes