NIONXX

The following article was printed in March 1993 of the magazine „8000 PLUS"

The game NIONXX, relates to the game TETRIS

NIONXX by Thomas Bethell, Great Dunmow, Essex

NIONXX is an addictive game of skill based on the classic computer game TETRIS. When you run the game, a box appears on the screen and into this rectangular blocks of different sizes fall. The object is to steer these blocks so that they fill up the box without leaving any spaces.

Slot the falling rectangular blocks into place before they reach the top of the box and you never know, perhaps you will even reach level 10!

The game is split into 10 levels, and as these increase, so does the number of blocks that fall into the box. This is where the game begins to get difficult. You have to position the blocks to make the best use of the space in the box - if it fills to the top and no more blocks can fall in, you will have failed that level.

You score points for every block that lands, and the number of points depends on the size of the block. If you make an unbroken line of blocks you score even more points. You position the blocks using the left and right cursor (arrow) keys and you can speed up or slow down the game with the up and down cursor keys. To end the game press 'Q'. If you fail a level, you have to repeat it until you get it right. Then you have to contend with the next level. Will you ever reach level 10?

This first section of this program accomplishes three tasks: it disables the STOP key, clears the screen and finally defines the sizes of the blocks

90 PRINT FNat$(2,36);"N * I * O * N * X * X"                                         0D9E
100 PRINT FNat$(8,63);"LEFT/RIGHT CURSOR KEYS MOVE";FNat$(12,67)
    "BLOCKS INTO POSITION"                                                           2AF0
110 PRINT FNat$(16,63);"UP/DOWN DECREASES/INCREASES";FNat$(20, 70);
    "FALLING SPEED "                                                                 281B
120 PRINT FNat$(23,5)"PRESS Q TO QUIT"                                               1112
130 x=6:y=42:ti$="":tib$="":FOR q=1 TO br(1):ti$=ti$+b$:tib$=tib$+" ":NEXT q         2023
140 PRINT FNat$(ox,oy);tib$:PRINT FNat$(x,y);ti$:ox=x:oy=y                           1F95
150 PRINT FNat$(8,5)"SCORE :";sc;FNat$(12,5);"LEVEL :"le;                            18EF
160 PRINT FNat$(16,5);"SPEED :";del/10;FNat$(4,5)rev$;"* SCORECARD *"rof$            2036

This section draws the box that the blocks fall into and provides the on-screen instructions. Lines 150 and 160 print the current score and level

This section of the program accepts your input which, in the case of this game, comes from the cursor keys. It responds to this input by moving the blocks from side to side and increases or decreases the speed. Pressing 'Q' will end the program

250 FOR c=1 TO br(1):ar$(x,y+c)=b$:NEXT:sc=sc+br(1):IF x=7 THEN 290                  1ED8
260 ls(x-5)=ls(x-5)+br(1):IF ls(x-5)=28 THEN sc=sc+(100-(del/10)):del=del-30         1EE6
270 l=l+1:ox=5:oy=1:IF l=le*10 THEN 300                                              10EB
280 GOTO 130                                                                         04BF
290 PRINT FNat$(28,36);"FAILED LEVEL "le;FNat$(30,36);"TRY AGAIN....":GOTO 330       22E9
300 IF le=10 THEN PRINT FNat$(14,70);"GAME COMPLETED !!!" ELSE 320                   1B7A
310 PRINT CHR$(7):FOR a=1 TO 6000:NEXT:GOTO 340                                      152B
320 le=le+1:PRINT FNat$(24,70);"THROUGH LEVEL "le-1;FNat$(26,70);
    " NEXT LEVEL..."                                                                 23A2
330 FOR a=1 TO 3000:NEXT:ERASE ar$,br,ls:GOTO 40                                     179B
340 PRINT FNat$(28,34);"PRESS A KEY TO END GAME"                                     163E
350 m$=INKEY$:IF m$="" THEN 340 ELSE PRINT cl$;CHR$(27)+"e"                          1537

Lines 250 to 270 calculate the score and level. And lines 290 onwards work out if you have completed a level and, eventually, the game.

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