Hey, Ok I have a few questions. First: Well I''m pretty pretty new to programming and I am trying to make a Tetris game. My first question is how would I check to see if any of the tiles are forming a row, and then how would I make it disapear. Do I create the shapes will lots of square sprites and move them together. Also, how the heck would I no when to stop a tile from going down becuase it is on a different tile. But the main question is how would I rotate the tiles when the user tells them to rotate. Im using DirectX 7.0a and Visual C++ 6.0. If anyone can help me I would appreciate that. Thanks... Later, James

Click on the programming section here at gamedev.net and go to the Direct X section, then look for the "Code on the Cob" articles, that''s everything your looking for right there, more or less.

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- outRider -

I´m starting similiar project also.
I planned to use big array.
In directX i´d use DXBLTFX to do rectangles but here´s some code.

     class Tile {  //Constructors and such not interested now  private:  enum TILE_STATE{die,stationary,going_down};  enum TILE_COLOT{WHITE=0xFFFFFF...} }; Tile ** game_array; //Create multidimensional games array; while(!game) {  if(!Current_Block->GiveDropping())//Block is set of tiles  {   Current_Block=BlockList.AddBlock()   Current_Block->Randomize();//Sets color & shape   Current_Block->Drop();  }  if(Curren_Block->Landed())  {   Current_Block->SetState(stationary);   Current_Block->SetDrop(false);   //Test for tile destroying  } }    

* Checking if row is full:

char board[BOARD_WIDTH][BOARD_HEIGHT];

for( y = 0; y < BOARD_HEIGHT; y++ )
{
rowIsFull = true;
for( x = 0; x < BOARD_WIDTH; x++ )
{
if( !board[x][y] )
{
rowIsFull = false;
break;
}
}
if( rowIsFull )
{
// remove row
memmove( board[y], board[y-1], y*BOARD_WIDTH );
memset( board[0], 0, BOARD_WIDTH );
y--;
}
}


* Rotating tile

Use something like this to define your tiles...

char tile[4][9] =
{
{
0,1,0, // up
1,1,1,
0,0,0
},
{
0,1,0, // right
0,1,1,
0,1,0
},
{
0,0,0, // down
1,1,1,
0,1,0
},
{
0,1,0, // left
1,1,0,
0,1,0
}
}

char* curTile = tile[0];
int curTileIndex;

if( rotate pressed )
{
curTileIndex++;
if( curTileIndex > 3 ) curTileIndex = 0;
curTile = tile[curTileIndex];
}


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Cheers

i wrote a version of tetris a couple of months ago the code + program is here