Hi, I was thinking of making both a 2d and 3d tetris (networking capabilities) clone solely for the purpose of adding to a portfolio for employers. My questions is, is this legally acceptable. I know if I avoid the name "Tetris" and don't sell it I *should* be fine, but I also know that copyright has more power than that, even though its not exercised that much. Will potential employers look at a project such as this unfavorably? Or does it not matter, as long as I can code some of it. This isn't going to be my sole project, but just something to get the game development portion of it going.

Making a falling blocks game to demonstrate your programming abilities is not an issue. Tetris was the first significant game of the falling objects genre, but they were not the first nor do they own the gameplay mechanic.


The name Tetris is covered by trademark (not copyright). As long as it is very clear that your game is not the real Tetris or that you are trying to capitalize on the brand's identity, you are okay. It is okay to tell an employer that you wrote your own clone of Tetris or wrote your own falling blocks game if you feel uncomfortable writing "Tetris".

I wrote an article a little while ago regarding the whole clone question here. Tetris in particular is tricky, because while technically game mechanics are not copyrightable, certain elements such as the overall look and feel and GUI of a game/software have been deemed protected at various levels by various circuits.

It doesn't help that The Tetris Company, LLC is extremely litigious about it's IP. It started taking legal action against companies who were doing the very thing you're doing-- using a different name, but essentially emulating the same graphical and audiovisual components (and any game, even the game "breakout" can be copyrighted as an audiovisual work). If that's a sentiment shared by the people you're trying to get to employ you, this may not be a great idea.

As for whether employers will look at it favorably-- it depends on what you're trying to show. It certainly doesn't demonstrate a lot of creativity on your part.

As Mona points out the Tetris Company is extremely litigious about it's IP but if you only ever distribute the game directly to potential employers then they are never going to find out. Just make sure to steer clear of the name and try to make the graphics as different as possible. Obviously if you post it on web sites and promote its existence that is a different matter.

Leaving the legal issues asside the more important issue is, "will this impress a potential employer?" - in my opinion no. Tetris is such a simple game to program (it is great to play because it is so pure/simple) that it isn't really going to impress anyone. Doing a 3D version would be more impressive from a technical stand point but the danger there is that 3D Tetris is harder to control and if you don't get the feel just right you are going to do more damage than good. It is a case where the purity of 2D is a big part of the essence of Tetris and adding 3D adds complexity that is frankly damaging to the feel of the game.

ok, thanks for the replies. I'll just have to make a quick "tetris-clone" game to learn the library I'm using and then get to work on something else.