li $t9, 0xffff0000  
lw $t8, 0($t9)  
beq $t8, 1, keypress_happened

means if t8 = 1, then key happened. 4($t9) will be the actual key pressed (otherwise it would spam). keys = ASCII character

lw $t2, 4($t9) # this assumes $t9 is set to 0xfff0000 from before  
beq $t2, 0x61, respond_to_a # ASCII code of 'a' is 0x61 or 97 in decimal

Random (syscall 42 for ranged)

li $v0, 42  
li $a0, 0  
li $a1, 28  
syscall
# Returns random number in $a0

Sleeping (syscall 32)

li $v0 32
li $a0, 1000
syscall

Music

https://chatgpt.com/share/687d01ab-88c0-8012-ba16-123cdb535fe2 It works!

The design for my Tetris:

Goals

Unique; not gaudy
Impressive
Pretty

Things I want to incorporate:

A less grindy, more linear game. “Completable”

Ideas:

You play Tetris. Each time you play, you start in a different “room”. After clearing the room, you get upgrades while the room gets harder.
- When these levels are finished and you’re prompted with an upgrade, you cannot do any other kind of input except for 1, 2, and 3 to pick your buff.
- This makes the game inherently more chaotic over time.
- Each room might have a gimmick. I’ll think of a few:
  - Regular room (nothing happens)
  - Only 3 types of block available
  - New weird type of block available
  - Controls are inverted (lowkey have no clue how to implement this… actually no I do lol)
  - A few blocks might spawn at random to obstruct your placements. The longer the guy lasts, the more you’re toast.

Implementation:

I have to remember that I only have t0 - t9 and s0-s7 fields in total. That’s only 18 variables. I also have infinite memory via the stack but still.
- s0 = keyboard
- s1 = display

Features I want to include (from the list)

Easy

(1) Gravity (duh)
(3) Game over + start new game
(4) Sound effects
(5) Pause with p
(6) Some level system depending on rows eliminated
- Perhaps I could do a continuous game sorta thing where you have to keep trying to reach the end, like a roguelite. The Tetris roguelike lmao.
- Each level the visuals change and things happen.
8 Outline of where piece will place
(9) Ability to start new game, track highest score so far (displayed on screen)
(11) Different colored tetrominos
(14) Save piece feature
- Save current piece on the side instead of playing it. Skip to next piece. Swap to saved piece if C is pressed

Hard

(1) Track Score
(2) Full set of tetrominoes
(5) Background music

(Maybe)

(?? 3) Menu screens for level selection / score board
(?? 6) Random special blocks
(7) Powerups (i’ll do “upgrades”)
(4) Animations
- Like when line goes poof

Progress

Milestone 4

Did 3 easy, 1 hard
- Gravity, Colored, Pausing for EASY
- Full set of tetrominos for HARD
Will do 2 hard 4 easy
- Game over, Sound Effects, Save Piece, and for EASY
- Music and Score for HARD