Videogame
TetroROM
A Rogulike with Tetrominos! Discover the process, problems and solutions of TetroROM development!
Year :
2025
Industry :
Videogame
Client :
Tactile Games
Project Duration :
8 weeks
Problem:
The concept was simple: Balatro + Block Blast on Mobile
First I took time to play both of the games and I noticed that the mechanic of Block Blast was super addictive, so I discarded the poker card concept and combined it with the Roguelike concept adding Boosters, Consumables, Bosses, and Special Pieces.
Main Problems:
The first aesthetic was not of interest: The main idea was a pixel art game with cartdrige as permanent boosters and arcade coins as consumables; the client was satisfied with the mechanics and dinamics of the first prototype made on 2 weeks, but asked for a re-styling.
The feeling: The game felt slow and also we had problems with the piece positioning, players often put a piece on the board and said "Hey! I didn't want to put the piece there!".
The bosses: We didn't want to use typical bosses mechanics so I had to be more creative on the ideas.
The Scoring System: We had problems with the rules of the scoring.
The Economy: We didn't want to do a typical economy system where you win a level and always get the same coins.
The "SDK Problem": We developed the game and realized that the SDK didn't support new phones such as Samsung Galaxy S25, and if we modified the SDK, the game get slowed and felt very bad to play, we lost all the feeling.
Solutions:
I had to take a lot of decisions during the development of TetroROM, but there's one thing that I never stop doing: At home or on my way back home, play the references (Balatro and Block Blast) make a new analysis and get back with new ideas the next day.
Main Problem Solutions:
The first aesthetic was not of interest: I made a new moodbard with new references, most of them where typical of videogame industry, but I also brig one that I personally like a lot and I thinked it could be interesting, the "Cardboard Style"; I took references from games like Stick it to the man, Paper Mario, Don't Starve and Cult of the Lamb; the team liked the idea and we made all the assets from scratch with this style.
The Feeling: To solve this I played a lot of sessions of Block Blast and I noticed that the player don't grab the piece above their fingers, the piece has an offset, I asked the developer to do this offset and once it was done I made a branch on Github to test and upload results, it was a large process of iteration and testing, but after some day I get the sweet spot of the placing feeling.
The Bosses: To solve this problem I simply played a lot of sessions of TetroROM and look what a player do the most and what could be annoying, for example I designed a boss that each 3 seconds change all the pices on your hand and other one that puts "Dead Pieces" on the gameboard, this pieces can never be destroyed.
The Scoring System: We talk a lot about the rules of scoring and I solved it by playing a lot of Balatro sessions noticing that first the chip scores, then the mult, then the mult multipliers (Such as 1.5%) and the the chips multiplied by the final mult giving the total score. I wrote it down on a mathematical formula and translated it to our game resulting on the Placement, the Multipliers, the Line and the Bonus scoring making our own formula.
Summary:
This was my biggest project, I felt very comfy with the team and the flow of the development, we made a lot of things in just two months and I'm very happy that all my ideas come to live.
I think it was a challange to lead the development and take the decisions, also I get challanged on Economy, System, Level design. In this project I realised that having a fluid conversation with team members is a pilar and also that a small team (We were 4 on the development) can make a fun and interesting game in a short time.
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New release
Preview
Videogame
TetroROM
A Rogulike with Tetrominos! Discover the process, problems and solutions of TetroROM development!
Year :
2025
Industry :
Videogame
Client :
Tactile Games
Project Duration :
8 weeks
Problem:
The concept was simple: Balatro + Block Blast on Mobile
First I took time to play both of the games and I noticed that the mechanic of Block Blast was super addictive, so I discarded the poker card concept and combined it with the Roguelike concept adding Boosters, Consumables, Bosses, and Special Pieces.
Main Problems:
The first aesthetic was not of interest: The main idea was a pixel art game with cartdrige as permanent boosters and arcade coins as consumables; the client was satisfied with the mechanics and dinamics of the first prototype made on 2 weeks, but asked for a re-styling.
The feeling: The game felt slow and also we had problems with the piece positioning, players often put a piece on the board and said "Hey! I didn't want to put the piece there!".
The bosses: We didn't want to use typical bosses mechanics so I had to be more creative on the ideas.
The Scoring System: We had problems with the rules of the scoring.
The Economy: We didn't want to do a typical economy system where you win a level and always get the same coins.
The "SDK Problem": We developed the game and realized that the SDK didn't support new phones such as Samsung Galaxy S25, and if we modified the SDK, the game get slowed and felt very bad to play, we lost all the feeling.
Solutions:
I had to take a lot of decisions during the development of TetroROM, but there's one thing that I never stop doing: At home or on my way back home, play the references (Balatro and Block Blast) make a new analysis and get back with new ideas the next day.
Main Problem Solutions:
The first aesthetic was not of interest: I made a new moodbard with new references, most of them where typical of videogame industry, but I also brig one that I personally like a lot and I thinked it could be interesting, the "Cardboard Style"; I took references from games like Stick it to the man, Paper Mario, Don't Starve and Cult of the Lamb; the team liked the idea and we made all the assets from scratch with this style.
The Feeling: To solve this I played a lot of sessions of Block Blast and I noticed that the player don't grab the piece above their fingers, the piece has an offset, I asked the developer to do this offset and once it was done I made a branch on Github to test and upload results, it was a large process of iteration and testing, but after some day I get the sweet spot of the placing feeling.
The Bosses: To solve this problem I simply played a lot of sessions of TetroROM and look what a player do the most and what could be annoying, for example I designed a boss that each 3 seconds change all the pices on your hand and other one that puts "Dead Pieces" on the gameboard, this pieces can never be destroyed.
The Scoring System: We talk a lot about the rules of scoring and I solved it by playing a lot of Balatro sessions noticing that first the chip scores, then the mult, then the mult multipliers (Such as 1.5%) and the the chips multiplied by the final mult giving the total score. I wrote it down on a mathematical formula and translated it to our game resulting on the Placement, the Multipliers, the Line and the Bonus scoring making our own formula.
Summary:
This was my biggest project, I felt very comfy with the team and the flow of the development, we made a lot of things in just two months and I'm very happy that all my ideas come to live.
I think it was a challange to lead the development and take the decisions, also I get challanged on Economy, System, Level design. In this project I realised that having a fluid conversation with team members is a pilar and also that a small team (We were 4 on the development) can make a fun and interesting game in a short time.
More Projects
New release
Preview
Videogame
TetroROM
A Rogulike with Tetrominos! Discover the process, problems and solutions of TetroROM development!
Year :
2025
Industry :
Videogame
Client :
Tactile Games
Project Duration :
8 weeks
Problem:
The concept was simple: Balatro + Block Blast on Mobile
First I took time to play both of the games and I noticed that the mechanic of Block Blast was super addictive, so I discarded the poker card concept and combined it with the Roguelike concept adding Boosters, Consumables, Bosses, and Special Pieces.
Main Problems:
The first aesthetic was not of interest: The main idea was a pixel art game with cartdrige as permanent boosters and arcade coins as consumables; the client was satisfied with the mechanics and dinamics of the first prototype made on 2 weeks, but asked for a re-styling.
The feeling: The game felt slow and also we had problems with the piece positioning, players often put a piece on the board and said "Hey! I didn't want to put the piece there!".
The bosses: We didn't want to use typical bosses mechanics so I had to be more creative on the ideas.
The Scoring System: We had problems with the rules of the scoring.
The Economy: We didn't want to do a typical economy system where you win a level and always get the same coins.
The "SDK Problem": We developed the game and realized that the SDK didn't support new phones such as Samsung Galaxy S25, and if we modified the SDK, the game get slowed and felt very bad to play, we lost all the feeling.
Solutions:
I had to take a lot of decisions during the development of TetroROM, but there's one thing that I never stop doing: At home or on my way back home, play the references (Balatro and Block Blast) make a new analysis and get back with new ideas the next day.
Main Problem Solutions:
The first aesthetic was not of interest: I made a new moodbard with new references, most of them where typical of videogame industry, but I also brig one that I personally like a lot and I thinked it could be interesting, the "Cardboard Style"; I took references from games like Stick it to the man, Paper Mario, Don't Starve and Cult of the Lamb; the team liked the idea and we made all the assets from scratch with this style.
The Feeling: To solve this I played a lot of sessions of Block Blast and I noticed that the player don't grab the piece above their fingers, the piece has an offset, I asked the developer to do this offset and once it was done I made a branch on Github to test and upload results, it was a large process of iteration and testing, but after some day I get the sweet spot of the placing feeling.
The Bosses: To solve this problem I simply played a lot of sessions of TetroROM and look what a player do the most and what could be annoying, for example I designed a boss that each 3 seconds change all the pices on your hand and other one that puts "Dead Pieces" on the gameboard, this pieces can never be destroyed.
The Scoring System: We talk a lot about the rules of scoring and I solved it by playing a lot of Balatro sessions noticing that first the chip scores, then the mult, then the mult multipliers (Such as 1.5%) and the the chips multiplied by the final mult giving the total score. I wrote it down on a mathematical formula and translated it to our game resulting on the Placement, the Multipliers, the Line and the Bonus scoring making our own formula.
Summary:
This was my biggest project, I felt very comfy with the team and the flow of the development, we made a lot of things in just two months and I'm very happy that all my ideas come to live.
I think it was a challange to lead the development and take the decisions, also I get challanged on Economy, System, Level design. In this project I realised that having a fluid conversation with team members is a pilar and also that a small team (We were 4 on the development) can make a fun and interesting game in a short time.
More Projects
New release
Preview