monochromatic looks good to me

i have to admit the circles look kinda out of place through. rather than circles, what about checkered (alternating pixels) squares? wouldn't be grayscale, but wouldn't be black either

Wouldn't fit. The tiles are only 4x4px. The checker pattern would literally only consist of two black pixels in a / shape. Triangles can't be drawn in a 4x4px space for that matter, either. There is a very finite number of possible designs with such small blocks. I think I just used about half of them.

I should probably elaborate on a few more details about gameplay...

Unlike Tetris, there is no speed level. Blocks will always drop at the same speed. The only challenge against the player is the accumulation of squares in patterns that are difficult to clear. The actual "quest" mode would consist of a series of levels with predefined squares on the board. Generally, the more difficult the level, the more squares would be stacked on the board from the start. At certain heights, it would be difficult to manuever new formations as they drop.

Versus mode would allow the player to define the starting conditions, in this sense. There wouldn't be multiple levels, but a single round of play with a user-specified amount of pre-existing squares. (if any) The objective during versus mode is to survive. In this mode, scoring 5-square matches will incur a penalty against the opposing player: A solid line will appear at the bottom of their board, slightly raising their elevation.  (up to 4 lines total may be incurred per player) For every gravity-chain a player scores, the opposing player receives a solid I block. This block cannot be removed from the board under any conditions, and an infinite number of them can be incurred.

Those could, instead, be represented as circles. It might look kind of silly, but it would definitely disambiguate them. That's just one idea off the top of my head, though.

Well, the current assets aren't set in stone. If it can be pulled off with fewer grays, then whatever works is fine. My only concern would be representing each of the three color types.

Here is a mock-up only using one gray:

"Trominoes" is an idea I had for a drop-and-arrange puzzle game based around the principle of three-squared polyominoes. This is not quite a Tetris clone, but it's vaguely similar. Tetris is based around the same principle using tetrominoes, which are four-squared pieces. The objective of this game is to align three colored squares vertically, horizontally or diagonally. Unlike Tetris, you cannot clear lines. There are three different colored-squares, each appearing randomly in three-square formations:



The gray square has the most common appearance, while the white square has the second most common, and the darker square has the rarest appearance.

Play takes place on a 9x11 grid. Formations can be freely rotated in any direction. When the grid fills and obstructs the appearance of any additional formations, the player loses.

"Free" squares (in formations U and L) will break away from the rest of the formation when placed, allowing them to be arranged independently. There is also a gravity algorithm which allows orphaned squares to fall into niches when surrounding squares are cleared from the board.

If the player clears 5 squares of the same color simultaneously, (for example: in X or + patterns) then all squares of that color will be removed from the board. (mechanic borrowed from Tetris Flash) Squares that are cleared as the result of gravity-chaining will provide an accumulating score bonus.

A couple of other mock-ups...



The insidious Bone Graveyard (Stage 2)



Fully-powered Vixen blasting through Stage 6 (Blazing Suns)

There are six normal stages divided into "blocks". A block might be two entire stages in a single map. The stages are arranged this way for the appearance of cut-scenes. (which occur after clearing each block) Generally, multiple stages appearing within a single block are fairly short, so that the total block length isn't overwhelming.

Some stages will have a bonus objective. If that objective is cleared, the player will enter the bonus stage immediately after that block. In the bonus stage sequence, the player has the opportunity to collect many power-cells, and a few 1-ups scattered throughout the stage. Each power-cell has the additional effect of granting the player accumulating bonus points. (100, 200, 400, 800~) If the player crashes-out in this stage, they don't actually lose any ships. (or power-ups) On the other hand, any bonuses collected in the stage are lost.



If the player clears the normal game mode without losing any ships, then they'll unlock four additional, more difficult stages: Stages A - D. Clearing either mode is necessary to unlock specific game features.

"Dr. Venom, leader of the evil Bacterion Empire, has opened a rift in space-time, and sent the planet-core Zelos Force to the year 6640. Destination: The Nemesis system. Using Zelos Force to conquer and terraform the planets of the Nemesis system, Dr. Venom hopes to expand the Bacterion Empire and prevent its own future destruction at the hands of the Gradius Union. Unprepared for a conflict against Bacterion, the Gradius Union desperately unveils an early model Vixen fighter ship - its only hope of fending off Bacterion's forces and preventing disruption to the future's timeline."



The player assumes the role of a fighter-pilot, and either model of the fighter-ship "Vixen." Each model has a slightly different selection of available weapons and features.

By defeating specific enemies and collecting power-cells, the ship progresses along a power-up meter. (bottom-center of the above screenshot) When a selection is highlighted, you can choose to activate (or upgrade) the item, or continue progressing toward more expensive power-ups.

Vixen Type-1:

SPEEDUP | MISSILE  | LASER   | OPTION | FORCE F.
SPEEDUP | SPREAD B.| LASER   | OPTION |[F.SHIELD]
SPEEDUP |          |[V.LASER]|
SPEEDUP |          |[SCREW.L]|
SPEEDUP |

SPEEDUP - increases ship speed (upgradable)
MISSLE - fires a single missile downward
SPREAD B. - unleashes a missile that explodes upon impact, damaging multiple, adjacent targets
LASER - fires a laser blast in a straight line, which moves with the ship's own trajectory
LASER (2) - standard laser with extended range and damage
OPTION - creates a ball of energy, which follows the ship and mimics its shot patterns
FORCE F. - surrounds the player with a force-field, protecting the entire ship from damage

Vixen Type-2:

SPEEDUP | MISSILE  | DOUBLE  | OPTION | FORCE F.
SPEEDUP | HAWKWIND | DOUBLE  | OPTION |[F.SHIELD]
SPEEDUP |          |[V.LASER]|
SPEEDUP |          |[SCREW.L]|
SPEEDUP |

DOUBLE - fires an additional shot along a diagonal pattern
HAWKWIND - fires two missiles top to bottom

Temporary / Special upgrade units:

V.LASER - fires a vertical laser beam, which destroys targets above the ship
SCREW.L - fires a wide-dispersal laser which covers more area than the standard laser
F.SHIELD - a space-fighter shield which makes the ship completely invulnerable for a short amount of time

Example level designs: (with enemy and item data)

Stages 4 - 5: Macro-Organism Zone / Bacterion Base



Stage 1: Floating Continent

There was so much detail in Shadow over Ragnoth that I actually had to use multiple menu pages just to cover character status. I even left mHP and mana out of the menus because: 1.) Not enough room without bumping essential statistics off the screen; and 2.) This is displayed in the character selection menu just prior to entering the status menu. That worked out fine in the end, though.

There isn't a whole lot of detail in PoD, but there's just enough that it couldn't merit having multiple pages. There would be nothing else to put in the empty space; so I have to cram what detail there actually is on a single page. I added a view of currently-equipped items to actually fill some of the empty space that was originally there. The window borders remain an awkward element because of how I decided to draw them. Basically, the main font is in 4x4 px blocks. In order to maintain spacing between rows, (so the pixels don't connect) It was necessary to draw them in a manner that's more like 4x8 blocks. This was also necessary to render enough space for icons. (which are more like 8x8 blocks) To have the font space properly with the window border intact, I had to create a duplicate font and blend the top part of the border. A consequence of this is the spacing and alignment outside of window borders. Any text I place outside of them is going to have an extra gap just between it and any neighboring windows. (i.e., the gap below "ANAXIMANDER" in the current status screen) This means I have to waste that space, since I can't reasonably cram any text there.



(the red lines represent a 4x4 grid)

On an off-topic note: I was surprised to find out that some people actually use MSPaint to render their tiles. I'm not sure how robust newer versions are, but I don't recall it having any grid or snap-to-grid features. I use Paint Shop Pro 9, which does have this feature. It's easy to define a grid for specific tile sizes, and snap them when dragging and dropping.

you made that game? (the video thumbnail)
what's the title? that's pretty high quality for BASIC!!

I couldn't code my way out of a paper-bag.

It's still a design in progress. I just enjoy putting ideas on paper, though I don't necessarily have the technical skills to program and fully produce them.