Show HN: Angularis – like Tetris, but based on triangles

Nice concept but there’s a few areas this can be refined to keep the difficulty the same while making the game much more charitable to players.

1. Given you have triangular blocks and diagonal movements, the board should probably be angled too instead of rectangular. Maybe experiment with having a tapered bottom to the screen.

2. In Tetris ever piece can connect with every other piece to form a new block. This isn’t true here. You have some blocks that are squares (orientated with a flat bottom). Some that are squares by diamond orientated (ie rotates 45 degrees). Some that are entirely diagonal. This means that a lot of the pieces do not work together. You’re also effectively creating 8 different orientations to match rather than 4 while still only allowing shapes to rotate in 4 different orientations. So you need to spend a lot more time deciding upon what pieces are available. I don’t think having more pieces is the solution here either because you just reduce the likelihood of a piece you need from dropping.

The controls work surprisingly well on mobile though the drop button is a little too Easy to accidentally hit. But that’s nit picking because it’s a pretty decent experience otherwise.

controls unintuitive

Fantastic! You should be very proud.

Took a while to get used to it, but I was very satisfied to clear a few lines.

I was curious what effect it would have to change or add to the concept of "row" to be not horizontal, but instead a "strip of contiguous triangles from the bottom to one of the sides." I might also try instead of a flat bottom, one shaped like an inverted triangle.

Very fun, but could use some polish. Controls need improvement. A single key for rotating would work better (arrow up is the most intuitive and indeed I keep hitting it and accidentally "storing" a piece for later, which is a great concept but should be bound to a different key since the arrow keys convey movement). Should show instructions in the same page as the actual game. In fact, the home page should be the game, with the other stuff tucked away (see e.g. the Wordle page for one potential UI/UX approach). Graphics could use some polish, typography / CSS too