SSS: The Silent Soviet Stacker

A block-stacking game for the Commodore 64 written in the number-stacking language Forth. Pause a game in progess then tinker with the live game state in the interpreter.

Explore the design	Start tinkering

Try It Out

1. Get the VICE C64 emulator.
2. Load the durexForth cart or disk. SSS is developed in v4 but sometimes I also test v5.
3. Paste sss.fs contents into the interpreter. Takes about a minute to compile.
4. Type help then new.

Warning

No sound, no high scores, no menus, and unconventional controls. This is a programmer's toybox first, a game second.

Keys

• S D F - Shift left, soft drop, shift right.
• J K - Rotate left and right.
• L - Exchange piece with hold slot on bottom right.
• E - Hard drop.
• Anything else - Pause game and return to Forth.

My own strong preference. See input rationale for a(n admittedly not easy) reconfiguration option.

This thing:

• Is a personal project optimized strictly for my own joy, which among other things means a 50fps target with as little assembly code as necessary, because Forth is fun!
• Explores creative constraints. durexForth is fast, but not as fast as hand-rolled 6502. Arbitrary source text constraints, too. They're my muse.
• Wants to be tinkered with, so:
• Might motivate the Forth- or C64-curious, but:
• Is NOT a Tetris product! No sound, no menus, weird keys. General audiences will balk, but I play until Game Over to pass the time.
• Is basically complete. I'm married to my tradeoffs but still poke when fancy strikes. Maybe you can show me an angle I hadn't considered though? Would love to make it even denser somehow!

Further Reading

• The hands-on guide takes you from player to tinkerer.
• The design rundown is my bucket document: a mix of tutorial (how), background (why), and reference (what). I hope you'll indulge my sloppiness and dig for what you need.
• The Forth source is damn dense, as its intended audience is just myself. For the adventurous!