http://tinyurl.com/8wguvh3
GAME DESIGN THEORY & PRACTICE
SECOND EDITION
BY Richard Rouse III
p.149
It has been reported that Pajitnov, in creating Tetris, originally considered
using pieces consisting of five squares combined into twelve unique pieces.
Indeed, the pentomino game from which Pajitnov drew his inspiration used twelve
five-square pieces. Pajitnov soon realized that this was too many different
pieces to have to manipulate in Tetris's high-pressure setting, where players
have a limited amount of time to find a perfect fit for a given piece.
Certainly a game using five-square pieces could have been challenging in its
own way, and perhaps a slower falling speed and larger play-field could have
compensated for the added complexity of the larger pieces. But would it have
been Tetris? No. Would it have been as fun and addictive as Tetris? Proably
not. At some point a complexity level begins to stifle the core nature of a
game and confuses players instead of challenging them. Using five insead of
four squares ruined the simplicity Pajitnov was striving for, and as a result
he reduced the number of squares a piece could have. Similarly, if he had used
only three squares, the game would have been too simple. It would appear Tetris
expertly follows the adage that everything should be as simple as possible but
no simpler.
根據報導 Pajitnov 在創造俄羅斯方塊的時候，原本想使用的是五個方塊所組成的十二個
互異的形狀。的確，引發 Pajitnov 靈感的五連方塊遊戲，是使用十二片五方格的拼塊。
Pajitnov 很快就發現，若限制玩家在一段時間內將特定拼塊放置在最適當的地方，這樣的
形狀數量太多。當然，若使用五連方塊會變得很有挑戰性，並且較緩的掉落速度以及較寬
的盤面可以彌補形狀太複雜的缺陷。但這樣還會是俄羅斯方塊嗎？不。這會跟俄羅斯方塊
一樣有趣且吸引人嗎？可能不會。複雜性太過只會扼殺遊戲的精髓，並使玩家感到困擾，
而不會想挑戰它。以五個方塊取代四個，將破壞 Pajitnov 所追求的單純性。同樣的，假
若他只使用三個，遊戲就會變得太簡單了。(後略)
There are actually thirteen unique combinations of five squares possible, where
each square shares a side with another square. So it would appear that the
original pentomino game, with its twelve bolcks, did not use a complete set of
pieces. I have never tried pentomino, so I have no idea how much fun that
puzzle may be. Part of what makes Tetris so elegant is the completeness of its
pieces. Every possible permutation of four squares with squares sharing sides
is used in the game. Remove any one of the pieces from Tetris and the game's
balance would suffer. When playing, players will find themselves presented with
situations that cry out for certain pieces. Certain arrangements of the blocks
on the bottom of the screen leave holes that can only be perfecly filled by a
specific Tetris piece. Part of what leds Teris its balance is the fact that
Pajitnov was wise enough to include each piece possible, thus providing a piece
for every type of gap. The natural completness and symmetry of the pieces
available to players in Tetris is a crucial component of its balace.
帕索強調，五連方塊真的只有十二個，不曉得作者為何要說十三個...
後面懶得翻了...
不曉得這部分是不是板主大大想要知道的部分？