Hi! I wanted to share some thoughts on developing Anxiety Tetromino: Neverending 9 to 5.

The idea came after spending too much time on a previous, unreleased project. I wanted to create something I could quickly iterate on and actually finish. The core concept was inspired by two games: Tetris (obviously) and Egg Squeeze. The minimalist art style of Egg Squeeze and my early attempts to emulate it gave me hope that I could complete my first game. And I did!

The entire game was designed in Figma. Despite the program’s limitations, combined with my own lack of artistic talent, I crafted something I could work with and feel satisfied with until completion. Figma is fantastic for planning game elements—give it a try!

The hardest part was balancing the difficulty to make the game both fun and intentionally unfair. I reimagined Tetris as a metaphor for the relentless pace of a 9-to-5 job, where tasks keep piling up, and the pressure never stops. The game deliberately amplifies that anxiety. I aimed to stretch the tension players feel in each cycle to its limit before offering a moment of relief.

The biggest flaw in my initial idea, which I couldn’t fully resolve during development, was the game’s pacing. To address this, I introduced timers. At first, there was only one for the assembly phase, then another for the Tetris phase. Still, the pacing felt off. The breakthrough came when I made the Tetris timer reset only after a row is completed past its halfway point. This change transformed the game’s pacing and challenge instantly.

I’m incredibly proud of how the game turned out, especially since I had no idea what a DAW was before starting. I’m already brainstorming updates and would love to hear your thoughts—please share feedback on the itch.io page if you try it!

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy the game! 

Go play it in a browser -> https://deathraydreams.itch.io/anxiety-tetromino-neverending-9-to-5