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2025-04-21

Surface of the planet where you build extractors while the virus spreads

You have to build extractors and protect them from the spreading virus

Animation of a futuristic driller that extracts the water from the ground

Apex, the water drilling extractor, the shape resembles the number 4, right? From the original concept created in 2001

Is it possible to make a strategy game in real-time in just 10-lines of BASIC? Well, let's try it!

It became a tradition to take part in the Basic 10-Liner contest. This year too, a 10-liner was created and it was submitted in the PUR-80 category. For anyone unfamiliar with the meaning of that category, it means that each line of code can contain a maximum of 80 characters so the entire game program written in BASIC cannot be longer than 800 characters. I have been participating in this competition for 4 years in a row since 2021, and have been honoured by winning the competition in that category the last year with Dan The Digger 10.

Again, there have been so many good games created this year, so it was a great surprise that my entry took 3rd place our of 32 titles! It's a strategy game in real-time titled Aqualique 10, based on few of the ideas from unreleased game projects I did around 2000s. I had a lot of fun creating this title and I think this game might get you hooked. Give it a try! Can you win with the virus spreading over the surface of the alien planet?

There were some challenges during the making of this project. The first iteration was slightly dull to play and already took all the code space available. The game didn't have a meteor shower that could twist the gameplay. Eventually I managed to add this feature with some tricks and code re-use! I have to say, that the Basic Abbreviator, a cartridge under development (still in alpha version) helped me a lot even though it still lacks many features that I dream of.

Congratulations to the other participants and a big thank you to the organizer of the 14th edition of this contest! Writing a program in 10 lines is great fun! I highly recommend joining the challenge next time for anyone familiar with BASIC if you haven't already!

Feel free to download or play Aqualique 10 in your browser: https://commocore.itch.io/aqualique-10

You can find all the results on the official website. Below are the results for the PUR-80 category:

1. Sand-stormer [Plus4] (8.70)
2. Wordle [Atari] (8.66)
3. Aqualique 10 [C64] (8.14)
4. Hey, Taxi! [C64] (7.70)
5. 10Line Bomber [Mattel] (7.38)
6. count cyan! [MSX] (7.31)
7. 2 Canaries Pecking [Plus4] (7.17)
8. Maze 80 [MSX] (7.16)
9. Electroblasters [Atari] (7.04)
10. PuzzleBobble [C64] (6.72)
11. Tiles [C64] (6.70)
12. Battleships 10L [C64] (6.68)
13. Starship [C64] (6.50)
14. Fill screen with [PC1211] (6.40)
15. Subscan [Oric] (6.26)
16. A is for Aardvark [C64] (6.14)
17. Space Prospector [Plus4] (6.11)
18. 2048 [Atari] (6.02)
19. ZX Stock Exchange [Spectrum] (5.83)
20. Panzerjaeger [C64] (5.70)
21. Balloon Rescue [C64] (5.62)
22. B-Breakout [Plus4] (5.57)
23. Munchy [VIC20] (5.52)
24. Whirlybird [C64] (5.51)
25. Aquariorb [Mattel] (4.83)
26. Chicken [BBC] (4.70)
27. Pythonisa [MSX] (4.60)
28. Combinatorics [VIC20] (4.50)
29. Ack-Ack-Rec [Coco] (4.41)
30. Buggy10 [Sharp] (4.28)
31. Chase [C64] (3.77)
32. Il mio primo Chatbot [C64] (2.12)

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