PUSHORI64+

PUSHORI64+ is a  game written in ugBASIC and that runs on various 8-bit home computers like AMSTRAD CPC 664, ATARI 400/800, COLECOVISION, COMMODORE 128, COMMODORE 64, MSX, OLIVETTI PRODEST PC128, SEGA SG-1000, SEGA SC-3000, THOMSON MO5, TANDY CORP. COLOR COMPUTER 3, ZX SPECTRUM 48K.

Pushori is a popular puzzle and skill video game originally developed by Toni Pa (or Tony Pa) in the Flash era. It's based on a rather simple concept, but it requires planning and logic to master. The game involves "clearing" a playing area of blocks that have the same symbol.

GAMEPLAY

Pushori's central mechanic is "pushing" (hence the game's name). The player controls a moving tile, and the only direct interaction with the tiles is to push them sideways: in other words, tiles can only be pushed left or right. They cannot be pushed vertically up or down directly. The goal of pushing tiles is to create a vertical alignment of two or more tiles with the same symbol. When this happens, the matching tiles disappear from the grid, and the relative cells will be colored. Each level features a grid of cells, usually red cells.

To complete a level and advance, you must remove tiles so that all the cells in the grid below turn green. The game is won when all levels are completed. You lose when you can no longer make any valid moves, that is, when the tiles are positioned in such a way that you can no longer push or match them.

ORIGINAL VERSION 

PUSHORI64 is the original version written by Emanuele Feronato in ugBASIC and it was developed for the Commodore 64 target (c64). It includes additional graphics by Davide Bottino.

PUSHORI64+ is a new version of the same game by Marco Spedaletti: starting from that source code , it has been revised in order to run on many ugBASIC's targets, with just a single source code.

The entire source code and resources are available on this repository.

HOW MUCH HAS ugBASIC HELPED?

This cross-platform game would not have been possible without using ugBASIC: it is an isomorphic language and it has cross compilers that works on Linux and Windows, that directly converts high level algorithms into the assembly equivalent for the given CPU / computer.

ugBASIC is able to handle graphics with double buffering, to use directly PNG/JPG and other standard image formats, to manage additional RAM banks, to read multiple keyboard keys at the same time and to do inline assembly. The labor and time saving is such that it allows to create professional and high performance games in a short time.

Developing for multiple platforms requires very little effort because the source does not have to be adapted or, like this case, it can be adapted limited to the hardware dependent aspects. 

With a single source code you can obtain programs for multiple retro computers, even very different from each other. Moreover, each target can have a dedicated optimizer, which allows to achieve very interesting results while leaving the BASIC code fully readable.