Purge by Eric Henneke

“Purge” by Eric Henneke 

2021 BASIC 10-Liner PUR-80 

Coded in Atari BASIC for Atari XL/XE 8-bit Computer systems

Objective: Purge the atmosphere of the deadly invading Orbs before they take over the planet. Pilot your ship as quickly and efficiently as possible to eliminate colonies of Orbs from outer space. Use your limited energy wisely and clear each wave by purging all of the pulsating Orbs on the screen. Avoid obstacles by navigating around the impenetrable Blockers.

After each completed wave, a new wave will begin with a larger colony of Orbs that must be purged. You will also start each wave with more energy than the previous wave. Any energy still remaining when you complete a wave will be carried forward to the next wave.

In each wave, there will be one unique Pink Orb Leader in the colony. When you eliminate the Pink Orb, your energy will stop being depleted temporarily. The sooner you eliminate the Pink Orb each wave, the longer you will delay your energy depletion.

Energy Status: During gameplay, you will see an Energy Status Bar at the bottom of the screen. As energy depletes over time, the status bar will shrink towards the left side of the screen.

If the energy status bar depletes to nothing, then the game is over.

Scoring: +1 point for each Orb eliminated. Total score is displayed at the end of game on the left side of the screen. On the right side of the screen, you will see the Wave number reached during the game.

Controls: Use joystick motion to navigate your ship up, down, left and right. Fire button to start a new game.

Compatibility: Works with all Atari XL/XE 8-bit Computer Systems with Atari BASIC. (Note: It is also fully compatible with Turbo Basic XL and Altirra Basic as-is, but it will run very fast and make gameplay quite difficult!)

Helpful Hints: Hint: Your ship will “wrap around” if you navigate off the edge of the screen. Use this to your advantage when plotting out your path of attack.

Another Hint: Avoid the dreaded “death spiral” where you get stuck circling a single Orb over and over and over. This futile act wastes a lot of precious energy!

Yet another Hint: The more quickly you eliminate the Pink Orb Leader, the longer you can delay your energy depletion. Of course, if you must seek out the Pink Orb and it takes a long time to get to it, it may not be worth the energy you must consume to get there. Plot your strategy carefully!

Final Hint: Learn to love the Blockers! You can incorporate Blockers into your strategy by plotting a path that uses the Blockers as pivot points by intentionally running into them.