Hi everyone and welcome to month #9 of the 2025 Year of Code! As we’ve done previously, this is the topic to share your September project, which has the theme of Games.
I’ll start things off with my project which is a clone of Asteroids that I call Space Rocks.
Remember: To be entered in the drawings for this month’s prize and the grand prize at the end, you need to share your code, preferably on GitHub. Refer to this blog post if you need help with getting your project on GitHub.
Here is my entry, a start of a game, though doesn’t do much. Haven’t gotten the A* Pathfinding thing to work/figured out, so the enemy is just dumb/aimless. Not much to it but shows off some very basic things.
This month I struggled to solve a Sudoku as it required trying multiple possibilities (at least with the techniques I know, like naked singles, hidden singles, pairs, and simple box/line interactions).
That’s when I decided to write my own Sudoku Solver.
One feature I particularly enjoy is the on-the-fly validation : whenever I enter a number, the solver not only checks whether it’s valid according to the rules at that moment, but also whether it would eventually lead to an unsolvable puzzle. In other words, it catches numbers that look legal now but still block the path to a solution.
Sudoku Solver & Generator- create, generate, or solve Sudoku puzzles
Generate a random Sudoku puzzle with a given number of clues
Solve the Sudoku puzzle
Interactively edit the puzzle with on the fly validation
Let the solver complete the puzzle
Logic
The solver uses a classic backtracking algorithm with rule checking to guarantee correct solutions. Random puzzle generation is based on creating a full valid grid, applying digit shuffling, and then removing cells to reach the desired clue count.
Chain Reaction Simulator is a strategic puzzle game where players create cascading chain reactions to clear grids of orbs with minimal clicks. The game challenges players to think strategically about orb placement to trigger the most efficient chain reactions possible.
Digital Escape Room is an immersive puzzle adventure where players must solve a series of interconnected puzzles to escape from a locked room. Using point-and-click mechanics, players discover clues, collect items, and unravel mysteries in a race against time.
Stock Market Madness is a fast-paced stock trading simulation where players buy and sell stocks as prices fluctuate in real-time. Navigate volatile markets, react to changing prices, and maximize your portfolio value during a timed trading session. With 10 diverse stocks across different sectors and realistic price movements, every decision counts in this thrilling financial challenge.
pace Invaders was originally a groundbreaking arcade video game created by Tomohiro Nishikado and released by Tai in 1978, not a tabletop game from the early 1980s.
The original Space Invaders was one of the most influential video games ever made - players controlled a small cannon at the bottom of the screen and shot at rows of descending alien invaders. It was hugely popular and helped establish the shoot-'em-up genre. For a long time, I have been wanting to have my own version of Space Invaders on my computer.
This month’s challenge has stimulated me to pay homage to Tomohiro Nishikado by attempting to generate something along the lines of his original creation.
This game requires some understanding of basic tactics, but is inferior in its capacity for thought to the Sudoku puzzle entry, which I think is very impressive.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to do any programming this month. But I would like to take this opportunity to publish a game on GitHub that I created back in 2014. I reprogrammed the game Sea Wolf, which I loved playing on my C64 in the 1980s.
To my surprise, the code works with 2025R2.1 without any adjustments.
