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What are the best PC games that incorporate some kind of programming?

11

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Considered

23

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Jan 16, 2018

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11 Games Considered

Best PC games that incorporate some kind of programming	Price	Steam Rating	Platforms
-- SpaceChem	-	Overwhelmingly Positive	Overwhelmingly Positive
-- TIS-100	$6.99	Very Positive	Very Positive
-- Human Resource Machine	-	Very Positive	Very Positive
-- Factorio	$20.00	Overwhelmingly Positive	Windows, Linux, Mac
-- Infinifactory	$24.99	Very Positive	Very Positive

SpaceChem

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Top Pro

Allows for short or long play sessions

The gameplay allows for a player to come in and solve a single puzzle in a short amount of time or to sit and tinker with a puzzle for hours trying to devise the perfect solution and contraption. It all comes down to what one want to put into the game but the free form of the puzzle solving is what makes it great for anyones playstyle be it short or long. See More

Top Con

Late game is difficult

In later levels some players may reach a point where the game has become too difficult or frustrating, which may discourage any more play time with the game. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Overwhelmingly Positive

Top Pro

Light on the system

The system requirements are quite low at only requiring a 2Ghz processor, 1G of ram and 300MB of hard drive space. Basically this game should work on just about any computer from the last 10-15 years. See More

Top Pro

Endless gameplay through user created solutions

An individual players choices of components, arrangements or factories used will result in completely different experiences and problems/puzzles when compared to another users experience. A truly individualized experience that expands the games replayability. See More

Top Pro

Easy to learn, hard to master puzzle

Spacechem's mechanics are pretty simple to learn and only takes minutes to understand how the game works. Of course mastering the gameplay is a whole different matter. See More

Top Pro

You can learn real life programming skills

In particular, abstraction and concurrent programming can be gleaned from the game as it focuses on techniques used by computer programmers. See More

TIS-100

Top Pro

Competitive score comparing

TIS-100 has a leaderboard function for all 45 puzzles in the game which allows users to compare score with friends and random online players. This way people can see how high they rank in comparison to all other players. See More

Top Con

No in game tutorial makes it difficult to learn

There is no hand holding with this game, no in-game tutorial makes it difficult to know how to play. Though there is a PDF manual that can be printed out. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

Top Pro

Teaches actual coding

The game is basically text based which means users will have to actually type in code in order to play. This makes for a learning experience for those unfamiliar with coding due to actually having to code in order to play. See More

Top Pro

Replayability through a never ending sandbox creation mode

Users can create their own puzzles in the 3 available sandbox modes in game. This allows for users to come back to the game over and over to create custom puzzles and experience something different each time making for a lot of replayability. See More

Factorio

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Top Pro

Massive and infinite procedurally generated world

The playing world is as large as you want to explore, it automatically generates it as you explore more areas. See More

Top Con

Can become rather repetitive

There's really little payoff for being able to build really long chains of automation, it usually results in being able to open a new tech tree which allows the player to continue the process of building automation chains ad infinitum, which, admittedly can become rather boring after a while. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Overwhelmingly Positive

Genre:Realtime Strategy (RTS)

Top Pro

Endless solutions

With proper planning users can "code" together very precise ways to create all the things needed for the game, some in very inventive ways that can differ quite a bit. This allows for tons of replayability. See More

Top Con

Still in Alpha

The game is still in Alpha which means there will be bugs as well as missing features. See More

Top Pro

Cooperative or PvP building

Factorio also supports multiplayer, allowing many players to cooperate and assist each other, or work against each other in PvP. By default, multiplayer games run the CO-OP freeplay scenario where all players work together to launch a rocket with a satellite into space. See More

Top Pro

Rich modding community

From simple game enhancements, like being able to reach anything on the screen, to changing the difficulty of enemies or adding an experience system, Factorio is made to be modded and there's a large community making mods. See More

Top Pro

Charming old school graphics

While not the most technically advanced graphics the look of the game is much like a game from the 90s but seeing it in action when an assembly line starts moving there is an impressiveness to it that suits the game quite well. See More

Infinifactory

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Top Pro

Gives feeling of accomplishment

The puzzles in game are challenging and once solved the satisfaction of being able to watch a completed machine work correctly is quite addicting. See More

Top Con

Puzzles become difficult really soon

The difficulty curve is pretty high for Infinifactory in that once the user learns the ropes of gameplay the puzzles start getting really difficult and do not ease up. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

Top Pro

Incremental puzzle solving that creates lasting gameplay

The majority of puzzles can not be solved by just looking at the level. It will take a lot of trial and error to get the puzzle solved in slow single steps. This makes for longevity of each puzzle. See More

Top Pro

User created gifs upon finish

The game allows the user to create a gif of the working machine upon completion that can be shared with friends or uploaded to websites. See More

GlitchSpace

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Top Pro

Inventive 3D representation of programming

The player needs to get from point a to point b by fixing glitches in the environment by using a programming language called Null, which allows user manipulation of the environment. Through this manipulation the game focuses on an inventive way of showing 3D representations of the mechanics of programming. See More

Top Con

Intimidating to learn

Upon first boot it is quite obvious that the game will take a bit of play to learn, this is made worse by the fact that there is no tutorial. Though the game is in early access, so that may change. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Mostly Positive

Top Pro

Helps you learn how 3D game geometry works

While the 3D programming language in the game doesn't have much scripting or logic in it, it does teach you about how 3D geometry works through concepts like scaling, translating, and transforming objects and vectors. See More

Top Pro

Non stress environment

The music in game is similar to elevator music and the visuals are simple and relaxing, combined it creates an atmosphere that is pretty stress free, which is good as the further one gets the more complicated the game can become. See More

CompliKATed

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Top Pro

It's so difficult, you feel the game slaps you

CompliKATed is, simply put, merciless. You let your mind wonder for a second? Bam! You're out! You forget to clear that specific space just before entering the one-way? Bam! You're a goner! Somehow, you can't loose the feeling that you're laying your own traps and keep wondering why would you do such a thing to yourself? See More

Top Con

Each time you quick-load you lose score points

You have to tread carefully when you save. Checkpoints are limited per level and if you save without anticipating the outcome of your current actions, you might need to restart the level. The life-saving checkpoint are there, within your grasp and you can save for free. However, no matter how hard you try, if you use quick-save, you'll pay for it with 1 star. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:4 user reviews

Top Pro

Accesible Boolean logic

In order to complete the puzzles, you don't need advanced knowledge of Boolean logic. As a matter of fact, most of the puzzles can be completed by trial and error, allowing you to observe the result. See More

Top Con

A bit too shallow in programming content

The game barely touches the programming part, limited only to conditions, logic operators and loops. See More

Top Pro

Highly re-playable

The steep difficulty curve and the trial and error feature won't let you easily get all the 5 score stars, so there's up to 5 reasons you'll want to restart a level. See More

Cargo bot

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Hack 'n' Slash

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Top Pro

Intuitively uses coding as a main mechanic

Players can use their hacking abilities to subvert their enemies instead of just using a traditional weapon like a sword. For instance a user can plug into a rock in a level and reprogram the code of the rock to allow for it to be moved and how many spaces. It is an intuitive way to interact with objects and solve the puzzles in the game. See More

Top Con

Design seems lazy at times

Things like a poorly designed map or often not knowing where to go which leads to back tracking that may not even help makes for frustrating play. Really it comes off as lazy more than a design decision. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Mixed

Top Pro

Writing is clever and funny

Like the majority of Double Fine games, Hack 'n' Slash is very cleverly written with humor similar to the Adventure Time series and many jokes referencing the old Legend of Zelda cartoon. This is definitely something for those that get the references of its origins. See More

Top Pro

Allows you to break the game

The game does not restrict or prevent the player from experimenting, and breaking the game (crashing it) is a common result. It's simple to load back to a previous point in the game and try again with a different strategy. See More

Gladiabots

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