When comparing Glitchspace vs SpaceChem, the Slant community recommends SpaceChem for most people. In the question“What are the best educational games on PC?” SpaceChem is ranked 6th while Glitchspace is ranked 13th. The most important reason people chose SpaceChem is:
In particular, abstraction and concurrent programming skills could be gleaned from the game as it uses broad techniques often used by computer programmers.
Specs
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Pros
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.
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.
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.
Pro Could help with real life programming skills
In particular, abstraction and concurrent programming skills could be gleaned from the game as it uses broad techniques often used by computer programmers.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Cons
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.
Con Annoying action-y 'boss' stages
At the end of each 'world', there is a boss stage in which you have to perform a unique task. This wouldn't be too bad, but in these levels, you can use blocks that you can activate in real time to change the way your program runs. This often means lots of manual work and a lot of padding to hit the buttons at the right time, which is unnecessary for a puzzle game (and, given that you cannot rewind, also stressful if your program is very tight). I would imagine that the best scores for these levels also overly abuse this feature to make solutions that would be almost impossible without use of macros, for instance.
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.