Human Resource Machine

Human Resource Machine

That was a blast! It was quite refreshing to play a less-than-hardcore programming puzzler for once.

You new job is at an old-timey skyscraper. Since computers haven’t been invented yet, the engineers solve problems by running letters and numbers around on tiled floors. Given an inbox full of stuff, your task is to write a small set of instructions that give the bosses exactly what they want, in the precise order they want it.

What the game doesn’t explicitly tell you is that you’re writing some of the simplest useful algorithms in assembly code, such as multiplication, sorting, and alphabetizing, using logic that’s very similar to what you’d use if you were doing it for real. And it’s all presented in a clean, responsive interface and Tomorrow Corporation’s signature creepy cartoon artstyle. It does a wonderful job of presenting the art of writing algorithms as a series of simple, elegant puzzles.

Real player with 37.1 hrs in game


Read More: Best Programming Touch-Friendly Games.


A small puzzle game based on the basic math understanding and the very basic programming commands which you’ll be using to solve the riddles. Plays quite nice, but gets a bit over-the-head tedious in the long run, thanks to the late game process, where you need to put in motion 50-100 strokes of code (and maybe several hundreds of iterations) to get the work done, thanks to the lack of program commands. But that is only true about the latest stages. At the start, the game is really nice, and it is still quite nice till the end despite the amount of the codework you have to do with so little tools as you get there.

Real player with 28.0 hrs in game

Human Resource Machine on Steam

Startup Panic

Startup Panic

living the Dream

Manage your time as a bedroom programmer. Pick projects, contract-work and vacation days to get by, then start to build some passive income through your startup.

Beware though: Once you start hiring your first employees and upgrading your office, you’ll attract the attention of competing businesses…

don’t Panic!

  • You decide how each project goes and what to focus on

  • Spend a week training your staff, or earning money, or building features… but choose wisely!

  • Upgrade your company in the skill tree: Will you take longer vacations or cheaper air-co?

  • Hunt for new employees and hire the ones that fit your style: Social butterfly? Marketing expert? Lone Wolf?

  • Compete with rival CEOs for new users in your region, and then expand out by building new headquarters on a world map!

  • Hurting for cash? You can take out a loan or search for investors, but don’t think it’ll come for free…


Read More: Best Programming Management Games.


Startup Panic on Steam

Sam & MaRU

Sam & MaRU

The premise:

It’s a Zach-Like programming puzzle game where you write code to move robots around a 2D grid and perform tasks. If that sounds like your thing (and it certainly sounded like mine!), you’ll probably like this one. The most well-known and obvious game to compare it to is 7 Billion Humans, but to me it feels much more heavily influenced (in both gameplay and story, and art style for that matter) by Marvellous, Inc..

It is different enough from both of those to qualify as its own thing, though.

Real player with 7.4 hrs in game


Read More: Best Programming Robots Games.


A charming little game where you program your worker-bot to complete mundane tasks - uncover a sinister plot - and get in over your head engaging in corporate espionage!

The levels lacked any leaderboards - so there’s less of an incentive to optimise everything like you often get in this genre - so not a huge amount of replay value; but I was a big fan of the easter eggs, with extra scraps of story hidden off the main track.

It’s also good at teaching you the mechanics; introducing them slowly - so by the end combining them into a complex program becomes second nature… I mean very good at that; someone has obviously put a lot of thought into doing that.

Real player with 6.2 hrs in game

Sam & MaRU on Steam

Copy Editor: A RegEx Puzzle

Copy Editor: A RegEx Puzzle

I am loving it. I love the chatbox conversations the coworkers are having. I love the stupid caricature of the boss type. I love the writing sample selections. I love the color. While this game is in desperate need of a tutorial that experts could skip and the zoom function for the text area is a little awkward, it’s totally workable.

Most importantly, I love how this worked out so well as a game to sit and play cooperatively with someone. It’s fun to solve these puzzles together and try to optimize the work you’ve done. This was absolutely worth the small fee to buy this game.

Real player with 12.3 hrs in game

Addictive as hell!

But you need to know the basics of Regex! Because unfortunately, the explanations are really bare-bones.

(Reading the reviews, this put off a lot of people. Which is a shame: The Dev could just add more detailed, in depth explanations. All it costs is a bit of his time.)

If you actually want to learn Regex, one step at the time, each step with a detailed explanation plus an interactive example, go here: https://regexone.com/

I find this the easiest, best resource to get started with Regex.

Real player with 6.1 hrs in game

Copy Editor: A RegEx Puzzle on Steam

Code Romantic

Code Romantic

I am a rank amateur as far as coding goes, so I was excited about the promises this game made at the outset. I didn’t realize it, but I was prepared by previous experiences for there to be a somewhat solid logic problem element, and then a story that was written around the puzzles that, in the end, I probably could have done without.

Code Romantic is not that game! My expectations were blown away and I had a beautiful experience that I think is pretty uncommon: The puzzles served the story, which served the puzzles. I did not prefer one aspect of the game over the other, and in fact they are inextricably linked. So often, I go into games looking to enjoy some puzzles and practically disregard the writing. This game actually made me cry a couple of times.

Real player with 76.3 hrs in game

Disclaimer: I purchased the demo of this game on itch.io but was later asked to test the the final product so my experience was a mix of paid/ free.

Basically this game comes down to - do you want to fall in love while learning to code? For someone like me, who loves romance but also tech and is trying to learn how to code in C### but intimidated- this game is a godsend. No one is creating stuff like this; it is one of a kind. I got to learn to code and read code in the context of a heroic thrilling love story. It is a great mix of challenging with user action and rewarding with story. This game is super fun and fresh. The art and music is fantastic. The story and characters had me swooning, smiling, laughing and gasping like I was a teenager again with a mission, a crush and a bunch of friends and foes.

Real player with 11.5 hrs in game

Code Romantic on Steam

The Magic Circle

The Magic Circle

The Magic Circle is a unique puzzle game about game development, in many different ways. First of all, it’s set inside a game trapped in development hell for 20 years. It has a story centered around a few of the developers, an entity within the game known as the Old PRO, and the player. The developers are in a deadlock and can’t set aside five minutes for some simple playtesting without making a major fundamental design change. The PRO is sick of it, so he makes contact with a playtester (the player), and mentors them in the art of messing with the world from the inside.

Real player with 30.8 hrs in game

I’m writing this for the sole purpose of wrapping my head around the greatness of TMC. Not a review, but an amalgamation of thoughts, wrapped in words and with zero intent of being read by anyone.

Themes.

1. Absence creates presence.

The canvas here is the picture, like an alpha layer in an image editor, or as silence is what music is built on.

Lack of gameplay systems is the gameplay system. Lack of an art style makes up the the art style. Lack of a coherent story is the storyline. Lack of a finished score is the soundtrack. And the overall lack of polish was deliberately introduced to polish the whole experience.

Real player with 10.6 hrs in game

The Magic Circle on Steam

Levelhead

Levelhead

Whether you love designing levels or just love platformers in general this game is an instant buy! With a robust level editor, a system to get your level played, tight platforming, and endless content, this is the best Maker game ever made!

I originally purchased this game to help pass the time until Mario Maker 2, but was so amazed by the level editor I never left. From creating traditional platforming levels, to complex machines, the editor has almost unlimited potential. The editor is easy to learn, but extremely deep and robust to the allow for creating even the most complex contraptions.

Real player with 1953.5 hrs in game

Levelhead is the best level maker experience on the market.

Gameplay

Some describe it as a precision platformer, but it does not have to be. Even running around the most basic levels is enjoyable because the controls, character animations and sound design are spot on.

The main distinguishing gameplay feature is the grab/throw mechanic, which adds a ton of depth to the platforming and sets it apart from established franchises. The array of carry items can be used for platforming, puzzles, combat or even currency.

Real player with 1424.9 hrs in game

Levelhead on Steam

hack_me

hack_me

Hack Me is the beginning of a hack simulator gaming trilogy which no longer appears on the Steam Store. It was originally created by 2 Belarus Indie Developers Egor Magurin https://twitter.com/IndoversStudio and Eugene RadaeV. I find it ironic that these developers themselves were VAC banned and caught for cheating/hacking CSGO within 76 hrs of gameplay. Who better to sell us a hacking simulator than 2 has-been wannabe noob CSGO hackers? That’s poetry right there.

If you’re expecting this to be a realistic hacking simulator you will be quickly disappointed. It’s more a press spacebar or left mouse button simulator, with all the hacking jive being filled in for you. When you do come across area’s where you do get to type, you better put in the exact info needed or the game sort of locks up by not responding properly when you put in the correct answer soon thereafter. When this happens, you will need to escape back to main menu and reload chapter. There are 10 mission all up with 14 chapters, all of them involving you to toy around with at least one of the 3 hacking programmes on your desktop and either check your mail or chat for job information. There is also a hint button on the right-hand side to help you if you get stuck.

Real player with 12.1 hrs in game

Basic Information

Title: hack_me

Developers: Egor Magurin & Eugene Radaev

Publisher: MegawattsCo

Genre: Simulator

General Impression

Hacking simulations available for purchase on the Steam Store are neither a novelty nor even limited in numbers. Indeed this seems to be an ever expanding subgenre that attacts and nurtures a dedicated fanbase. That being said, hack_me might not revolutionize hacking sims but it doesn’t fail to deliver a compelling experience either. For a game that can be finished in about two hours or less (depending on how thorough and patient you are) it manages to offer exactly what it promises through the screenshots and gameplay video. In all honesty, it’s not the type of game that might get by with doctored images which would falsely advertise something else. What you see is what you get. Perhaps it still has some potential for gameplay expansion once it leaves Early Access stage.

Real player with 2.6 hrs in game

hack_me on Steam

Debugger 3.16 // Recoded // Despair of the Developer Edition

Debugger 3.16 // Recoded // Despair of the Developer Edition

my play through with all achievements done (first two didn’t unlock from glitch though): https://youtu.be/U2Lj9B9pZbo

Really fun platformer with some cool mechanics on how you can manipulate the world definitely look foward to the full release all the mini games could be a ton of fun with friends. The first mini game both the achievements glitched for me though I beat it and did it without the developers cheat and didn’t get either of those achievements. I’ll definitely (try to donate since it’s in a foreign currency I’m gonna have to try and figure that out) to the kick starter and I hope others will as well for the full release!

Real player with 1.7 hrs in game

he game is short but good, the creators recreated the old game with a bit of topron stuff, at the same time I can say that it is worth recommending metreoidvania, but it is a pity that it is short and you have a feeling that Spiderwork games has abandoned all work on this game, a bit simple story but a pretext for complete manipulation of objects, just a combination of useful and pleasant, this time without hindering things, making new in programming who do not understand everything too much can learn something, also a bit bothered me that only support for controllers and buttons for the keyboard were shown do not appear, I hope it will be thrown in the finished game, I wish the creators to finish the game from the kickstarter campaign as soon as possible and that the game will be very popular

Real player with 1.3 hrs in game

Debugger 3.16 // Recoded // Despair of the Developer Edition on Steam

Clip maker

Clip maker

This is a GEM. A Diamond in its own right!!!

Do you like Visual Novel? You can create all your scene with this program! Characters have hundreds of POSES to choose from already made to make it easier for you OR, you could do CLIPS (MOVIES) that you can use to do a VN that have ANIMATIONS IN SPECIAL SCENES YOU WANT! The possibilities are endless!

But please, please do not believe people negative reviews that were done a long time ago! On many front, this game is way better than it was before! The many different videos really help out understanding how everything works TOGETHER NOW!!!

Real player with 60.0 hrs in game

I will recomend overall ^^ although I’m having problems importing vroid models, the developer is really nice and I spoke to them myself, the issue is getting looked at and hopefuly getting fixed soon, I overall recomend this game, the nagivation might seem overwelming, but once you get your head arund it its quite easy t figure out, I like the features of this software, finally, found quite an easy 3D animation software that accepts vroid models, I can finally make vetter vtuber videos!

Real player with 19.7 hrs in game

Clip maker on Steam