hackmud
There is a certain charm to Hackmud where, despite some of the flaws that I have been very much accustomed to over my 12,000 logged Steam hours in this game, I still continue to play this game, or at the very least have an interaction with it, daily. If I were to make a shortlist of my favourite video games of all time, would Hackmud be in this list? Compared to actual video gaming masterpieces? After a lot of deliberation, my answer is: “No at its core, but considering everything I’ve been through with it, yes”. Hackmud stands as a testament to the sheer entertainment potential of even the smallest and roughest of games with the right kind of mechanics to allow for infinite user-generated content.
– Real player with 21032.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Programming Cyberpunk Games.
This is one of my favorite games I’ve ever played. It’s hard to explain exactly what the draw is in a concise way, so be prepared for a little reading.
It’s easy to say that I love it for the scripting, which is my primary focus, but the reason I love it is so much more than that. The atmosphere really clicks for me, where the lore is presented “Dark Souls style”, which takes some digging to reveal - and what it shows you makes you want to know more. The npcs in this game talk from time to time, and as you see what they have to say you may start to realize they are not just making jokes, spamming weather reports, and adding to the lore, but they also hint at secrets that players can find.
– Real player with 3061.8 hrs in game
Code World
Greatly recommended if you are learning Python and already know the basic stuff. You inspect code and look for dependencies to figure out the puzzle - just like in real life. Music is relaxing and I like the concept a lot.
If you don’t know any programming language it is pretty hard, though.
Unfortunately, the game doesn’t support the German keyboard layout, so entering special characters like [] () = or : is a bit cumbersome.
– Real player with 29.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best Programming Automation Games.
This game does not touch upon object-oriented programming, nor does it implement try/except blocks. And that’s perfectly acceptable, since I can only imagine the hassle of trying to add those. But once I found out that things like:
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string slicing
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concatenation via multiplication (str * int)
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the ‘break’ keyword
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elif
are not supported, my eyebrow finally raised. Then there are the things that are partially implemented (ie. maimed) - tuples and dynamic typing. The Python in here is extremely barebones and so is the interpreter. It provides zero feedback on what went wrong, only that it did. And if you’re not careful and don’t use the Ctrl+C clipboard to store the latest version of your script, a syntax error will wipe all of your progress (by automatically restarting the level).
– Real player with 26.8 hrs in game
Markov Alg
Very cool puzzler and an amazing value. As previous reviewers said, it is somewhat reminiscent of Rogue Bit, but I found the format of individual self-contained puzzles, to be much more enjoyable. It is a game that requires logic and planning.
The puzzles start off easy taking less than a minute to solve, to some very interesting head-scratchers that take maybe 30 minutes. So it’s nice when you don’t have a lot of time for a long gaming session; you can get into the game complete a few levels (or in case of the later levels, just one), then quit with a sense of accomplishment and also not having to remember too much from one gaming session to the next.
– Real player with 11.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Programming Sokoban Games.
Very fun game! Some levels are absolute stumpers until you realize that one specific little thing…
– Real player with 6.6 hrs in game
Monster Logic
One of the best programming games I’ve played. Lots of levels and a variety of interesting ways to solve each one.. Competitive leaderboards, the top score in some of these puzzle are already pretty crazy. You are going to have to be super creative in order to match them. There are three categories for the leaderboards and your best score in each category for the puzzle is automatically saved. (Zachtrnoics take note please)
I have played almost every programming game on steam and this is probably my second favorite. With my favorite being EXAPUNKS
– Real player with 86.9 hrs in game
First off, I was a beta tester and received the game for free.
It might be scary for those who are not particularly into programming to look at the store page and see stuff like “Based on esoteric programming languages Befunge and Trefunge”. It could make you think this game is “too niche” and not for you.
Now, I don’t know whether you’ll actually like it or not, but let me tell you this: I had never even heard of Befunge or Trefunge before playing this, and I’m not a programming enthusiast or anything. I just looked at it as a fun puzzle game with cute monsters and animations and tried to solve the levels as best I could using good old logic.
– Real player with 54.5 hrs in game
Move Code Lines
Only partially through the second level but OMFG this “game” is actually incredible and I’m learning so much already I can’t imagine what I’ll learn by playing all the way through. DEFINITELY recommend if you’re interested in programming or learning about programming. The interface is really relaxing, one of the color themes is the old QBASIC editor theme xD and the music is super chill.
– Real player with 15.1 hrs in game
Stylishly executed game, with pleasant musical accompaniment. From the main screen greets you with its core mechanic, namely the ability to move the lines of the name of the game.
Programming language is a little bit similar to Python and to C++, but… in reality you do not need to program, just read a code lines and sort it to the right position for solving the puzzle.
At the initial stages, everything looks very simple, the solution of the issues can be found faster than you reading, intuitively bugs hunting. But the further you move through the list of levels, the more difficult it gets.
– Real player with 7.2 hrs in game
Cyborg Earthworm
Cyborg Earthworm is a “Snake” automation game. The worm follows the rules of the famous Snake game, and you can program it. Develop a strategy and let the worm follow it without your involvement.
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Solve and optimize 20+ areas, each of which contains a virtually unlimited number of procedurally generated levels.
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Watch the worm dominate the levels automatically without having to pilot it.
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Reach the maximum possible length, filling all free space.
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Use a variety of tools like paint spray for leaving marks in the soil and internal worm memory for tracking things.
EXAPUNKS
The best “Zach-like” game yet. Even if it is by Zach.
Another excellent puzzle game from Zachtronics. If you’ve never played a game like this before, this is an open-ended puzzle game. By “open-ended” I mean there is a problem you are trying to solve, and you are given tools (in this case a programming language for what appears to be tiny robots) to solve it as you choose. You build a solution to the presented problem. You win if the solution works but how you get to a working solution is up to you. There are limits to your freedom both by the language and what the “little robots” can accomplish at one time. The puzzle here revolves around writing little program fragments that unfold through parallelization into pretty impressive results. It is a complete programming language (although a very simple one) and even has a little test-bed where you can make your own creation without a specific goal.
– Real player with 107.5 hrs in game
The first Zachtronic game I found myself being able to complete and with extremely minimal help, more so due to that some puzzles are difficult to understand rather than writing the code itself. Even though the game does get hard, it does an excellent job of preparing you for the difficulty ahead. Even without any programming knowledge, you’ll be able to overcome the challenges this game poses. You can always see the exact end state the game wants you to leave the board in at any time, which serves as an excellent guide in what you’re meant to do.
– Real player with 87.6 hrs in game
Software Engineering Course / Informatyka - zrozum i zaprogramuj komputer
Software Engineering Course
The program was created on the basis of an engineering study program. No prior knowledge of any IT issues is required - we start with simple tasks and step by step learn the basics of computer programming.
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Lesson 1: Basic Logic - You learn the basic logical operations.
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Lesson 2: Gates And & Or - You build a machine controlled by electronic gates.
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Lesson 3: Exercises with Gates - You learn about more complex integrated circuits.
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Lesson 4: Binary Numbers
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Lesson 5: Single-bit Processor - You write the first programs - lighting the lights in the machine.
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Lesson 6: Programming Microprocessor - Assembler - This is the first difficult, complex lesson: you write assembler programs in machine language. You’ll see how the processor executes the commands, how the data is kept in memory, you will learn the basic instructions of the processor.
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Lesson 7: C Programming Language - You write simple programs and see how high-level programs are translated into the language of the processor instructions.
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Lesson 8: Objective Programming Basics - You program a robot that has to traverse the board with traps.
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Lesson 9: Computer Graphics Basics - You learn how images are stored, write pixel drawing programs, simple charts, test colors, and compress the image.
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Lesson 10: Hardware - Just a basic information.
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Lesson 11: Linux Operating System - You learn the basic shell commands, combine them into simple scripts.
Debugger 3.16: Hack’n’Run
I recommend this game as the first game in your quest to learn programming. I am on a quest to learn coding via games and thus I have played many games on Steam. This game is more ‘gamey’ than ‘teachy’ on coding in the same genre as what I call, dev team level editor. Dev team level editor games have level editors that are designed for developers or software testers. Since it is not meant for end users, the level editors are crude and often use command line rather than an easy to use GUI. The learning of coding comes as you gain more and more access to the level editor as you level up and play. Debugger 3.16 , explains concepts like variables as you unlock features. You change variables of built in program functions to do everything from healing, aiming, changing volume and more. You will not be learning much coding since you will be changing variables in the developer predefined functions. However actually typing out functions and changing variables got me comfortable and prepared me for other more code teaching games and tutorials.
– Real player with 35.1 hrs in game
I just finished the game and judging by the global achievements I was the very first to do so. Yay!
Right now there are 4 worlds and 4 bosses to beat and I had great fun doing so.
The neat thing about small indie games is that they sometimes come up with a new and fresh game mechanic. In this case it’s writing programming code to influence your character. You’ll learn something about coding and having fun at the same time. It’s a puzzle platformer with great graphics and a nice story to go with it.
– Real player with 34.6 hrs in game
CyberRebeat -The Fifth Domain of Warfare-
I’m a huge enthusiast for the cyperpunk genre, and a premise this unique at $5 was hard to pass up. I definitely enjoyed my time with CyberRebeat and would recommend it to anyone who find its premise or subject matter interesting, especially if you find it on sale like I did. However, it’s also important to note that, as a VN itself, its production quality is considerably underwhelming (though it thankfully did not deter my enjoyment as much as it may others).
Let’s start with the good though: The story is lengthy and very engaging. I found myself hooked from beginning to end and wanting more after the credits rolled. The characters and their designs are also a plus: I felt the characters were very well-rounded, not pulling too much (or too little) from their personality traits or backstories to leave a lasting impression on the reader. Background art doesn’t wow much but gets the job done and, similarly, the BGM is also enjoyable despite a relatively short track list (an OST release would be a nice bonus).
– Real player with 24.3 hrs in game
Video review (including score):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezTIrfJlKSQ
The rundown:
Pros:
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Good character designs
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Language-switching feature
Cons:
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Barebones settings menu
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Lack of keyboard controls
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Text issues
This visual novel is a rather odd release. On one hand, it is a VN about hackers and the world they live in, a concept rarely touched on in VNs. On the other, it is a freeware title that is still available to download on the developer’s website, although without the English translation. The game may have some good art, but it definitely shows signs of being a freeware title, and not in a good way.
– Real player with 17.1 hrs in game