History Main / ProgrammingGame

* There was a ''Series/DoctorWho''
** ''Doctor Who and the Mines of Terror'' for the Commodore 64, Spectrum [=ZX80=] and BBC Micro, where Colin Baker's Doctor had a robot cat, Splinx, which could be programmed through a series of simple commands to go to various markers (which you can drop or throw), pick things up, put them down, return to the Doctor, and so forth. Since Splinx was invisible and invulnerable to the many monsters, this was the technique of choice for getting objects out of dangerous territory. It probably helped that most users had some exposure to programming anyway, since BASIC was pretty much the C64 and [=ZX80=]'s entire operating system, and BBC's Acorn OS was similar.

Not to be confused with InteractiveFiction, GameMaker, or UsefulNotes/GameEngine. Other genres of game can have elements of this through GameplayAutomation.

* ''VideoGame/{{Automachef}}'' has you build and program a restaurant kitchen.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screen_2.jpg]]

* ''VideoGame/PonyIsland'' has this as a large part of the game. The goal is to get a key icon to the end command by placing command blocks to make it go down, left, right, back to the start (which means failure in most cases), or more advanced things like portal blocks (if the key reaches one, it skips to the other) or a "splitter" that makes the key go down, but creates a second one on the right. Later puzzles also require passing through certain bits of code enough times to bring variables to a correct value, while avoiding code that will reset the values.One portion also mixes things up by [[spoiler:forcing you to pick the commands in a certain order while also having a demon automatically place one command for each you place or move ]].

** ''VideoGame/{{EXAPUNKS}}'' is themed around 90's style Hollywood hacking. You are tasked with programming [=EXAs=], autonomous programs that move around whatever host you are trying to subvert.

* ''VideoGame/{{Colobot}}'' is a mixture of this and a RealTimeStrategy game, where you are you given various robots at your disposal that you can program yourself, with your task being finding a new planet for humanity to colonize. The language they use, [=CBOT=], is based on real programming languages like C++ and Java, and it offers you quite a lot of freedom in setting up the tasks for the robots. With the right coding, you are able to order robots to do things like automatically collecting ore, bringing it to the nearest ore refinery and then placing the resulting titanium somewhere aside, or having the shooter robots become turrets that automatically turn towards targets and shoot at them when they get close enough.

* Most games by Creator/ZachtronicsIndustries (former tagline “games for engineers”). Notably:

** ''VideoGame/{{Last Call BBS}}'' features three programming games: ''20th Century Food Court'', ''[=ChipWizard=]™ Professional'', and ''X’BPGH: The Forbidden Path''.

* ''Videogame/TheRobotClub'' is an obscure robot-building game that's most notable for it's wide variety of silly parts (i.e. "poop detector") and laughably [[{{Narm}} Narmic]] GreenAesop.

* Every game by Creator/ZachtronicsIndustries (former tagline “games for engineers”). Most notably:

*** This game received a {{Spiritual Successor}} in the form of '[=ChipWizard=]™ Professional'' in Zachtronics's later game, ''VideoGame/{{LastCallBBS}}''.

** ''VideoGame/{{LastCallBBS}}'' features three programming games: ''20th Century Food Court'', ''[=ChipWizard=]™ Professional'', and ''X’BPGH: The Forbidden Path''.

* ''Loop Odyssey'' is a game where you have only four basic commands (Move, Interact, Speak, and Attack) and a limited pool of mana to determine how far you can travel. As you complete loops and familiarize yourself with the map, moving and interacting with entities costs less mana, allowing you to advance farther.
* ''VideoGame/JumpStartAdventures3rdGradeMysteryMountain'' has one in the form of the Robot Maze, in which you unscramble a series of commands that when ordered correctly will enable a robot to reach a box. The maze contains obstacles, such as cliffs, mud puddles, and on the higher levels, enemy robots. In some places, gaps can be crossed over a log or bridge, but the robot has to be explicitly commanded to use them or else he'll just walk off the cliff. The higher levels also add in teleporters.

* Averted for humorous purposes by ''VideoGame/DandyDungeon''. It sells itself as "the world's first '''R'''omance '''P'''rogramming '''G'''ame" ([[FunWithAcronyms check out the initials]]), but while the main character is a programmer you don't have to program anything, instead it's more of a puzzle game where you have to set a track to cover the whole dungeon grid. It's not a real RPG either, it's all part of its nature as an AffectionateParody of video game industry.

* The boardgame ''TabletopGame/RoboRally'' is something of a programming game. At the start of each turn, you 'program' the moves for your robot (turn, move forward, move backward, etc), and hope none of the other players' robots get in your way. It's a very fun game.

* ''VideoGame/CoreWars'' is frickin' hardcore. Hoo-ah. HOO-AH!
** For the uninitiated, ''Core Wars'' is a simulation of an old-fashioned computer's memory. Players write programs in Redcode (an assembler-style language) to attack other programs; common tactics include attempting to overwrite, crash, or enslave by various means. Competitions are generally one-on-one, with a King Of The Hill format being typical for most servers and some tournaments.

* ''VideoGame/JumpStartAdventures3rdGradeMysteryMountain'' has one in the form of the Robot Maze, in which you unscramble a series of commands that will enable a robot to reach a box. The maze contains obstacles, such as cliffs, mud puddles, and on the higher levels, enemy robots. In some places, gaps can be crossed over a log or bridge, but the robot has to be explicitly commanded to use them or else he'll just walk off the cliff. The higher levels also add in teleporters.

* [[https://twitter.com/tweet2doom Tweet2Doom]] is an experimental project that turns ''Videogame/{{Doom}}'' into this, by way of shareware and inputting the commands via a tweet in ''Website/{{Twitter}}''.

* There was a ''Series/DoctorWho'' platform game on the Commodore 64, where Colin Baker's Doctor had a robot cat, Splinx, which could be programmed through a series of simple commands to go to various markers (which you can drop or throw), pick things up, put them down, return to the Doctor, and so forth. Since Splinx was invisible and invulnerable to the many monsters, this was the technique of choice for getting objects out of dangerous territory. It probably helped that most C64 users had some exposure to programming anyway, since BASIC was pretty much the C64's entire operating system.

* The "See the Dalek from a different angle" minigames in ''The Doctor and the Dalek'', since it was intended as an EdutainmentGame to teach kids the basics of programming.

* ''VideoGame/Codemancer'' reskins the programming concept into a fantasy setting - each object has a script that it follows, and the player needs to write a script to get themselves to the destination. Unlike other programming games, it's real-time and your script needs to be initiated at the right time.

* ''[[VideoGame/{{Automachef}}'' has you build and program a restaurant kitchen.

* ''VideoGame/GameBuilderGarage'' is an expansion of the Labo Garage where the player uses animated nodes called Nodons to make simple if/then statements and then create characters and items to use them.

* ''VideoGame/ArmadilloRun'', that makes use of a physics engine. Set up a bunch of platforms and ropes of varying material, start the process, and hope your armadillo (actually a ball) finds its way to the portal.

* ''VideoGame/{{Untrusted}}'', ([[http://alexnisnevich.github.io/untrusted/ Found here]]), exaggerates this trope. Though initially the game looks like a roguelike, the main draw of the game is using Javascript to edit each level. Beginning tasks include removing obstacles, creating walls to block an attack drone, and revealing the locations of hidden mines.

** Its sequel, ''VideoGame/SevenBillionHumans'' has you control multiple workers to complete tasks - moving into multithreading.

* ''VideoGame/BabaIsYou'' is a mix of a BlockPuzzle game and a programming game, where the main rules are physical items within the game's screen, as three-words long, basic sentences (Such as "[[PlayerCharacter Baba is You]]", "Flag is Win" and "Wall is Stop"). You can push these words to mix-and-match them together. For example, making "Flag is You" will allow the player to control the flag, while removing the "Stop" from "Wall is Stop" will make the walls traversable. As the game progresses, you're given more and more rules and the opportunity to make longer and more elaborate sentences to change the level rules in increasingly complex ways, culminating in [[spoiler:the ability to change rules on ''the world map itself'' to reach hidden areas]].