SpaceChem is a puzzle game that is, conceptually, about building molecules with a series of automated mechanisms. The user controls the waldos that manipulate molecules only indirectly, by laying a series of "commands" along fixed paths for the waldos to operate over.
In essence, you're programming.
Like any good programming language, you have functions, which can have certain inputs and certain outputs. It also includes a sadly necessary element of many modern professional programmers lives: threading, race-conditions, and synchronization. Each "function" (aka: reactor) operates independently of the others, so you need to make sure that later reactors in the synthesis chain don't take too long, or products will back up in the pipeline and cause badness.
There are a plethora of commands, the combination of which allows you to do incredibly complex things. The level of computation you can get to, even before you get an explicit mechanism to store "state" in a reactor, is incredible. The game really encourages programmer thinking: how to break a problem down, look at it in pieces, and figure out a way to build what is needed from those pieces.
The game is good at teaching you how to do stuff, with increasingly less hand-holding as you progress. There are three kinds of levels. Reactor levels, where you make a specific product from a specific set of inputs in one "function"; these are mostly for training. Production levels, where you build multiple reactors to make a specific set of products from specific sets of inputs; these are the heart and soul of the game.
The only real problem with the game is the latter set of levels: Defense levels. These are highly annoying. And every "world" ends with one.
They're basically a way of gamifying the production mechanic. But ultimately, they only serve to twist the rules of the game. Normally, you design a synthesis pathway for production speed, efficiency, and fewest number of reactors. Defense missions throw all of that way, instead forcing you to follow some arbitrary set of rules. Initially these make for a semi-interesting diversion, but towards the middle of the game, they're just a distraction from what you're really here to do.
That minor annoyance aside, the game plays excellently, if programming's your thing.
A great game, slightly marred by annoyances
SpaceChem is a puzzle game that is, conceptually, about building molecules with a series of automated mechanisms. The user controls the waldos that manipulate molecules only indirectly, by laying a series of "commands" along fixed paths for the waldos to operate over.
In essence, you're programming.
Like any good programming language, you have functions, which can have certain inputs and certain outputs. It also includes a sadly necessary element of many modern professional programmers lives: threading, race-conditions, and synchronization. Each "function" (aka: reactor) operates independently of the others, so you need to make sure that later reactors in the synthesis chain don't take too long, or products will back up in the pipeline and cause badness.
There are a plethora of commands, the combination of which allows you to do incredibly complex things. The level of computation you can get to, even before you get an explicit mechanism to store "state" in a reactor, is incredible. The game really encourages programmer thinking: how to break a problem down, look at it in pieces, and figure out a way to build what is needed from those pieces.
The game is good at teaching you how to do stuff, with increasingly less hand-holding as you progress. There are three kinds of levels. Reactor levels, where you make a specific product from a specific set of inputs in one "function"; these are mostly for training. Production levels, where you build multiple reactors to make a specific set of products from specific sets of inputs; these are the heart and soul of the game.
The only real problem with the game is the latter set of levels: Defense levels. These are highly annoying. And every "world" ends with one.
They're basically a way of gamifying the production mechanic. But ultimately, they only serve to twist the rules of the game. Normally, you design a synthesis pathway for production speed, efficiency, and fewest number of reactors. Defense missions throw all of that way, instead forcing you to follow some arbitrary set of rules. Initially these make for a semi-interesting diversion, but towards the middle of the game, they're just a distraction from what you're really here to do.
That minor annoyance aside, the game plays excellently, if programming's your thing.