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I keep returning to Zachtronics games endlessly in my free time, despite doing engineering work for 8-10 hours a day for the last months. Sure they're a bit of

I keep returning to Zachtronics games endlessly in my free time, despite doing engineering work for 8-10 hours a day for the last months. Sure they're a bit of a facsimile of a programming challenge, but they're pretty tough problems, especially in the ones that are basically using assembly. I even had someone reference that my latest Opus Magnum creation looks like cellular automata. If you can simplify the problem/solution space into a puzzle, give me a leaderboard to compete against, more specifically let me compete against the people I care about, and give it the barest amount of polish, it's the kind of thing someone like me would obsess over.

the__alchemist 1y ago
Zachtronics games are great! Very challenging. They made a big splash with Space Chem a while back. I need to go back to Opus Magnum and finish it...
- hcs 1y ago
  Zach's next game Kaizen comes out tomorrow! https://coincidence.games/kaizen/ https://coincidence.games/kaizen/
  - jader201 1y ago
    Oooh… a factory automation Zachtronics game?? Take my money.
  - zeristor 1y ago
    Sounds like it’s come out just in time. I thought Zachtronics had given up making games for some reason. Or did I dream that, if I did that would be really weird.
    - xingped 1y ago
      They did stop. I'm also confused that there's a new game.
  - JimiofEden 1y ago
    Very exciting - Thank you for sharing! I knew that there was a new game on the way, but I had no idea it was so immediate!
  - peddling-brink 1y ago
    What a coincidence, I love games like kaizen.
  - xingped 1y ago
    I thought Zachtronics shut down/wasn't making any more games? Are they back? If so, why?
jader201 1y ago
I need to try some of their other ones. I’ve only played Opus Magnum, which I loved. But being the completionist that I am, I stopped playing it once I got to a level I wasn’t able to perfectly optimize across all three measurements.
ryandv 1y ago
> Sure they're a bit of a facsimile of a programming challenge, but they're pretty tough problems, especially in the ones that are basically using assembly. They are indeed "real," bonafide (though perhaps sophomoric) programming problems. There is an Exapunks puzzle that has you implement a form of binary tree search/traversal in assembly.
- recursivegirth 1y ago
  Esoteric programing languages is the term you both are looking for. I think the Zachtronic languages fit firmly in there somewhere. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esoteric_programming_language https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esoteric_programming_language
  - ryandv 1y ago
    Usually I see that term applied to Turing tarpits, intentionally obfuscated languages, joke/meme languages, or ones with highly heterodox syntax. Zachtronic languages are really none of these and closer to an assembly (reduced) instruction set architecture. What makes them toy-like languages is that the "machine" you're writing assembly for is rather oversimplified, and is in fact totally fictitious.
RataNova 1y ago
Wild how often these games end up sparking ideas or techniques I end up using IRL

the__alchemist 1y ago

Zachtronics games are great! Very challenging. They made a big splash with Space Chem a while back. I need to go back to Opus Magnum and finish it...

hcs 1y ago
Zach's next game Kaizen comes out tomorrow! https://coincidence.games/kaizen/ https://coincidence.games/kaizen/
- jader201 1y ago
  Oooh… a factory automation Zachtronics game?? Take my money.
- zeristor 1y ago
  Sounds like it’s come out just in time. I thought Zachtronics had given up making games for some reason. Or did I dream that, if I did that would be really weird.
  - xingped 1y ago
    They did stop. I'm also confused that there's a new game.
- JimiofEden 1y ago
  Very exciting - Thank you for sharing! I knew that there was a new game on the way, but I had no idea it was so immediate!
- peddling-brink 1y ago
  What a coincidence, I love games like kaizen.
- xingped 1y ago
  I thought Zachtronics shut down/wasn't making any more games? Are they back? If so, why?

jader201 1y ago

I need to try some of their other ones. I’ve only played Opus Magnum, which I loved. But being the completionist that I am, I stopped playing it once I got to a level I wasn’t able to perfectly optimize across all three measurements.

ryandv 1y ago

> Sure they're a bit of a facsimile of a programming challenge, but they're pretty tough problems, especially in the ones that are basically using assembly. They are indeed "real," bonafide (though perhaps sophomoric) programming problems. There is an Exapunks puzzle that has you implement a form of binary tree search/traversal in assembly.

recursivegirth 1y ago
Esoteric programing languages is the term you both are looking for. I think the Zachtronic languages fit firmly in there somewhere. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esoteric_programming_language https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esoteric_programming_language
- ryandv 1y ago
  Usually I see that term applied to Turing tarpits, intentionally obfuscated languages, joke/meme languages, or ones with highly heterodox syntax. Zachtronic languages are really none of these and closer to an assembly (reduced) instruction set architecture. What makes them toy-like languages is that the "machine" you're writing assembly for is rather oversimplified, and is in fact totally fictitious.

RataNova 1y ago

Wild how often these games end up sparking ideas or techniques I end up using IRL