7 ms·

Screeps – An MMO strategy sandbox game for programmers

269 points by antfarm 10y ago

timvdalen 10y ago
Really liked playing the beta (or was it alpha?) of this when it came out, but the pricing didn't really make sense for me. Paying per compute time works for businesses looking for flexible cloud solutions, but as an individual this makes playing the game much less fun (because you're constantly paying attention to the cost).
- rhaps0dy 10y ago
  It also implies some sort of pay to win - with more compute you can presumably do search algorithms that act smarter.
  - onion2k 10y ago
    If your code isn't good enough to compete against other players you'll actually be paying to lose...
  - lawless123 10y ago
    it would also make the game cheaper if you figure out less computationally intensive algos to win.
    - harigov 10y ago
      I guess that maybe the point of the game.
    - valarauca1 10y ago
      it would also make the game cheaper if you figure out les[s] computationally intensive algos to win. Yes but a player who was an absolute shite programmer could just throw their bank account at the problem. While my O(n) solution maybe eloquent, they can afford O(n^n) so provided our _players_ make the same outcome the algorithmic complexity is irrelevant if you can afford it. The game uses a soft turn based _ticks_ timer. So provided your O(n^n) solution can execute in 1 tick. Their is no difference.
      - archgoon 10y ago
        > The game uses a soft turn based _ticks_ timer. So provided your O(n^n) solution can execute in 1 tick. Their is no difference. I don't think you're giving your hypothetical shite programmer enough credit here.
      - dragonwriter 10y ago
        > Yes but a player who was an absolute shite programmer could just throw their bank account at the problem. Seems to model reality fairly well.
      - stcredzero 10y ago
        While my O(n) solution maybe eloquent Screeps has a speech API?
        KirinDave 10y ago
        Holy crap if Screeps allows webhooks to generate events to your modules you could easily use api.ai to do just that!
        stcredzero 10y ago
        Cool, but my comment was really a veiled correction to the previous comment's English.
        KirinDave 10y ago
        Cool, but that's an incredibly boring comment so I made it better. I am confused why you did not accept this pull request.
        stcredzero 10y ago
        Cool, but that's an incredibly boring comment It worked on you!
  - ggrochow 10y ago
    the current model is either pay the base-sub, or play in CPU limited mode. the only P2W interactions could be buying subscription tokens and selling them on the market for ingame credits (which you'd then use to buy more resources off the market from other players). You cannot purchase more compute time than the subscription allows CPU-Wise, if you pay the compute time is tied to your account level, with a hard-cap if you're level 30 (there are still only a few players that have achieved this, it takes many months)
- harigov 10y ago
  Maybe they should open this up as a AI programming platform and sell any algorithms that come out of it.
  - mdpopescu 10y ago
    I'm pretty sure that would quickly get them in trouble because of copyright issues...
    - JokerDan 10y ago
      Unless they explicitly stated any players submit their rights to ownership of the algorithms they write. Even then I feel an open source alternative geared towards research would be better than a for-profit closed source organisation, but they will have their own business needs and ideas they want to stick to.
      - y4mi 10y ago
        It says open source on steam and it links to a GitHub repo. Didn't verify, but seemed legit
  - stale2002 10y ago
    That's dumb. Any algorithms that players come up with will almost certainly only be useful for playing the game.
- NhanH 10y ago
  Back then, it was capped at $30,and unless you are in the top 10-20 players, you can get by with a lot less. In any case, the pricing model has changed and it is $9/month flat rate, so that concern is obsolete now.
  - keithnz 10y ago
    so, its now around the price of netflix? hmmmm, and could easily add up to a AAA game? seems a bit off
    - trothamel 10y ago
      Why? This is $84 a year for the high-end subscription, including Steam discounts, which isn't really that much money. I don't know if the game is any good, but if you're the type of person that considers it to be, that is the sort of money that can be well worth playing for the feelings of accomplishment the game provides. That's why games can have monthly costs that are similar to Netflix, with much less content - Netflix doesn't provide the same sort of sense of accomplishing something. (Let's ignore the fact that nothing in the game world might actually matter - it's the feeling that is important.)
    - JamesBarney 10y ago
      Only if you play it for more than 6 months which is a lot longer than I usually play a AAA game.
  - vans 10y ago
    far too high
    - brianwawok 10y ago
      Sound like perhaps you aren't the target market? People should be able to price at what they want to, without getting HN flak.
      - Y_Y 10y ago
- LanceH 10y ago
  I believe it is pay one price and you get as much computing ability as your level indicates.
  - libc 10y ago
    This is correct. If you buy it on Steam you get access to an offline/local server, in addition to being able to play in the persistent universe for free but with a severely limited CPU cap. There is also a way to purchase CPU time with ingame currency similar to EVE Online.
- brlewis 10y ago
  I wonder if they could pay for the service with recruitment ads targeted by demonstrated programming skill.
- ggrochow 10y ago
  Something worth mentioning, they recently introduced a "Subscription Token" item that you can purchase for real $, and sell on the market ingame for credits. That also means you can essentially purchase game-time for in-game credits I purchased the game, 2 months of subscription, and have been using ingame-credits to fund my sub for the following 5 months ( I've currently got an additional 4 months of time in tokens that im trading on the market as well ) While it did take some time to get ramped up, and I am in a safe area with my alliance. A player can, with a little market interaction, not pay IRL money for the game. (you will have to survive long enough to get there, expect to get killed off a few times before you figure out defense)
  - snerbles 10y ago
    This is the same concept as EVE's PLEX item, which was introduced to combat TOS-violating real money transactions. In-game prices are subject to in-game market fluctuations, which are relatively stable. Ever since then, any headline involving EVE player shenanigans and a dollar amount is derived from this one-way exchange rate.
- tedivm 10y ago
  Yeah you're definitely thinking of the old pricing model, which turned off a lot of people. The new model is a flat per month fee of $8, and you can't spend more money to get more CPU.
- JoeDaDude 10y ago
  The price on Steam allows one to play solo or on private servers without a subscription.
gargarplex 10y ago
If I put on my Product Manager hat: 1) Invest in good art 2) Tell me how long it takes to get up and running. Is there a walkthrough that can get me on the leaderboard in 10min? If so, I want to see it (and I don't want to pay).
- lurker456 10y ago
  To get on the leaderboard you need to buy the Steam version or a subscription. There is a free one room sandbox at https://screeps.com/a/#!/sim https://screeps.com/a/#!/sim however
- karlalexpauls 10y ago
  There are 3 more or less competitive open source bots/frameworks: BonzAI, tooAngel, and OCS. With these you can get started grinding and within 30 days if you invest your own time into code you'll more or less have access to endgame strategies (if someone with 6 months on you doens't wipe out yout).
zaroth 10y ago
C# team did something similar when it first came out, I can't remember what it was called. You wrote a module and submitted the code to run on their servers. It was a similar 'critter' game where your code hunted for food, tried to reproduce, and competed with other code running in the same sandbox. There was a limited energy budget which was the main constraint on your code and meant you had to conserve energy and optimize your moves in order for your organism to thrive. It was a really neat way to learn the language and highlighted the security of the interpreter that they could sandbox your code. I'm sure there must be precursors to even that, probably written in Smalltalk or Mumps or something.
- aquark 10y ago
  Terrarium ... still has a repo at https://github.com/terrariumapp https://github.com/terrariumapp
- gus_massa 10y ago
  IIRC they had a central server for coordination, but the code was run on the clients machines. You submitted the compiled CLR bytecode version of your C# program, and it was run in any machine. A part of the objective was to show that the bytecode was sure enough to be freely distributed, downloaded and automatically run.
goodjam 10y ago
How far are we from paying people to play a programming game, while using their code/solutions for solving problems?
- lewilewilewi 10y ago
  That's basically this, right: https://www.starfighters.io/ https://www.starfighters.io/
  - nottorp 10y ago
    The actual game site looks slashdotted... well, HN-ed...
    - lurker456 10y ago
      I too tried to sign up, unfortunately it has closed down
      - nottorp 10y ago
        Well, the SSL cert having expired 135 days ago should have been a hint - which i ignored ofc.
        nomadic_09 10y ago
        I almost feel guilty. I remember hearing about starfighters.io sometime back and putting on my ever-growing tab of "Visit on freetime", but now it's--in all likelihood--gone forever.
  - gazarsgo 10y ago
    last email I got from them was 12/12/15 about the launch of stockfighter.io ... which is also dead as is their Discourse :(
libc 10y ago
A lot of comments here are focusing on the pricing and ignoring the 'sandbox' part of the game's description. There is a leaderboard you can try to climb but it is reset monthly and isn't really shoved in your face. Beyond that you're free to set whatever goals you want and go about them however you wish, with the principles of other strategy games (harvest resources, build things, attack enemies, etc.) to give you ideas. It's really a game about you and your code and how it grows and evolves as your goals and strategies become more complex. Screeps is definitely worth trying, if for no other reason than to learn javascript at a deeper level if you don't use it extensively. I do have a couple of issues though: The first is that it is quite resource intensive considering its simple 2D visuals, both in the browser and the standalone client. I'm not sure if it is just poor optimization or the javascript runtime but it shouldn't make my machine hot. It'd be nice if this were addressed. The second issue I have is the workflow, which doesn't lend itself well to source control. The ingame editor works well enough, but its idea of a "branch" is just a named copy of the code directory. I think there is a way to integrate with github but I don't want to upload everything to the cloud just to be able to track changes. It would be nice if this area were looked at and made more flexible so we could use our tools of choice.
- NhanH 10y ago
  They have well supported API to push your code into it (alongs with gulp/ grunt package to do so, I think). So you can work in your favourite environment and just "deploy" the code as normal, or am I missing anything?
  - ggrochow 10y ago
    that is correct, also a GH integration, so you can have it reload your code as you push updates a github repo.
  - libc 10y ago
    I admittedly haven't explored it in great detail, but when I've asked on their Slack channel a lot of people seem to just use the ingame tools which are "good enough".
lurker456 10y ago
quite pricey for what it is, but well worth it if you've got a programming itch to scratch and like playing RTS games.
iblaine 10y ago
Here's a neat map of screeps http://www.leagueofautomatednations.com/map http://www.leagueofautomatednations.com/map
- lurker456 10y ago
  here are a few links: ingame live map, sadly requires signup (free account will do): https://screeps.com/a/#!/map https://screeps.com/a/#!/map shows alliances (player made, not part of the game, js heavy): http://www.leagueofautomatednations.com/map http://www.leagueofautomatednations.com/map another alliance view: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cz1HZrEUcAExwYa.jpg:large https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cz1HZrEUcAExwYa.jpg:large
notheguyouthink 10y ago
Would it be possible to (now or eventually) play this game with "all" languages? Part of the value of this to me, would be doing it in languages i love, or want to learn, etc. Using a language i dislike, or even are indifferent about, means the gameplay itself has to pull all of my entertainment.. weight, if you will. Thoughts?
- ggrochow 10y ago
  You can play this game in languages that transpile to javascript, but sadly the server runs all your code and is only setup to handle JS. Thankfully tons of stuff transpiles to JS easily, and off the top of my head, I know theres a python starter somewhere, and im sure you could find some for other languages
- connorcpu 10y ago
  I guess in theory you could use any language that can be compiled into asm.js, although you'd need to make a lot of bindings to their JS API
MayeulC 10y ago
This game reminds me of leekwars [1], though the latter is not an MMO. And is (was?) completely free. I feel that AI games like these can be a great introduction to programming (and maybe to emphasise the usefulness of free software, or at least free libraries/tools). [1] https://leekwars.com/ https://leekwars.com/
matty22 10y ago
To anyone who plays, what's the ramp up time look like? It seems like such an interesting concept, but I often find that games like this have so much of their own vocabulary that it often doesn't feel like I'm writing JavaScript (or insert language here), it feels like I'm writing ScreepsScript. Same with Code Combat and some other coding games.
- ggrochow 10y ago
  Its actually quite well paced, due to how you progress through the game in real-time. You start out with access to a limited sub-set of the API, since you cannot build all the buildings/creep parts yet. First you're required to level your room up by upgrading your controller, which to get your first room up to the max level, can take weeks/months of RL time. ( but the game plays itself, and is always running ) The API you use at first is quite small, and takes care of some things like path-finding already, so you don't have to re-build that, though you totally can if you want. Heres[1] an example of some logic to get all your creeps mining from their closest source. Not use-able in a real-world script as the actual logic is awful, but the fun comes from figuring out what does work. You can check out the API here[2] [1]https://gist.github.com/ggrochow/db8986d2627d02c992f65cc0cce5d73c https://gist.github.com/ggrochow/db8986d2627d02c992f65cc0cce... [2]http://support.screeps.com/hc/en-us/articles/203084991-API-Reference http://support.screeps.com/hc/en-us/articles/203084991-API-R...
- tedivm 10y ago
  I've been playing for over a year now and the ramp up really isn't bad at all- there are a ton of new players starting all the time, and the map continues to expand so new players aren't right up against old ones. You can probably get a basic one room AI going in a weekend, and then continue to expand it over time. The great thing about this game is that if you "die" you still have all the progress you've made with your code, so restarting doesn't hurt too much. With regards to the "ScreepsScript" idea- there definitely is a small amount of that but it's pretty minimal. There is also a huge community on the screeps slack network that makes it a lot easier to get into the game.
KirinDave 10y ago
This looks like a very fun opportunity to really bite into PureScript and use it in unusual contexts!
- hoodunit 10y ago
  Yes, it's fun. I wrote a wrapper for playing Screeps with PureScript and a blog post about it here: http://blog.ndk.io/purescript-ffi.html http://blog.ndk.io/purescript-ffi.html.
  - KirinDave 10y ago
    I just have to say that a mere upvote does not convey the level of my enthusiasm for what you linked me. I'm so glad someone else thought of it too.
yoodenvranx 10y ago
While we are talking about games for programmers: Is there any game where cheats and bots are allowed or even encouraged? Like an egoshooter or an RPG which you can play in a normal way but you are also free to add your own aimbots and wallhacks and stuff like that?
- Leftium 10y ago
  "You Have to Hack This Massively Multiplayer Game to Beat It" http://pwnadventure.com/ http://pwnadventure.com/

269 points by antfarm 10y ago

Really liked playing the beta (or was it alpha?) of this when it came out, but the pricing didn't really make sense for me. Paying per compute time works for businesses looking for flexible cloud solutions, but as an individual this makes playing the game much less fun (because you're constantly paying attention to the cost).

rhaps0dy 10y ago
It also implies some sort of pay to win - with more compute you can presumably do search algorithms that act smarter.
- onion2k 10y ago
  If your code isn't good enough to compete against other players you'll actually be paying to lose...
- lawless123 10y ago
  it would also make the game cheaper if you figure out less computationally intensive algos to win.
  - harigov 10y ago
    I guess that maybe the point of the game.
  - valarauca1 10y ago
    it would also make the game cheaper if you figure out les[s] computationally intensive algos to win. Yes but a player who was an absolute shite programmer could just throw their bank account at the problem. While my O(n) solution maybe eloquent, they can afford O(n^n) so provided our _players_ make the same outcome the algorithmic complexity is irrelevant if you can afford it. The game uses a soft turn based _ticks_ timer. So provided your O(n^n) solution can execute in 1 tick. Their is no difference.
    - archgoon 10y ago
      > The game uses a soft turn based _ticks_ timer. So provided your O(n^n) solution can execute in 1 tick. Their is no difference. I don't think you're giving your hypothetical shite programmer enough credit here.
    - dragonwriter 10y ago
      > Yes but a player who was an absolute shite programmer could just throw their bank account at the problem. Seems to model reality fairly well.
    - stcredzero 10y ago
      While my O(n) solution maybe eloquent Screeps has a speech API?
      - KirinDave 10y ago
        Holy crap if Screeps allows webhooks to generate events to your modules you could easily use api.ai to do just that!
        stcredzero 10y ago
        Cool, but my comment was really a veiled correction to the previous comment's English.
        KirinDave 10y ago
        Cool, but that's an incredibly boring comment so I made it better. I am confused why you did not accept this pull request.
        stcredzero 10y ago
        Cool, but that's an incredibly boring comment It worked on you!
- ggrochow 10y ago
  the current model is either pay the base-sub, or play in CPU limited mode. the only P2W interactions could be buying subscription tokens and selling them on the market for ingame credits (which you'd then use to buy more resources off the market from other players). You cannot purchase more compute time than the subscription allows CPU-Wise, if you pay the compute time is tied to your account level, with a hard-cap if you're level 30 (there are still only a few players that have achieved this, it takes many months)
harigov 10y ago
Maybe they should open this up as a AI programming platform and sell any algorithms that come out of it.
- mdpopescu 10y ago
  I'm pretty sure that would quickly get them in trouble because of copyright issues...
  - JokerDan 10y ago
    Unless they explicitly stated any players submit their rights to ownership of the algorithms they write. Even then I feel an open source alternative geared towards research would be better than a for-profit closed source organisation, but they will have their own business needs and ideas they want to stick to.
    - y4mi 10y ago
      It says open source on steam and it links to a GitHub repo. Didn't verify, but seemed legit
- stale2002 10y ago
  That's dumb. Any algorithms that players come up with will almost certainly only be useful for playing the game.
NhanH 10y ago
Back then, it was capped at $30,and unless you are in the top 10-20 players, you can get by with a lot less. In any case, the pricing model has changed and it is $9/month flat rate, so that concern is obsolete now.
- keithnz 10y ago
  so, its now around the price of netflix? hmmmm, and could easily add up to a AAA game? seems a bit off
  - trothamel 10y ago
    Why? This is $84 a year for the high-end subscription, including Steam discounts, which isn't really that much money. I don't know if the game is any good, but if you're the type of person that considers it to be, that is the sort of money that can be well worth playing for the feelings of accomplishment the game provides. That's why games can have monthly costs that are similar to Netflix, with much less content - Netflix doesn't provide the same sort of sense of accomplishing something. (Let's ignore the fact that nothing in the game world might actually matter - it's the feeling that is important.)
  - JamesBarney 10y ago
    Only if you play it for more than 6 months which is a lot longer than I usually play a AAA game.
- vans 10y ago
  far too high
  - brianwawok 10y ago
    Sound like perhaps you aren't the target market? People should be able to price at what they want to, without getting HN flak.
    - Y_Y 10y ago
LanceH 10y ago
I believe it is pay one price and you get as much computing ability as your level indicates.
- libc 10y ago
  This is correct. If you buy it on Steam you get access to an offline/local server, in addition to being able to play in the persistent universe for free but with a severely limited CPU cap. There is also a way to purchase CPU time with ingame currency similar to EVE Online.
brlewis 10y ago
I wonder if they could pay for the service with recruitment ads targeted by demonstrated programming skill.
ggrochow 10y ago
Something worth mentioning, they recently introduced a "Subscription Token" item that you can purchase for real $, and sell on the market ingame for credits. That also means you can essentially purchase game-time for in-game credits I purchased the game, 2 months of subscription, and have been using ingame-credits to fund my sub for the following 5 months ( I've currently got an additional 4 months of time in tokens that im trading on the market as well ) While it did take some time to get ramped up, and I am in a safe area with my alliance. A player can, with a little market interaction, not pay IRL money for the game. (you will have to survive long enough to get there, expect to get killed off a few times before you figure out defense)
- snerbles 10y ago
  This is the same concept as EVE's PLEX item, which was introduced to combat TOS-violating real money transactions. In-game prices are subject to in-game market fluctuations, which are relatively stable. Ever since then, any headline involving EVE player shenanigans and a dollar amount is derived from this one-way exchange rate.
tedivm 10y ago
Yeah you're definitely thinking of the old pricing model, which turned off a lot of people. The new model is a flat per month fee of $8, and you can't spend more money to get more CPU.
JoeDaDude 10y ago
The price on Steam allows one to play solo or on private servers without a subscription.

gargarplex 10y ago

If I put on my Product Manager hat: 1) Invest in good art 2) Tell me how long it takes to get up and running. Is there a walkthrough that can get me on the leaderboard in 10min? If so, I want to see it (and I don't want to pay).

lurker456 10y ago
To get on the leaderboard you need to buy the Steam version or a subscription. There is a free one room sandbox at https://screeps.com/a/#!/sim https://screeps.com/a/#!/sim however
karlalexpauls 10y ago
There are 3 more or less competitive open source bots/frameworks: BonzAI, tooAngel, and OCS. With these you can get started grinding and within 30 days if you invest your own time into code you'll more or less have access to endgame strategies (if someone with 6 months on you doens't wipe out yout).

zaroth 10y ago

C# team did something similar when it first came out, I can't remember what it was called. You wrote a module and submitted the code to run on their servers. It was a similar 'critter' game where your code hunted for food, tried to reproduce, and competed with other code running in the same sandbox. There was a limited energy budget which was the main constraint on your code and meant you had to conserve energy and optimize your moves in order for your organism to thrive. It was a really neat way to learn the language and highlighted the security of the interpreter that they could sandbox your code. I'm sure there must be precursors to even that, probably written in Smalltalk or Mumps or something.

aquark 10y ago
Terrarium ... still has a repo at https://github.com/terrariumapp https://github.com/terrariumapp
gus_massa 10y ago
IIRC they had a central server for coordination, but the code was run on the clients machines. You submitted the compiled CLR bytecode version of your C# program, and it was run in any machine. A part of the objective was to show that the bytecode was sure enough to be freely distributed, downloaded and automatically run.

goodjam 10y ago

How far are we from paying people to play a programming game, while using their code/solutions for solving problems?

lewilewilewi 10y ago
That's basically this, right: https://www.starfighters.io/ https://www.starfighters.io/
- nottorp 10y ago
  The actual game site looks slashdotted... well, HN-ed...
  - lurker456 10y ago
    I too tried to sign up, unfortunately it has closed down
    - nottorp 10y ago
      Well, the SSL cert having expired 135 days ago should have been a hint - which i ignored ofc.
      - nomadic_09 10y ago
        I almost feel guilty. I remember hearing about starfighters.io sometime back and putting on my ever-growing tab of "Visit on freetime", but now it's--in all likelihood--gone forever.
- gazarsgo 10y ago
  last email I got from them was 12/12/15 about the launch of stockfighter.io ... which is also dead as is their Discourse :(

libc 10y ago

A lot of comments here are focusing on the pricing and ignoring the 'sandbox' part of the game's description. There is a leaderboard you can try to climb but it is reset monthly and isn't really shoved in your face. Beyond that you're free to set whatever goals you want and go about them however you wish, with the principles of other strategy games (harvest resources, build things, attack enemies, etc.) to give you ideas. It's really a game about you and your code and how it grows and evolves as your goals and strategies become more complex. Screeps is definitely worth trying, if for no other reason than to learn javascript at a deeper level if you don't use it extensively. I do have a couple of issues though: The first is that it is quite resource intensive considering its simple 2D visuals, both in the browser and the standalone client. I'm not sure if it is just poor optimization or the javascript runtime but it shouldn't make my machine hot. It'd be nice if this were addressed. The second issue I have is the workflow, which doesn't lend itself well to source control. The ingame editor works well enough, but its idea of a "branch" is just a named copy of the code directory. I think there is a way to integrate with github but I don't want to upload everything to the cloud just to be able to track changes. It would be nice if this area were looked at and made more flexible so we could use our tools of choice.

NhanH 10y ago
They have well supported API to push your code into it (alongs with gulp/ grunt package to do so, I think). So you can work in your favourite environment and just "deploy" the code as normal, or am I missing anything?
- ggrochow 10y ago
  that is correct, also a GH integration, so you can have it reload your code as you push updates a github repo.
- libc 10y ago
  I admittedly haven't explored it in great detail, but when I've asked on their Slack channel a lot of people seem to just use the ingame tools which are "good enough".

lurker456 10y ago

quite pricey for what it is, but well worth it if you've got a programming itch to scratch and like playing RTS games.

iblaine 10y ago

Here's a neat map of screeps http://www.leagueofautomatednations.com/map http://www.leagueofautomatednations.com/map

lurker456 10y ago
here are a few links: ingame live map, sadly requires signup (free account will do): https://screeps.com/a/#!/map https://screeps.com/a/#!/map shows alliances (player made, not part of the game, js heavy): http://www.leagueofautomatednations.com/map http://www.leagueofautomatednations.com/map another alliance view: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cz1HZrEUcAExwYa.jpg:large https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cz1HZrEUcAExwYa.jpg:large

notheguyouthink 10y ago

Would it be possible to (now or eventually) play this game with "all" languages? Part of the value of this to me, would be doing it in languages i love, or want to learn, etc. Using a language i dislike, or even are indifferent about, means the gameplay itself has to pull all of my entertainment.. weight, if you will. Thoughts?

ggrochow 10y ago
You can play this game in languages that transpile to javascript, but sadly the server runs all your code and is only setup to handle JS. Thankfully tons of stuff transpiles to JS easily, and off the top of my head, I know theres a python starter somewhere, and im sure you could find some for other languages
connorcpu 10y ago
I guess in theory you could use any language that can be compiled into asm.js, although you'd need to make a lot of bindings to their JS API

MayeulC 10y ago

This game reminds me of leekwars [1], though the latter is not an MMO. And is (was?) completely free. I feel that AI games like these can be a great introduction to programming (and maybe to emphasise the usefulness of free software, or at least free libraries/tools). [1] https://leekwars.com/ https://leekwars.com/

matty22 10y ago

To anyone who plays, what's the ramp up time look like? It seems like such an interesting concept, but I often find that games like this have so much of their own vocabulary that it often doesn't feel like I'm writing JavaScript (or insert language here), it feels like I'm writing ScreepsScript. Same with Code Combat and some other coding games.

ggrochow 10y ago
Its actually quite well paced, due to how you progress through the game in real-time. You start out with access to a limited sub-set of the API, since you cannot build all the buildings/creep parts yet. First you're required to level your room up by upgrading your controller, which to get your first room up to the max level, can take weeks/months of RL time. ( but the game plays itself, and is always running ) The API you use at first is quite small, and takes care of some things like path-finding already, so you don't have to re-build that, though you totally can if you want. Heres[1] an example of some logic to get all your creeps mining from their closest source. Not use-able in a real-world script as the actual logic is awful, but the fun comes from figuring out what does work. You can check out the API here[2] [1]https://gist.github.com/ggrochow/db8986d2627d02c992f65cc0cce5d73c https://gist.github.com/ggrochow/db8986d2627d02c992f65cc0cce... [2]http://support.screeps.com/hc/en-us/articles/203084991-API-Reference http://support.screeps.com/hc/en-us/articles/203084991-API-R...
tedivm 10y ago
I've been playing for over a year now and the ramp up really isn't bad at all- there are a ton of new players starting all the time, and the map continues to expand so new players aren't right up against old ones. You can probably get a basic one room AI going in a weekend, and then continue to expand it over time. The great thing about this game is that if you "die" you still have all the progress you've made with your code, so restarting doesn't hurt too much. With regards to the "ScreepsScript" idea- there definitely is a small amount of that but it's pretty minimal. There is also a huge community on the screeps slack network that makes it a lot easier to get into the game.

KirinDave 10y ago

This looks like a very fun opportunity to really bite into PureScript and use it in unusual contexts!

hoodunit 10y ago
Yes, it's fun. I wrote a wrapper for playing Screeps with PureScript and a blog post about it here: http://blog.ndk.io/purescript-ffi.html http://blog.ndk.io/purescript-ffi.html.
- KirinDave 10y ago
  I just have to say that a mere upvote does not convey the level of my enthusiasm for what you linked me. I'm so glad someone else thought of it too.

yoodenvranx 10y ago

While we are talking about games for programmers: Is there any game where cheats and bots are allowed or even encouraged? Like an egoshooter or an RPG which you can play in a normal way but you are also free to add your own aimbots and wallhacks and stuff like that?

Leftium 10y ago
"You Have to Hack This Massively Multiplayer Game to Beat It" http://pwnadventure.com/ http://pwnadventure.com/