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Lightbot: Puzzles Game Using Programming Logic
- slazaro 9y agoI remember playing it years ago, it's very well designed and even as a software developer, some of the later puzzles took a while to figure out. ...I think I'll play again.
- Double_a_92 9y agoTricked my nieces into programming with that. :D
- sokoloff 9y agoYeah, my kids love[d] it and it was totally worth buying it. My one complaint was that it got too hard "all of the sudden". It seems like more puzzles in the middle difficulty level would increase the value and replay-ability of the game.
- hargriffle 9y agoI agree. I have been playing this with my daughter (she's 6) a bit. It is fun and she really enjoyed the early parts. We got to a part requiring the recursive calling of a function and she didn't bat an eyelid at the idea of it.
- sokoloff 9y agoYeah. Strangely [to me], my kids (then 4 and 6) had more trouble with the "do I turn left or right?" than they did with recursion.
- Aissen 9y agoIf you're interested in this type of games… Look at any game from Zachtronics: http://www.zachtronics.com/ http://www.zachtronics.com/ . Plus maybe Human Resources machines: https://tomorrowcorporation.com/humanresourcemachine https://tomorrowcorporation.com/humanresourcemachine
- bananicorn 9y agoWhoa - he's responsible for infiniminer? Considering Minecraft was built on top of it, I wonder how much credit he's been given... Also, most of these games actually look like you could learn something from them, while having fun...
- whatshisface 9y agoMinecraft wasn't built on top of infiniminer, it was inspired by it. The games are actually extremely different if you play them.
- 0xBA5ED 9y ago+1 for Zachtronics. I recommend Opus Magnum! You can try their old game "The Codex of Alchemical Engineering" for free on their site to see if it might be your cup of tea.
- pjmlp 9y agoThanks for spoiling my commute times. :)
- gcatalfamo 9y agoHuman Resources machines is a true gem.
- Will_Parker 9y agoI second Human Resources Machine. I just finished all the optimization challenges last weekend and it was extremely rewarding. I'd say it's more about assembly language than general programming. You never (really) get enough power, with the 9 opcodes it gives you, to set up subroutines or functions. And many of the monstrosities that end up solving the problem would probably horrify Dijkstra in his grave. :)
- tekromancr 9y agoYea! ShenzenIO is my jam! i have probably dumped dozens of hours playing that.
- kranner 9y agoToday's Google Doodle is relevant to this. https://www.theverge.com/tldr/2017/12/4/16733396/googles-doodle-50-years-kids-coding-december-4 https://www.theverge.com/tldr/2017/12/4/16733396/googles-doo...
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- tasuki 9y agoCheck out RoboZZle, which is more advanced (including eg call stack, enabling some fancy tricks): http://robozzle.com/ http://robozzle.com/
- tromp 9y agoSeconded; robozzle offers more variety and bigger challenges.
- 110011 9y agoAmen. There are some truly mind bending puzzles there.
- ateesdalejr 9y agoWow I'd never heard of it before. I've tried it for a bit and just love it. Though I wish the js version wasn't beta and it didn't require silverlight.
- aalleavitch 9y agoI’ll definitely share this one with my nephews.
- notanai 9y agoSimilar to https://www.apple.com/swift/playgrounds/ https://www.apple.com/swift/playgrounds/
- afghanPower 9y agoI wish that was available for Android/PC/Linux.
- megamindbrian2 9y agoI loved this game for years.
- kentt 9y agoMy neice and nephew love this game. They're 5 & 7. My only complaint is that I think the difficulty ramps up a bit fast or their could be a bit more easier levels. Would pay for that.
- dunham 9y agoIt looks like they have a Jr game - maybe that doesn't ramp up as fast? My 5 yr old tried human resource machine the other day, got a couple of levels, but that ramped up way too fast for him. I'm afraid that this might ramp up a bit fast, too, but maybe the Jr version would work. He also plays with "hopscotch" - which is free and a little more free-form. It has some nice tutorial videos that walk you through building various simple games, or you can just do your own thing. (NB - he can read, which helps with that app.) We're also gonna give the Lego Boost a go this Christmas (partially because I wanna play with it) - it also has a similar block-style of programming, but you get to move a physical robot. (Or any other lego creation.)
- _raoulcousins 9y agoIs there something similar for Xbox One? Would love to get something like this for my niece and nephew.
- ropable 9y agoAnyone looking for a similar type of programming game, but as a tabletop boardgame, look up RoboRally. It's a competitive MP game, but it's a great basic introduction to writing a program. A good family game, as well as one to play with adults.
- Maultasche 9y agoI got this game for my kids (6 and 7). They haven't quite got the concept yet, but I think they'll understand it soon. They can make the robot go straight no problem, but they still have problems figuring out when to put down the left and right tiles. I also play the board game Robot Turtles with them. It's like a simpler version of Lightbot with physical tiles to move around. They do understand how Robot Turtles works, so Lightbot shouldn't be far behind.
- eilyra 9y agoThe name and art seemed familiar, I remember playing an old Flash version[0] of this. Cool game from what I remember. [0]https://www.kongregate.com/games/Coolio_Niato/light-bot https://www.kongregate.com/games/Coolio_Niato/light-bot
- sriku 9y agoThe thinkfun series is also awesome - http://www.thinkfun.com/learn-coding/ http://www.thinkfun.com/learn-coding/ Appears related to lightbot, but it's closer to cellular automata - where the robot has a state that determines its next step. It's played using cards, which feels more fun strangely. My 10yr old loved it.