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I think Euro Truck Simulator was the first game of this sort that I can think of that really had some kind of broad-ish appeal to it. Not necessarily “mundane
by rubyist5eva 4y ago
I think Euro Truck Simulator was the first game of this sort that I can think of that really had some kind of broad-ish appeal to it. Not necessarily “mundane chore” but more like “job is a game” game.
My father in law is a trucker and the only video game he plays is the Euro/American Truck Simulator games. Which I find interesting because I don’t think I would ever be interested in a game where you write computer software as the main goal.
- capitol_ 4y agoMaybe you like factorio? That is surprisingly similar to software dev IMHO.
- satsuma 4y agoi'd argue factorio is closer to electrical engineering than software dev, but it definitely scratches the same itch of a well-engineered solution to a novel problem.
- rubyist5eva 4y agoI had to stop playing Factorio because I felt it was too much like work. The “obsessive refacoring and optimization” aspects of the game are like crack cocaine to me.
- WJW 4y agoThere are several games like this in the "Zachtronics" genre, like Shenzen I/O or Exapunks. They revolve around programming puzzles, often with very low level languages or with other constraints. They can be a lot of fun, especially because there is often a real sense of progress. The story evolves after each puzzle you solve, instead of just "there is another ticket waiting for you in JIRA" style tedium that a programming job can be like.
- rubyist5eva 4y agoEven Factorio was too much like programming to me and I had to stop playing because it became too much like work. I can’t imagine a game where I actually have to write anything closer to software than that.
- Cthulhu_ 4y agoI know of a lot of software developers who LOVE Factorio, because it ticks the boxes that their day job doesn't while using the same problem solving whatsits.
- rubyist5eva 4y agoI guess I'm lucky that I personally feel like I have a job that ticks the boxes, so I can focus on "non-boxes" outside of my day job :)
- gigaflop 4y agoTIS-100 may still be of interest to you. It involves a highly-constrained development environment, with very clear goals, on a very unfamiliar style of system. It's more of a puzzle game with programming elements, than a programming game. Understanding how code works simply makes it easier.
- _old_dude_ 4y agoI will show my age, but did you try core war [1, 2] ? [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_War [2] https://www.corewar.io/ https://www.corewar.io/