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So ... not enjoyable? I have yet to try it, but I was thinking of giving it a shot after reading so many positive comments.

by elbear 3y ago

falcolas 3y ago
IMO, it's more like circuit design than programming. Similar mindset, slightly different method of solving issues. And personally, if you're a fan of puzzles and optimization, I think you'll love it. There's an amazing amount of gameplay for the price. Worst case, you're out $35 and supporting an amazing developer.
jl6 3y ago
You can play it in many different ways. One advanced playstyle is to use combinators heavily, but you don't need to. A lot of people get hooked on optimizing their factories, which leads down a rabbit hole of ratio calculation, but that's also not required. It's perfectly enjoyable without doing anything extremely technical.
- rgoulter 3y ago
  I'd say "feels like programming" applies to even a vanilla playstyle. Broadly, the game is about building up systems. Even in a disorganised first playthrough, you'll naturally find 'systems' for solving things. (They'll just be hard to change, and hard to scale up, and hard to build upon). Which is somewhat similar to how a someone who just learned to program might be able to complete a task, but probably in a way a more experienced dev wouldn't.
shepherdjerred 3y ago
There's a free demo on Steam. Like anything, you're going to find people in both camps. The only way to know is to try it yourself.
dexwiz 3y ago
You can do a lot of programming activities but different than web standards. It leans more into process engineering concepts. You can program. But it’s ladder logic and expressions instead of text. You can build dependency injection but it’s a rail network instead of annotation. Many similar concepts but expressed in a different form.
rgoulter 3y ago
I like how someone described it: - I feel the same engagement as programming, but I don't have to be reliable or be told what to do: amazing. - I feel the same engagement as programming, but I don't get anything out of doing it: this feels like work.
- elbear 3y ago
  Yeah, the first one sounds good.

So ... not enjoyable? I have yet to try it, but I was thinking of giving it a shot after reading so many positive comments.

by elbear 3y ago

So ... not enjoyable? I have yet to try it, but I was thinking of giving it a shot after reading so many positive comments.

falcolas 3y ago

IMO, it's more like circuit design than programming. Similar mindset, slightly different method of solving issues. And personally, if you're a fan of puzzles and optimization, I think you'll love it. There's an amazing amount of gameplay for the price. Worst case, you're out $35 and supporting an amazing developer.

jl6 3y ago

You can play it in many different ways. One advanced playstyle is to use combinators heavily, but you don't need to. A lot of people get hooked on optimizing their factories, which leads down a rabbit hole of ratio calculation, but that's also not required. It's perfectly enjoyable without doing anything extremely technical.

rgoulter 3y ago
I'd say "feels like programming" applies to even a vanilla playstyle. Broadly, the game is about building up systems. Even in a disorganised first playthrough, you'll naturally find 'systems' for solving things. (They'll just be hard to change, and hard to scale up, and hard to build upon). Which is somewhat similar to how a someone who just learned to program might be able to complete a task, but probably in a way a more experienced dev wouldn't.

shepherdjerred 3y ago

There's a free demo on Steam. Like anything, you're going to find people in both camps. The only way to know is to try it yourself.

dexwiz 3y ago

You can do a lot of programming activities but different than web standards. It leans more into process engineering concepts. You can program. But it’s ladder logic and expressions instead of text. You can build dependency injection but it’s a rail network instead of annotation. Many similar concepts but expressed in a different form.

rgoulter 3y ago

I like how someone described it: - I feel the same engagement as programming, but I don't have to be reliable or be told what to do: amazing. - I feel the same engagement as programming, but I don't get anything out of doing it: this feels like work.

elbear 3y ago
Yeah, the first one sounds good.