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Zachtronics is a contender for the greatest game studio you've never heard of. If you're a fan of Factorio, you owe it to yourself to play SpaceChem, TIS-100,

by kibwen 3y ago

Zachtronics is a contender for the greatest game studio you've never heard of. If you're a fan of Factorio, you owe it to yourself to play SpaceChem, TIS-100, Shenzhen I/O, Opus Magnum, Exapunks, and Last Call BBS. (In fact, since Factorio was inspired by a Minecraft mod, and since Zachtronics' Infiniminer was the direct inspiration for Minecraft, there's no Factorio without Zachtronics!)

hnthrowaway0328 3y ago
Turing complete is also fun and challenging.
- lencastre 3y ago
  But the aesthetics are completely different and in a way different game mechanics. Both computer puzzles. No doubt TC is literally the representation of a computer as the goal of the main storyline.
  - Avshalom 3y ago
    Have you played kobctpyktop? http://thesiteformerlyknownas.zachtronicsindustries.com/kohctpyktop/ http://thesiteformerlyknownas.zachtronicsindustries.com/kohc...
    - jamilton 3y ago
      The game itself 404s for me, and looking it up, it used Flash. But it's included in Zach-like.
y1n0 3y ago
SpaceChem is ok, I didn't really like Shenzhen IO. Exapunks is pretty fun, but Opus Magnum is my favorite by a large margin.
- dcre 3y ago
  Try Infinifactory if you haven’t!
  - forty 3y ago
    I liked nearly every games by zachtronics (I even enjoyed Ironclads tactics which I don't think was as popular as some others) but not infinyfactory. I couldn't find the added value of 3d in a puzzle game.
- Negitivefrags 3y ago
  Your preferences are the exact reverse of mine!
romwell 3y ago
>HackerNews >Zachtronics >Never heard of Pick two.
- Freedom2 3y ago
  HackerNews and Never heard of.
  - romwell 3y ago
    That's why we're all here, aren't we? To discover things we haven't heard of. That's why it's Hacker News, not Hacker Common Knowledge.
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
- blowski 3y ago
  I had never heard of Zachtronics, and I've been on Hacker News since 2012.
  - romwell 3y ago
    OK, I stand corrected. I keep running into his games whenever I'm on the lookout for games, and he is heavily targeting engineer-minded people.
- pipe2devnull 3y ago
  I too have never heard of Zachtronics and I used to play lots of video games
  - romwell 3y ago
    Well, then you're about to discover something that might very much fit your interests. I am not a huge fan because it feels a bit too close to actual work, but TIS-100 has been on my to-play list for a long time (I've bought it ages ago).
Terr_ 3y ago
I think the best introductory recommendation would be the missing item: Infinifactory. It may not be as nakedly algorithmic as some of the others, but the visual impact of a solution is very satisfying--you might even be able to show it of to family members without their eyes totally glazing over. :p
- hcs 3y ago
  I tend to recommend Opus Magnum as an introduction, it's a lot easier to plan with, nice to look at, and has a somewhat more engaging story than most. I'm a big fan of all of the puzzle ones, though. SpaceChem had a huge impact on me, my most-viewed YouTube video is this one little clip from January 2, https://youtu.be/dlJmKqi6EEc https://youtu.be/dlJmKqi6EEc . But very hard to explain why it occupied my whole soul for a week!
  - bhaney 3y ago
    I tend to recommend that people ignore any recommendation to start with a specific Zachtronics game (unless they're getting the recommendation from someone who knows them personally). Different flavors of nerds seem to have vastly different preferences for the games, so it's probably much better to take a few minutes and check how interesting the core mechanic of each one is to you and pick based on that. Personally I enjoy working with electronics and assembly, and that translated to me really liking TIS-100 and Shenzhen I/O. Meanwhile Opus Magnum wasn't anywhere near as interesting to me and felt like kind of a slog.
haunter 3y ago
> Never heard of We are on HN
- frontalier 3y ago
  > We are on HN xkcd lucky ten thousand
  - sqeaky 3y ago
    > a contender for the greatest game studio you've never heard of. If getting 1 in 10,0000 right makes you a contender.
forty 3y ago
Yes! Spacechem is my favorite game ever, I finished the game a few times on tablet version (which has a few less puzzles than the desktop one if I remember correctly). Their other puzzle games are great too, but there is some minimalism and the simple tablet compatible UI (unlike say TIS100 which is minimalist in a way, but the interface is not as great - Spacechem can be played by kids easily) which for me makes it superior to the others.
pdpi 3y ago
Another couple of games in the same vein are Human Resource Machine and its "sequel" Seven Billion Humans (by roughly the same people who gave us World of Goo many years ago).
darzu 3y ago
I've tried many but never gotten into any Zachtronics games for one simple reason: they are all puzzle games. For me the motivation just never materializes. Contrast this to 100s of hours w/ each of Factorio, Satsifactory, and DSP amongst others.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

by kibwen 3y ago

hnthrowaway0328 3y ago

Turing complete is also fun and challenging.

lencastre 3y ago
But the aesthetics are completely different and in a way different game mechanics. Both computer puzzles. No doubt TC is literally the representation of a computer as the goal of the main storyline.
- Avshalom 3y ago
  Have you played kobctpyktop? http://thesiteformerlyknownas.zachtronicsindustries.com/kohctpyktop/ http://thesiteformerlyknownas.zachtronicsindustries.com/kohc...
  - jamilton 3y ago
    The game itself 404s for me, and looking it up, it used Flash. But it's included in Zach-like.

y1n0 3y ago

SpaceChem is ok, I didn't really like Shenzhen IO. Exapunks is pretty fun, but Opus Magnum is my favorite by a large margin.

dcre 3y ago
Try Infinifactory if you haven’t!
- forty 3y ago
  I liked nearly every games by zachtronics (I even enjoyed Ironclads tactics which I don't think was as popular as some others) but not infinyfactory. I couldn't find the added value of 3d in a puzzle game.
Negitivefrags 3y ago
Your preferences are the exact reverse of mine!

romwell 3y ago

>HackerNews >Zachtronics >Never heard of Pick two.

Freedom2 3y ago
HackerNews and Never heard of.
- romwell 3y ago
  That's why we're all here, aren't we? To discover things we haven't heard of. That's why it's Hacker News, not Hacker Common Knowledge.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
blowski 3y ago
I had never heard of Zachtronics, and I've been on Hacker News since 2012.
- romwell 3y ago
  OK, I stand corrected. I keep running into his games whenever I'm on the lookout for games, and he is heavily targeting engineer-minded people.
pipe2devnull 3y ago
I too have never heard of Zachtronics and I used to play lots of video games
- romwell 3y ago
  Well, then you're about to discover something that might very much fit your interests. I am not a huge fan because it feels a bit too close to actual work, but TIS-100 has been on my to-play list for a long time (I've bought it ages ago).

Terr_ 3y ago

I think the best introductory recommendation would be the missing item: Infinifactory. It may not be as nakedly algorithmic as some of the others, but the visual impact of a solution is very satisfying--you might even be able to show it of to family members without their eyes totally glazing over. :p

hcs 3y ago
I tend to recommend Opus Magnum as an introduction, it's a lot easier to plan with, nice to look at, and has a somewhat more engaging story than most. I'm a big fan of all of the puzzle ones, though. SpaceChem had a huge impact on me, my most-viewed YouTube video is this one little clip from January 2, https://youtu.be/dlJmKqi6EEc https://youtu.be/dlJmKqi6EEc . But very hard to explain why it occupied my whole soul for a week!
- bhaney 3y ago
  I tend to recommend that people ignore any recommendation to start with a specific Zachtronics game (unless they're getting the recommendation from someone who knows them personally). Different flavors of nerds seem to have vastly different preferences for the games, so it's probably much better to take a few minutes and check how interesting the core mechanic of each one is to you and pick based on that. Personally I enjoy working with electronics and assembly, and that translated to me really liking TIS-100 and Shenzhen I/O. Meanwhile Opus Magnum wasn't anywhere near as interesting to me and felt like kind of a slog.

haunter 3y ago

> Never heard of We are on HN

frontalier 3y ago
> We are on HN xkcd lucky ten thousand
- sqeaky 3y ago
  > a contender for the greatest game studio you've never heard of. If getting 1 in 10,0000 right makes you a contender.

forty 3y ago

Yes! Spacechem is my favorite game ever, I finished the game a few times on tablet version (which has a few less puzzles than the desktop one if I remember correctly). Their other puzzle games are great too, but there is some minimalism and the simple tablet compatible UI (unlike say TIS100 which is minimalist in a way, but the interface is not as great - Spacechem can be played by kids easily) which for me makes it superior to the others.

pdpi 3y ago

Another couple of games in the same vein are Human Resource Machine and its "sequel" Seven Billion Humans (by roughly the same people who gave us World of Goo many years ago).

darzu 3y ago

I've tried many but never gotten into any Zachtronics games for one simple reason: they are all puzzle games. For me the motivation just never materializes. Contrast this to 100s of hours w/ each of Factorio, Satsifactory, and DSP amongst others.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]