Since it's a Daily Deal on Steam today, I want to take the opportunity to recommend SpaceChem if you have any interest in puzzle games.
The premise is that you have a machine that can manipulate atoms according to a limited set of instructions, a supply of some molecules, and a burning desire for some other molecules. Each level starts you up with a blank slate in which to implement a solution.
Image may contain spoilers if you look hard enough to remember itIf this looks like your idea of a good time you've probably played the game before, but picking it up is really fast. The game starts with a few tutorial levels and each new mechanic is introduced with a simple problem. The benefit of this is you can spend all your brainpower on solving, optimizing and re-solving the actual problems, which, later on, are anything from deceptively complex to just plain complex. Particularly interesting are the 'production' problems where you have to balance your intermediate outputs so that the system doesn't grind to a halt because you can't get more oxygen until you eat all your hydrogen, young man.
This is not a game for everyone, for exactly the same reason as it is a great game for some: the puzzles require real thought to solve at all and have a lot of potential for optimization. The game displays a graph of global high scores for each level, which compels you to get on the left side of the curve and shows that there must be some really clever non-obvious solutions because yours is still not close to the fastest.
Clearly there's a reason I haven't pursued a career in game reviewing, but if you enjoy logical problem-solving, try the demo. That should give you a good idea whether it's your game.
To summarize: We heard you liked programming, so we made a programming simulator so you can program while you take a break from programming.
Topic: The Gaming Postwhoring Thread (Read 1009872 times)