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I enjoyed both TIS-100 and Exapunks though I didn't have the patience to finish either of them. For me they get too hard (due to constraints) too fast (if not straight up obscure).

by fragmede1 days ago|

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> capturing the essence of what makes programming fun and put them into a game.

They definitely straddle there line between "those is a fun video game" and "it looks too much like my job" for people in the industry, but there's a whole genre of workplace simulators for doing other people's jobs vicariously. A semi truck driver would see playing a semi truck simulator in the same way, but American Truck Simulator is quite popular. Anyway, play Zachatronics games if you find them fun, but if you don't, then, uh, don't feel bad about not playing them.

by wishfish18 hours ago|

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There's a portion of American / European Truck Simulator's playerbase who are truckers. I've even seen a few streams from guys playing ATS/ETS in their sleeper cabs. Some of them have said the game is a way of processing the stresses in their jobs. I found that very interesting.

It's an interesting contrast to programmers and programming games. For me personally, the best way to process is to do just about anything else. Programming games are most fun when I haven't had to do much coding recently. Though sometimes, if I'm already in the flow, it's fun to play one of them and ace it since I'm already in the right mindset.

by vanderZwan12 hours ago|

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I feel the same as you about programming games, but can sort of see it for truckers, because surely some truck drivers picked that job because getting in the "flow" of long-distance driving appealed to them. I presume the trucking games try to appeal to exactly that feeling without, as you say, many of the actual stressors of the job.

So I can imagine it might let them reconnect with that feeling and be a relaxing experience much more easily than a programming puzzle game would let us reconnect with what we love about programming. Being a puzzle game it inherently will involve some frustration, which is the thing I want to escape from after a day of programming.

by yoyohello131 days ago|

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Too true. I used to absolutely love Zachtronics games. Then I became a professional programmer and I just can’t play the programming themed ones anymore. Kind of a shame because TIS-100 is what made me want to be a programmer in the first place.

by unsnap_biceps20 hours ago|

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As an older engineer, I love the Zachtronic games because they're pure development and I don't have to drive consensus or herd cats.

by lostdog19 hours ago|

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I should set up a LARP where 30 people solve TIS-100 together

by avanai17 hours ago|

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Make sure you get those JIRAs filed and pointed. Standup is at 10:30.

by bbkane6 hours ago|

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Hey can you do this high priority thing real fast? It shouldn't affect your timelines, just throw some AI at it

by Schlagbohrer11 hours ago|

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Will the LARP costumes require suits and ties and a Company Song, ala 1960s IBM, or require scruffiness and nap rooms ala dot-com-bubble tech startups?

by Thanemate22 hours ago|

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I used to feel the same but, with the LLM mandates made me have more fun playing Shenzhen I/O than actually programming at work. I'm one of "those people".

by dysoco22 hours ago|

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I have a strong feeling that with the advent of AI these kind of games are going to come back in style. Many programmers myself included aren't doing that much "coding" in the workplace anymore.

by yoyohello134 hours ago|

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For me, it’s less that I’m burned out on coding and more of a feeling that if I’m going to be doing puzzles in assembly I mine as well just do it in real assembly.

by yuye12 hours ago|

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Even if we ignore AI for a moment, I doubt many programmers actually solve the kind of challenges Zachtronics games are known for on a daily basis.

by Schlagbohrer11 hours ago|

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I love the Zachtronics games and Zach-likes, but, for hardware engineering the minor differences with reality drive me crazy. Such as the clock edge timing in Shenzhen I/O and other points where something so lifelike doesn't work the way I know it does in real life.

I also get this problem when I play Linux-terminal-emulating games like the various "global hacker" CLI based games.

by barbs19 hours ago|

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There's a good vice article about that very topic.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/why-do-we-play-video-games-t...

by enneff19 hours ago|

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I had a great evening with a friend playing through TIS-100 together. We plugged in two keyboards and mice so we didn't have to pass them back and forth.