Play with chemicals. In space.

[Panopticon]

So I'd seen this game called SpaceChem talked about on various blogs like Rock, Paper, Shotgun and Penny-Arcade. I always said, hey I should check that out because I like a good puzzle. Laziness, procrastination and general brain damage interfered as per usual though. So I hadn't actually checked it out until it hit Steam this week with a nice meaty demo.

And holy molely this thing is some kind of great puzzle game. I've never played another one like it before so that makes the mechanics pretty tricky to explain here. Suffice to say that this is one great puzzle game, it's nothing like any of the match three games out there (and if you are on this forum, you probably already own the best puzzle game of that type anyway ), and the demo is a great taste of the gameplay and the games features, which includes the ability to upload your solution to your Youtube account through an automated, in game process. I'll post this one from a puzzle I completed last night.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXd0WxMVaZs

What in Bob Dobbs name is going on there, you ask? Beats me, but I like it!

So yeah, if you don't have an aversion to Steam you can grab the demo off the store page as usual. If you are Steamophobic, then you can download the demo and purchase the game here. And I suggest purchasing the game from Zachtronics if you like it regardless, because similar to our favorite developer, you can register the keys from the Zachtronics store in Steam if you wish to do so. This is good because then you get all of the benefits of Steam (if you are so disposed) and Zachtronics gets all the monies for his awesome game. That's a win win in my book.

PS; No actual chemistry, engineering or space travel experience necessary to play this game. I'm barely intelligent as it is, kind of like a really active fungus.

PPS fake edit: One more time. You can get the game here.

[Ixiohm]

May I compliment you taste in games

I found out about this game thru Jay Is Games the day before it hit Steam. And I love it 
I think its best described as molecular manufacturing. So far I have only played the demo, but I am likely to by it when I reach the end of the demo, so far I’m bending my mind around the third challenge on the third planet.

Another great - but different - "Chem." puzzler is http://www.kongregate.com/games/AtomicCicada/minim, here the goal is something like activating bounds between atoms to collapse a 3D molecule into nonexistence

[eRe4s3r]

If only it were more fleshed out - larger field, more tools better construction phase, proper campaign and better economics, maybe even a tycoon-esque management with different worlds and resources, transport schedules etc.

What is it with Indy games never pushing their idea to the full 100% ? They always stop around 20% (The idea) and then just make the idea look nice! Makes me sad. That way all thats left is a interesting puzzle, but not a good game. Talking about spacechem btw

It is still worth the money of course... but it could have been so much more.

[Panopticon]

There is an editor coming soon and he's adding two more processes to the game. That's a decent bit of content to add on its own.

Outside of that, I think it comes down to balancing time in development with what the developer wants to charge for the game. The stuff you mention would be great, of course, but that would be a pretty large load for one guy to deal with. You have to draw the line somewhere or else you end up in the hole before you ever get your game out of the door.

[eRe4s3r]

Yeah thats true But this game screams "more"

Imagine you could plan out the entire chemical processes to produce fuel, wares etc. Then use them to make a profit, plan freighter schedules etc.

Spacechem could have become the next Transport Tycoon (more or less) ;P. Just in space

[Echo35]

Spacechem could have become the next Transport Tycoon (more or less) ;P. Just in space

That would totally make it worth it.

[Panopticon]

Maybe this news will make it totally worth it?

Introducing ResearchNet, the official intergalactic-intranet used by SpaceChem for sharing reaction engineering research!

Arriving in the form of a free, not-yet-dated update for SpaceChem, ResearchNet will allow you to create your own research assignments, share them with friends, and submit them to the Journal of Reaction Engineering, an in-game “publication” featuring the best assignments made by both SpaceChem engineers (you guys) and Zachtronics Industries designers (me).

-From the Zachtronics website.

Click the link for more info! (I hate killing traffic to a well deserving website.)

[zebramatt]

What is it with Indy games never pushing their idea to the full 100% ? They always stop around 20% (The idea) and then just make the idea look nice! Makes me sad. That way all thats left is a interesting puzzle, but not a good game.

Time, money and effort?

[eRe4s3r]

Well i guess you are dead on. But if its a single developer i don't believe "time" and "money" are relevant. Look at AI War - from 1.0 to 5.0 its like a different game. But most indy games just content with polishing whats there, instead of extending it to make a truly good game.

This is imo why a lot of Indy games fall flat on their face, they stop improving their game when its released. Clearly if you have a good idea, you should strive to fully exploit it. I mean, thats how artists work!

Anyway, i am just grumpy that a lot of Indy games forget to include the game

[BobTheJanitor]

I played the demo for 5 or so hours and didn't see an end in sight, so I went ahead and bought this. What really amazes me about it is that 95% of the game is played in your mind. I spend way more time staring at the screen and pondering than I do in actually placing components. And then I run it once and see what I screwed up and sit and ponder again for a while. I find myself thinking of puzzles when I'm away from the game as well, and then getting ideas and bringing them back later to solve something that was vexing me. Pretty fantastic little game, I'd say.

[zebramatt]

Wow, that does sound good!

Maybe I'll give this a look.

[Commiesalami]

As a chemist I am appalled at the horrible chemistry in this game.   But that said, I do like the concept and like the idea of making a huge industrial system like this.  I forwarded it to some chemical engineers I know and they think it's kind of a fun means of refinery design (Without having to worry about all sorts of sensors, removing side products, reaction yields, safety equipment and other stuff that you have to think about in real life.)

[BobTheJanitor]

As a non-chemist, I can happily accept magical machines that can grab a single atom and twist it off to go rebind it somewhere else. You know, sufficiently advanced technology and all that. (see Clarke's third law)

My advice would be to not think about the trappings too much and focus on the mind bending puzzles instead.

[zespri]

Does anyone know what is the keyboard shortcut for undo / redo buttons?

EDIT: Ctrl-Z for undo, there seem to be no button for redo and also no button to change the element colour once it's placed. (you can still do it with mouse)

[Nalgas]

I think its best described as molecular manufacturing.

I think it's best described as Multi-Threaded Programing: The Game: IN SPACE.  I'm actually thrilled that it doesn't have any of the sim elements that eRe4s3r wants, because that would detract from the pure logic puzzle elements of it.  They basically managed to make debugging race conditions fun.  They just give you a set of inputs and outputs and have you write a program to get from one to the other, and you can optimize for run time, code length/efficiency, and/or number of processes/threads.  It may be (fake) chemistry-themed, but it's pure programming in disguise.  And also awesome.