Programming Game: Difference between revisions
Rescuing 1 sources and tagging 0 as dead.) #IABot (v2.0.8
m (Mass update links) |
(Rescuing 1 sources and tagging 0 as dead.) #IABot (v2.0.8) |
||
| (4 intermediate revisions by 2 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{
A game, usually a [[Puzzle Game]] or a [[Simulation Game]], in which the player has little to no direct control over the game's events. Instead, the player's task is to "set up" the solution, then hit a "go" switch to activate the solution and see if it accomplishes the task correctly. Setting up the solution may require enqueuing objects with a list of commands to follow, or arranging objects on the game board to change the way they react to one another. If the solution contains elements of randomness or is particularly complex, the player will need to perform [[Trial and Error Gameplay|many unsuccessful test runs]] to adjust the solution before finding one that works.
[[Programming
Not to be confused with [[Interactive Fiction]]. Other genres of game can have elements of this through [[Gameplay Automation]].
{{examples}}
* ''[[The Incredible Machine]]'' was one of the first such games and the [[Trope Codifier]] for many of the common elements of the genre (no characters, using an array of items that react to each other in various ways to set up a field to achieve a certain goal upon activation, steep difficulty curve).
* Every game by [http://www.zachtronicsindustries.com/ Zachtronics Industries] (former tagline “games for engineers”). Most notably:
Line 28 ⟶ 29:
** For the uninitiated, ''Core Wars'' is a simulation of an old-fashioned computer's memory. Players write programs in Redcode (an assembler-style language) to attack other programs; common tactics include attempting to overwrite, crash, or enslave by various means. Competitions are generally one-on-one, with a King Of The Hill format being typical for most servers and some tournaments.
* Origin (of ''Ultima'' and ''Syndicate'' fame) published a game called ''Omega'' where you programmed robotic tanks using a structured form of BASIC, then set them battling each other.
* ''[[Globulation]] 2'' is a partial example. It
* The Neo Geo Pocket Color game ''[[Faselei]]!'' was played by loading commands into the CPU of your [[A Mech by Any Other Name|Toy Soldier]]. Naturally, upgrades included the amount of commands you could execute in a turn, the amount of commands you could store in your CPU, and the quality and versatility of the commands themselves.
* The strategy game ''Spartan'' is like this. In an effort to simulate the difficulty of communicating over the din of battle on ancient battlefields and the rarity of complex tactics, it gives you a limited number of commands you can issue at the start of battle and only three options (all charge, rally, and all retreat) for modifying your army's behavior in the midst of combat. ''The History Channel: Great Battles of Rome'' uses a modified version of the same engine which allows a limited degree of direct control over your units during battle, but it remains a partial example.
* ''The Experiment'' is an adventure game with the premise that you aren't actually the one doing the exploration in the game. You're trapped in a room from which you use an advanced surveillance system to enable another character's exploration of the wrecked ship/lab the game is set in.
* An old PlayStation [[Real Time Strategy]] game called ''Carnage Heart'' involved programming an army of mecha, essentially constructing flowcharts to determine their actions.
* ''[[Toribash]]'' somewhat fits into this category. Two players fight each other with 3D stickmen, but they have to control all limbs individually. Each player gets about 20 seconds to make adjustments, then the fight advances slightly, adjust again until pre-determined victory conditions are set.
* ''[[Colobot]]'' allows you to write your very own AI for the titular bots.
* There was a ''[[Doctor Who]]'' platform game on the Commodore 64, where Colin Baker's Doctor had a robot cat, Splinx, which could be programmed through a series of simple commands to go to various markers (which you can drop or throw), pick things up, put them down, return to the Doctor, and so forth. Since Splinx was invisible and invulnerable to the many monsters, this was the technique of choice for getting objects out of dangerous territory. It probably helped that most C64 users had some exposure to programming anyway, since BASIC was pretty much the C64's entire operating system.
Line 45 ⟶ 46:
* ''[[The Robot Club]]'' is an obscure robot-building game that's most notable for it's wide variety of silly parts (i.e. "poop detector") and laughably [[Narm|Narmic]] [[Green Aesop]].
* In ''[[Gratuitous Space Battles]]'', you design ships, construct a fleet, and issue orders. The individual captains then follow their own initiative within the confines of those orders.
* ''A.I. Wars'' is an interesting game where you write the AI of either robotic bugs in ''Insect Wars'' or tanks in ''Armor Commander'' using a special programming language for the game, available [http://www.tacticalneuronics.com/content/aiw3dnew.asp here].
* In ''[[Dwarf Fortress]]'', you can decide who goes into the military, who's allowed to do what, and what needs to be done, up to "Workshop #11 takes materials only from stockpile #5, which allows only this and that", but ultimately it's up to your dwarves to decide who does it, and when and with what it gets done.
** Automation based on [[Pressure Plate]]s and various other mechanisms, with dwarf-operated levers or more pressure plates for input. The !!Science!! of "[http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Computing Dwarfputing]" recognizes Animal<ref>differs from Creature in ''how'' they use the path finding algorithm</ref>, Creature, Fluid, Mechanical and Minecart based logic - though of course, there are different implementations within each category and hybrid systems. Every conventional logical element can be made, allowing systems of complexity up to fully programmable Dwarven Computer and weirdness beyond ''Incredible Machine'' can be, and were, made. Topics like ''more economical'' water logic or use of [[Our Werebeasts Are Different|werebeasts]] to synchronize clocks are not uncommon on the forum.
* The Avalon Hill board game ''Gunslinger''. The players program action sequences much like in [[Robo Rally]], but different actions take different time. You can spend actions totalling up to 5 segments, representing two seconds of game time.
* ''[[Chip Wits]]'' has you assemble the eponymous robots' flowchart-style AI out of draggable icons. It's one of the few Programming Games aimed at children.
* A series of two burglary-based games called ''The Clue'' and ''The Sting'' went a step further with this. You had to plan an entire burglary from start to finish, by issuing exact orders and timings to each of your burglars. Then, you'd watch the heist take place and hope your plan would work out as well as it did in the training.
* ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20110502193346/http://www.brothersoft.com/games/mindrover.html MindRover: The Europa Project]'' is a vehicle-based 3rd-person shooter where you preprogram the vehicles to fight each other using a visual programming interface. (There are also race and 'sumo' modes). The premise is also pretty entertaining: basically there are a bunch of scientists working on Jupiter's moon Europa and they're boooooored. Programming the miniature vehicles called 'Rovers' to fight each other is just their way of killing time...
* ''[http://galaxyhack.sourceforge.net/screenshots.php Galaxy Hack]'' sets entire fleets of spaceships against each other, helpless except for the AI you write and assign them. Oh, and their weapons.
* The (now open-source) robot fighting game ''Roboforge'' is built around this.
Line 61 ⟶ 63:
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Programming Game]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Robot Roll Call]]
[[Category:Video Game Genres]]
| |||