Most puzzle games are about discovering the one, designer-intended answer to a conundrum. Let’s look at a different take on the puzzle genre, which takes inspiration from real-world problem solving.
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Gamasutra: “New educational video game used in schools“
Gamasutra: “Postmortem: Zachtronics Industries’ SpaceChem“
Rock Paper Shotgun: Zach Barth talks about Minecraft
Games shown in this episode (in order of appearance):
Infinifactory (Zachtronics, 2015)
The Talos Principle (Croteam, 2014)
Snakebird (Noumenon Games, 2015)
Portal (Valve Corporation, 2007)
Limbo (Playdead, 2010)
The Swapper (Facepalm Games, 2013)
Mini Metro (Dinosaur Polo Club, 2015)
Kerbal Space Program (Squad, 2015)
Spacechem (Zachtronics, 2011)
Minecraft (Mojang, 2011)
Infiniminer (Zachtronics, 2009)
The Codex of Alchemical Engineering (Zachtronics, 2008)
Bureau of Steam Engineering (Zachtronics, 2008)
KOHCTPYKTOP: Engineer of the People (Zachtronics, 2009)
TIS-100 (Zachtronics, 2015)
Human Resource Machine (Tomorrow Corporation, 2015)
Quadrilateral Cowboy (Blendo Games, 2016)
World of Goo (2D Boy, 2008)
Bridge Constructor (Headup Games, 2012)
The Witness (Thekla, Inc, 2016)
Music used in this episode:
Human Ingenuity (Infinifactory)
Working (Spacechem)
Resource Site (Infinifactory)
In Motion (Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross)
Opening (Spacechem)
Proving Grounds (Infinifactory)
Clip credits:
“Minecraft Compact Calculator“ - FVDisco
“Minecraft - The ICE GPU 2.0“ - FVDisco
“Minecraft 8 Track Music Sequencer“ - FVDisco
“Infiniminer Demolition Fun“ - betasword
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