Best game for INTPs, ever

[deadcaribou]

Spacechem is the first videogame I actually *bought* in more than 15 years (last time was probably monkey island II or Flashback..)
I first downloaded a full version on some bittorrent tracker, but this indie game is *so* good that I purchased a legal copy the day after, tormented by remorse.
Be warned people, this is not a any game you're about to download. It means sleepless nights, the end of your already pathetic social life and serious brain damage. After 15 minutes playing this puzzler, my ears and nose were already bleeding. This is how challenging this game is really. And you will love that, my INTP friends

>> Some REVIEWS of the game:
http://www.square-go.com/review/spacechem-1574
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/6358/five_minutes_of_spacechem.php
http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/spacechem

YouTube - Let's Look At - SpaceChem

>> DEMO : http://store.zachtronicsindustries.com/product/spacechem
The full version is 8 USD for the next 85 hours apparently

Any of you played it?

 

[Darby]

OMG, this looks so cool! will edit a real opinion once I've played it, but I have high hopes.

EDIT: my life is forfeit. just finished the first moon thingy of the demo, and I'm not sure I will ever see the light of day again...

 

[deadcaribou]

Happy you like it!
Look forward to reading your opinion on the game!
PS: The difficulty of the game is increasing in a pretty exponential way ; I'm still in the early stages of the game and I'm wondering when the complexity will just become overwhelming for my little brain!!

 

[Legion]

Interestingly enough I had already heard of this game. I will certainly try it out. Another indie game you might look into is minecraft. It's not as intellectually stimulating as this, but it's the largest sandbox ever created. I know I have wasted endless hours designing things to my hearts content. But if you do try it, first realize the squares and bad graphics are intentional. Secondly, look up a guide so you know how to play.

 

[Howitzer]

This game is awesome, though I've only played through the fairly substantial demo. It's very satisfying to create your little efficient systems.

 

[jzono1]

I'm on the 6.th planet, after about 12 hours of playing.

It's awesome.

Usually the real difficulty lies in performing better than required. I don't like ending levels without being ahead of the curve, so I go back and optimize until I get there. Those graphs that show how well you do compared to others is effective INTP bait.

 

[Raskolnikov]

Looks like I might have a reason to use steam for the first time in two years. This looks pretty cool.

 

[Dr. Freeman]

That game is amazing!

 

[JoeJoe]

It feels so good when it works.

This is the first challenge. Spoiler alert if you have a photographic memory.

Spoiler

I could have probably cut back on a few cycles but this is my first solution...

 

[Dr. Manhattan]

Looks great, I'll have to check this out when I have time.

Nice post!

 

[kantor1003]

Downloading now, but damn, I shouldn't do this. Not before exams are finished. Can't help myself though. I really hope it's bad.

 

[Raskolnikov]

I think this is more of the perfect INTJ game. Seems very Ni-Te oriented. Still awesome though.

Is anyone else really inefficient like me? I always seem to end up with way more cycles than average. But whatever works. One of the things I love is how open-ended the correct solutions are.

 

[kantor1003]

Is anyone else really inefficient like me? I always seem to end up with way more cycles than average. But whatever works. One of the things I love is how open-ended the correct solutions are.

Yeah, I always seems to end up with more cycles than the average as well, but I don't really care about that I'm not sure what the cycles refer to though, as it surely can't be the amount of rotations before completion seeing that, on the earlier levels, I could have like 100+ cycles.

Really love how open ended the solutions are as well. If they weren't I don't think I would bother playing beyond the first few levels.
I have suspect that it will become difficult on later levels.

YouTube - SpaceChem - Right All Along (1846/1/66)

 

[JoeJoe]

I think one cycle is one HALDO moving one square. You can see the cycles increasing while you play it in the lower right corner.

 

[kantor1003]

ah, that makes sense

I think I'm doing something wrong. Every solution I come up with seem so clustered and unstructured. There has to be a more optimal way to go about it.
Here is my solution to "every day is the first day". Hopefully, I'll get better at making it more optimal. In this instance, for example, you'll see that blue and red isn't really working together all that well. Blue is doing most of the work while red is mostly stuck with bonding.

YouTube - SpaceChem 2011 05 15 01 49 41

Any tips welcome.

 

[JoeJoe]

Maybe try a different form? I'm using a square form. My strategy is to try and make both work parallel. Here is my optimized version of that level (and I think there is still room for improvement).

Spoiler

YouTube - SpaceChem - Every Day is the First Day (239/1/32)

 

[kantor1003]

Didn't know you could use a square form there. I thought it would bind like this:

C---H
III I
C---H

Strange that it came out like this:

C---H
III
C---H

Do you know why?

Also, I found it odd that it accepted such a shape. I guess as long as the bindings are correct it doesn't matter.

 

[kantor1003]

Damn, it's 03.30 and I'm still playing. Well, time to quit. This game will destroy me. I think I must avoid playing it for as long as I still have school work to do (1-2 weeks).

 

[JoeJoe]

Somewhere in the tutorials they said, that the shape doesn't matter.

I'm not exactly sure if I understand your symbols correctly.
Nevertheless, here's a short introduction to chemistry. Hydrogen can only have one bonding partner, because they only have one electron in their outermost electron shell. Carbon can have 4 bondings/bonding partners, because it has 4 electrons in the outer shell. Nitrogen has 5 electrons and can have 3 bondings, because the maximum total number of electrons in the outer shell (i.e. adding the number of free electrons to twice the number of the bonded electrons; a bonding means, that the 2 electrons in one bonding are part of the shells of both atoms) is 8 (although strictly speaking this is only true for the 2nd period of the periodic table). So Nitrogen has 3 bonds=6 electrons plus 2 free = 8 electrons.

Yeah, I'm writing my chemistry final exam next wednesday.

So basically, at first I was only surprised that the first bonding didn't result in:


C H
| |
C H

instead of:

C-H
|
C-H


I suspect, that the bonders always try to make as many bondings as possible.

 

[Deridaburi]

Great game! Wait a minute, where did the last 9 hours go?

 

[deadcaribou]

Now I can reveal my true identity: I'm an ESFJ-mole on a sabotage mission! I knew it would work! Already got 10 INTPs hooked up! Mwahahahaha

Two tips for the beginners (it took me some time to figure that out):
> the bond+ buttons can be placed anywhere (not necessarily *on* the bonder); they will trigger all the bonders on the screen
> waldos can grab raw material from any input zone (alpha or beta)

 

[Minamimoto]

Interestingly enough I had already heard of this game. I will certainly try it out. Another indie game you might look into is minecraft. It's not as intellectually stimulating as this, but it's the largest sandbox ever created. I know I have wasted endless hours designing things to my hearts content. But if you do try it, first realize the squares and bad graphics are intentional. Secondly, look up a guide so you know how to play.

Indeed; Minecraft is pretty awesome. I'm not particularly adept at the designing aspect; I'm more about exploring caverns and the like. Getting violated from behind by cold zombie fingers. Cutting stuff up with my highly pixellated sword. Obsessively trying to create a massive, perfectly square, underground complex, complete with a pillar of magma reaching from surface to bedrock.

Blah blah long first post blah

Looks excellent. 8) I shall download. Will post my opinion once I've explored the game a bit.

 

[kantor1003]

No, stay away. It will ruin you.

 

[Puffy]

No, stay away. It will ruin you.

Puffy likes this comment. :P

 

[kantor1003]

Ok, now that my semester is over it's time to start this mental torture again. Tbh, I don't think I'm smart enough to be able to finish this game.

 

[Anub1s]

Wow this game is awesome and i am hooked, the open-endedness is just brilliant. My solutions to the problems are usually a-symmetrical, chaotic, sprawling messes that are most likely extremely inefficient. After i solve a particularly challenging puzzle i look online to see how other people solve it, i usually find extremely condensed, efficient solutions that blow my mind and make my solutions look like kindergarten scribbles. I think could improve on many of my solutions, but i feel no desire to return to previously solved puzzles. I think a correlation could be made between how people solve these problems and how their brain works, I am going to give this game to friend of mine and compare the solutions.

 

[Gather_Wanderer]

Ok, now that my semester is over it's time to start this mental torture again. Tbh, I don't think I'm smart enough to be able to finish this game.

How'd you do?
I got straight A's for the first time in my entire life, ever, ever. I've been telling people whenever I get the chance. People who so don't even care to know. But I care.

I can handle any game. I'm a straight A student.

 

[Dimensional Transition]

Is it weird to say that I hate these types of games? :/

 

[kantor1003]

How'd you do?

Decent. Just making sure I make at least an average of C so I can be able to take master if I want to. In practice this amounts to showing up as much as I'm forced to (not a lot), start reading a few days before the exams (usually), and to take the exams.

 

[Awaken]

Just beat Portal II, hoping this is more of a brain challenge.

 

[Anub1s]

Is it weird to say that I hate these types of games? :/

Weird? No, but if you tried it and didn't like it then that would be a bit "weird". I'm usually not one for puzzle games at all but this game strangely addictive.

 

[Darby]

So I haven't actually played it until today, and I've spent a good while on it and am about half way through world 4, it's starting to get complicated with the sensors, but not too bad. I am incredibly inefficient, but I also like to do it with as few changes to the initial layout as possible.

 

[WanderMind]

Totally awesome game for a long time...
I desided to istall it and just test for few minutes of it.
Couple of hours later my wife went to sleep saying:"Thanks for the very social evening!"

 

[kantor1003]

I haven't played this game in weeks. I can't get myself to open the application as I know how much stress it will cause on my brain. It's daunting.

Totally awesome game for a long time...
I desided to istall it and just test for few minutes of it.
Couple of hours later my wife went to sleep saying:"Thanks for the very social evening!"

Yeah, time sure goes about quickly playing this game Also funny how external input seems to get cut off entirely. It's usually like that most of the time, but even more so playing this game.

 

[Col]

I liked Ultima Online in my earlier teen years. CSS after that always.

 

[kantor1003]

Anyone still playing spacechem?

I recently got back into it as I never got around to finish it (apparently only around 2% of the players do).

For all fans of great (puzzle) games, engineering, programming - this is for you. I order you to try it (especially you, Proxy)! It still ranks as one of my favorite games of all time, and this says a lot coming from someone that isn't usually into puzzle games. The reason why I like this is simple - it isn't a puzzle with which you will have to find the solution, it gives you problems of increasing difficulty by which you have to INVENT a solution (there is almost an infinite number of solutions to a given problem and you can backtrack spending time optimizing your designs and you can see how you rank up to other "engineers").

I'm currently at world 6 "Heaphaestus IV" and I'm finding my self spending at least an hour on each level, and sometimes up in the neighborhood of 4 hours busting my brain trying to work out something. Sure, it can get overwhelming in the later levels (in the early levels as well when I'm thinking about it), but that just makes solving it even more rewarding.

 

[Beholder]

Just downloaded the demo, been playing it for a few hours. Wow. That's all I've got to say. That excitement when you finish it and it all comes together so beautifully... Pure bliss
At first it's hard to see the big picture, and you can only focus on one stage at a time, but with time you get the hang of it and you're holding this insane system in your head, and you just GET IT. AAAAAHHHHH best feeling ever!!!!!

 

[nedenom]

Yes! It is available for Linux. Will download.

 

[Meer]

Well, that was fun, but then it got really hard.

 

[Beholder]

Well, that was fun, but then it got really hard.

That's when it got really fun!

 

[Hadoblado]

I bought this game awhile ago, played a few levels, and it's really hard. I've been meaning to give it another go but haven't really had time away from my other dirty gaming habits. It's very unusual, and not at all as intuitive as I'd expect.

 

[gedanken]

omg.. game is awesome. i think the most interesting part is history... i need know what happens until the end

 

[kantor1003]

@Beholder

Which world are you at now? Is the difficulty still manageable?

 

[Beholder]

I finished the demo, wasn't too hard, downloaded the full game but haven't played it yet because I have to study (haven't really been studying either, but that's besides the point...)

 

[kantor1003]

I understand. I find that thinking about having to study is more straining than studying. That doesn't keep me, however, from spending more time thinking about having to study than studying ("but that's (not) besides the point").

 

[nedenom]

This is a really good game! You can play a while in the demo, but I think it's worth the 10$ they charge for it. Bought through the Ubuntu Software center

Makes me feel a bit stupid sometimes, when I spend a long time working out a solution

 

[shrub77]

Found out about this game a few months ago, best $10 ever!

 

[Trebuchet]

Be warned people, this is not a any game you're about to download. It means sleepless nights, the end of your already pathetic social life and serious brain damage.

You did give fair warning about it being addictive, but I still blame you for my lost time!

That is a very aesthetically pleasing game.

 

[Monty]

I don't believe this, I got this game in the last indie bundle but I didn't play it. I have been a fool! Thank you for the recommendation, my good man.

 

[Coolydudey]

F*** it's available for idevices and android too. There goes my life...