SpaceChem is awesome

[Joemonkey]

Puzzle game available on Steam, you're supposed to take elements and make molecules (to oversimplify it). Has a great tutorial. Here's a video with someone explaining it (he talks too slow) but it gives you a good idea of the game. The demo is on Steam too, and pretty darn long for a demo!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjYOYtd298o

 

[Bioapb]

This game can be like crack once you get the hang of it. There are a couple of subtle points that are not intuitive but overall it is great fun. I now spend my drives into work contemplating reactor designs. One puzzle has me banging me head against the wall though. My reactors are good for one cycle then the whole thing goes sideways.

molecules! y u no avoid collision????

 

[Liet]

This game is AWESOME and everyone here should go get it fucking immediately.

Here's my solution to one of the problems that required a double-bond. Didn't use the blue waldo at all. "SCREW YOU BLUE WALDO" is what I was going to name the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNgBAKAVrC0

Honestly, it's a wonderful game and those devs deserve every penny they can get for originality, style, and fun.

Bioapb: I hear you man. I KNOW the Sync features can help there but I still can't grasp their usage totally yet. It's crazy.

 

[BlueWeasel]

FYI, there is a demo for those interested. I'll be trying it out tonight.

 

[paperfist]

FYI, there is a demo for those interested. I'll be trying it out tonight.

I'll have to try it cause that linked video made my head numb and wonder why everyone here thinks it's so great.

 

[greenhawk]

Have been playing it on a friends account.

aditive for sure. A mix of needed processes with timings being important to get a working finised system.

Though as you progress in the "story" you need to make several and connect them together to get the "system" working correctly.

Had about 3 issues that took me a day to work out on average. The worst was one that would run 150-170 cycles/steps then crash. The problem turned out to be ...... and was fixed by being creative and .... (ie: treat it like a normal factory).


no point giving away hints .

Their are a few points the in game tutes do not cover and you have to find them out by yourself. This is a issue when you need that to make the system work within your waldo/reactor limits.

 

[PuppettMaster001]

The concept is really cool and had fun with the demo but I really thinl I am too much of a chemtard to make any real progress in the full game.

 

[Joemonkey]

The concept is really cool and had fun with the demo but I really thinl I am too much of a chemtard to make any real progress in the full game.

I feel the same way I got past the first one that had 2 reactors and I was like YES! but the next one has 4 molecules in a row with a triple bond in the middle and i was like F THAT!

 

[PhatoseAlpha]

This game is awesome. Most original concept I've seen in ages. Bought the full game.

It gets friggin' Brutal though. I just finished the first factory level after you get sensors, and then saw the second.....oh lord, this is gonna get rough.

 

[Joemonkey]

This game is awesome. Most original concept I've seen in ages. Bought the full game.

It gets friggin' Brutal though. I just finished the first factory level after you get sensors, and then saw the second.....oh lord, this is gonna get rough.

yes, it has a huge "screw that!" factor, but then after a couple hours you're right back into it...

 

[QueBert]

$15's too much, Chime's $5 and I could play it an hour a day probably forever and not get bored. Indie games should be $10 or under.

 

[Born2bwire]

I remember hearing a good recommendation for this but I have enough on my plate at the moment.

 

[Joemonkey]

$15's too much, Chime's $5 and I could play it an hour a day probably forever and not get bored. Indie games should be $10 or under.

really? I spend $15 on lunch, $15 on a game isn't shit..

 

[PhatoseAlpha]

yes, it has a huge "screw that!" factor, but then after a couple hours you're right back into it...

You ain't kidding. One level requires making plutonium out of water. That's kind of a "Wait, what?". Fun to think it through.

I'm noticing that the actual difficulty of the level has very little to do with my initial impression though. Plutonium from water? Tricky. Methane and Carbon Dioxide from Carbon and Water? Frustratingly hard.

Surprisingly fun.

I'm wishing it was highly moddable. The puzzle portion is fun, but I think this engine could make a pretty whiz-bang economics game. Might try to replicate the engine, build my own.



Edit: Ah, I do wish the tutorial were better though. Missed several things that make optimal designs much more obtainable. Didn't notice you could change which output you activated with an out node - thought they were locked by color. Plus, if you run a waldo to the point where it would be "Off the track", it stays there, activating whatever node it's on over and over again. Useful for minimum node challenges.

 

[rstrohkirch]

really? I spend $15 on lunch, $15 on a game isn't shit..

I don't know anyone who routinely spends $15 on lunch for themselves. $15 will buy me enough food to make 2 sandwiches a day for a 5 day work week.

 

[greenhawk]

I'm noticing that the actual difficulty of the level has very little to do with my initial impression though. Plutonium from water? Tricky. Methane and Carbon Dioxide from Carbon and Water? Frustratingly hard.

the plutonium one was hard, but then it was, IIRC, a bonus level.

Though looking at the water you had to use, that was one polluted area. The hardest part I had for that level was finding enough room for all the reactors and having long enough pipes to allow storage of excess elements.

The hardest one was the one along the lines of "going green". That one took a few days to get working and had to use a non-tutorial method to get it to work.

Have not played much since getting to the "ice planet" or what ever that stage is called.

 

[PhatoseAlpha]

The plutonium from water was actually a boss level. Definitely not optional.

Going back now and trying some optimal design now that I've got a much better understanding. Just finished the single reactor challenge on "No Ordinary Headache". Doing optimizations of research reactors too, amazing how much easier it all seems.

 

[Joemonkey]

I don't know anyone who routinely spends $15 on lunch for themselves. $15 will buy me enough food to make 2 sandwiches a day for a 5 day work week.

well now you do

 

[uclaLabrat]

I have a hard enough time doing this in real life.

 

[heat901]

50 percent off at steam! $7.49

 

[Iron Wolf]

$7.49 is a steal. I bought it for $15 and still think it is one of the best values in gaming that I have ever played. Truly a great, fun game, and a brilliant concept.

A lot of times when I am playing at night just before bed I will hit a puzzle that stymies me and seems impossible. Then I go to sleep with my brain still working on it, and then in the morning I suddenly realize what I was doing wrong and hit on a solution. I solved at least a few of the trickier ones that way.

 

[Joemonkey]

dammit, you guys finally made me buy it. Since it was half off I went ahead and gifted to a friend too...