Programming puzzle template
One task, three commands, a run button, and a failure you can watch. Human Resource Machine (Tomorrow Corporation, 2015) is an office of those commands. TIS-100 (Zachtronics, 2015) and Opus Magnum (Zachtronics, 2017) let you see the machine do the wrong thing. If the solution is a script the player cannot read back, you wrote a cutscene. The AI logic puzzle maker is the deduction. The AI puzzle maker is the shelf.
Download Flockbay Free. Windows and Mac.
What makes a programming puzzle
Programming puzzle: puzzles solved by writing little programs.
The games that set the standard are Human Resource Machine (Tomorrow Corporation, 2015), TIS-100 (Zachtronics, 2015) and Opus Magnum (Zachtronics, 2017).
What the template starts with
The programming puzzle template starts with one task, three commands and a run button. That is the smallest version of the loop that defines the genre: read the task, build the program, run it, fix it.
What to change first
Run a program that is almost right and watch the step where it diverges. If you cannot see that step, the run button is a grade, not a toy.
2D or 3D
The programming puzzle template starts in 2D.
Related templates
Start from this template in the Flockbay app
Describe your version in one sentence. The AI writes a brief from the template, and nothing is built until you approve it. Free for Windows and Mac.