Algotica Iterations

[h1]Summary[/h1] As much as I love programming and puzzles, I cannot recommend this game for now, mainly because it is very buggy. Maybe when the game gets more polished after a few weeks, I will revisit the game again and edit this review. Read on for details. [h1]The not so bad[/h1] I could feel the effort the developer has put into the game, unlike the abundance of greenlit trash out there. The developer is still actively pushing fixes and soliciting feedback, which is a good sign. About the game itself, there are a couple of things that I like. [b]Open world exploration.[/b] In addition to the programming puzzle levels in which you have to program your bot to reach the goal, there is also a small open world where you could roam and explore. You could move around (using cursor keys and spacebar!), interact with the NPCs or the environment, collect items, unlock secrets etc. This is one aspect that distinguishes the game from the other programming puzzles I have played before. [b]Freedom.[/b] Outside tutorial events, you are not really guided on how you approach the puzzles. Sometimes it is not immediately clear what you should do or even what your goal is. You have to poke around, try stepping on this, try jumping through there, commit suicide a few times... really just test a few ideas before you realize what you should be doing. I like how there are many different ways in which you could solve the puzzles (whether some of the ways are intended by the developer or will they be "fixed" is another question). [b]Story.[/b] The developer attempted to invent a story for the game, so it is not just solving puzzles after puzzles without knowing why you are doing it. Apparently people think the story is funny, but the humor was lost on me (or the translation). "Breaking the fourth wall" was touted as a feature, but it feels somewhat cliché to me. Depends on your taste I guess. Still, I think the story does make the game better, without the story this game would be just another programming puzzle game. [b]Educational value.[/b] Of course you should not expect to learn a specific programming language while playing this game. Rather, the game intends to help you think like a programmer and introduce some basic programming concepts. I think the game does achieve that goal somewhat, but I cannot say how helpful this game will be to the general audience, since I already know the basic programming stuff and did not really pay much attention to the tutorials. [h1]The not so good[/h1] I understand it is no easy feat to write a good game on your own, and I do think the developer has already done a pretty good job. However, this still feels like an awesome class project to me rather than a $10 game. [b]BUGS.[/b] This is my main gripe with the game. I am not talking about minor bugs like walking through walls or display glitches or malfunctioning hotkeys. Or game-breaking bugs that could be fixed by restarting the game. Currently, there are multiple bugs that make the game impossible to complete (for example some critical levels could not load). You may ask how are people getting the game completion achievements then? Maybe there was a magical period of time between those five patches in the past three weeks since the game's release that the game could be completed, maybe there is a magical sequence of actions you could perform to avoid the bugs, maybe they got them through not so legit ways... I cannot say for sure. Currently none of the other reviewers seems to have finished the game though. A large portion of my playing time was spent on identifying and working around bugs instead of solving puzzles (or you could say working around the bugs are puzzles on their own). Walking forward on a straight path and you should hit the nodes on the path? Think again! Running the same commands twice gives different results? That is a lesson on nondeterministic algorithms for you! It feels like the developer did not even do a complete run through of the game just before releasing it. The developer does seem to be reading the bug reports, and is pushing out frequent fixes so far, so hopefully the game would get more polished after awhile. [spoiler]One important programming lesson here if you have not learnt already: no matter how good you are, your programs can have bugs, that is why good testing is important too.[/spoiler] [b]Typos.[/b] Granted, the developer is not a native English speaker, so it is understandable that there are typos all over the place if he is working on the game on his own. None of the typos are game-breaking so far, but a heads-up if you are the kind of person who gets irritated by them (and they make the game sloppier than it really is). Oh, and it irritates me a little that the developer uses both "&" and "&&" to mean the same thing in the game, people might get confused if they actually decide to take up programming later. [b]Some bad puzzles.[/b] Perhaps brute-forcing is an important concept, but requiring the player to guess a password out of 120 possible choices in order to open a treasure chest ([url=steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=905529540]screenshot[/url])? This feels like a pointless chore which serves little educational purpose. I understand if you would want to make the concept stick with like ten to twenty choices, but with over a hundred it feels like the developer has taken it too far. [b]Some more rant with spoilers.[/b] This last part may spoil the solutions, read on if you want. [spoiler]Players get rewarded with more "pointless points" if they complete a level using fewer commands (okay the name does says they are pointless, but hey they are collectible points, why would anyone not want to collect them). Pretty standard reward system I guess. However, when you combine it with the ability to rearrange commands when your bot is running, it feels more like an action game than a programming task: to get the most points, put only one copy of each essential command and move them around quickly at the right time! Also, the ability to jump an arbitrary distance is a bit too powerful I guess... ([url=steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=905529408]Spoiler screenshot 1[/url], [url=steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=905529560]spoiler screenshot 2[/url].)[/spoiler] I really wanted to like the game, I really wanted to finish the game, but with critical bugs making it impossible... well, let's just hope all the critical bugs get fixed soon ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The basic concept of this game is not unique: At the very least I have played one other game with the same basic mechanics... at first. Where this game stands out is that it actually has depth: It keeps going and becoming more challenging, while constantly adding more mechanics. You may not learn enough about programming to immediately get a job as a programmer after playing this, but if you legitimately beat this game, you can only have experienced thought of the sort of ways a programmer must think. While most programmers these days almost never have to deal with the layered memory constraints this game presents, we often deal with constraints that cause our minds to work in similar ways to how they must here. I applaud this game and would suggest it to anyone interested in a difficult puzzle, though I do worry about how non-programmers may find some of the problems this game presents: Some are truly tricky. And yet, the things I obtain later on may be the solutions to them; I really can't know yet. This game is worth your money.

[h1]2.5D logic puzzler with a bit of adventure thrown in. Vivid, colourful graphics and engaging gameplay but spoiled by sloppy execution.[/h1] You play as a little robot (I think there are 3 of them but if so they all look the same). You have to plan a route for him along catwalks to hit nodes and reach the exits. You do this by setting a series of actions (forward, backward, turn-left/right, activate, jump, attack…) and then running the program to set him in motion. You keep modifying the program until you get it right, so more often than not you’re running the program over and over, adding new steps to get further each time. You have a limited number of ‘memory cells’ (steps) to reach the exit and I vagely remember something about the less steps the better. As you progress, new commands are added to your arsenal to allow for increasing complexity of your program. You can also (optionally) pick up cubes which increase your ‘pointless points’. I think you can use them to buy hats. There is some kind of storyline but it’s not inspiring enough for me to remember what it is. Just the usual kind of thing for this genre. One thing I will say is that the dialog is excellent at explaining new mechanics clearly. It can be hard to remember though, I often have to refer to the MANUAL to see which commands I might use to solve the level. You can use X to scan the level to reveal items and information about nodes, which can be quite useful to get your bearings when you first enter a level. Gameplay Video [h1]Main Quest[/h1] After a few programming levels there’s an open world ‘Free Memory’ level that’s like an Easter egg hunt. It’s a lot of fun rummaging around in bushes and opening treasure chests then eventually finding the exit. The night/day/weather cycle is a very nice touch. However, what’s not so much fun is being often transported back to the Main Quest from the normal levels when you do something wrong, or after you exit to main menu. Having to wander around Free Memory constantly to find the exit before you can continue with normal levels becomes frustrating (no, I can never remember where the exit is). I’ve been there and done that, I’d like to move on please. By now I’m sick of it. Talk about spoiling a good thing. There are no manual save slots, of course, so no help there either. [h1]Sound & Vision[/h1] Graphics are lovely, very bright and colourful with fabulous use of lighting and interesting details. Glowing objects really pop and the whole screen comes alive, especially in Free Memory when you’re doing a main quest. At first my GPU (GTX550Ti) was paying a high price for it – my PC fans were blowing like a jet engine the whole time. Then I found the ‘SSAO’ toggle on the options menu, and disabling it sent the fans down to a medium hum, with no noticeable difference to the visuals. In either mode, there are no performance issues or lag, it’s all nice and smooth. There are no graphics options in-game, you have to set your fullscreen/window/resolution options on the opening Unity dialog. Fine by me, just thought you should know. Background music is pretty good, there are electro melodies that change every so often. I left it on, which is always a good sign. [h1]Difficulty[/h1] It’s definitely on the easy side, but in a good way. I’ve played a fair way through it and haven’t come across any serious challenge yet. It’s a pleasant, casual type of puzzle and there’s a nice feeling of satisfaction to see your little robot perform your commands and get to the end. There is one type of puzzle that is silly though. You’re given some algebra with conditional statements for which there are multiple possible solutions, so you have to use trial and error many times to enter all the possibilities. It’s not difficult but there are too many possibilities and it becomes tedious after a while. There is a Casual mode on the main menu but I haven’t considered trying it. This is easy enough already. [h1]Steam[/h1] 14 achivements, many of which require completing all of certain types of discovery, pickups and such. 5 trading cards (the perfect number, of course). Value If you can live with the annoyances, this is actually good value. The core game has plenty of content, nice graphics and new mechanics being introduced regularly to hold your interest. If it was a bit more polished I’d recommend it at full price, but in its current state it belongs only on your Wishlist for the time being. [h1]Complaints[/h1] As my friend rgk would say, there’s a long queue for the complaints department here… Before you read any further, please bear in mind that I do enjoy the actual gameplay. There are always new things to discover, upgrades to be unlocked and dialog to read. The issues I have relate to all the other stuff surrounding the gameplay. - Linux: this is a Unity game so it should have had Linux from Day One. The dev sent me a key a few days before release and I’ve been deliberately dragging my feet with this review waiting for Linux, which was promised by the end of April and now here we are, halfway through May, two months after release. Having to boot into Windows to play games sours the experience for me at the best of times, but when it’s a Unity game this is extra annoying. - Screen resolution: the highest option is 1920×1080. I have a 1920×1200 monitor, as many people do these days. The black bars don’t look good. I’m sure this is another easy option in Unity that has been ignored. - Dialog: it reeks of ‘second language’, I mean it’s really bad. I’m willing to bet that, if the dev asked in his discussion forums, a native English speaker would quickly volunteer to proofread, especially if a free key was offered on completion. In fact, I’ll make a deal. If the dev adds Linux and 1920×1200 I’ll do it. With that said, what’s totally unforgivable are the spelling mistakes. Has he never heard of spellcheck? There is even software to check grammar these days. It’s just laziness. - Comedy: this guy tries hard and thinks he’s hilarious, but it’s not even mildly amusing. He would be booed off stage by stoney-faced punters with this material. - Options menus: I have to say, there’s a permanent feeling of confusion about how to access features, it’s all very user-unfriendly. For example, the Quit option is hidden away on the settings menu. What. The. Actual. F***?! The first few times I played I couldn’t find it and had to forcibly kill the game via Windows Task Manager, since there’s not even an in-game option to switch to windowed. This is a game that claims to provide programming education. This is not a good lesson! - Manual: what on earth is this screen for? I’m a fair way into the game and I still have no clue, as there has been no explanation so far. It apparently sets variables, but I can’t do anything with it. It shouldn’t appear in the game yet, if it’s redundant. - Hotkeys: why can’t I set my own? The commonly-used CTRL-1 is super awkward for me, it’s certainly not what I would choose. And why are there no Break/Run hotkeys? These are by far the most used functions. It makes no sense. - Sound: if I switch between speakers and headphones, every other app on my desktop complies instantly. Not this game. I have to quit and restart for it to take effect. I have to admit, this is the first time I’ve ever seen (NOT heard! haha) a glitch like this. Congrats. - Other glitches: [TOO MUCH TEXT FOR STEAM] - Excuses: [TOO MUCH TEXT FOR STEAM] [h1]Verdict[/h1] The underlying gameplay, puzzles and visuals are great, but it’s all spoiled by a litany of issues that are easy to fix. It’s in dire need of some good old-fashioned quality control. These problems may be ironed out over time (I sincerely hope so) but right at this moment it gives me a feeling of slight anger because it could be so much better. It’s like being served a delicious meal in a restaurant surrounded by cigarette smoke, bawling babies and sweaty armpits. [quote]SaveOrQuit.com[/quote]

This Game is like CSS3*: Would be really cool, if it would work! But instead you are coding workarounds for workarounds for simple base-functions that JUST ONLY NOW AND IN THIS SPEEEEECIAL SITUATION won't work. For a game about coding there are too many bugs and even crashes. The game does not dictate you a direction to go (after the tut missions). So its about your luck to have disovered all needed commands for a level already before falling in accidently. And with this 3D-optics its not really easy to figure out the path always. Its a pity to vote such a nice game down. My advice: It behaves like CSS3 - treat it like CSS3! Don't let them fool you with nice unnecessary optics! Don't buy it till you can't avoid any longer. (=in a sale or something) [i]*just a little remark for the little gamekiddies out there: "CSS3" has nothing to do with Counter Strike. It means the 3rd Version of the "Cascading Style Sheets".[/i]

This game is a brilliant of Indie industry - made by one person the game looks too awesome but feels so individual. Developer will speak with you through his project. Because of that it feels like Algotica is alive and you are a part of it, not just a gamer. Visuals are just great, low-poly graphics made with perfect taste. I hated 3D graphic before I saw this game - now I know that low-poly is my style lol Mechanics are interesting, during the game I wanted so hard to control the character using just WSDA or Arrows but developer made an adventure from the simple thing - controlling the character. This idea is great, it really feels like I'm the part of a program. I really need to understand this world to go through it. So, big thanks to the developer who perfectly crushed the wall between himself and gamer!

Well, it works... Somehow. It is actually a little puzzle game where you need to crack the proper algorithm to run your robot through the field. Just as the store page promises. The problem is - it feels too tiny. Hollow as well. Sure, there are nice visuals (until you reach levels when you can't see half of the field thanks to the developer will). There is even some story that you can, theoretically, save your princess at the end of the journey, but... there is no journey, actually. It is but a short line of levels that you can go through in about one hour or so. Maybe 2 or 3 hours, if you want to find the best solutions for every level and farm all Steam cards. But I can't really like that project or recommend it to anyone. Considering the promised "educational" part of the game, well... I've tried that game on my preliminary school kids, and it was too easy even for their level. And I'm not bragging about how smart my kids are, no. They're just normal. It's " the "Algotica Iterations" that is too dull even for kids. So, as for mark, I'd say, 4/10, considering the hollow and unfinished nature of that project. Buy it only with a 90% discount, and only if you want some fast "complete" game behind your belt. Other than that... it's not worth the trouble.

「前進しろ」､「右を向け」などの指示シーケンスを組み合わせて ロボットくんを操作してゴールを目指すプログラミング型パズル｡ 画面上のキューブなどを全て拾得した上でゴール地点へ たどり着けばステージクリア｡それを繰り返していく趣旨｡ 言ってしまえばそれだけの内容だが､残念な点が散見される｡ まず､コマンド入力画面が時間経過で勝手に閉じてしまうこと｡ なぜこんなストレスフルな仕様にしたのか小一時間問い詰めたい｡ 次に､ロボットくんをクリックしないとステージ開始できない点｡ 目を凝らしてマップ上のロボットくんを探し当てる作業を 毎回しなければならない｡最初にデカい矢印でも表示して ロボットくんの位置を示してくれるだけでもだいぶ違ったはず｡ また､一部実績が解除できないバグがある｡これは一応 SteamDBからゲームの旧バージョンをDLで解決は可能｡ そして､ボリュームの少なさも気になる｡ エンディングもなく唐突に終わる感じで未完成感がある｡ 全回答網羅の画像付きガイドがあるのでクリア自体は余裕｡ 温かみのあるグラフィックは好みだが､最終的な評価として 褒めるに値する点はグラしかなかった｡UI・UXを意識して もっと丁寧に作り込んでいれば及第点に届いたはずの惜しい作品｡

Nice idea, but horribly executed. The HUD is bad and clearly made for smartphones. There's no button to close menus, they close automatically after a few seconds. So while you're looking at the level, "writing" your "code", the menu suddenly closes and you have to reopen it again. The code sometimes seems to rearrange itself so you'll have to delete it - there's a button for resetting it entirely, but if you want to delete single lines, you have to drag & drop each one into a bin - because you simply lose the entire overview. The translation isn't the best. The "Start a new game button" is called "Do you really want to" and when you click it, a message pops up "Do you really want to start a new game?" Same issue in the German version. Everytime I start the game or go back to the menu, it reverts all my changes, i.e. the language is German again and the 2 options "Smartphone Mode" and "Mute Music" are checked. The latter one isn't an issue because the values are reverted - checked means unchecked. If you want to mute the music, deactivate the option "mute music". Now those aren't huge issues that would keep me from playing, even though the self-closing menus are annoying. The riddles are nice, the music and sound effects are beatiful, I absolutely love the graphics. But there's one thing that made me uninstall the game after 30 minutes. In each level you have limited memory, i.e. if you have a memory of 5, you can "write" 5 lines of code such as "Forward", "Turn left" etc. You often don't need all of them, so you can save memory in each level which will add up to your total score. The problem is, this score isn't optional. Even though this game gives you additional memory for each puzzle you aren't allowed to use it. World 1 has 5 levels and you need to save 5 memory in order to unlock world 2. World 2 has 10 levels and you need to save 25 memory in total to unlock world 3. When I finished world 2, I only saved 23 memory in total. Now what do I have to do? Replay old levels and beat my highscores, of course. The problem is: I don't know, which levels I have to repeat. The game doesn't give me any feedback on whether I found the optimal solution or not. Even worse: The game doesn't even tell me my score in each level. This means that I'd have to replay 15 levels, again and again, trying to find faster solutions, hoping that the best I find is the optimal one. I spent less than 30 minutes to play through 15 levels almost perfectly and now the game wants me to spend at least an hour more with trial & error, replaying everything I played before, just so I can progress further. And that's simply not worth my time. Just add some simple feedback to the level selection screen and this whole issue is fixed. I clearly don't recommend the game, as in its current state the progression system is too flawed. It's a shame because the visuals and the atmosphere are simply beautiful. Btw, there's an achievement "Find the jump command" you can't unlock because you have this command from the beginning. According to the Steam forums, the latest remaster update broke it.

[h1] Slow paced game about giving commands to your not so trusty robot. Visual side is ok but gameplay part is not for everyone as you mostly figure out how to get your bot to the exit. [/h1]

Schwere Entscheidung - bewerte ich als Erwachsener, der aus der IT-kommt oder als Kind, welches sich spielerisch an Funktionen herantasten möchte ?! Dazu gleich mehr (...) Das Spiel lässt uns einen Roboter durch kurze, bunte Level anhand von Befehlen steuern. So geben wir unserem Kumpel vorher mit Anweisungen an, wie oft er nach vorne soll, wann er sich drehen muss, wann er etwas aktivieren soll und wie er dann letztendlich ins Ziel gelangt. Dabei gilt es, so wenig wie möglich Befehle zu nutzen, denn nur das wird am Ende belohnt. Weniger Befehle, dadurch also mehr Funktionen, bedeutet Erfolg. Kurz zum Spielumfang: Die ersten 5 Level sind reine Tutorials, die nächste Ebene mit 12 Rätseln sind denn eine Mischung aus erweitertem Tutorial und selbst etwas erforschen, und da geht es dann auch schon darum, Funktionen einzubauen und für mich waren eigentlich nur die 10 Missionen in Level 3 interessant, wo man etwas knobeln musste. Aber summa summarum konnte ich das ganze Spiel in nichtmal 2 Stunden knacken. Für Kinder sieht das Spiel echt hübsch aus, allerdings ist die Steuerung etwas dümmlich gemacht, denn das Befehlsfenster überlappt ständig, so dass es auch mir oft passiert ist, dass ich Anweisungen ins falsche Fenster gezogen habe. Generell ist die Oberfläche sehr schlicht und nicht schön. Man muss sich auch selbst vieles beibringen, denn das Tut sagt eigentlich nur aus, dass der Befehl "Drehe nach rechts" dafür gedacht ist, dass man sich nach rechts dreht ^^ krass....... Das Kniffelige am Spiel ist eigentlich, dass man zwar jedes Rätsel sehr sehr schnell schafft, aber dann spart man eben keine Befehle ein und somit kommt man auch nicht weiter. Der Trick liegt bei den Funktionen. Wenn ich beispielsweise 3x nach vorne gehen will, und mich dann rechts drehen will, danach sagen wir zurück und links, und denn eben wieder 3x nach vorne + rechts, dann lege ich eine Funktion an, die alle Schritte beinhaltet, die sich wiederholen. In diesem Fall setze ich dann nur meine Funktion 1 die ja besagt (3x vorne, 1x drehen), nehem dann die Zwischenschritte und führe denn die Funktion nochmals aus. Oder ich setze eine Schleife, wenn ich im Quadrat um die Ecke gehen will. Ich möchte zum Ende kommen: Also für einen erwachsenen Spieler ist das Spiel einfach zu kindlich, auf jeden Fall viel zu einfach, und wenn man eh schonmal mit solchen Automatisierungen gewerkelt hat, ist einfach nichts neues dabei und es ist viel zu schnell zu Ende, was letztendlich für mich der Rückgabegrund war. Da es aber für Kinder gedacht ist, zumindest laut Hashtag und es ein Bildungsspiel ist, würde ich sagen, dass die rund 25 Level für Kinder angebracht sind, auch für den Preis von knapp 6 EUR. Die können knobeln und Stück für Stück weiter überlegen, wo man noch Befehle sparen kann, was alles noch in die Funktion gepackt werden kann. Einige meinten, das Spiel sei nach 5 Rätseln zu Ende, nee nee, denen sei gesagt ihr müsst Befehle einsparen und diese erlauben euch dann erst, in die nächste Ebene zu gelangen. Da es wie gesagt als Bildungsspiel für Kinder angepriesen wird, so bewerte ich es denn eben auch! Ich empfehle es also für Kinder, die spielerisch anfangen wollen, einen Roboter zu steuern, man kann auch auswählen ob man die Befehle als Kästchen rüberziehen will oder ob man sie mit der Tastatur ausschreibt und so gleich noch etwas Englisch lernt. Für Erwachsene allerdings zu wenig Inhalt und ich habe es wieder zurück gegeben. Bin ja ehrlich, das nur zur Erklärung, weshalb ich ein Spiel empfehle, es dennoch aber zurück gegeben habe.