
Solve puzzles by designing an AI for a team of selfless heroes. Test your algorithm, optimize it, and emerge victorious from the dungeon!
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Languages: English*, French*, Portuguese - Brazil*, Polish*, German*, Spanish - Spain**languages with full audio support
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[table][th] Review by [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/34633003-Gaming-Masterpieces/] Gaming Masterpieces [/url] - The greatest games of all time on Steam. [/th][/table] Cool little puzzle game where you have to program a bunch of knights to solve logical puzzles. The levels start small, but get bigger soon, as you receive more commands to use. Highly recommended for professional software engineers who want to code a bit in their spare time or for ppl who want to take a first look at coding (and solve puzzles). While the primary goals are achievable, the secondary goals can be... challenging.
[b]Review #103 vom 04.06.2021 nach 12 Stunden Spielzeit[/b] [h2]Einleitung[/h2] "Selfless Heroes" ist ein Logik- bzw. Puzzlespiel vom französischen Entwickler Félicien Brochu, der seinen Code sogar als Open Source zur Verfügung stellt. Das Ziel ist es, mit einfachen Befehlen der eigenen Programmiersprache die einzelnen Programme so ablaufen zu lassen, dass die dortigen Aufgaben gelöst werden können. Möglichst effizient natürlich. [h2]Setting und Programmablauf[/h2] Genau wie in den (sehr ähnlichen) Spielen wie "Human Resource Machine" und "7 Billion Humans" werden die Puzzles oder sagen wir Programmieraufgaben in ein Setting gestellt, um uns eine bessere Vorstellung zu geben, was wir da eigentlich bewirken. Schließlich sitzen wir ja im Jahre 2021 nicht mehr am Assembler... Letztendlich lesen wir mit Befehlen die Werte aus dem Input in ein Register, stellen uns Algorithmen auf, um die Aufgaben mathematisch zu lösen, teilen dem Programm mit, unter welchen Umständen es welchen Wert wohin weiterleiten soll und geben Szenarien an, wann der berechnete Wert wieder ausgegeben wird. Um das alles etwas ansehnlicher darzustellen, haben wir bei "Selfless Heroes" kleine Ritter, die in einem Raum sind und verschiedene Ausgaben erfüllen müssen. So lassen wir sie zu Wänden laufen, aber dabei nicht in Löcher fallen, sie heben Eier auf, lesen deren Wert ab, berechnen und vergleichen die vielen Zahlen, beschriften sie am Ende wieder und transportieren sie in den Kessel. Klingt komisch, ist aber so. Datenautobahn eben. [h2]Schwierigkeitsgrad[/h2] Das Spiel ist in 5 große Themen aufgeteilt und beschäftigt sich jeweils mit mehr und mehr neuen Befehlen. Viele Befehle gibt es nicht, braucht es auch nicht, aber die ganzen Bedingungen, wann welche Variable wie berechnet wird, werden immer komplexer und in sich verwobener. Die ersten 20 Level mögen noch relativ zügig lösbar sein, aber die späteren haben es (für mich) wirklich in sich gehabt und selbstständiges Denken wird dabei gefördert. Grade wenn man die ähnlichen Spiele gespielt hat, ist man noch so mit deren Sprache vertraut, so dass man nun doch etwas umdenken muss. Und manche Lösungen sind wirklich etwas Banane gewesen, weil einfach programmiertechnisch etwas umständlich. Kurze Hilfetexte erklären das nötigste zu den Befehlen, aber der Lösungsweg ist völlig offen und es gibt keinerlei Hilfe. Über 60 Level, darunter 5 Bosse warten auf uns. Es muss sehr viel getestet werden und ist ein echter Tüftelspaß. [h2]Codes[/h2] Laut Entwickler hat er eine Sprache benutzt die Go! und Pascal ähnlich ist, ich sehe aber auch große Züge von C++ darin, grade die if-Anweisungen erinnern mich daran. Wir können Richtungsbefehle geben, Werte (naja oder eben Eier und Fackeln) aufnehmen, sie beschreiben und natürlich einiges mit Variablen berechnen. Dazu gibt es eigene calc-Befehle mit vielen Möglichkeiten. Außerdem können wir die Register beschreiben oder eben das nächste Loch als Ziel wählen. Zudem gibt es viele Kombinationen wie man Schleifen nutzen darf und Wartepositionen. Das allerbeste am Spiel ist, dass man die Code-Bausteine nicht nur mit der Maus rüberziehen kann, sondern auch frei scripten kann. Wir coden also endlich selbst, was weder bei HRM oder 7BH möglich war, das ist eine tolle zusätzliche Herausfordernung. [h2]weitere Ziele[/h2] Wer ein besonders ambitionierter Programmierer sein mag, kann sich den Zielen der Codegröße und Programmlänge widmen. Wenn wir unlogische Schleifen setzen, dann muss das Programm -ähm der Ritter- viel zu viele Schritte abfragen und zieht sich in die Länge. Das kostet Zeit. Es soll aber schnell berechnen, oder? Mit der Größe ist die Anzahl der Zeilen gemeint, sprich also wenn wir mehr Zeilen benötigen, dann wird das Proggi größer, braucht mehr Speicher, mehr Anforderungen und auch das wollen wir nicht. Ich muss gestehen, für manch eine Aufgabe mal Hilfe geholt zu haben, und auf was für Ideen da manch einer kam, echt beeindruckend. Jedenfalls haben wir somit eine Langzeitmotivation, um unseren Code doch nochmal zu verbessern. [h2]Fazit[/h2] Ich kann das Spiel absolut empfehlen, weil es die logischen (Hirn-)Abläufe fordert und fördert; zudem können wir kreativ unsere Aufgaben lösen und man hat wie gesagt einen Editor dabei um freihand zu coden. Anfangs noch sehr leicht, aber später doch ziemlich schwer, wenn man alle Sterne holen will. Und für 5€ kann man da echt nicht meckern. Mir hat es Spaß gemacht, ist genau mein Genre und es zeigt spielerisch, wie so ein Programm in etwa ablaufen könnte. Klare Empfehlung! [quote]Wie immer mit Leidenschaft verfasst. Falls dir meine Rezension gefallen hat, dann lasse doch bitte kurz eine positive Bewertung für mich da und schaue dich mal im [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/8049466/]Reviewprogramm der GGC[/url] um. Danke.[/quote] [i]Das Spiel wurde der GGC für Reviewzwecke zur Verfügung gestellt.[/i]
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Hours played at review time, across 40 reviews with recorded playtime.
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If you happen to know and enjoy "7 Billion Humans", just scroll up and buy this game; you'll like it, too. If you happen to be intrigued by the trailer & screenshots, you may also just buy it. It's exactly what it looks like and you can't go wrong for 5 bucks. That being said, let's delve into the review. | Tl;dr at the end. [b]First of all, what is this game about?[/b] Well, in one sentence: A puzzle game, in which you solve puzzles with easy programming. You've never before programmed? No problem! In fact, I'd even call this the best tool to ever start learning it. The amount of commands is pretty overviewable and the commands themselves are easy to learn. The game throws enough tutorial levels at you, to get a grip on them. The cool aspect of this puzzle game: There's no one-and-only solution to each level. There are dozens. You have some starting conditions and a definitve goal, but everything inbetween is up to you. [b]Does this game offer a challenge?[/b] Yes! But it's up to you, how much you challenge yourself. While the later levels are already pretty complicated in themselves, each level has 2 secondary objectives: Limit the amount of commands executed, and limit the amount of commands (# of lines) used. The difference? A 3 line long loop can be executed 20+ times. Each level can reward you with up to 3 stars. The first for clearing the level, no matter how "quick and dirty" your program is, and another 2 stars for the beforementioned secondary objectives. And oh boy, is it challenging to get all stars! The game also offers 5 "bosses" to add a little spice to the puzzles. While the boss levels are still "just" normal programming tasks with the same kind of commands as the other levels, the bosses themselves are out to kill your heroes. Meaning that those levels actually have a time limit. So for these levels, you actually have to consider the speed of your program. They aren't too high a roadblock, but they very well might let you gather up on failed runs. [b]So, does this game offer over 30 hours of play?[/b] That's up to you to decide. If you only aim to clear each level, not caring about optimization, you'll most likely remain below that. I'd guess you'll land somewhere between 8 and 15 hours. Which still is good for a 5 bucks game! But it took me ~60h to get all stars, and I'm already somewhat of a software developer and kinda knew my way around. Insertion for achievement hunters: If you are worried about whether or not you can 100% this: You can. Easily. I published a guide with all solution, so if you can't get a star by yourself, the solution is available ;) [b]Audiovisuals[/b] Well, scroll up. What you see there, is what the game provides you with. As for the soundtrack: I'm the wrong person to ask. I either like it or not. There aren't any steps inbetween for me. And for Selfless Heroes: I liked it. So that's that. [b]A few words about the Dev[/b] I happen to have a lot of respect for games, which were developed by a really small team or even 1 person alone. And that's the case for this game. And let me tell you: I like the Dev. When I struggled on the endgame levels, he encouraged me to go on. He even offered to give hints, on how to clear a level (fast). Subtle ones, yes, but helpful. Like I said before, I published a guide with all level solution. When the Dev fixed a problem with a level and rolled out a patch, he even provided me with a fix to my now broken solution. The game also has a discord group, though I can't say much about it, since I don't use discord. But anyway, the Dev is nice and active, and that's always a + in my book. [b]Tl;dr[/b] Nice puzzle game, that's easy to pick up and offers a lot of freedom in how you solve the puzzles. Offers some pretty hard challenges, if you decide to go for them and has some cool bosses, which force you to get creative. Based on how deep you want to delve into it, it offers between 8 and 60 hours of "gameplay" (programming) for just 5 bucks. Soundtrack, visuals and the Dev himself are nice. And if you are an achievement hunter and want to increase your "Perfect" counter, this is definitely for you. [h1]I can completely recommend it.[h1]
Doesn't allow you to see the entire level, so you program a bit, then the knights go offscreen and encounter new parts of the level that you didn't see before and now you can only pause and try to memorize the level layout because you aren't allowed to view level + program at the same time, silly. Also I found the fact that failed 'if statements' somehow add massive delay in the execution of commands, which makes hitting the "goals" such as fast execution illogical to me. Overall thought I'd be more like Human Resource Machine / 7 Billion Humans, which was a million times more fun. In fact this one makes zero fun, so refunding after I submit this review. Also the game overall feels very cheap, for example the death sound is a friggen Wilhelm scream..
Open-source 7 Billion Humans inspired game. Each command has undocumented behaviour which is either errors that you'd expect to do something bad pretty much everytime, but it either just does nothing(the most basic example being stepping into a wall), does something good("taking" cauldrons makes the hero to go near it, which wouldn't be that useful if the step command also worked with memories, but it doesn't for some arbitary reason. Anyway, it won't work if the hero picked an egg, which makes the undocumented behaviour pretty niche.), or does something bad that wasn't expected at all(see cloning on sleeping heroes, which makes the very first cloning level harder than it should be). Even levels have undocumented behaviour, which make for pretty random errors. The text code editor's main use is as a copy-pasting tool, because it has mediocre translations for the graphic commands(like this inconstitency: some commands have parenthesis, some don't), and even then the player needs to click an red circle to see only the first error, which is anyway either misleading([insert already unlocked command which is restricted in this level] doesn't exist) or outright not useful. Also, the Shift+Tab shortcut for Steam Overlay is broken and won't work. Boss fights(which are rarely a fight) don't tell the player what to do, like guessing the solution or copying it from somewhere somehow makes a better experience. Music and SFX are mediocre too. The settings are disappointingly simple(won't even allow for changing resolution).
Very similar to the game "7 billion humans" but harder.
Just a worse version of Human Resource Machine. You can't see the whole level at once, and timing of events is complicated but never explained.
Very close programming style game to "7 billion humans", but value wise this is fantastic. You don't get the pointless cut scenes. Graphics are cute. Music is "earwormy". Completely bug free and very well polished. Interface is nice and if you want you can drop to text based entry. Challenges do get pretty hard and while I could complete all 7 billion humans easily, there are some levels here that really challenge you. For the money this is brilliant. As a computer engineering manager, if you complete this game, I'd give you a job. More games like this please. More levels or level builder too please.
This game lacked numbers/register/pointers, therefore there is no compiler optimization/low level tricks you can pull to optimize your code (In contrast in HRM you can see yourself using decision tree and loop unrolling, or using algebraic property to subtract after you plus something instead of reloading it, or rearranging the control flow to minimize jump/comparison). Instead what you can do is instead rely on 'I can take at empty square to skip turn/skip if' or 'If I bump into a wall nothing happen'. Not fun and mostly trial and error.
I saw this on a "Northernlion Tries" video, and if you like programming type puzzles this is a great addition to your collection. I enjoy the ability to drop to the code instead of using the UI which sometimes allows you to come up with better solutions by having multiple jump statements. I have made it to the second puzzle set and its gotten interesting. I can't wait to see how it gets more difficult.
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