The Official Off-Topic Unofficial SpaceChem Thread

[FlowerChild]

So, I mentioned in my Portal 2 thread the other day that I also picked up SpaceChem during the Steam holiday sale.

Man, I am totally fucking addicted. Without a doubt the best 2.50$ I've ever spent (well...there was that time in Thailand, but no...). The game is loosely about Chemistry (got to love that the in-game help screen is basically a periodic table), but really, I find it's largely a game about programming. The skill set and thought-process used is eerily similar.

Anyways, if you haven't checked it out, please do. I find the gameplay actually has a strong relation to a lot of the stuff I try to do with BTW in terms of creating multi-part assembly lines and stuff (I'm even getting a few ideas from it), so if you're into that kind of thing, and don't mind fairly abstracted gameplay, I'm sure you'll dig it.

I'd say I'm about half-way through the game now (just finished off the second boss last night), and I can't get enough of it. Total genius game-design.

[BinoAl]

I was thinking about buying this a while ago, and I regret not buying it. I've only ever heard good things about it, and it sounds really interesting.

[FlowerChild]

I was thinking about buying this a while ago, and I regret not buying it. I've only ever heard good things about it, and it sounds really interesting.

Yeah, I'm fairly certain that after this one I'm going to work my way backwards through the Zachtronics game catalog. I'm ashamed to say I hadn't previously played any of his games (unless you include Minecraft) ;)

[BinoAl]

Just bought spacechem. If I'm not on the forums for a few days... I liked it as much as FC. :D

[FlowerChild]

Just bought spacechem. If I'm not on the forums for a few days... I liked it as much as FC. :D

Damn. I managed to inspire Battosay to grab it the other day too. I may be inadvertently sabotaging the BTW community here :)

[Slev]

I'm not sure if I can justify the $10 dollars right now... but damn it looks good.

[logorouge]

After the portal thread, I decided to check it out. A dozen of screenshots and a trailer later, the game was added to my Buy-It-Soon list. Intriguing game to say the least.

[Stormweaver]

Hmm, this reminds me of a flash game I played on kongregate some time last year - it was more or less the same thing, but chemistry being replaced by alchemy, and small mechanical arms replacing the flow-diagram-like tracks.

I liked that game immensely. This looks better.

[BinoAl]

Holy crap, this is pretty awesome. Got through the first 10 levels, and I was impressed. At first, I wondered just how in depth it could get, because I had only done work inside the reactors. Then, I saw that you would have multiple reactors per level. The sandbox mode looks really interesting, I'm going to go play with that now ^.^
EDIT:

Hmm, this reminds me of a flash game I played on kongregate some time last year - it was more or less the same thing, but chemistry being replaced by alchemy, and small mechanical arms replacing the flow-diagram-like tracks.

I liked that game immensely. This looks better

Is this what you're talking about? ;) This is also by zachtronics. He seems to have made a lot of games along the same lines as this

[Slev]

I'm on to the first two reactor level. (Against my better judgement I purchased this, damn you FC.) So much harder than real chemistry, in real chemistry I know how to make this, in spacechem, I do not.

[Stormweaver]

Hmm, this reminds me of a flash game I played on kongregate some time last year - it was more or less the same thing, but chemistry being replaced by alchemy, and small mechanical arms replacing the flow-diagram-like tracks.

I liked that game immensely. This looks better

Is this what you're talking about? ;) This is also by zachtronics. He seems to have made a lot of games along the same lines as this

Exactly the one.

Ok, I like this guy. He makes good games.

[FlowerChild]

Exactly the one.

Ok, I like this guy. He makes good games.

He's also the guy that basically came up with the idea behind Minecraft man.

Edumicate yourself :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infiniminer#Infiniminer

[BinoAl]

He's also the guy that basically came up with the idea behind Minecraft man.

That's what got me to first check out spacechem, actually. I just never got around to buying it until now :)

[Stormweaver]

Exactly the one.

Ok, I like this guy. He makes good games.

He's also the guy that basically came up with the idea behind Minecraft man.

Edumicate yourself :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infiniminer#Infiniminer

I knew about infiminer, but my memory for names is bad. Still, that's fair enough.

Now I don't have any spare cash, so...onwards to kongregate!

[FlowerChild]

That's what got me to first check out spacechem, actually. I just never got around to buying it until now :)

It really makes me wonder what Minecraft would have been like if he had been the one developing it.

I somehow don't see wolves factoring into it, and I definitely see a lot more redstone contraptions having been produced ;)

[Gilberreke]

I'm a big fan of Zachtronics too, so here's a few links for you to check out :)

Zachtronics site:
http://www.zachtronicsindustries.com/

Notice that he has a back catalog of free flash games for you to play through

Pleasingfungus site:
http://pleasingfungus.com/

This guy makes games that are inspired by Zachtronics, so there's a few gems there too :)
His latest game, Manufactoria, is especially good. FC, if you haven't played it yet, right up your alley

[FlowerChild]

His latest game, Manufactoria, is especially good. FC, if you haven't played it yet, right up your alley

Thanks man! I'll be sure to check it out once I've exhausted my current obsession ;)

[Gilberreke]

Thanks man! I'll be sure to check it out once I've exhausted my current obsession ;)

Haha, I just started playing Skyrim yesterday. It's so laughably bad, I'll probably start playing SpaceChem instead. Thanks for the tip, hadn't checked Zachtronics for a long time and didn't know yet that it existed.

[Slev]

I spent 40 minutes trying to solve a puzzle only to realize my amazing H2 generating algorithm that also funneled off methyl groups to another reactor, was not working because the factory was a decomposer only. Spent 10 minutes staring at the machine continue to fail before realizing.

[BinoAl]

Haha, I just started playing Skyrim yesterday. It's so laughably bad, I'll probably start playing SpaceChem instead.

Ouch! Haha. It was definitely dumbed down far too much, but I wouldn't go THAT far... :p I've still managed to put excessive amounts of time into it :D

[MoRmEnGiL]

I am a big fan of spacechem. I bought one from tpb a long time ago and sinked so much time on it I decided I must get it properly.

But it is such a time waster I'm not afraid to fire it up :P

Oddball fact: The gameplay reminds me of Dynasty Tactics 2 for the ps2. In that game you can play normaly, or you can abuse the chain attack mechanic to setup very long and elaborate combos of special tactics. I spent half an hour planning each battle, and 5 minutes executing the combo and winning:P Much fun. Recommend that game to all fans of chain reaction kind of games.

[Awfulcopter]

There always seems to be a way to re-jig the designs to be a little bit more efficient. I progress through the story (such as it is) very slowly, beause I'm more interested in getting a good "score".

[kregoth]

Damn you FC I just tried the demo and love it, I wish i had picked it up during the steam sale. Now I need to contemplate on using my less then stellar amount of money on it.

[Mac]

Played the demo as well,
all I can say is that if love it and that i will buy it for sure.

[lostone1993]

I loved this game, I play it as a demo and got stuck on a level should pick it up again

some of the puzzles can be annoying in the good sense