QuantumPulse 2A

A puzzle game where you solve problems with small, cooperating microchips, similar to TIS-100 or Shenzhen I/O. However, rather than communicating over wires, the chips broadcast values to each other over radio channels. The instruction set is, if anything, even simpler than other programming games. The chips don't even have an "add" instruction -- instead, when multiple chips broadcast simultaneously on the same channel, other chips can read the sum. But even though the chips are simple, they combine in surprisingly complex ways, allowing many different approaches to each level. Trying to match the fastest, smallest, or cheapest solutions found by other players is particularly challenging -- some of the scores seem almost impossible, others tantalizingly just out of reach... until you hit upon a new arrangement that lets you shave off that one last instruction. (And, of course, the game also includes a deceptively simple solitaire card game, similar to Freecell, unlocked after be...

QuantumPulse 2A is a shining example of how a simple set of rules can lead to complex and rewarding challenges. While it will feel immediately familiar to fans of the genre, the game's novel mechanics will have you thinking in unique ways from the first level. The instructions are simple, allowing you to jump right into the puzzles without a steep learning curve. The manual is clear and informative, and has an entertaining retro style. The designer has paid incredible attention to detail in the user experience. As you “run” your solution, the graphics and sound show the state of the machine in real time, making it easy to see if your solution is behaving as you expected. Error messages are detailed and clear, making it easy to understand what has gone wrong when a solution is incorrect. The game even helps you correct simple typos as you go, with immediate feedback for syntax errors. The ability to step the machine backwards helps to make finding bugs easy. The levels prov...

Note to future Quantum Engineers, check out the wait/puls instructions early on. They make things much cleaner than my noop synchronization spaghetti. If only every language had a debugger that could go back in time. It's a good brain-teasing/programming game and very well presented.

After the great demo version, finally some fun little assembler puzzles to have fun with. :)

Great fun! It gets you thinking in ways similar to as in Shenzhen I/O and TIS-100: Who knows what when? How can I get rid of one more instruction? How do I get from "no way is that score possible" to "now I can use this one weird trick on future puzzles"? Recommended for people who can't get enough of that kind of thing.

The best programming game I've played in years. The radio system offers a unique set of challenges I haven't seen in other games. Chips can broadcast values to any other chip even if they're not touching, so it's kinda like having a ton of shared registers, although using them all effectively and keeping all the chips synchronized can become a huge challenge (but that's just part of the fun). If you like these kinds of games I definitely recommend picking this one up, I enjoyed the heck out of it

Tentatively recommending. It's scratching my zachtronics itch but the performance is abysmal. I'm getting sub 30 fps with an i7+4090

Great Open-Ended / Problem-Solving puzzle game (I refuse to use the term "Zach-like", even Zach himself describe his games as "Open-Ended"), with the unique feature of using radio channels to maintain and synchronize your code among multiple chips!

I'm a really big fan of this one! A programming puzzle game that I personally prefer over the genre's most famous games. - Nice UI with lots of quality-of-life features, including a breakpoint + rewind feature which is really handy and I don't remember seeing before. - Puzzles that err on the side of being approachable but fun to optimize, which is definitely my preference. - A unique and interesting central twist in how it handles broadcasting between chips, and I really love the Oscillilator. - And a fun Solitaire game to boot, because for some reason that's a must in these games?

Fantastic puzzle-programming game. Accessible for programmers and non-programmers, with a solid tutorial and puzzles that ramp up in difficulty. Funny!