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Look at Screeps: World [0] for depth in a programming base-builder RTS.

You write the code for each of your units, either natively in Javascript or Typescript, or via WASM you can run Rust, Python, etc. You use a private server or join a shared MMO world. There's a free sim [1] to try out the basics, though the actual game has much more depth. And an active Discord for help [2].

There's also a variant Screeps: Arena [3] that focuses on 1:1 PVP battles with ranked ladders if you prefer short-lived matches to a long-running world.

[0] https://store.steampowered.com/app/464350/Screeps_World/

[1] https://screeps.com/a/#!/sim

[2] https://discord.com/invite/RjSS5fQuFx

[3] https://store.steampowered.com/app/1137320/Screeps_Arena/

I knew about this one, but was turned off by the review talking about the base CPU isn't enough, requiring a subscription.

I get that, but IMO it's not an issue.

On one shard you can't use more than base CPU, so there's no advantage to a subscription there.

Other optional shards are almost entirely people who subscribe. Do that too if you decide to, or ignore them.

Bitburner is in the list, and it's an excellent game where you have to code (JS/Typescript). The date 2021 is wrong like many others in the page: it's probably the introduction on Stream, because the game goes back to 2016. It's an open-source game (reading the source code is sometimes recommended) and can be played in the browser at https://bitburner-official.github.io/

It's a long and rather hard game, but I liked its learning curve. You'll need to understand the way the "world of the game" works, then define and code a strategy. Then other "worlds" appear, where other strategies are required. I enjoyed playing it and I have 5k lines of TS code in my Git repository for bitburner.

Oh, thanks for that correction! I changed the date on Bitburner. If you know of any other errors, please let me know (here or as a PR/issue in the repo). Appreciate it!

> But would really love to see more games with automation (like Factorio) but where the automation was coded.

> I was excited this was such a list, until I realized it wasn’t software engineering.

SpaceChem is a programming game, and it's on the list, but it's not categorized under Hacking, Computer Science, Logic, and Automation, which would have been the correct category. It's listed under Puzzle & Casual instead. Opus Magnum has the same problem.

SpaceChem is more "programmy" than Opus Magnum. Do you like writing Befunge?

Making a new category is easy, but as you said, I don't think there are a whole lot that could go in it? I'll at least add Autonauts for now, though!

Do you think Bitburner, Exapunks, while true: learn(), TIS-100, and Screeps would belong there too, or do you think a category specifically for "Production automation via code" would be more helpful?

PS That category just sounds like work you can get paid for, lol :)

I've heard about Screeps which is close to what you describe: https://screeps.com/

It's already been shared in the comments, but look into Human Resource Machine. It's a fun little game that tricks you into learning to solve problems in assembly.

Note that it’s a very short game.

Fortunately there is 7 Billion Humans, its sequel.

What do you think of elevator logic?

https://play.elevatorsaga.com/