Ask HN: What games do programmers play? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What games do programmers play?

21 pointsDenGorbachev71 comments

What games do you yourself play? If I develop a game specifically for programmers, what should it look like?

It seems like an over-simplification/generalization to think that people who write software for a living/hobby share video game preferences. People are multifaceted with many different interests. Our professions do not define the rest of us.

I personally enjoy playing sports games (e.g. FIFA, NBA 2K) and action games (e.g. Red Dead Redemption), but I don't think those choices have anything to do with my profession.

I agree. I abhor both of those genres, but I bet we'd get along plenty when it comes to programming(or not, who knows!) As you said, programmers are multifaceted, and video game preference is probably highly unrelated.

I haven't played sports games since Ice Hockey and World Cup on NES. IMO the entire sports industry is just a waste of time.

You can call any form of entertainment a "waste of time". Even say, video games.

Yeah, but games are INSANELY fun. Sports are just meh. It's more of a social activity I guess, and I'm kind of antisocial. I still enjoy hanging out with people and watching a game and especially live games, I just dont bother with the immense waste of time that is following it and playing the crappily made games.

Yeah, but games are INSANELY fun. Sports are just meh.

This is (and I assume you realize this) merely a personal preference. Like a taste in music or food.

There's some truth to that, but OTOH programmers have a different mindset -- if you write software for a living/hobby, generally you'll have above-average intelligence and enjoy dealing with complex dynamical systems and elegant models of the real world.

This explains why so many suggestions in this thread are strategy games, roguelikes, and deep puzzle games.

Also, the HN demographic skews to a certain age range, so there's a lot of nostalgia for 1993-1999 games. (If this describes you, check out the site formerly known as Good Old Games [1])

[1] http://gog.com

I agree with original OP and think you're retrofitting your theory onto the data. Games like civilization 5, starcraft I/II, dota and minecraft are some of the most played games in general.

The fact that you're seeing them pop up here doesn't automatically say something about our demographic.

Banished [0], Starcraft [1], Starcraft 2 [2], SPAZ [3], FTL [4], AoE HD [5], TF2 [6], CS:Source [7], Minecraft [8], Kerbal Space Program [9], SpaceChem [10]. I'm sure there are more but that's all I can think of off the top of my head.

[0] http://www.shiningrocksoftware.com/game/

[1] http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/games/sc/

[2] http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/

[3] http://minmax-games.com/SpacePiratesAndZombies/

[4] http://www.ftlgame.com/

[5] http://store.steampowered.com/app/221380/

[6] http://www.teamfortress.com/

[7] http://store.steampowered.com/app/240/

[8] https://minecraft.net/

[9] https://kerbalspaceprogram.com/

[10] http://www.spacechemthegame.com/

EDIT: Added some more

Minecraft and Kerbal Space Program are my favorite games that have come out in recent years. Quake Live / Q3Arena is the only FPS I play anymore. Looking forward to the release of Planets³. I'm also still addicted to 2048 and the various forks (current fave is doge2048).

+1 for Quake 3. I've been playing since it went beta in 98 or 99. I would skip school so I could listen to Rage Against the Machine in the Rocket Arena mp3 player. Big instagib player too, and I loved when the mods were popular like the two jail break ones.

Check out SpaceChem for a great programmer-friendly but-not-explicitly-about-programming game.

Plus one for a game that scratches the programming itch.

However, for relaxation, I tend to favor MMOs. They are the right mix of social, achievement orientated, and simple to fill downtime.

Minus one for suggesting a game that will keep you up hours just to optimize a few cycles out of the program.

SpaceChem is an incredible game but it's as dangerous as "one more turn" of Civilization.

A few games with a programming theme that haven't been mentioned: KOHCTPYKTOP [1], Factorio [2], Manufactoria [3]. Of course, SpaceChem [4] as well, which numerous other commenters have mentioned.

Here are a couple non-programming games that haven't been mentioned. A Valley Without Wind 2 [5], which is a mix of platforming and strategy; AVWW2 is a spiritual successor to an SNES game called ActRaiser [6]. Scrolls [7] is enjoyable if you like chess and Magic: The Gathering, but it is designed to be much less of a money sink than MTG. If you want to try Scrolls, I mentioned a couple tips for new players in a reply to a different post [8].

[1] http://www.zachtronics.com/play-kohctpyktop/

[2] http://www.factorio.com/

[3] http://pleasingfungus.com/Manufactoria/

[4] http://www.spacechemthegame.com/

[5] http://arcengames.com/w/index.php/games/valley2-features

[6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actraiser

[7] https://scrolls.com/game

[8] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7623163

Hide The Angular Bug - it's a simple game that I like to play when I'm under deadline.

I adored Ico, Shadow Of The Colossus, and the God Of War series, though I mostly played through them and was done. I keep going back to nethack from time to time...

Gnomoria, which is like Dwarf Fortress for humans featuring gnomes (http://gnomoria.com)

Chess takes up most of my game time. I play at a (open source) site called Lichess, and locally. Lately I've been trying Go, which is quite fun, though bewildering most of the time!

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Interactive Fiction, or Muds. Spider and Web is one of my favorite IFs of all time. God Wars 2 is an incredibly deep mud and gameplay experience.

I'm not much of a gamer at all, and my primary taste is in old school first-person shooters (Doom, Quake, Blood, Redneck Rampage, Shadow Warrior, Serious Sam, Unreal Tournament, Duke Nukem 3D, etc.)

That's pretty much the only video game genre I care about. Currently looking forward to Wolfenstein: The New Order and that's about it.

I enjoy roguelikes. They're very convenient to play (tiny turns, work over ssh) and most of them are open source.

"Robotgame is a game for hackers. You write robots in Python, test them with our kit, and submit them to our server. You can challenge other robots yourself, or wait for the server to match you up automatically."(http://robotgame.net/)

Starcraft 2 and Civ5 for serious games. Puerto Rico, Agricola, Seven Wonders, Carcassonne, and Dominion for board games. Androminion, Frozen Free Fall (that's basically Disney-branded Candy Crush), 2048, and French/British Wars (that's a real-time strategy game) on the phone.

You left out Settlers of Catan!

Deliberately. I think Settlers has too much luck involved - the other games I listed primarily depend on the actions of the other players with only a little bit of randomness added to spice things up, but in Settlers you can easily get screwed even if you build in the best spot because your number never comes up. It's a good gateway-game though.

I second kohanz's comment that programmers may not have a common center of interest when it comes to video games.

However, maybe you could start with the assumption that programmers are usually good with logic and problem-solving, and think up a clever concept like Valve's Portal series.

I've played Go for as long as I've been a programmer, and I feel like it helps me with logic and reasoning and "big picture" thinking

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_(game)

To answer your first question, Recently 2048, FTL and Rogue Legacy. But as kohanz said I don't think it has anything to do with the fact that I'm a programmer and I know a lot of differents programmers who play a lot of different genre.

I mainly play Minecraft and League of Legends, but also dabble in Terraria and Starbound. Played the Call of Duty and Halo series back in my Xbox days.

I'd love to see a game similar to Minecraft, but with more advanced redstone (circuitry) stuff!

Starcraft 2, Starcraft, Warcraft(the strategy game, not the MMO), Dwarf Fortress, And a few First Person Shooters to unwind when I have a headache.

I have a feeling that programmers might be slightly inclined to games of strategy and complexity.

No one even mentioned 2048 ?

My kind of games are the simple and addictive, more often-than-not tetris type.

I'll also whoop your ass on UT99, C&C Mario, and Mortal Kombat, but after that era gaming kind of started to suck.

I really liked 2048. Reached 4096 a couple times. Then, in a fit of sanity, deleted it.

Master of Orion 2 is definitely my all time fav. Been playing it since 1996. The slow methodical long term strategy required definitely appeals to a meticulous problem solving nature.

Smash Bros and Street Fighter. Fighting games are great in general

No One Lives Forever 1, Assetto Corsa, Goat Simulator, Die Hard Nakatomi Plaza, James Bond Nightfire, Dungeon Keeper 1, Deus Ex 1, Mafia 1+2, Tomb Raider 2013, Age of Mythology

The games I've played the most are Chess, League of Legends, Scrabble, Poker, the Civ series, and Diablo 2 (when I was younger).

Any game with a lot of strategical depth tends to pull me in.

Starcraft

I still believe that my first understanding of 'conditionals', and other standard programming concepts, came from using the Custom Map Editor for Starcraft. Thanks Blizzard!

RIGHT THERE WITH YOU.

I always tell people that Warcraft 3 and Starcraft taught me programming. I definitely wouldn't be a developer if it weren't for the custom trigger editors.

The furthest I've pushed Warcraft 3's visual trigger editor was writing a Genetic Algorithm pathfinder for peasants. They're surprisingly versatile, and being able to interact with a GUI and game universe immediately makes it great for prototyping.

Faster Than Light is a lot of fun; 2d strategy space battles.

I love FTL, do you have any other games like it that you would recommend?

It should look like a game you'd enjoy playing.

I like most genre of games, but fighting games, puzzle games, and JRPGs probably rank towards the top. I also love StarCraft 2.

I play games that my students make for me.

https://github.com/keshavsaharia/Zen

Dark Souls lately, RPG's in general (Fallout is my personal fav)

As a programmer I try to get as fas as possible from "programming" games.

I play a lot of snes and nes games like: - Legend of Zelda - Super Mario World and 3 - Castlevania

Currently -> Legend of Zelda: A link to the past

I like crazy complicated logic and the less visual bling the better. Nethack and Dwarf Fortress come to mind.

Dark Souls series. Uncompromising challenges both mental and dexterous. Nothing else even comes close.

Space Invaders!

My significant otter loves board games and has dragged me into Carcasonne. That shit is addictive.

Dota 2 is the best game ever. Also Civilization is a very good game.

I think they intend to play strategic games.

In my case, Starcraft 2, Diablo 3 and Guild Wars 2 (as well as tons of random console games).

Golf, pathfinder, and random board games people bring over.

They are all social and usually involve beer.

supreme commander 1/2, through a software engineer/programmer's glasses, the mentioned games are horrible (especially SC1) because the longer you play the worse it gets with the games' simulation performance.

As a little experiment, I've set up a Minecraft server for HNers. Come and join!

edgeflux.com

I like to play Team Fortress 2, Age of Empires 2 and Dwarf Fortress 2.

Dwarf Fortress _2_?

He was probably thinking of the official title "Slaves to Armok: God of Blood Chapter II"

Strategic thinking games like Civ, Starcraft, AoE, Heroes, SimCity...

The only games I play are board games with friends.

Starcraft 2, Might and Magic X, Age of Wonders III

Hearts and Euchre - obsessively.

2048 :)

Hearthstone

Rogue Legacy

League of Legends

Battlefield 4

Banjo-Kazooie

Civilization

Starcraft 2!

When I was a kid, I used to love the Nintendo "Game Watch" games. "Fire!" was my favorite. I also liked the computer chess games with the little plastic pieces going into slots - the pieces always got lost, and the computer was weak, but I liked it. The great unsung thing of The Smartphone Era is having incredibly good chess programs available. Shredder Chess[1] is my favorite. It's strong, and it's got a fun "puzzle" mode where you're given a position and you have to figure out the best sequence of moves (usually just 1-3 moves).

I also really love Plants vs Zombies[2] "Vase Breaker" mini-game. I used to be really into Minesweeper (I broke 80 sec a few times on expert) and Vase Breaker obliquely reminds me of it. (The base PvZ game is excellent, but has poor replayability. Also, don't bother with PvZ2). Note: this game was done with Marmalade[2.5].

Portal[3] and Portal 2 are perhaps my favorite puzzle games of all times, although again, somewhat limited replayability (although if you go for achievements and/or level building, that changes).

I find myself fascinated by Diablo 3[4], but mainly because it's so psychologically manipulative. It's literally an endless grind, and essentially a form of virtual gambling for kids. Fascinating, because at a certain point all of the great artwork, music, and thoughtfulness vanishes into a mechanical blur of killing monsters, filtering drops, repeat. There is very little depth, and yet it has a strange Blizzard-y appeal.

Last but not least, I've been playing Hearthstone[5], another Blizzard game. It's an electronic trading card game, in the same vein as WoW TCG or Magic the Gathering. It's actually pretty good - until you get to a point where you just can't compete with people who have the very powerful rare (and expensive) cards. It's chess where you can have as many queens as you can afford. The genre and the play mechanics definitely appeal to a programmer's sensibilities, but "pay-to-win" mechanic totally ruins constructed deck play for me. (This is mitigated somewhat by Arena mode, where everyone constructs a deck at random, which levels the playing field a great deal.)

[1] http://www.shredderchess.com/ [2] http://www.popcap.com/plants-vs-zombies-1 [2.5] https://www.madewithmarmalade.com/index [3] http://orange.half-life2.com/portal.html [4] http://us.battle.net/d3 [5] http://us.battle.net/hearthstone

> It's an electronic trading card game, in the same vein as WoW TCG or Magic the Gathering. It's actually pretty good - until you get to a point where you just can't compete with people who have the very powerful rare (and expensive) cards.

You should try Mojang's Scrolls [1] if you like CCG gameplay and deck building, but dislike the pay-to-win aspect or the prerequisite of spending hundreds to thousands of dollars to be competitive.

In Scrolls you can use real money to buy preconstructed decks, custom avatars, and a few randomly selected cards in the store's "Just for You" section, but most of your cards are purchased with in-game gold which you must earn through playing matches.

You can play against computer opponents, and your starting precon is strong enough to regularly beat the easiest CPU deck to earn gold which you can use to buy more cards.

Advice for new players: Don't choose Order as your starting faction (I did and kinda regretted it). Buy scrolls from other players in the trade channel, not the store. And use the price guide at http://trading.scrollsguide.com/ as a starting point to figure out reasonable prices for cards (it's based on parsing prices from trade channel chat).

[1] https://scrolls.com/game

The best part of Shredder is that it is good at being bad. Many strong programs, when asked to play at a weaker level so as to give a human an even game do a terrible job at this. They will play like a grandmaster for a few moves, then make a beginner level blunder, and then defend like a grandmaster. It's very unrealistic.

Shredder, when asked to play weaker, seems to do a good job of doing it in a human-like way. It feels very much like I'm playing someone of about my skill, instead of playing a genius who occasionally makes idiotic moves.

2048

Chess

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