
The hardest computer game of all time - tptacek
http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/bitwise/2014/01/robot_odyssey_the_hardest_computer_game_of_all_time.html
======
kibwen
For a more modern entrant in the genre of games that are secretly programming,
I can't recommend Spacechem enough:

[http://www.spacechemthegame.com/](http://www.spacechemthegame.com/)

Surely a bit less difficult than Robot Odyssey, but immensely enjoyable
nonetheless. I finally forced myself to uninstall it after spending waaaay too
much time hyperoptimizing my solutions against the online leaderboard... it
was rather addicting. :)

~~~
asdfs
The developer of SpaceChem also created The Bureau of Steam Engineering
[http://www.zachtronics.com/bse/bse.htm](http://www.zachtronics.com/bse/bse.htm)
and The Codex of Alchemical Engineering
[http://www.zachtronics.com/alchemy/alchemy.htm](http://www.zachtronics.com/alchemy/alchemy.htm)
which are both free.

Incidentally, I didn't realize that he was the creator of Infiniminer. For
those unfamiliar with the game, it is what inspired Notch to create Minecraft.

~~~
freditup
Oh man, Codex of Alchemical Engineering is a game that brings back very fond
memories. In fact, he also made KOHCTPYKTOP: Engineer of the People
[http://www.zachtronics.com/play-
kohctpyktop/](http://www.zachtronics.com/play-kohctpyktop/) another game that
I used to love.

I'm glad this guy went into game-making.

------
petercooper
Fascinating! After reading this I was encouraged to see if anyone had covered
the game on YouTube and found a guy who did a whole let's play series on it
while explaining what he was doing and how the puzzles worked. Part 1 at
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJeseZEZn6Y](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJeseZEZn6Y)
for anyone curious.

~~~
mynameishere
"Famous strongbad line".

It's bizarre that this guy would refer to something so obscure as famous, and
yet I knew exactly what he was talking about (put mouse over 'email'):

[http://homestarrunner.com/main13.html](http://homestarrunner.com/main13.html)

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midas007
Rarely does a game from that era have that much complexity, and in CGA. Wow.

Also, an ASCII guide to gates:

    
    
             output  input(s)
    
                    +
         NOT   --o< |--
                    +
    
                   -+--
         OR    --(  ( 
                   -+--
    
                   -+--
         NOR  --o(  ( 
                   -+--
    
                  --+--
         AND   --(  |
                  --+--
    
                  --+--
        NAND  --o(  |
                  --+--
    
                   - +--
         XOR   --(  (( 
                   - +--
    
                   - +--
        XNOR  --o(  (( 
                   - +--
    
    

{C,P,N}MOS transistor implementations are exercises for the reader. :)

~~~
m-photonic
Apparently it's an Apple II game, not a CGA game. I was fooled too though.

~~~
midas007
Thanks. s/CGA/HGR{,2}/

Neat read (I never coded for Apple II):

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_II_graphics#High-
Resolut...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_II_graphics#High-
Resolution_.28Hi-Res.29_graphics)

~~~
DerekL
Actually, they did port it to IBM PC and TRS-80 Color Computer.

------
Squonk42
There is also a clone written in Java, Droidquest, which contains all of the
original levels and an additional secret level:
[http://www.droidquest.com/](http://www.droidquest.com/)

------
shabble
A similar (and undoubtably simpler, although still often infuriating) but
still fun logic/programming game is Manufactoria[1].

Spoiler: Vg'f onfvpnyyl cebtenzzvat n uggcf://ra.jvxvcrqvn.bet/jvxv/Gnt_flfgrz

[1]
[http://pleasingfungus.com/Manufactoria/](http://pleasingfungus.com/Manufactoria/)

------
KVFinn
The modern version is probably what kids are doing iwth Redstone in Minecraft:

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc6spHvGPtQ](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc6spHvGPtQ)

~~~
chii
i love how minecraft has this redstone system. the latest update also added a
cloning command, so you no longer need to repeatedly make the same circuts
again and again - you can carry a command block, and click a button to clone a
circut/place it, leading to better abstraction.

------
busterarm
I _LOVED_ playing Robot Odyssey as a kid.

I've always been surprised how obscure it is. Never did clear the thing but I
finished at least 80% of it before I was 14. I must be a lot dumber now.

Edit: I just gave GATE a try. Ugh, I can't get past level 15.

~~~
busterarm
Make it 20. lol

~~~
wernercd
Gate?

~~~
ANTSANTS
[http://www.quinndunki.com/OGOL/GATE.html](http://www.quinndunki.com/OGOL/GATE.html)

------
ChuckMcM
Oh I enjoyed this game when it came out. It was what convinced me I had made
the right choice to get an EE degree rather than "just" a CS degree. I really
wanted to connect programs to thrusters, not just subroutines.

~~~
mcphilip
Same here. I was 8 or 9 years old and couldn't understand how chips worked.
They were just sort of magic to me, so I wired all my solutions without chips.
It required a massive mess of logic gates to solve things like the Ventilation
Shaft and Minefield puzzles in level 4.

The signals puzzle in level 5 was as far as I could get... but it got me
hooked on algorithmic problem solving.

Edit: to get an idea of the complexity of the puzzles, here's a link to a
walkthrough of level 4:

[http://mysite.verizon.net/thomasfoote/DQ/id28.htm](http://mysite.verizon.net/thomasfoote/DQ/id28.htm)

~~~
drcode
I actually did the exact same thing! I staid away from the chips because they
were to black-boxish and then gave up on level 5.

I have yet to see a current-gen game with as awesome a circuit wiring mechanic
as RO.

------
zackmorris
Reminds me of ChipWits. God I so loved that game.

[http://www.chipwits.com](http://www.chipwits.com)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChipWits](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChipWits)

[http://www.richardsnotes.org/archives/2005/03/29/chipwits/](http://www.richardsnotes.org/archives/2005/03/29/chipwits/)

------
kolev
I found the source code of the remake (DroidQuest), which is no longer
available for downloaded at
[http://www.droidquest.com](http://www.droidquest.com) for whatever reason.
Here it is: [http://svn.krischel.org/viewvc.cgi/branches/droid-
quest/](http://svn.krischel.org/viewvc.cgi/branches/droid-quest/)

------
jfoutz
Robot odyssey was hard. I got the third robot, but never actually finished.

But man the hitchhiker's guide text game was impossibly hard.

~~~
eludwig
(From memory - SPOILER!)

>Take tea

    
    
       You cannot take that.
    

>I

    
    
       You have:
        
         No tea
    

>Drop No tea

    
    
       Taken.
    

Brilliant! :D

~~~
ctdonath
O. M. G.

 _That 's_ how you do it?

~~~
rspeer
It's not that simple, of course. First you have to transport a miniaturized
version of yourself into your own brain and remove your common sense.

~~~
wernercd
So... this game is a prerequisite to run for any major US Office?

------
Sweyla
Really cool. I hadn't seen this game before, but the idea is dear to my heart
since a few years back I developed a similar iOS app called Circuit Coder.
Sorry for the shameless plug, but if you're into games like this, it might be
worth knowing about.

~~~
pudquick
Just wanted to give a quick reply – I purchased your app when it first came
out and I love it to death.

Thank you for that!

~~~
Sweyla
Thanks! So glad to hear that!

------
jsilence
Never played the game, but reading about this reminded me about how awesome my
life is. There are so many great games and other resources out there. I just
started to brush up my math on Khan Academy for fun.

While it is commonplace to complain about the youth an how spoiled they all
are we should remember that young people today have a plethora of ressources
at their hands and if pointed into the direction of the nearest hackerspace,
or community garden or similar open and encouraging environment, they can do
and learn whatever they want.

All we as parents and grown ups have to do is to point them to these
opportunities and to encourage them to explore their talents.

------
ANTSANTS
Wow, thanks for posting this. I read about this game on Micah's blog a few
years ago and while I had forgotten the name until now, it's been stuck in my
mind ever since. Maybe I'll actually give it a shot this time!

------
ianbicking
Inspired, I tried DroidQuest, but can't get figure out the controls. I feel
like I'm missing something really dumb, but all I can do is move around the
starting menu, how do I select something?

~~~
guspe
Try the tutorials. Instead of entering Robotropolis sewer, just head down and
start with "Robot Anatomy".

------
sea6ear
This is probably the game that had the most impact on my interest in computers
as a kid.

I think all we had access to were cracked versions in Juneau, Alaska where I
grew up (I remember it as a "Black Bag Crack"), so I don't think it was
possible to finish the version I played. Regardless, in 4th grade I loved it,
but I don't think I actually got that far.

However, I realized later that it had given me the foundation of my
understanding of digital logic. It's kind of awesome when I think about that.

------
platz
Another tough one is englishcountrytune [1] from stephen lavelle

[1][http://www.englishcountrytune.com/](http://www.englishcountrytune.com/)

~~~
chii
i have a friend who's crazy about that game - it's more a spatial reasoning
puzzle than logic based (ala, building a circuit).

------
jaskew
This game also helped define me. I remember running around 5th grade thinking
in my head 'beep pause pause beep beep pause'.

I created a parallel to serial and back set of chips to create a remote
control system to get through the invisible maze level.

I played this on either a Tandy color computer 2 or 3 ... not sure which. I
wonder how many engineers/programmers this game created. Such great memories.

------
thearn4
I was almost certain that this would be about QWOP.

------
userbinator
I'm one of those weird guys who thinks this game would be a whole lot more fun
if all you had were NAND gates.

------
doctorfoo
If you like _really_ hard puzzle games, give "Puzzle Moppet" a shot
sometime... I recently got an email from a hardcore puzzle fan who has been
playing it on and off for a year, but still was unable to complete it.

The gameplay isn't particularly innovative though, and it didn't sell well.

------
b0rsuk
There's an early windows game Bug Brain which sounds quite similar. You're
building brains of various insects and worms from single neurons to perform
various tasks.

------
cwbrandsma
My parents got me this game, way back when. I think I got half way through it
before the game sapped my will to continue.

------
laureny
Masquerade for the Apple ][ would probably qualify as one of the hardest games
ever to come out on this platform.

------
1337biz
The headline made me come here to talk about Battletoads but the article left
me kinda disappointed...

------
clin_
Are there any working ports for Mac?

~~~
meemo
You can also find a DOS port online. And play it using Boxer.app boxerapp.com

~~~
jsilence
The guy in the above mentioned 'lets play' videos says that the DOS version
(he has) has a bug which lets you use the soldering iron in the tutorials but
not in the actual game.

~~~
conductor
I think it's the copy protection which can be bypassed by a patcher at
[http://scanlime.org/2009/04/a-binary-patch-for-robot-
odyssey...](http://scanlime.org/2009/04/a-binary-patch-for-robot-odyssey/)

------
sparkyrizzo
I miss Datasoft's Alternate Reality.

------
anon4
It all seemed reasonably simple until I saw you can put chips inside robots
and chips inside chips. Let this be a lesson to you kids - nothing can
complicate things like recursion can complicate like recursion can complicate
like recursion can complicate _stack overflow error_ things.

