Human Resource Machine

I really liked Human Resource Machine. The puzzles were challenging enough, And I've been wanting to experience the feel of working with a low lever programing language. But I've already have done some programing, and the game's interface is quite simplistic. If you have already a favorite IDE programing with your mouse it's a hellish experience. The worst part about this, maybe if copy/paste functions worked a little more intelligently I could have consider finishing the extra challenges. But no, the copy paste function is useless because if you paste code, it deletes ALL the previous code. Something that boggles me is that low-level programing is hard... Little children probably won't get past the 5th level, and teenagers will be better off learning python. I thing you should get human resource machine only if you feel curious about some low-lever programing and the other options feel to intimidating (like learning ensambler or an esoteric language.)

Being a programmer, I usually enjoy puzzle games based on programming-like game mechanics - at least as long as the mechanics are somehow original. Unfortunately, this game is based on a simple & staightforward assembly-like programming language, bringing no added value at all. It might be fun to play for someone who has never seen a programming language, but for me, it was boring & tedious. Even the "optimization challanges" don't require the player to come up with original solutions and mostly can be completed by a simple (yet tidious) optimising procedure. Also, after having played the Little Inferno, I expected some background story with some underlying humor and probably some sort of a moral lesson. Nothing came - all the story can be summed up by the name of the game. Very sorry for such a bad review, especially since this is not a bad game, but after Little Inferno, I expected much more. This is not a bad game, but

I wonder why the game has so good reviews. The game is good, but the interface is really, really bad. Once you get to the mid game, it's much more apparent. You have to start to nest loops, (or jumps in the game) and once you've to scroll up and down to see the flow of your instructions, it gets really confusing.

Human Resource Machine is a short and sweet game that tries, and somewhat succeeds, at gamifying programming. My main gripe is that the games attempts to teach programming are very uneven. The game progresses from simple puzzles to more challenging ones; to progress you need to use the solutions to the puzzles you've already done in more complex ways, building your knowledge -- at least in theory. In practice the game sometimes gives you multiple puzzles that are solved in more or less the same way in a row, only to suddenly introduce a puzzle that requires something completely new which hasn't been used before. The way the game visualises the logic of a computer program is great, and it's satisfying to watch your avatar execute your program to successfully solve a puzzle. Later in the game this gets a bit annoying however, and I found myself setting the in-game speed to maximum to get on with things. When you reach the later levels, the programs you need to create get a bit too complicated for the tools you're given. Even when coding in Notepad you can at least copy, paste, and indent -- no such features here. The visual presentation is, as mentioned, great, and the game's humour goes a long way to make you want to proceed to the next puzzle. But overall I feel that the game is a bit of a brick wall for a beginner and a bit limited for somebody more experienced. If you enjoy programming I would recommend this when it's on sale; at full price, or as a learning tool, it's so-so.

A little programming game with a gentle difficulty curve. Would recommend to anyone for whom getting through manual for a Zachtronics game seems like too much of a chore. Having said that, I found the "code" aka "sticky notes" hard to manage, or read. You can't copy/paste parts of your solution. The code itself also takes just a tiny part of the screen, so most of display is wasted. Combined with humongeous font, it makes only a couple of lines visible at a time. Probably good if you want to learn basic assembly-like programming.