TIS-100

When i was a teenager (14 or so) i spent a lot of time doing assembly language programming (enough to write a small compiler). Most of the instructions are similar and playing/programming felt like slipping on some old comfortable slippers i'd forgotten. It helps that it starts up and feels like an old DOS computer from the 1980's. Suggested you read the manual first, the TIS-100 has 10 instructions for you to use and master. They are relatively easy, but in combination with the puzzles you can seriously do a lot more than you'd ever thought you could. Add to that you have each processor working in parallel so you can have one doubling a number while the other one gets you the difference of it before passing it to the output. One of the hardest puzzles include making a sorting routine with such limited space for instructions and logic. But don't worry most of the puzzles slowly ramp up in difficulty helping you build the tools needed to solve later problems. Hidden in each puzzle is a broken processor which stores a dairy of sorts which is the story, of the growing obsession that your uncle had of the machine. Reading it is interesting but not required for play. If you are having trouble with the puzzles, it might be worth it to go to YouTube and watch some videos on computer programming fundamentals which would explain the high level logic of how some of this stuff works, then condense it to the problem at hand. Perhaps the biggest downside to the game is the total lack of music. But if you put something on in the background, it will be much easier for you to play. If you want to try programming in general, or are a programmer, i'd recommend this; If you can't use the BASIC's PRINT command in old Apple/Atari computers then you might give this a pass.

The game is not a classic programming game. It mainly challenges you with the minimalistic instruction set. It is not a bad thing as a game, but be aware that it plays more like an assembly programming challenge than a learn how to program/ get some programming experience tool. The game is really different from how programming goes this times, or even 20 or 30 years ago. But as a challenge, it is quite fine, and I think it worth the money.

The TIS-100 computer system contains many CPU-cores which continually repeat a fifteen instruction long assembler program. These cores can only communicate with their four neighbours and have two registers. Programming for the TIS-100 is often a struggle against the code size, the topological constraints of communicating or the limited register count. Longer programs could often easily fulfil the puzzle-specific program-specification but can't even be temporarily written in the primitive editor. Maybe the TIS-100 architecture can be best compared to distributed message-passing programs running on a biological computer. At first I found the game to be a fun distraction from "normal" programming but later on I did no longer want to miss the comforts of modern programming languages and environments. If you want to learn programming you should not start with this game as it is probably highly frustrating. However learning assembly programming with TIS-100 might work out rather well due to the extremely limited instruction set.

It's hard to call TIS-100 a game. It is divided into separate puzzles which consist of instruction to fulfil. There is a simple way to compare your results with statistics giving you some additional chalange. It has a loading screen which is the only moment you have some cool sound other than bip or click. It has a story which is just a few lines of text pinned to each puzzle. Thats all. Whole gameplay is about writing and executing your code against tests that verify its correct. Code that generates numbers. Later in the game those numbers are at least visualised on an extremely simplistic display wich makes it a little bit more fun. Writing this code is also frustrating due to bizzare game mechanics decisions. It's impossible to write your code reusable (ports naming) wich is a huge wasted oportunity to make collecting your own solution snippets an addition game element. Debugger tool lacks "step back" functionality - would be so helpful. You are limited in line numbers (wich is fine) but empty lines and comments also count, punishing you for trying to make code more readable. I can easily understand high ratings for this games. Solving this kind of programming tasks may be very enjoyable and addictive. I know this cause I do this on a daily basis. However execution of this game is lazy and has very little to offer. In a game I expect some story telling, graphics, sounds, interesting gameplay variety, some reward for solving a puzzle. This product lacks it all and is a wasted potential. If you loved this game and don't understand why I'm so harsh for TIS-100, ask yourself, did you try something real? Buy yourself some real programable modules and create some home automation. Check those fancy programmable robot toys. Coding real stuff will be as fun as this game and an outcome will probably get you more satisfaction and fun. Also your family will a little bit better understand your nerd hobby.