SpaceChem and other engineering games from Zachtronics Industries

I want to talk about five indie games of the Logic / Puzzle genre from a single developer. These games are remarkable in that they not only make you think, but also have a rather unusual gameplay and engineering component. Two of them have a chemical background, two are electrotechnical, and one is steam. Most of all I was hooked on SpaceChem, and initially I wanted to tell only about it. But the natural curiosity brought to the developer’s site, and as it turned out, Zachtronics Industries has all the games.

Spacechem

Platform: Windows, Mac, Linux
Cost: $ 20, there is a demo version
SpaceChem is the name of the company in which we have to work as a “engineer of reactors” in remote colonies. Actually, the name of the company speaks for itself - "Space Chemistry". To provide the colonies with the necessary substances, we will change the available natural resources (methane, nitrogen and others) in a somewhat extraordinary way — by designing reactors and building chains of them. In each reactor there are entrances, exits and two waldo (molecules manipulator, one can say nanobot), which we will program. You'll have to think a lot, because sometimes puzzles are not easy. Trailer:

Game site: www.spacechemthegame.com

The Codex of Alchemical Engineering

Platform: Flash
Cost: Free
Codex of Alchemical Engineering has common features with SpaceChem: there is also a source of "atoms", there are connections between them, there are programmable manipulators and there is a task - to get certain combinations of them from the elements. Differences in the programming of manipulators and in alchemical subjects, untied from real chemistry. In addition, the game has an addition of 15 levels (The Magnum Opus Challenge). There is no trailer for the game, there is no tutorial in it, so the following video is recommended for familiarization:

Game page: www.zachtronicsindustries.com/the-codex-of-alchemical-engineering
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Ruckingenur II

Platform: Windows (.Net 2.0)
Cost: Free
In this game, it is proposed to engage in reverse engineering at the level of microcircuits. You will have to crack various military devices by measuring / setting voltages, reading / writing MS registers and similar tools. Design in the graphic schedule, and between missions show a simple cut scenes. Unfortunately, there are only 4 missions, but there is Ruckingenur CE (level editor + 5 missions).

Game page: www.zachtronicsindustries.com/ruckingenur-ii

KOHCTPYKTOP: Engineer of the People

Platform: Flash
Cost: Free
Another game on the topic of electrical engineering, the name and logo of which the author decided to link with the USSR (What does it have to do with communism?). Here we will design the IC logic using semiconductor transitions. We have two layers for the deposition of silicon, one for the metal, and also vias, the task is to obtain the required signal at the output. The game has an internal video tutorial, but for familiarization you can see a “brief” overview (10 minutes) in English:

Game page: www.zachtronicsindustries.com/play-kohctpyktop

The Bureau of Steam Engineering

Platform: Flash
Cost: Free
This game is dedicated to a couple, or rather a huge steam fighting humanoid robots. And we will fight during the civil war in the United States on the side of the Union (north) with other similar robots. Our task is to connect the boilers of the robot with its transmission and weapon using pipes, valves, pressure gauges and containers.

Game page: www.zachtronicsindustries.com/the-bureau-of-steam-engineering

PS:

I like games of this kind; from this I can only remember Pontifex 1/2 . Deciding to learn a little more about the developer, I found the following:
Behind the development of Zachtronics Industries is one person - Zach Barth. I don’t presume to say that he did everything alone: ​​there is information on the Internet that he did not work on SpaceChem alone, plus the music in games was taken from Jamendo (Creative Commons). But that Zach is the locomotive is precisely for what honor and praise to him!

If someone is interested, more information here:
Of Zachtronics Industries website and forum
The old site on wp (there are some projects that are not on the new site)