I love factorio because it's the most like programming without actually being programming. Opus Magnum is a game in a similar vein that came highly recommended, but I never got _that_ into because it _is_ actually programming: there's an instruction set that you program visually. Factorio, on the other hand, is closer to an RTS. Except whenever you find yourself doing something tedious, you can just put in a little more work to automate it and never have to do it again. It's the automation aspect of programming, but no actual programming.

This. My mind was blown when I realised that the initially hard to make grabber arm could be just put in a factory and suddenly I'd have an endless supply of grabber arms forever.

Sometime I think a game is too much like work, and it reflects poorly on the game. Too much grind, tedious...

Factorio for me is too much like work, except I think it's a fine game, I just already often spend my day making systems to put things on queues and take them off queues, trying to keep the queues from getting full or empty...

Exactly my experience. I feel like I'm doing DevOps automation when playing Factorio.

Since I get paid hourly for my normal work .... I started wondering, "Wait, why am I not just working right now? Same thing except I get paid......"

It should be called something like "Jenkins: The Game".

I actually had a similar experience with Space Chem. It was fun until I realized I was playing "Procedural Spaghetti Code: The Game."

I wish there was a "Functional Programming: The Game"

If you need a side project, prototyping "Functional Programming: The Game" sounds like a pretty good one.

It's different enough from actual programming that your subconscious can keep working on your real programming while you play. Be warned however, that your subconscious can keep working on your factory while you work...

I usually agree, but while it certainly feels like programming it does so in an entirely theoretical environment where both concurrency and parallelism is nearly infinite. I think that makes it feel different enough.

Might as well grab an FPGA. :)

Give it a shot. It's different enough from programming. It'll tickle the "how do I solve this" circuitry. It's a puzzle game in many ways.

I'm the same. I love it but it does involve mental work to achieve, and would rather spend the efforts into something real.