SOKOBOT

SOKOBOT feels more like a programming game than a programming puzzle game. Designing a working solution for a level requires minimal insight; you'll probably only be challenged by diving deep into optimization. Yet, a lack of interface features makes optimization feel more tedious than it should. You can't copy & paste code blocks; you can't loop code blocks; you can't reorder existing robots in your code rack for clarity; there are no shortcut commands like returning to start position. If a robot's code begins with empty spaces they aren't ignored, but rather treated as wait commands. This means in order to synchronize multiple robots' movements you have to either position some robots mid-routine so their code doesn't start with empty spaces, or make use of sleep and wake commands. The former feels awkward, and yet the latter feels inefficient for optimization. Your robots' movements depend on their facing, so you have to constantly visualize which way is forward for all of them separately, which becomes more and more cumbersome the deeper you are into a lengthy solution. There is no feature to jump to a command during production to quickly check for errors or simply to verify …

just a good game that forces you to think how to program the bots we interacted with

POSITIVE, BUT.... The game is very relaxing and satisfying. Unfortunately, the lack of punishment when collisions occur ruins the challenge of scoring points in the ranking. It bothers and irritates me to try to reduce commands and cycles using the null action trick. It seems like dirty logic, something like a cheat. This feature completely destroyed my enjoyment of playing. The bot's own expression (confused and irritated) shows that something is wrong and that it should not continue. I think collisions should interrupt the command sequence.

The title of the game is inaccurate; it is a programming puzzle, not a Sokoban game. In fact, it has no connection to a Sokoban. Based on my current understanding, SOKOBOT can be categorized as parallel programming. It's a shame that the game needs more quality of life and keybindings. A pause button to see the current situation. There is not "pause", only play and stop. Stopping resets everything; you can use "step" to alleviate this, but you need to use the mouse instead of a key, which is tiring during a prolonged period of time.

Fun game

This is a fun puzzle/programming game similar to Zachtronics games. I was hoping for something like Opus Magnum and while it's good, it's not quite as good. The challenging thing with this particular game is the fact that you're limited to 38 commands and 5 bots so you have to figure out how to perform all the actions and loop them accordingly. Personally, I like other games where they don't force limits on you because you can work on solving it and then optimizing it whereas with this game, you're forced to optimize some puzzles in order to solve them. I would definitely recommend Zachtronics games over Sokobot but if you've already played them and want something new and different, this can help fill that void.