Manufactoria 2022

In this game you move robots around the grid with conveyor belts. Each robot has a tape, contains a queue of stamp symbols, where the stamp at the front of the queue can be popped off and branched off to different paths with a scanner. The goal is to make an assembly line to send the robot either to the accepted chute or the incinerator, based on the task given in each level. I played the original flash game, which was already a masterpiece of a puzzle game in its own right. This one has much better graphics and a few new interesting mechanics. Each level now has 3 medals, obtained by getting a certain runtime, rectangular area, and number of scanners and stampers of the assembly line. Sometimes full medal completion requires you to make separate solutions that that optimize one attribute over the others. The game has a cozy vibe, but don't let that fool you. Some of these levels are quite challenging, but solving them is what makes this fun. If you like logical problem solving and programming, this game is the game for you.

Manufactoria 2022 is a remake of a classic Flash puzzle game that builds on the original without sacrificing the original spirit. If you like the "Zach-like" genre of puzzle games, if you like Turing machines*, if you like optimizing grid layouts, you will love Manufactoria. The gameplay is based on assembling machines to perform various tasks by placing parts in a grid. * Technically, the game is clearly inspired by "queue automata", which are Turing-complete, but not Turing machines. The major positives are: * Large number of levels (105) in a good difficulty progression * The challenge is based on assembling a large number of parts, but only a small number of types of parts. Some games in this genre are constantly introducing new types of parts. This game definitely is not, instead the playability is based on flexibly combining a few types of parts. * Most levels are incredibly open-ended (the task can be solved many truly different ways), except for a few basic introductory levels. * There is a good editing UI, allowing you to take portions of your grid and copy, paste, rotate, etc. * If you like optimizing solutions in this type of game, Manufactoria will provide hours and hours of entertainment beyond solving the levels, as 90+ of the levels each have "gold medals" available on 3 different criteria. The main negative would be if you don't like this genre.