A game that lets players experience software development can be an excellent way to teach programming concepts and concepts in coding, such as loops and conditional statements. Games that accomplish this include Zachtronics’ Shenzhen I/O, which puts players in the shoes of dissatisfied engineers who work at a drab chip company and must design computer chips by hand. They are given increasingly challenging circuits to create, starting with the making lights flash in a specific pattern.
The interface in the game appears very similar to developer tools found in browsers and also teaches scripting. Another great example is Screeps, which is a game that combines JavaScript programming with massively multiplayer online games to build self-sustaining colonies. Both games are excellent in teaching fundamental concepts and slowly introducing new players.
