@shapr I found exapunks to be a lot easier than tis-100 or shenzen, maybe because the limit on code size is relaxed. I made it to the second last level in exapunks without having to look up hints or anything online. still haven’t reached the bottom row in tis-100.

the one game a lot of people say is easier to get into is infinifactory, but I apparently don’t think very well spatially.

I wish I understood Japanese; this guy makes beautiful machines: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjXyy7VvX1IbXaT4kOYpUN6kzI_voqMXC

@shapr i did some of that on an old XT in the 1980s too, but didn’t do a lot in assembly. i remember using debug but my memory’s faded, don’t remember if i used a proper assembler for anything substantial.

i think zach of zachtronics also grades exapunks as easier than the others — with spacechem probably the hardest. they got batter at making them, i suppose.

@shapr very few of my steam friends play the games, so i’m usually not motivated to improve my solutions a lot. there’s always the tension between spending time improving a solution and moving on to the next level.

one day a couple of years ago i was demoing the zachtronics games to one of my brothers. while showing him an early shenzen level, i realized i could reverse the order of a test (tgt to tlt or something like that), and made it run faster. he didn’t find it all that impressive, heh.