SpaceChem Download PC

Developer: Zachtronics Industries

Release date: 2011

Platform: Windows (PC)

Genre: Puzzle

Version: v1011

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Download SpaceChem Free for PC Torrent

SpaceChem is an indie puzzle game developed by Zachtronics Industries, based on principles of automation and chemical bonding. In the game, the player is tasked to produce one or more specific chemical molecules via an assembly line by programming two remote manipulators (called "waldos" in the game) that interact with atoms and molecules through a visual programming language. SpaceChem was the developer's first foray into a commercial title after a number of free Flash-based browser games that feature similar puzzle-based assembly problems.

The game was initially released for Microsoft Windows at the start of 2011 via Zachtronics' own website. Though it was initially rejected for sale on the Steam platform, Valve later offered to sell the game after it received high praise from game journalists; further attention came from the game's release alongside one of the Humble Indie Bundles. The game has since been ported to other computing platforms and mobile devices. Reviewers found the game's open-ended problem-solving nature as a highlight of the title. SpaceChem was incorporated into some academic institutions for teaching concepts related to both chemistry and programming.

Gameplay

In SpaceChem, the player takes the role of a SpaceChem Reactor Engineer whose task is to create circuits through which atoms and molecules flow with the aid of waldos to produce particular batches of chemical shipments for each level.

The primary game mode of SpaceChem depicts the internal workings of a Reactor, mapped out to a 10 × 8 regular grid. Each reactor has up to two input and up to two output quadrants, and supports two waldos, red and blue, manipulated through command icons placed on the grid. The player adds commands from an array to direct each waldo independently through the grid. The commands direct the movement of the waldo, to pick up, rotate, and drop atoms and molecules, and to trigger reactor events such as chemical bond formation. The two waldos can also be synchronized, forcing one to wait for the other to reach a synchronization command. The reactors may support specific nodes, set by the player, that act where atomic bonds can be made or broken, where atoms can undergo fission or fusion, or where logic decisions based on atom type can be made.

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As such, the player is challenged to create a visual program to accept the given inputs, disassemble and reassemble them as necessary, and deliver them to the target output areas to match the required product. The product molecule does not need to match orientation or specific layout of the molecules as long as the molecule is topologically equivalent with respect to atoms, bonds, and bond types; however, in larger puzzles, these factors will influence the inputs to downstream reactors. While the two waldos can cross over each other without harm, collision of atoms with one another or with the walls of the reactor is not allowed; such collisions stop the program and force the player to re-evaluate their solution. Similarly, if a waldo delivers the wrong product, the player will need to check their program. The player successfully completes each puzzle by constructing a program capable of repeatedly generating the required output, meeting a certain quota.

In larger puzzles, the player can also guide the formation of chemicals through multiple reactors, which they place out on a larger rectangular grid representing the planet's surface. From here, the output from one reactor will become the input for another reactor; the player is often free to determine what intermediate products to produce to send to the next reactor. The player must not only program the individual reactors, often limited in functionality such as one that can only break bonds but not form them, but plan out the location and order of reactors to make the final product.

The game's puzzles are divided into groups set on different planets. Players generally must complete each puzzle in order to progress to the next one, but the game includes optional harder puzzles. Final boss levels, called out as defense levels, complete each planet; here, the player must efficiently create chemicals and deliver them in a timely manner, once the reactor systems have been started, to trigger defense systems to ward off attacking enemies before they destroy a control structure.

Upon completion of each puzzle, the player's performance is compared on a leaderboard based on the number of instructions placed in their reactors, the number of cycles it took to meet the quota, and the number of reactors required to meet the solution. The player also has an option to upload videos of their solution to YouTube. The player, once having cleared a puzzle, can return to previous puzzles to try to improve their solution by reducing the number of instructions, cycles taken, or reactors used. SpaceChem supports downloadable content created by the developers themselves, and user-submitted puzzles through its ResearchNet service. A later addition included an open-ended sandbox mode where players could simply explore the game's capabilities.

Reception

SpaceChem was generally well received by critics, with an aggregate Metacritic score of 84 out of 100 from its Microsoft Windows release. Quintin Smith of Rock, Paper, Shotgun said "I think we might have just received one of the year's best indie games in the first week of 2011". Gamasutra's Margaret Robertson praised SpaceChem's gameplay, contrasting it with other open-ended activities as it offers the opportunity for the player to be as creative as they want to be within the minimal ruleset required of each puzzle. Robertson also found the game to be thrilling, having each puzzle initially appear "so astonishingly dispiriting" to what she had previously learned, but through trial and error coming to a solution that works and giving her the feeling of having "made a creative statement" in her solution. Eurogamer's John Teti praised the means through which the game introduced new mechanics without excessive reliance on tutorials; he commented that "the problems become more daunting" through the addition of new elements and commands, the game "is always more accessible than it looks". Edge said "The triumph of SpaceChem is that overcoming these situations is more a case of inventing a solution than discovering one."

Team Fortress creator Robin Walker recommended "SpaceChem" on Steam, calling it "Pretty much the greatest game ever made". Gamasutra named SpaceChem the best indie game of 2011. Though total sales of the game are unknown, at least 230,000 copies were purchases as part of the game's inclusion in the Humble Indie Bundle. Barth stated that with sales of SpaceChem, he was able to quit his job at Microsoft and run his development company full-time. Ryan Sumo, the freelance artist for the game, gained recognition in the industry and went on to help develop the art for Prison Architect.