Visual Programming in Games

[ivanreese]

Collecting lesser known games that are either about visual programming or have a striking resemblance to visual programming, either as we know it or as it could possibly be.

Well-known games that won't be listed individually but, like, if you don't know 'um then check 'um out: Factorio, everything by Zachtronics (SpaceChem, OpusMagnum, ExaPunks, etc), Satisfactory, Baba is You, Dreams, Mario Maker (and, like, "level editors" as an entire category), Incredible Machine, Human Resource Machine, etc.

Hack n Slash — https://youtube.com/watch?v=zCa7uTBppcU

From DoubleFine, allows you to edit the actual props and lua code used by objects in the game, with a dynamically generated visual environment for tweaking the code. Seems wild but under-developed.

Word Factori — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwSwcnBVIoc

Interesting use of shape transformations, great visual design, some nice interaction ideas

ABI-DOS — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZ5EN0mYOfs

tile-based, see values flowing across the tiles, nice visual design

while True: learn() — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hITJdnpP790

node-wire, with some interesting node UIs, but it seems the logic is quite basic

Learning Factory — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOzR8EMad8w

looks a lot like Factorio, but apparently it's supposed to teach how ML works or something?

Neon Noodles — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmbS_UIqszs

Like Overcooked but with the silly chaos replaced by Opus Magnum

Turing Complete — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YY73ejihZo

Aesthetically rough, but it's very much a real programming game. A mix of visual and text code.

Logic World — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpTZ1geIECU

A 3d circuit builder, vaguely minecraft esq

Virtual Circuit Board — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVOwLZe0HXU

2d circuit builder, with a mix of visual wiring and textual code. Seems quite elaborate.

Shapez — https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KyorY1uIqiQ

Conveyor belts that carry abstract shapes to machines that reshape and combine them.

Shapez2 — https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=q7qFuoerlVI

3D sequel to Shapez.

Rocky's Boots — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-NLh58bIIk

Also, Robot Odyssey. These are games for the Apple II (etc) that allow you to program robots and other things by going inside them. Commonly cited as an early high-water mark for visual programming and programming games generally.

Nurose — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XnqXD4Psjw

Wizards with visually programable spells.

Mages of Mystralia — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGsbD6sfD3Q

Mages with visually programmable spells.

Noita — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDFdi8XU6M0

Witches with visually programmable spells.

The Signal State — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQFTvuyfve8

sort of like "modular synth, the game" but with visual feedback for output

Linkito — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eM-0UMC788

Relatively recent circuit-building game (2024), with logic gates and sensors and indicators

Carnage Heart — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biKhBlCBrXY

PS1 game where you can program the behaviour of Mechs using tiles on a grid

Silicon Zeroes — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDNywILJMGg

Game about CPU design, seems mechanically sophisticated but aesthetically basic

Rogue Voltage — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGQ_FIvrnXo

Really simple wiring game, but it looks quite crunchy in a good-feeling way

Storyteller — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MVuffKFbVA

Kinda like Pygmalion. No programming here, but very much with drawing inspiration from.

Screeps — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZboTgOajnGg

Write code in JS (or load WASM), to control objects in a visual environment.

Solas 128 — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uicg52xPjuk

Another simple wiring game, not much for programming, but good aesthetic inspiration.

Node Farm — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARHz7j6W2Uk

Looks fairly simple. Node-wire with flowing values, doesn't seem like much logic.

Rail Route — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aipDdgzpyNA

There's Mini Metro, and then there's this.

Color Zen — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxLCklMgrxo

Via Alex Wein on Bluesky: "evokes curried function composition"

Hyper Demon — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScglDSi9KUs

How my code feels when run, so of course, how I should feel while I code it.

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Seamus Bradley wrote a nice blog post back in that discusses a bunch of the games on this list, plus others that are still about programming but not in a visual way. Recommended — Learn Computing Through Games