The game crashes frequently, massive lag spikes, slow to compile small bits of code, frequently enters a broken state requiring you to restart or reset the level.

Smaller issues:
* The grabber hand didn't even seem to work. It doesn't grab the object, but that might be skill issue;
* Their is no in-game xyz info, so you need to just understand the coordinate space by trial and error;
* Game is rather slow;
* The level starts already in progress. it should be paused.

I like the idea but execution is poor. Unreal Engine was overkill for this game.

Previous knowledge of programming is not 'RECOMMENDED,' it is NECESSARY.

The tutorial starts off light and gives you a couple lines of code. Then it wants you to use what you've learned, problem being that includes lines of code you didn't even know existed.
The "solution" brings you to a youtube page where you're given "somewhat" of a poor explanation, but you'll still make neither heads nor tails as to WHY and WHAT you're actually typing in.
And even if you do everything correctly, there's no guarantee a bug won't prevent you from "solving."

Not beginner friendly.

Fantastic game. Isn't designed to teach programming but provides challenges that helped improved my existing knowledge in a way that I couldn't find through website training.

I really wanted to like this. I work as a programmer on game/game-adjacent products. Am I good at it? Hell if I know. But I've worked in that area for 5 years and haven't ran into any problems. I really like the concept of slapping a Python interpreter into a game and using actual code to manipulate the objects in the game to solve puzzles.

But, I played for a few hours (repeated a few puzzles because I can't properly kill the game on my laptop to trigger a cloud save sync), and I'm just not sure who this is meant for.

For engineers, I can't see how this teaches anything useful. Maybe I didn't get deep enough into it. But, one of the beautiful parts about programming is that you can usually get set up and tinker with random ♥♥♥♥ that's new to you without investing any monetary cost. Anyone who wants to learn a real game engine can just download Unreal or Unity, spend a few hours on free online tutorials, and just go screw around or follow a dirt-cheap Udemy course. I don't see the teaching value in this. (I also realize that I work in these engines, and I still bought the game out of curiosity. I'm possibly being a hypocrite).

For non-engineers who actually want to learn programming, this is a bad introduction imo. Again, I think there's a very cool concept here. By writing Python within the actual game, it lets players focus on the act of writing code (and the effects of that code) without having to deal with the mental overload of dealing with a full game engine. And while the C family of languages is more valuable in the game space, Python has always felt like the best starter for people who are new to programming.

Problem with recommending this to the latter group is that I'm kinda baffled by the execution. Yes, there are a few levels where you can manipulate objects by clicking them and setting parameters on a drop-down. That's good. It leads naturally to manipulating those objects in code. The first few levels ease you into things through that mechanism. Once you start having to write code, they explain basic concepts like "if" statements and "for" loops. There are tons of basic details left out (like the fact that Python is strict about its whitespace), but a newbie can navigate by just repeating the patterns shown in the example code.

The game lost me shortly after that. It introduces puzzles where you have to write multiple "if", "elif", "else" checks. "else if" is a pretty simple concept. But the game doesn't (to my knowledge) point that out as a thing that you can do in a programming language. That's going to leave newbies frustrated. It's going to lead them to googling answers to figure out how they do this thing. And at that point, the game has failed. Because it's providing no value beyond the most basic Python tutorials on the planet.

Then, it moves to puzzles where you have to do vector math. The game doesn't even pretend to teach you what a vector even is. You just end up in a puzzle that needs it. Again, anyone could do some Googling and figure it out eventually. But at that point, what's the value in this? The vector part is especially egregious to me, because the game does a terrible job of informing you what the axes and reference frames are. I click on a conveyor belt for the first time. I know if input a positive number for the speed, it will go forward. If I input a negative number, it will go backward. Why can't I see which direction is which? I just have to guess via trial and error. Eventually, I get to a puzzle with more belts. At that point, I can see the awfully rendered direction arrows and know which is which. But, I needed to see those in the first conveyer belt puzzle.

That same example carries on when you're trying to position objects in 3D. Some functions need input based on absolute positions. Other functions only take inputs on relative positions. And the game's documentation makes zero effort to explain what "relative" means for a given object. It just boils down to trial-and-error to figure out what the inputs are actually supposed to be. This is pretty awful teaching practice.

I stopped wasting my time at that point. The ability to toggle between local/global reference frames and see a positional grid are basic QOL features that any game engine would be crucified for excluding.

And beside all that, there's the bugs. On my laptop, I need to reset my computer to get Steam to recognize that I closed the game. That screams that there's some background process that I can't kill. I wasted time on several puzzles, because the python that I wrote didn't override the starter simulation code, even after I deleted that code. At best this is time-wasting. At worst, I'm wondering why the hell Steam won't recognize that I closed the game, and wonder what kind of malicious and invisible process is hanging onto my PC.

Thumbs up for the concept, but a much bigger thumbs down for the implementation.

Just started playing and this game so far is everything that I want it to be.

Developer seems to be responsive and patching so that is also a cause for optimism.

Great guides for learning and improving your Python skills

If you love robotics, or microcontroller programming, you're gonna love this game. Additional, you can practice Python while you're playing

I wish my PO gave requirements out like this game.

It's good for beginners to python who understand simulation games. I really enjoyed the perks menu where they gamified specific coding topics. It's pretty good.

Really love this game. It's fun and challenging. Buyer beware it is not going to teach you to program, but depending on your learning style it could serve as a great catalyst to help your learning process. It will only give you the challenge though, how you solve it is up to you.

If you program in python, or program at all really, you need to buy this game.