When SpaceChem was released earlier this year, it was described by our own Allen Park as "a genuinely hard game, where the difficulty is authentic and only bolstered by the player’s willingness to learn. While I wouldn’t recommend it to everyone, it nonetheless remains the most rewarding game I’ve played in 2011."
Well that insanely hard yet satisfying puzzle action has received a new price drop down to $9.99 and is receiving a new sandbox mode to boot. I don't know exactly how a sandbox mode for a game like this would work, but there you have it. In fact, the developers want to know what you think of the sandbox in the form of a contest with physical copies of the games up for grabs. Hit the jump for the details. All you have to do is email the developers the most awesome sandbox pipeline you can imagine, no matter what that may be. The game is hard enough to explain in your own words especially considering I haven't played it yet, so I'll leave it to them to explain the rules.
- TASK: Build the most awesome SpaceChem sandbox pipeline
- SUBMIT: Email your save file and an explanation of your pipeline to zach@zachtronicsindustries.com (see below for default file paths)
- RULES: One entry per person; explanations must be in English and under 500 words long
- DEADLINE: January 1st, 2012
- REWARD: A free physical copy of SpaceChem!
What should you build? I have no idea. I suspect that some people will be building molecular computers, but that certainly doesn’t mean that’s the only thing we’re looking for. Whatever it is, it should push the limits of the fake-science of reaction engineering and should accomplish something that most SpaceChem players would be able to understand. Since there’s no official way to export a specific solution to a puzzle (don’t worry – the irony isn’t lost on me) you’ll need to send in your save file, along with a description of what you built and what it accomplishes, for your entry.