Screenshots from Kohctpyktop... If you played this at work, it almost looks like a project. (via Zachtronics)
Ah, the Cold War. At no other time in history has humankind made such great strides in developing superior technology in an effort to go MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction)! Four years after the US dropped Little Boy and Fat Man on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the USSR detonated its first atomic bomb (the RDS-1) and the Nuclear Arms race began. During this time, integrated circuits were being incorporated into every facet of nuclear weapons manufacturing and implementation. They could be found in everything from oscillators to launch control systems, in guidance systems and communication relays as well as the calutrons used to enrich uranium isotopes.
So, what does any of this have to do with games? Zachary Barth of Zachtronics Industries has developed a series of games directed towards engineers (and engineers at heart) who would like to play games utilizing the vast knowledge of their chosen trade (or hobby). In one of his latest games, Kohctpyktop: Engineer of the People (or ‘Constructor’ of the People), players use their integrated circuit skills to progress through levels as a Cold War engineer for the USSR (albeit in an alternate universe). The game starts with players assuming the role of an engineer who goes to work for a semiconductor factory known as H3. The player’s ‘assigned’ job is to design microchips that use prescribed input/output rules using N and P-type doping for BJTs (Bipolar Junction Transistor) in order to create the correct logic circuit. As an example, the first level requires the player to create four NOT gates (inverters or outputting a high current from a low one). Once the gates are in place, players then create the wiring using the five VIA commands listed on the right of the play screen. Four +VCC squares continually supply power to the I/O connections (if done correctly) and designs can be verified with the corresponding ‘Verification’ tab in order to make sure the schematic is correct. If all is good, players can then advance to the next level. The circuit designs are then applied to new (or in this case old) Soviet warfare platforms such as a Radio Message Stream Decoder, Grenade Launcher Ammo Counter and a Gatling Cannon Fire Controller among other things. Suffice it to say a little story is integrated with each progression but to find out what happens at the end you will have to use your skills, as no spoiler will be printed. ‘Constructor’s’ creator Zach is noted for his simplistic (in terms of graphics) ‘block-style’ type games and is widely considered the forbearer to the block genre that includes Minecraft, FortressCraft and Total Miner. He also has some other notable engineering games out on the web, which includes The Codex Alchemical Engineering, Magnum Opus Challenge and Bureau of Steam Engineering to name a few and are equally fun playing even in their simplistic (and yet complicated) design.
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