JAM: The Stack Machine
The Stack Machine is a brand new, state of the art computer that is programmable using punch cards. A card has 10 columns. The machine’s clock is 1 Hz, so cards finish running every 10 seconds.
Each column is one instruction or data point. With Data pressed you can punch the necessary task input numbers, then with Data off you punch the instructions needed to solve the problem. Use Shift to get access to more instructions.
But to the machine data is code and code is data. You’ll notice the card can only punch numbers from 0 to 9. If you need 12 type for ex the instructions 93+. Once you punched a card add it to the source deck that will be executed. You can sort the cards there. Good luck! The future needs you.
(The web build has a bit of lag for some reason. The PC builds are fine.)
I made this game in 72 hours for the Ludum Dare 51 jam, my first LD ever. You may encounter some bugs! I would greatly appreciate your feedback. Design, art, sounds, programming are done by me. I used the Godot game engine, v.3.5, the JetBrainsMono font and sfxr for sound effects.
Consider joining my Discord server for game dev discussions and / or my Twitch channel for live streams.
Download
Install instructions
Unzip and execute, no install needed.
Development log
- LD51: Punch card programmer wantedOct 04, 2022
Comments
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I really enjoyed the puzzles! It is certainly cool to have to input the numbers yourself, but I feel like there needs to be a verification step that at some point in the program the stack matches the level's requirement. Right now it's too easy to cheat the system (I did them all legit, I swear!). And yeah I only needed the ram for the last level because it was the only one where I wanted to meet the "stack must match level input at some point" and needed to just keep the ones digit away from the others while I did calculations.
The other thing I found myself wishing for was more visuals like highlighting what column was being evaluated and maybe skipping of empty columns faster.
In other words, the game design is a solid foundation and I just would love more strictness and more levels! More ram levels :D
Great game!! the last 2 asked me to wake up this morning... but now I wish there was more hahaha! I want a puzzle that requires 6-7 cards to solve! :) Hit me up when it's polished, I wanna play it!
This has the potential to sell on steam with enough polish (the like of "Shenzen I/O" or "While true, learn")
You've got a great IP right there in your hands! I would contact a publisher if I were you ;)
Thank you for playing! I barely had time to finish it as it is during the 72 hours of the Ludum Dare 51 jam :) I plan in the future to implement more difficult tasks that require also control flow (ifs, loops) and more cards. But currently my main game I'm developing is Low Level Hero, also a programming-puzzle. I'm hyped you liked it, I'll definitely come back to improve it. If you also participated in LD51 I'd love if you can rate this game there.
been a while since I participated in an LD event. Maybe next time? If you want some help, I'm always interested in exploring new concepts, and yours has loads of potential ;)
Nice game and interesting concept. I guess, with flow control it would be a nightmare to program the punch cards.
neat! shame there wasn't any flow control for more interesting puzzles, but it was still a good play.
Thank you for playing. I wish it had flow control too, like a command to advance or return to a specific card column, but in 72 hours I'm glad I made it :) I will polish this at some point.