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[Cavalcadeofcats]

Inspired by SpaceChem, Silicon Zeroes is a hardware design puzzle game by the creator of Manufactoria. (That's me!) It's set in a semi-fictional startup at the dawn of modern computing, and takes you from building humble, simple circuits to world-dominating processors.

Spoiler: A simple machine (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Part of a rather less simple machine (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: A puzzle select screen (click to show/hide)

Preview (Gaming Nexus)

This is the best game about CPU design that I can imagine existing.

It's coming out soon, and Kyratzi suggested that people here might be interested in it, so I'm giving away a few keys:

#1: Taken!
#2: Taken!
#3: Taken!

The game is out now. Let me know what you think!

Discord: here.

[Aoi]

Grabbed the third one. I have very limited experience in this field (or even any of the more logic-driven puzzle games like Spacechem or even Human Resource Machine) so it'll be more of a test of how intuitive things are...

Update: Just finished the first few sets, until there's the split in stages. No problems yet; one of the stages had an 'oh, duh' moment when I used two extra adders in place of another number, not noticing that I could use another number. Looked at Spares, poked at it for a moment, and ended up with a 6/5 success. So far, so good, even if I don't immediately see a way to trim it down.

Was there any mention of the arrow in the upper left corner of the notepad/dialogue to shrink the instructions? I feel like decreasing the opacity when mousing over a module that's under it may be helpful too.

[Cavalcadeofcats]

I have very limited experience in this field (or even any of the more logic-driven puzzle games like Spacechem or even Human Resource Machine) so it'll be more of a test of how intuitive things are...

That's exactly what I'm hoping for

[Damiac]

Manufatoria was a fantastic game, good to see you on the bay12 forums PF! 

I grabbed key # 2, thanks!

[Cavalcadeofcats]

Manufatoria was a fantastic game, good to see you on the bay12 forums PF! 

I grabbed key # 2, thanks!

Haha, good to see you here too! Didn't know you posted here. Let me know how the game goes!

[milo christiansen]

Key #1 is gone. I don't know who has it but the link says it is associated with another account.

[ChairmanPoo]

...interesting. PTW

[Cavalcadeofcats]

Key #1 is gone. I don't know who has it but the link says it is associated with another account.

Yep, looks like someone took it just after my last post. Updated the OP - thanks!

And since you came so close, I'll PM you a key, too.

[milo christiansen]

Thanks for the key!

I'm a computer programmer with a special interest in low level work, to the point where I build logic gates in games just to see if I can... This game looks promising.

Anyway, I'll be sure to post feedback soon!

I just zipped through the "tutorial" puzzles up to "Stall". First impressions:

The graphics aren't half bad, quite good actually.
A few minor clicks and thumps would liven this up a lot. Proper interface sounds would be a massive improvement.
The basic blocks are low enough level to be interesting for guys like me, but high enough that non-programmers won't be totally lost. Good choice.
I don't like the way the interface disappears when I drag a module.

After several harder puzzles, I haven't found anything else worth mentioning. I kinda like the way the puzzles are laid out, the branching and converging patterns give you opportunities to move to a different branch when you get stuck, and the optional harder side puzzles provide interesting challenges.

In general I like what there is so far!

[milo christiansen]

I found what I can only assume is a bug. In the puzzle "Quadruple" it takes 12 mTicks to read memory, and 8 mTicks to multiply, but the puzzle has an 18 mTick time limit. AFAIK the absolute best time you could get in this puzzle is 20 mTicks.

Edit 1:
Bug #2: The "equals" module description says it outputs 1 if one of the comparators matches the base, but the output tool tip says they must all match. The module description is the correct one (but the behavior described by the output tool tip would be more useful IMHO).

[Cavalcadeofcats]

A few minor clicks and thumps would liven this up a lot. Proper interface sounds would be a massive improvement.

I don't like the way the interface disappears when I drag a module.

Interface sounds are planned! I have a few implemented, but they're rough/early enough that I haven't included them in the public build.

There was a reason in an older version of the game for the UI to disappear while dragging, but it's obsolete now. I'll change it to not disappear in the next release.

I found what I can only assume is a bug. In the puzzle "Quadruple" it takes 12 mTicks to read memory, and 8 mTicks to multiply, but the puzzle has an 18 mTick time limit. AFAIK the absolute best time you could get in this puzzle is 20 mTicks.

Edit 1:
Bug #2: The "equals" module description says it outputs 1 if one of the comparators matches the base, but the output tool tip says they must all match. The module description is the correct one (but the behavior described by the output tool tip would be more useful IMHO).

Oops! Good catch on bug #2; fixed for the next release.

#1 is not a bug. Try looking at that puzzle a little more

[milo christiansen]

Damn! My programmer instincts lead me astray... Got it now!

This is quite fun. I can almost always get a working solution, but on the hard stuff my solution often has too many modules, and some of the super hard ones still have me stumped.

Of course I'm just getting into the delay puzzles...

Edit: I just finished "Fast Two" with 27 ticks under ideal! I was 4 modules and $12 over though...

[Cavalcadeofcats]

Edit: I just finished "Fast Two" with 27 ticks under ideal! I was 4 modules and $12 over though...

Cool! Post a screenshot of your machine?

[milo christiansen]

Sure, if I can find a way to upload it with my tablet. Imgur doesn't seem to work unless I get their app...

The secret was to run the different instruction types in parallel by storing ADDR instruction data in a register. Since the test data for this puzzle doesn't have any collisions it made my crappy solution into one that isn't half bad...

[Xgamer4]

Is it released yet? All the keys are gone, and I don't see anything under Downloads on the website, but it sounds like something right up my alley.

At the very least it'd be something more to rack my brain against.