![]() ![]() For players who enjoy speedrunning though, the precision of the mechanics is actually a positive, as it does allow players to craft the fastest scripts with intricate planning.īots Are Stupid has four worlds and 40 levels. I usually love puzzles, and I don’t avoid taking my time to find the best solutions, however, solving them felt like a tedious process. On the other hand, the gameplay can become frustrating as you spend a lot of time on a single level, mostly adjusting time intervals and watching your bot do the same actions over and over again. It’s also highly satisfying to see your bot finally make it to the end after searching for the correct commands, conditions, and timing. On the one hand, it’s an exceptional exercise in patience to play with this type of precision, and it’s educational if you want to get a basic feel for problem solving with a programming language. The difference between throwing out your grappling hook at 0.4 seconds or 0.5 seconds can be a matter of life or death for your bot (luckily, you have an infinite amount of bots to experiment with). You’ll need to do this to get through most levels, especially on the harder difficulties. The game lets you pause your script and click forward frame by frame to locate the exact moment you need the bot to jump, hook, or move. It wasn’t uncommon for me to start over completely from scratch after multiple deaths, using what I learned to plan each second accordingly. ![]() For me, starting a level consisted of throwing out many random pieces of code to see what would happen. The gameplay is best described as extensive trial and error. As for obstacles, you’ll have many things such as spikes, cliffs, and poison standing between your bot and the end portal the difficulty, though, is in figuring out the best code to write. Later on, the level design incorporates moving platforms, bouncers that function like trampolines, and zip lines that will have you playing around with velocity and timing. The initial levels also introduce other fun mechanics like using a grappling hook or grabbing floating orbs for speed boosts. Sometimes that portal will need to be powered up with orbs you collect along the way, so you’ll need to keep those in mind as you craft your bot’s route. Your goal is to guide your bot to a glowing portal in order to complete the level. I found it helpful that the game points out errors in your code like invalid syntax or missing parameters. It’s confusing at first, but it doesn’t take long to get familiar with the fundamentals. Many bots ran off a cliff and fell to their deaths before I realised wait doesn’t make your bot stop in place rather it denotes the amount of time in between actions such as jumping or moving. To non-programmers, this may sound intimidating, but prior experience with coding is not needed to play the game as the commands are quite simple the ones you’ll use most in the beginning are move right, move left, jump, and wait. ![]() After listing out lines of commands, you can hit play to see how the bot interprets them. The bot placed at the start of the level won’t do anything unless you’ve scripted it to do so, which leaves every second (or decisecond) up to your instructions. In the tutorial, you’ll meet “introbot3000” (the smartest bot in Bots Are Stupid), and you’ll practise typing out or dragging specific commands into the console on the left side of your screen. Unlike Celeste or The End Is Nigh - platformers where you manoeuvre the characters by pressing the correct buttons/keys, utilising your reflexes to overcome obstacles - Bots Are Stupid gives you an infinite supply of stupid robots who you control by using a simple programming language. If you like time-based problem solving or are looking for a casual introduction to coding, this game is for you. Crafted by solo developer Leander Edler-Golla, this 2D precision platformer combines the programming and puzzle features of Zachtronics games with the sharing and creation systems of Super Mario Maker. ![]() Don’t be surprised when you die multiple times - it’s part of the process. In Bots Are Stupid, finding the perfect moment to hook, jump, or zip line your stupid robot to the end of the level is an ultra-precise trial-and-error journey. Whether you’re sneaking your way through an enemy-packed warehouse or smashing a button when a quick time event pops up in front of you, getting your timing right can be the one thing keeping you safe from the “game over” screen. Reviews // 30th Dec 2022 - 5 months ago // By Alyssa Rochelle Payne Bots Are Stupid Review ![]()
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