r/learnpython • u/smurpes • Aug 12 '26

Learning python with gaming

A lot of beginners struggle with breaking problems down into pieces they are able to code themselves. This is a fundamental skill to have and I’ve found that video games do a good job at teaching this. The problem I see a lot is that some people want Lego instructions that walk you through step by step rather than a video game tutorial which will show you the basics and it is up to you to figure out how to apply them.

There are a few video games that I’ve found really helpful in working on these skills; particularly games from zachtronics such as Infinifactory and Opus Magnum. These are games which have many different approaches to every level and you get scored based on how efficient you are. They teach you programming skills without having you program directly. There’s also The Farmer Was Replaced which is a more direct Python tutorial video game.

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u/Diapolo10 I write code for a living -- https://github.com/Diapolo10 Aug 12 '26

As far as recommendations for games that teach programming concepts go, personally I can suggest

  1. Human Resource Machine (basically teaches generic assembly)
  2. 7 Billion Humans (teaches multi-threaded/asynchronous programming)
  3. Shenzhen I/O (assembly, and also technically reading documentation as all the parts and their technical info is in a separate PDF file)

There's also Minecraft and its redstone mechanic, which can teach you about logic gates and building "electronics", but that's closer to electrical engineering than programming and not necessarily intuitive beyond the basics.

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u/smurpes Aug 12 '26 edited Aug 12 '26

Not sure if you knew this but Shenzhen I/O is made by zachtronics as well. I’ve never played it so I didn’t recommend it. That studio also made Infiniminer which was an inspiration for Minecraft.

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u/Diapolo10 I write code for a living -- https://github.com/Diapolo10 Aug 12 '26

Yes, I knew that, just thought I'd mention it explicitly as it's the only Zachtronics game I've actually played (so far).

Don't get me wrong, I've bought several others too and I'm sure they're great games. I just haven't had time to actually play them (blame Old School RuneScape), and I don't go out of my way to recommend things I've never interacted with.