A game that allows players to experience software development is an excellent way to teach coding and programming concepts like loops and conditional statements. Games that allow this include Zachtronics Shenzhen I/O which puts players in the shoes of dissatisfied engineers who work for an ordinary chip manufacturer and must build computer chips by hand. The circuits they’re required to create become more complicated, starting with making the lights flash in a specific pattern.
The interface of the game looks techedge 2011 presentations very similar to the tools for developers found in browsers and also teaches scripting. Screeps is another excellent example, which blends JavaScript code with massively multiplayer online gaming to build self sustaining colonies. Both games do an excellent job of teaching basic concepts while gradually introduction of new ones.
