If grabbed molecules are like data in registers, then molecules left on the grid are cached. Just as a waldo can only grab one molecule at a time, computers have very few registers and must therefore rely on caching. Conceptually this is analogous to storing data in registers, a form of computer memory that is accessed very quickly and that the CPU manipulates directly. In other words, a grabbed element is more readily and rapidly available than one lying elsewhere on the grid. When a waldo grabs a molecule, it gains the ability to perform instructions directly on it.
Like processors, waldoes are the engines that drive the control flow of a SpaceChem factory. The waldo’s analogue in computing is the processor, a hardware component that sequentially executes basic operations defined by machine code. They can grab, drop, rotate, sync, bond, fuse, request input or dispatch output. The waldoes follow the path and sequentially execute any instruction they come across. The player commands two circular “waldoes” by laying out paths and instructions for them. I’d like to elaborate on these manifold similarities, as well as explore how games like SpaceChem could be used to promote procedural literacy. The methods used to tackle challenges in SpaceChem are akin to real techniques used by computer programmers. While chemistry is the theme, on a mechanical level it has more in common with programming. The game challenges you to build a factory in order to transmute the given input molecules into the given output molecules. SpaceChem is a remarkable puzzle game about fake chemistry.
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