Engineering Games - The 12 Best Games for Engineers

With the advancement of software and gaming technologies, there are plenty of options available to satisfy engineers’ different tastes. The games on this list range from building games to collaboration and management games. Today’s game developers have created entire worlds on the computer screen. With a simple click, players can jump into these imaginary worlds for many hours of gaming fun. If you’re looking to unwind after a long day at work or school, here is a list of the 12 best games for engineers. 

 

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SpaceChem

Chemical engineers will go nuts over this puzzle-based game. It does a wonderful job at making chemistry fun. That’s because it uses the principles of automation and chemical bonding to run a chemical manufacturing plant. Players must refine raw materials to turn them into usable chemicals. These chemicals can be produced by strategically using different methods to manipulate how the materials flow through a factory that the player sets up.The game includes over fifty challenging puzzles to keep you entertained.

Minecraft

For good reason, this online phenomenon is a popular choice among gamers of all ages and has achieved worldwide recognition. Falling somewhere between a survival game and a digital Lego simulator, Minecraft allows you to perform extensive interactions with the objects in the game such as breaking, building, and collecting them. From these actions, the player can create a world of their own.  

The player starts out surrounded by raw resources such as wood, stone, and ore. These can be used to create more complex objects such as pickaxes, shovels, and swords. Each day will eventually turn into night, during which the player must take shelter to avoid getting attacked by monsters that come out after sunset. 

Minecraft can be played in five modes: creative, adventure, spectator, hardcore, and survivor. One of the most popular game modes is the creative mode, which allows players to create objects without the risk of getting attacked. Players using creative mode have created some incredible structures, including a project to build a 1:1 replica of the Earth in Minecraft.

The use of Redstone,  an energy source in Minecraft, is one of the features that makes things entertaining for engineers. Players can use Redstone to change how the world around them works, and they can make complex devices such as a functional digital computer.

Garry’s Mod

This game is one where engineers can completely let loose and develop some truly unusual and spectacular creations. Garry’s Mod is a physics sandbox that lets players have virtually unlimited freedom. 

There is no goal in mind but to design and construct unusual things. Players can spawn in objects provided in the game’s library, and put them together to create almost anything they want. They can develop vehicles, catapults, and even come up with their own devices. The physics engine in this game can make for a fun, completely unique experience. Because there are so few rules, this game offers the perfect opportunity for engineers to blow off some steam and come up with projects they’ve only dreamed of attempting.

SimCity 4

SimCity 4 is the fourth iteration in the SimCity series, one of the most iconic computer games of all time started by game developer Will Wright in 1989. The game allows players to become the master builder of a city, starting from an empty plot of land. Players control every aspect of the city-building process, from the planning stages to the building of the city’s intricate inner workings, such as infrastructure systems. 

To succeed, the player must install proper transport links throughout their cities so that the city’s population can get around. Players must also pay constant attention to the water and pollution levels, where improper management can cause disasters. Preventing the meltdown of the local nuclear plant is another one of the players’ tasks – which illustrates the complexity of running large-scale industrial operations in an urban setting. 

SimCity 4 has evolved significantly from the first game. Players can now create massive cities complete with downtown centres, bedroom communities, and commercial hubs. Complex transportation systems can also be built to meet the demands of the city’s ever-growing population, keeping players entertained for long periods of time.

Factorio

When an engineer is stranded on an unknown planet with plenty of resources, they start building! In Factorio, the goal is to build enough infrastructure and technology to create a rocket to leave the planet. The player achieves this by building complex factories, which they feed with raw materials they mine and power with technologies they research. Players must build infrastructure to accommodate the colonists, fight enemies attacking the colonies, and manage the overall production process. As the game continues, process management becomes more and more complex, forcing the player to find new strategies to adjust their gameplay to meet the challenge.

Compared to some games, Factorio is light on story, as its gameplay focuses more on strategy. The player must carefully balance the processes they build with other events, such as protecting their colony against enemies and alien inhabitants. Additionally, the game can be played in multiplayer mode, allowing the player to collaborate with friends to create huge factories.

RimWorld

This game lets players control a colony of settlers as they fight for survival on a faraway planet. The player must carefully manage their colony to prevent disasters from wiping out the settlers, while at the same time maintaining interpersonal relationships between characters to avoid potential conflicts. Players must build in a variety of environments, including tundra, jungle, and forest, to continue to expand their colony and to collect resources.

To start off, the player controls three characters who have been shipwrecked on a strange planet. Throughout the game, random events such as thunderstorms, raids, and crazy colonists are generated for the player to deal with. Players must balance these events with exploring the planet. They must also work to keep the colony at peace, which is easier said than done.

Subnautica

This game is set on a sci-fi planet in which the player must navigate their way underwater in order to stay alive. The main goals of the game are to ensure your character has enough food and water as they explore this new world and to establish a comfortable base. 

The game starts when the player has crash-landed on an ocean planet full of strange creatures, some of which are completely harmless, while others are deadly. The player must leave the safety of their pod to search for the food, water, and resources they need to survive. Players can find raw materials such as copper ore in the ocean, which they can use to develop equipment to further explore. As the player becomes more technologically equipped, they can try to explore more of the backstory behind this strange planet. Ultimately, the player’s goal is to escap the planet.

Portal

Portal is a puzzle game demanding problem solving skills. The story is that the player, a robot, has to escape from the building of a company called Aperture Science. Players must use a gun to create portals, enabling them to navigate through walls and across gaps to reach the Aperture Science building’s other test chambers. The player must use the principles of momentum to shoot portals at strategic positions and pick up objects with their portal gun in order to solve difficult puzzles and ultimately to escape the Aperture Science building. 

Throughout the game, the player interacts with an AI named GLaDOS (Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System), who is the brain behind Aperture Science’s enrichment centre. The player must work through GLaDOS’s instructions, which often conflict with the player’s best interests.

Civilization VI

This game is the sixth entry in an iconic game series featuring the player as the leader of their own civilization. The player starts with a few citizens, and must establish a settlement and eventually expand their civilization into an empire. Players build structures, enact policies, attack or collaborate with other civilizations, and research scientific technologies to advance their civilization, from prehistoric times to a futuristic society. The goal of the game is to achieve victory conditions by excelling in fields such as research, diplomacy, and economic growth.

In this edition there are city-states, which are mini civilisations controlled by AI. The player can choose to trade or engage in diplomacy with these city-states or crush them using superior military might. Players can also interact with other civilizations, which can either be controlled by AI or other players, to work their way to victory. The map has a hexagonal design, like its predecessor, Civilization V. This design allows the player to expand in six different directions compared to the four directions available on the square tiles in earlier editions.

Kerbal Space Program

In Kerbal Space Program, the player must develop a space program for green creatures known as Kerbals by using various parts of aircraft and rockets to build a flying machine with enough power to escape the planet’s gravity. The player must consider factors such as settings for the various stages of flight, how much fuel to load, and calculating the path of the spacecraft to ensure it can enter and maintain its orbit around various celestial bodies. 

The game’s physics and aerodynamics engines are fairly realistic, providing an interesting engineering challenge while developing some unique, and often truly bizarre, spacecraft.

Monument Valley 2

The first version of this fun little game received the Apple Design Award in 2014 and was also rated as the best Apple Game of 2014. This game, which is available on iOS and Android, is filled with complex puzzles and colourful artwork. The game prompts the player to navigate seemingly impossible architecture reminiscent of the works of M.C. Escher, forcing them to think outside the box and adjust their perspective. The player controls a silent girl named Ida as she walks along beams, columns, and hidden pathways within cleverly-designed structures. The game is excellent at making players look at structures and environments in new ways.

The Incredible Machine

The Incredible Machine is a game based on the ideas of Rube Goldberg, an American cartoonist and inventor who created drawings of various machines that performed simple tasks in complicated and unusual ways. One such machine, for example, was designed to move a paper towel towards a diner’s face. The machine was made up of a series of strings, pulleys, hooks, and even a live parrot to set it in motion.

Rube Goldberg’s machines are brought to life in a digital environment in this game. The game involves simple 2D gameplay in which a variety of tools such as levers, balloons, trampolines, and windmills can be manipulated to move a series of balls to their final destinations. Made with cartoonish illustrations and a simple blue background, this game is sure to evoke feelings of nostalgia in those who grew up playing computer games, especially the original The Incredible Machine games of the early 1990s. It is also a great game for budding young engineers who are interested in learning about engineering processes and mechanics.  

So there you have it: 12 great games to explore when you next find yourself taking a break from an engineering project, or just when you have some free time on your hands. There are plenty of new games popping up all the time, so you’re bound to find something challenging that keeps you entertained while making you think. And remember, if all else fails, there’s always Tetris.