I made a terraforming game where Python IS the gameplay, launching September 9

[u/RecursivelyYours]

Hi all,

Four months ago, I posted Code: Terraform here for the first time. The response was far beyond anything I expected. Since then, the game has grown to nearly 23,000 wishlists, and it is finally launching in Early Access on September 9.

For anyone who missed the original post: Code: Terraform is a terraforming, automation, and incremental game where the code you write is the actual gameplay.

You don’t click a button to mine resources. You program a vehicle to navigate to the deposit, operate its drill, manage its cargo, and return home. You then write the automation that transfers those resources into storage, feeds them into smelters and fabricators, and delivers the finished components wherever they are needed.

Solar generators need code to track the sun. Drones need flight scripts to move resources between remote outposts. Factories, power grids, fluid networks, construction systems, and vehicle fleets can all operate simultaneously through scripts you write.

Since the original post, I have added and expanded the full game a lot:

• Programmable drones and remote outposts
• Construction blueprints, pipes, power lines, and fluid networks
• Larger production chains with smelters, fabricators, and warehouses
• Earth contracts, deliveries, machine upgrades, and deeper progression
• A more complete editor with autocomplete, debugging, breakpoints, inline documentation, and reusable library scripts
• More weather, events, balancing, late-game systems, and story content
• A biosphere with plants, wildlife and biomass and a lot more

There is still a free demo available on Steam. If this sounds like your kind of game, you can try it now, and wishlist the full game if you would like to be notified when it launches on September 9:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/868160/Code_Terraform/

Discord: https://discord.gg/hUrK2MRn8s

I’m very active there if you get stuck in the demo, want to share your scripts, provide feedback, or simply talk about the game.

[u/myDogStillLovesMe]

Wow that sounds cool, if a bit niche.

[u/RecursivelyYours → u/myDogStillLovesMe]

Yep, it is a bit niche, mostly for people who are programmers or want to learn how to program. It's a sort of like a Factorio type experience :)

[u/myDogStillLovesMe → u/RecursivelyYours]

I will definitely try it out, until I hit a wall!

[u/RecursivelyYours → u/myDogStillLovesMe]

Notice that we have a ton of people already on Discord. I think more than 1000 have joined the Discord so far in total. So we have a lot of people around willing to help, posting scripts and all that, and I'm there as well. If you get stuck, drop by and I'll definitely do my best to help :)

[u/myDogStillLovesMe → u/RecursivelyYours]

I love the opening sequence, the music and the voice acting really set the tone. The UI is cool and futuristic too. I reached the part where I need to send the temperature to Earth, and I will have to look up some documentation for that!

[u/ryosen → u/myDogStillLovesMe]

I say go for it. Between the near limitless amount of tutorials out there, Al Sweigart's introductory book on creating simple games with Python, the Steam forums, and, of course, your GPT of choice, you likely won't have to worry about getting stuck writing simple routines.

[u/IJustAteABaguette]

Ooh, this sounds like a really interesting game!

From what I'm reading, it's sorta like the farmer was replaced, but grander? Will check the demo out and perhaps grab the game once it releases!

[u/RecursivelyYours → u/IJustAteABaguette]

Yeah, this is the idea, but this game is also like an open world, so you program everything around the vehicles, the machines and everything, and the world keeps moving regardless of your scripts, so it's almost like factorio, but the player programs everything.I think it's pretty cool and I don't think it has been done before in this scale. Hopefully people will enjoy it :)

[u/AdvertisingOne7942]

I'll definitely give the demo a go. I'm just learning python as a hobby and have been for a while so I understand the basics and am just getting my head around OOP at the minute.

But I was wondering how the users python level affects the game? Will a beginner struggle to advance to the late game or is it progressive where even a beginner would eventually be able to work the late game with harder scripts, or are all the scripts technically in the game and it is just manipulating them to do what we would like?

Sorry if it's a bit of a vague question.

[u/RecursivelyYours → u/AdvertisingOne7942]

I'd say this has been forged in the heat of battle :D The demo was out about four months ago, and a lot of people have mentioned that they wanted some ways to onboard more easily, and so the full game will have a code laboratory, and things will overall flow even more naturally than the demo, and in a more beginner-to-advanced structure.

I have had complete beginners to programming tell me how they have been spending 20 hours in the game, learning the language from scratch.There were even people on the Steam community forum telling me how they were using the game to help their nephew learn programming. Pretty awesome.

So while it definitely gets progressively harder, the documentation is extremely thorough. It's actually more than 1200 pages right now. and hopefully progression will be natural and steady.

[u/RiverForgeGames]

I’ll wishlist! I really enjoyed screeps and play from time to time. Nothing else has had any long term appeal for coding games for me.

[u/RecursivelyYours → u/RiverForgeGames]

Try it. There is a demo out already :)

[u/Aggressive-Ad-5504]

First I’ve seen or heard of it. will download demo tonight and have a look, as a test automation engineer sounds like my sort of game.

[u/Nefertum1]

RemindMe! 09 Sep 2026

[u/dasdingo1989]

Will there be a mac version?