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JOY OF PROGRAMMING - Software Engineering Simulator

JOY OF PROGRAMMING - Software Engineering Simulator

Use real Python code to automate machines, robots, drones and more: Program self-driving vehicles; crack passwords; apply machine learning; automate logistics; use image processing to guide missiles. Gain real coding skills and solve exciting bite-sized programming challenges.

Released Jan 18, 2025 Developer Prof. Scherer Publisher PlayWay S.A. Platforms Windows ProgrammingAutomationLogicPuzzleEducation
View on Steam ↗ $17.99 (US · as of 2026-09-25)

What players say

Steam review score and the most-helpful voices, which may include critical ones. Score via Steam as of 2026-09-02 · quoted reviews as of 2026-05-14.

77.1%positive389 reviews
Recommended · 3 found this helpful

“It scratches my brain just right. I work in manufacturing as a developer, so this kind of problem-solving feels right at home (at least the manufacturing scenario which is what I'm working on now). That said, this game will absolutely test your patience. It forces you to think…”

— a player, Steam review · 72 hrs played
Recommended · 4 found this helpful

“Absolute Cinema ts is a peak game (I code C and Python for like 4 hrs a day)”

— a player, Steam review · 32 hrs played
Not recommended · 266 found this helpful

“To start, I have several years of professional python scripting experience as a sys admin. In game documentation is awful. Spinning the robot arm is the most unintuitive thing I have done. I thought this would be a great way to help others learn python but after testing it I…”

— a player, Steam review · 14 hrs played
Read more reviews ↗

Player activity

Monthly average concurrent players. Live data self-collected from the Steam API · history through 2026-07 via SteamCharts.

281all-time peak
0 50 100 2025 2026 No data collected for this period 69 avg · Jan 2025

Achievement stats

Global completion rates across all Steam players — a data view of how far people actually get. Source: Steam official stats · as of 2026-09-19.

46achievements
1.7%median completion
0.1%rarest: All The Perks
91.7% of players 40.2% of players 38.2% of players 36.5% of players 27.4% of players 26.6% of players 26.3% of players 25.1% of players 24.6% of players 22.5% of players 20.2% of players 15.9% of players 11.0% of players 10.5% of players 9.9% of players 5.1% of players 5.0% of players 4.5% of players 3.9% of players 3.9% of players 3.7% of players 2.6% of players 1.9% of players 1.7% of players 1.6% of players 0.9% of players 0.8% of players 0.8% of players 0.8% of players 0.8% of players 0.5% of players 0.4% of players 0.4% of players 0.3% of players 0.3% of players 0.2% of players 0.2% of players 0.2% of players 0.2% of players 0.1% of players 0.1% of players 0.1% of players 0.1% of players 0.1% of players 0.1% of players 0.1% of players 91.7% 0% most earned rarest
Almost everyone has
91.7%Earn First Star — Complete a level and earn your first star.
40.2%The First Hour — Clock 1 hour of in-game simulation time.
38.2%Complete the Tutorial — Complete all tutorial levels with at least one star.
Rarest badges of honor
0.1%All The Perks — Unlock every perk available in the game.
0.1%1000 Lines of Code — Become a fluent programmer by writing 1000 lines of code.
0.1%Open 20 Factboxes — Become a true collector. Find and open 20 factboxes.

Price tracking

US-region pricing (USD), sampled twice daily by our own tracker since 2026-08-12. Steam prices vary by region — always confirm your local price on Steam.

$17.99current · sampled 2026-09-25 21:36 UTC
$8.99lowest since tracking began2026-09-10
US17.99 USD
EU17.49 EUR
UK14.99 GBP
Australia26.50 AUD
Canada23.49 CAD
Japan2,000 JPY
Brazil54.99 BRL
China68.00 CNY

Regional prices at last sample, in local currency — Steam sets each region's price independently.

China≈$10 Brazil Japan Canada US Australia UK EU≈$20

Cheapest → most expensive, converted to USD at ECB reference rates (2026-09-25). Relative comparison only.

$0 $10 $20 08-12 08-21 08-30 09-08 09-16 09-25

Latest official news

Developer announcements via the Steam news API — links go to the original posts. More across all games on the news hub.

Aug 31, 2025
Small free content update

While I am currently quite busy with the development of my second game Card Coder, I did take some time to create a small content update for JOY OF PROGRAMMING. In particular, this update includes two

Jul 24, 2025
Games Forged in Germany Fest

I'm happy to announce that both of my games were selected for the Games Forged in Germany Fest. To celebrate the occasion, JOY OF PROGRAMMING is 30% off and the Demo for my upcoming card-building rogu

Jan 28, 2025
Patch 1.0.2

- improved objective description in CaesarCypher and CraneLift levels - fix in level Triangulation that caused commands to be counted multiple times - fixed "key not found" error in "Fibonacci" and "E

Jan 19, 2025
Hotfix 1.0.1

Hotfix 1.0.1 addresses issues with the "Three Sorter" level some players have been experiencing. version 1.0.1 - hotfix in ThreeSorter level where sometimes RFID tags were not scanned - hotfix in Gold

Jan 18, 2025
JOY OF PROGRAMMING 1.0

After one exciting year in Early Access, I am very pleased (and a little proud) to announce the 1.0 release of JOY OF PROGRAMMING and the conclusion of its Early Access phase. This does not mean 1.0 w

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Screenshots

Official Steam store screenshots — click any shot to enlarge.

Facts & details

From the Steam store record, snapshot 2026-05-14.

GenresIndie, Simulation, Strategy
Player tagsProgramming · Automation · Logic · Puzzle · Education · Robots · Science · Coding · Simulation · Physics · Hacking · Immersive Sim (SteamSpy community voting)
FeaturesSingle-player · Steam Achievements · Steam Workshop · Steam Cloud · Stats · Steam Leaderboards · Includes level editor · Remote Play Together
LanguagesEnglish, French, German, Spanish - Spain, Russian, Simplified Chinese
Achievements46
Minimum system requirements (PC)

Minimum: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system OS: Windows 10/11, x64 only Processor: Core i5 8400, Ryzen 5 2600 Memory: 8 GB RAM Graphics: GTX 1070 DirectX: Version 12 Storage: 12 GB available space Additional Notes: SSD recommended