- Small free content update - 31 August 2025
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 new levels in the Driving category where you have to setup speed traps with the help of a RangeFinder or a SmartCamera respectively.And if a car is too fast, this is how you handle that situation:Happy Coding!
- Games Forged in Germany Fest - 24 July 2025
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 roguelike Card Coder is being released today! Be sure to check out both games and the other titles featured in the fest!https://store.steampowered.com/sale/Games-Forged-in-Germany
- Patch 1.0.2 - 28 January 2025
- 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-Mail validation" level - Improved log window: a) Increased opacity. b) Clicking a line copies it to the clipboard. - minor bug fixes
- Hotfix 1.0.1 - 19 January 2025
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 Goldsmiths level - hotfix in rpc call of DataExchange
- JOY OF PROGRAMMING 1.0 - 18 January 2025
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 will be the final update. On the contrary: I plan to support JOY OF PROGRAMMING for the foreseeable future and add new levels whenever I have ideas for new challenges. Of course, I also hope the 1.0 release will bring in some new players and our little community will grow with more user made levels (check out the level editor after you're comfortable with the game itself)! I think it is more important than ever to deepen and widen your programming skills, and game-based learning is great opportunity to do just that. Happy Coding! Full changelog over the last year until today: version 1.0.0 - Added "tinygrad" (https://github.com/tinygrad/tinygrad) to third party modules for deep learning - In…
- Announcing my second game Card Coder - 15 January 2025
Shortly before the upcoming JOY 1.0 release I have a surprise announcement. I have been secretly working on my second game Card Coder and can finally reveal the Steam page along with a gameplay trailer: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3355940/Card_Coder/ Card Coder is a card-building roguelike: A novel mix of tactical card battles, inventory management and roguelike deckbuilding, where YOU create custom cards during each run. There is lots more to say, but I'll keep this brief and hope you'll check out Card Coder. Of course I'm available for any questions or suggestions - either directly here, in the discord server or over at the Card Coder discussion page.
- Update #15 and 1.0 Announcement - 8 November 2024
Update 15 brings JOY OF PROGRAMMING to version 0.9.0. This update is mostly a maintenance patch for the upcoming 1.0 release and the end of Early Access. JOY OF PROGRAMMING 1.0 will be released on January 18th 2025 and leave Early Access. This is almost exactly one year after the initial Early Access launch in January 2024. A lot has happened since then and I can confidently say that the game is in much better shape today and contains a lot more content. So a big thank you to every Early Access player and in particular to everyone who has been reporting bugs, making suggestions or helping others in the game's discord channel. To manage expectations for the 1.0 release: There is no big surprise or new feature planned. Rather it will be a content update similar to the previous updates, meaning new levels, fixes and improvements. Now back to this update! To shorten the wait, this update do…
- Update #14 - 18 September 2024
Update 14 brings JOY OF PROGRAMMING to version 0.8.0. This update includes 3 new levels and some machinery improvements. Happy Coding! Full changelog: - Added new levels: - Crane Lift (Logistics) - Clock Synchronization (Smart Home) - Hurdles (Driving) - Improved AirliftCrane pickup handling - Improved DataExchange handling - Known issue under Linux/Proton: Image processing levels do not work correctly under Linux / Proton ("Sensor not available" error message and blank image) -> Issue tracker: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/issues/7539
- (Experimental) Proton Compatibility - 30 July 2024
Update v0.7.3 adds (experimental) Proton compatibility to JOY OF PROGRAMMING, allowing the game to run under Linux (and potentially Mac using Whisky). Please report if you encounter any issues. Full changelog: - fixed nullptr exception in StopProcess under Proton (Windows was unaffected). JOY OF PROGRAMMING is now (experimentally) Linux-compatible by running it under Proton Experimental. (there are known issue under Proton 9.03 and lower). It should run on Mac as well using Whisky. - replaced python.exe with pythonw.exe. The background python process is now invisible. Happy Coding!
- v0.7.2 - 19 July 2024
- Fixed bug in "Bugged Phone" level, where the number 9 did not yield waveform data correctly - Fixed another c++ related startup crash - Fixed a bug in "Network Graph 1" level (added missing indicators for source and target nodes) - Fixed a startup bug in "Maximum Image" level that was introduced by the recent, stricter sandboxing
- Hotfix v0.7.1 - 3 July 2024
- hotfix for potential startup crash if an older version of visual c++ was installed - fixed "undo/redo" spanning different script tabs. Now undo history is reset upon script tab change.
- Update #10 - 30 June 2024
Update number 10 and version 0.7.0 of JOY OF PROGRAMMING is now live. This update includes 4 new levels and some bug fixes. Happy Coding! Full changelog: - Added 4 new levels (several beta maps since release of the game): - Artillery Shooting (Military) - Flood Fill (Creative) - Stocks Manipulation (Hacking) - Card Counting (Hacking) - Fixed bug in "Goldsmiths" level - Fixed bug with ".astype" function being incorrectly flagged as unsafe
- Update v0.6.6 - 14 June 2024
- Security fix - Relocated histograms backend - Weekly Map is now called Beta Map
- Update #8 - 12 May 2024
The new update unlocks a new category of levels: Machine Learning. To start, there are two levels in this new category that are based on two real-world datasets: Automated Gardening / Iris Plant Classification Bottle Sorting / Wine Quality Prediction Both levels also include solution videos. If you never worked with machine learning before, I highly recommend doing a short online bootcamp in addition to these levels. Full changelog: - New level category: Machine Learning, starting with 2 new levels - Added solution videos to both ML levels - Fixed: Added missing code tooltips to SmartCamera - Fixed: "UnlockedEverything" achievement now works - Fixed: Added missing tooltips to AlarmClock - Level Editor: added 4 new SpawnableVFX Rain, Distortion, Sparks, WaterJet
- v0.6.2 - 20 April 2024
Hotfix: Fixed Gold Leaderboard not being awarded correctly and some other issues with leadearboard achievements (unfortunetly leaderboard achievements cannot be granted retroactively).
- Update #6 - 16 April 2024
The sixth update for JOY OF PROGRAMMING is now live and brings the game to version 0.6.1. This update includes 4 new levels and some bug fixes. Happy Coding! Full changelog: - Added two new graph based levels to the "Algorithms" category - Added two new "Coin Counter" image processing levels to the "Puzzles" category - Added solution videos for: "Maximum" and "Image Maximum" - Added "toggle sticky button" to console log window to prevent it from collapsing - Added new entity: SurveillanceSatellite can get the exact world location of every object on the map using get_satellite_data(). - Added static distance_to_line method to Vector3 class - Fixed MovablePlatform and AirliftCrane not always moving on a straight line - Fixed "TinyHouse" potentially disappearing voxel data - Fixed "E-Mail Validation" trivial solution - Fixed bug / typo in docstring of PinHacker
- Easter Egg Hunt - 5 April 2024
The Easter Bunny was a little late this year, but it was finally here! It hid a nice Easter Egg in one of the boxes (hint: it might be the red one). How do get to the egg you ask? Well, like this: Happy Coding!
- Flood Fill - 23 March 2024
Ever used the bucket tool in a paint software? Figure out how the flood fill algorithm works and complete the new challenge map. Happy Coding!
- Update #5 - 19 March 2024
The fifth update for JOY OF PROGRAMMING is now live and brings the game to version 0.6.0. This update not only brings another round of bugfixes and QoL improvements, but also 5 new levels and some new fact-sheets to collect. Happy Coding! Full changelog: - Added 4 new "Algorithm" levels: Maximum Image, Swap Sort, Middle of Linked List, Majority Vote - Added 1 new "Puzzle" level: E-Mail Validation - Added 3 new factsheets to find - Added MyDocuments/JoyOfProgramming/CustomLevels/* to Steam Cloud (PUSH Steamworks) - Added controls option to enable / disable edge scrolling and fixed edge scolling bug - Added optional ignore_time_dilation argument to sleep() function to behave (almost) like regular time.sleep() - Added editior_set_max_speed function to all conveyor belts enabling map creators to allow a conveyor speed of up to 25. - Added editor_set_movement_speed and editor_set_rotation_sp…
- Racing Challenge - 9 March 2024
Steer a race car with a camera along an illuminated track. Try to complete the track in under 70 seconds. This week's challenge is intended for experienced programmers and requires some numpy and image processing logic. If you are stuck and need help, consider joining our Discord. Happy Coding!
