The Farmer Was Replaced

The Farmer Was Replaced takes the satisfaction of automation and wraps it in a farming game. You program a drone using a simple Python-like language to handle the various farming tasks that would otherwise be tedious grinding. Press execute, watch the drone work, refine the code when something doesn't behave correctly.

Unlike most programming games, the structure isn't divided into distinct puzzle levels — there's a continuous progression. Farming earns resources, resources unlock new technology, new technology enables new programming challenges and approaches. The game introduces basic programming concepts one at a time during the early game, so newcomers can learn enough to get going, but it doesn't hold your hand when it comes to actually solving the harder problems.

Experienced programmers can move through the early content quickly and reach the genuinely complex automation challenges in the later game. The language is similar enough to Python that Python IntelliSense works well with it, and code is stored in .py files that can be edited in external editors like VS Code — the in-game File Watcher detects external changes automatically. The pacing rewards both newcomers learning the basics and veterans optimizing for efficiency.