Challenge: XR2000 August 10, 2025
Today I’m releasing the XR2000: A programming challenge with extensive science fiction backstory. This is a project I’ve long wanted to make, and it has slowly come to life in the last few years.
I love a good puzzle or game that involves programming. Over the years I found a couple of these games that were particularly fun. These really inspired me to start the XR2000. Before explaining more about my new challenge, I want to mention (and recommend) these games.
TIS-100
This is one of the weirdest games ever. TIS-100 that lets you write assembly code for a fictional cpu. There is a complete manual documenting the CPU instructions and all peripherals. It really got me hooked on legacy computing and assembly programming.
Space Traders
In Space Traders you control a spaceship through a REST API. The game is mainly focused on trading (as the name suggests) and involves closely monitoring and analyzing market prices. It’s a great challenge for learning a new programming language or programming in general. The simulation has remarkable depth.
Protohackers
Protohackers is not a game but more a programming challenge like AoC but focussed on backend and protocols. It really makes you dive into the depths of tcp, udp and sockets.
And now something different
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