Colobot (Colonize with Bots) is an

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. ...

al, post apocalyptic

real-time strategy Real-time strategy (RTS) is a subgenre of strategy video games that do not progress incrementally in turns, but allow all players to play simultaneously, in "real time". By contrast, in turn-based strategy (TBS) games, players take turns to pla ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

featuring

3D graphics 3D computer graphics, or “3D graphics,” sometimes called CGI, 3D-CGI or three-dimensional computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data (often Cartesian) that is stored in the computer for th ...

, created by Swiss developer Epsitec SA. The objective of the game is to find a

planet A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is neither a star nor its remnant. The best available theory of planet formation is the nebular hypothesis, which posits that an interstellar cloud collapses out of a nebula to create a ...

for

colonization Colonization, or colonisation, constitutes large-scale population movements wherein migrants maintain strong links with their, or their ancestors', former country – by such links, gain advantage over other inhabitants of the territory. When ...

by the human race by establishing a basic infrastructure on the surface and eliminating any alien life forms endangering the expedition. The game takes place on the Earth, Moon, and seven fictional planets. The main feature of the game, which makes it educational, is the possibility for players to program their

robot A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be ...

s using a

programming language A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Most programming languages are text-based formal languages, but they may also be graphical. They are a kind of computer language. The description of a programming l ...

similar to C++ or

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mo ...

Plot overview

Life on earth is threatened by a devastating

cataclysm Cataclysm is derived from the Greek (), 'down, against', and (), 'wash over, surge'. It may refer to: Common meanings *Generally, any large-scale disaster *Deluge (mythology) *Doomsday event, see hypothetical risks to civilization, humans, and p ...

, forcing mankind to move out and search for a new home. A first expedition composed solely of robots was sent to find another habitable planet. However, for unknown reasons, the mission was a disaster and never returned. With only a few

s for companions, the player must travel to new planets.

Houston Houston (; ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in Texas, the Southern United States#Major cities, most populous city in the Southern United States, the List of United States cities by population, fourth-most pop ...

, Earth Mission Control as well as a

spy satellite A reconnaissance satellite or intelligence satellite (commonly, although unofficially, referred to as a spy satellite) is an Earth observation satellite or communications satellite deployed for military or intelligence applications. The ...

will transmit valuable information to the player. The player needs to build the infrastructure necessary to gather raw materials, energy supplies, and produce the weapons necessary to defend themselves. By programming robots, the player can delegate tasks to them, allowing the player to continue their mission while their robots upkeep the base, fight off enemies, harvest materials, and perform any other tasks assigned to them.

Missions

In the game, the player explores Earth, Moon and seven fictional planets.

Language overview

The programming language used in is CBOT,

syntactically In linguistics, syntax () is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns of syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure ( constituency) ...

similar to C++ and

. Example code for a bot to find a piece of

titanium Titanium is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ti and atomic number 22. Found in nature only as an oxide, it can be reduced to produce a lustrous transition metal with a silver color, low density, and high strength, resista ...

ore and deliver it to a purification facility: extern void object::FetchTitanium()

Legacy

Epsitec released the games'

source code In computing, source code, or simply code, is any collection of code, with or without comment (computer programming), comments, written using a human-readable programming language, usually as plain text. The source code of a Computer program, p ...

in March 2012 under GNU GPL-3.0-or-later after being contacted by the Polish game enthusiast community PPC.Announcement on Polish Portal of Colobot
License
/ref>Updated license after PPC rebranded to ICC&TerranovaTeam
/ref> ICC & TerranovaTeam (formerly PPCRebranded Name for PPC
/ref>) was given the

by Epsitec under the GPL-3.0-or-later license. TerranovaTeam is in the process of updating the game, titled .Colobot: Gold Edition README
/ref>

Similar games

''CeeBot'', also made by Epsitec, is a very similar series of games spanning four titles: *''CeeBot-A'' – an expansion of Colobot's Exercises & Challenges. *''CeeBot-Teen'' – geared to and simplified for a younger audience. Has basic programming exercises. *''CeeBot3'' – a program-to-paint programming course that allows students to make drawings and animations. *''CeeBot4'' – a major programming course for college students and audiences in the programming field.

Reception

The game has been recommended by the Polish Ministry of National Education as a teaching aid for learning the basics of

algorithm In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm () is a finite sequence of rigorous instructions, typically used to solve a class of specific problems or to perform a computation. Algorithms are used as specifications for performing ...

s and

object-oriented programming Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a programming paradigm based on the concept of " objects", which can contain data and code. The data is in the form of fields (often known as attributes or ''properties''), and the code is in the form of ...

.Educational aids - site of Ministry of National Education of the Republic of Poland

External links

Epsitec Colobot webpageColobot: Gold Edition website
- International Colobot Community *

References

{{Reflist, 30em 2001 video games Open-source video games Strategy video games Programming games Video games about robots Windows-only games Commercial video games with freely available source code Video games developed in Switzerland