For most ordinary folk, when you mention the idea of playing a videogame, the first thing that comes to mind is kids wasting their valuable energy on something that could be spent on learning something more useful for their future.

But to many software developers and problem solvers in general that’s where our passion for solving problems started in the first place.

Be it trying to figure out how to get through a dungeon in The Legend of Zelda or planning the best way to place your next block while playing Tetris, these are all ways that we stimulated our brains to think out of the box as kids and can even be challenging for some adults.

While a large majority of modern games out there don’t necessarily require the same type of ingenuity as the games of old, there are still a few games created by indie developers that not only triggers that satisfying feeling of finally putting all the pieces of a puzzle together but can also teach you the fundamentals of software development in the process.

One such game I had the pleasure of playing recently was Human Resource Machine. I was pleasantly surprised how many of the core fundamentals of coding was touched upon in such a gem of a game. Whether it’s learning how variables work or while loops and logical operators, the fun art-style makes the game both educational and fun for kids and adults alike.

Another game that really played with the idea of problem solving that I highly recommend is Baba Is You. An indie game that started as a small competition project but really pushed the boundaries of what problems could arise from coding. The idea of the games is simple, every block on the screen functions a keyword used to build up the rules for the level and by pushing these blocks around you can create brand new rules to help solve the puzzle.

There are plenty of websites that provide similar types of games and challenges like CodeMonkey, Codewars and Code Combat just to name a few. Even the application examinations for coding schools like WeThinkCode use simple games to teach the concepts of coding while also testing your problem-solving skills.

While the Gamification of Learning and Game-Based Learning aren’t new concepts by any stretch of the imagination, there are now more resources than ever like these to help people from any background find their way into the world of technology.