ShenZhen I/O: Becoming an Expat Software Engineer
“Build circuits. Write code. RTFM.” — Steam Store description
Zachtronics’ 2016 puzzle game ShenZhen I/O invites you to step inside the shoes of an adventurous software engineer seeking an outlet for creativity far from home.
Story
ShenZhen I/O conveys its story entirely through threads in the conceptMAIL email inbox, providing no hand-holding along the way. After white text on a black background explains you have moved to Shenzhen, the game leaves you to poke around the menus by yourself. A typical corporate welcome email waits in your inbox, detailing ShenZhen Longteng Electronics Company’s manifesto.
CEO Wang YongHong wishes you keep in mind diligence, connections, and salubriousness (read: health) as you begin your new position… followed shortly after by a co-worker lamenting the city’s heat, smog, and lack of decent cheese. Longteng Electronics recently initiated an international expansion effort by hiring multiple foreign engineers, resulting in a multicultural company dynamic strangely similar to my own university NYU Shanghai. Some co-workers come off a touch overzealous, making the discussion seem a bit too unprofessional to be realistic. However, it would not be surprsing if this was done on purpose to make the dialogue experience more interesting, which overall is preferable to dry, cookie-cutter, actual work conversations. Overall the emails are bog-standard for a software engineering office, including everything from spam to your boss requesting unit tests and debugging on his daughter’s Solitaire variant.
Gameplay
As a software engineer, you write Assembly code directly manipulating computer hardware. The Assembly language you write in does not actually exist on real-life microprocessors, but has been created to resemble one of the various languages found in actual computers.
Instructions for each microprocessor are written on the chip’s head in a schematic view, with each chip varying in memory space, function, and cost. Using a larger chip makes the production cost more expensive per unit, thereby raising your bottom line. Choosing the right chip for a given challenge is important, but it may be possible to create a less concise solution out of several cheaper chips.
The circuit designs presented in the first few levels are fairly simple, but are likely impossible without familiarity with Assembly code or the game’s documentation. This aspect of ShenZhen I/O will turn away some players who simply seek instant gratification. The more difficult levels later in the game are practically the antithesis of straightforward puzzle games such as “Candy Crush Saga”.
By making familiarity with the manual a requirement, the gameplay feels less like playing as a software engineer then being a software engineer, even if the levels are simpler than the work actual software engineers do.
Immersion
Zachtronics clearly put concerted effort into crafting a realistic world. Your western co-workers embody China’s growing 21st century expat culture and generally avoid coming off as caricatures. Gameplay accurately reflects Assembly language to a surprisingly accurate degree, while not bogging you down with the technicalities of trying to write in a genuine Assembly language. If you are not interested in Computer Science or Engineering, then ShenZhen I/O is probably not the game for you. As someone who has both interned at a tech company and lived in China, ShenZhen I/O’s narrative immediately struck a chord with me, and gave me the impression the developers had done the same. As I would later come to find out, the story is partially inspired by personal blog entries written by expat software engineers in ShenZhen.
A special edition of the game available via pre-order included Zachtronics mailing you a branded “Shenzhen Longteng Technical Document Organizer” three-ring binder. It includes a printout of the “Datasheets” manual, a “Huang & Associates” recruitment business card, and even a sealed envelope you are not supposed to open until the game instructs you to.
ShenZhen I/O may feel more like a job than a game to some, but that goes to show how the gameplay creates an immersive experience akin to becoming an actual expat software engineer.
