''Colobot'' (''Colonize with Bots'') is an

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

al,

post-apocalyptic Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction are genres of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astronom ...

real-time strategy Real-time strategy (RTS) is a Video game genre, subgenre of strategy video games that does not progress incrementally in turn-based game, turns, but allow all players to play simultaneously, in "real time." By contrast, in Turn-based strategy, tur ...

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game 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 generate visual fe ...

featuring

3D graphics 3D computer 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 the purposes of perfor ...

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

planet A planet is a large, Hydrostatic equilibrium, rounded Astronomical object, astronomical body that is generally required to be in orbit around a star, stellar remnant, or brown dwarf, and is not one itself. The Solar System has eight planets b ...

for

colonization 475px, Map of the year each country achieved List of sovereign states by date of formation, independence. Colonization (British English: colonisation) is a process of establishing occupation of or control over foreign territories or peoples f ...

by the human race by establishing a basic infrastructure on the surface and eliminating any alien

life forms The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to life forms: A life form (also spelled life-form or lifeform) is an entity that is living, such as plants (flora), animals (fauna), and fungi ( funga). It is estimated tha ...

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 Program (American English; also Commonwealth English in terms of computer programming and related activities) or programme (Commonwealth English in all other meanings), programmer, or programming may refer to: Business and management * Program m ...

their

robot A robot is a machine—especially one Computer program, programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions Automation, automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the robot control, co ...

s using a

programming language A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Programming languages are described in terms of their Syntax (programming languages), syntax (form) and semantics (computer science), semantics (meaning), usually def ...

similar to C++ or

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

Plot overview

Life on earth is threatened by a devastating cataclysm, 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, but for unknown reasons, the mission was a disaster and never returned. With only a few robots for companions, the player must travel to new planets.

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, 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 similar to C++ and

. Example code for a bot to find a piece of

titanium Titanium is a chemical element; it has 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, resistant to corrosion in ...

ore Ore is natural rock or sediment that contains one or more valuable minerals, typically including metals, concentrated above background levels, and that is economically viable to mine and process. The grade of ore refers to the concentration ...

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 or source, is a plain text computer program written in a programming language. A programmer writes the human readable source code to control the behavior of a computer. Since a computer, at base, only ...

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 similar series of games that spans four titles: * ''CeeBot-A'' – an expansion of ''Colobot's Exercises & Challenges''. * ''CeeBot-Teen'' – geared to and simplified for a younger audience and 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 Rigour#Mathematics, mathematically rigorous instructions, typically used to solve a class of specific Computational problem, problems or to perform a computation. Algo ...

s and

object-oriented programming Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a programming paradigm based on the concept of '' objects''. Objects can contain data (called fields, attributes or properties) and have actions they can perform (called procedures or methods and impl ...

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

References

External links

Epsitec Colobot webpage

Colobot: Gold Edition website
- international Colobot community * {{moby game, id=/colobot, name=''Colobot'' 2001 video games Open-source video games Strategy video games Programming games Video games about robots Windows-only games Windows games Commercial video games with freely available source code Video games developed in Switzerland