The Game Census
JOY OF PROGRAMMING - Software Engineering Simulator cover art

JOY OF PROGRAMMING - Software Engineering Simulator

Prof. Scherer · PlayWay S.A. · 2025-01-18

Steam

IndieSimulationStrategy

Modes: Single player

Releases: Jan 30, 2024 (PC (Microsoft Windows))

Use real Python code to automate machines, robots, drones and more: Program self-driving vehicles; crack passwords; apply machine learning; automate logistics; use image processing to guide missiles. Gain real coding skills and solve exciting bite-sized programming challenges.

2
playing now
77%
positive of 388 reviews
Mostly Positive
steam rating
20,000–50,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
silver
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
$17.99
steam price (US)

2 players in-game as of 2026-08-30 12:00 UTC (census sample)

Health check

Quietly active
  • · 2 players in-game at the last census sample.
  • · 59 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~7/week).
  • · Review velocity up 7% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Top 40% of 18,104 Indie games in the census by review count.
Estimated sales: 7.8k–17k copies

Review-multiple estimate from 388 total reviews — how this is computed.

All-time low: $7.19 at Steam (2026-04-06)via IsThereAnyDeal

12-month high $17.99 · on sale 9 of 18 observed days (census price snapshots)

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
686820242026Week of 2024-01-01: 26 positiveWeek of 2024-02-01: 40 positiveWeek of 2024-02-01: 9 negativeWeek of 2024-03-01: 12 positiveWeek of 2024-03-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2024-04-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2024-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-05-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-07-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2024-07-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2024-08-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2024-08-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-09-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2024-10-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2024-10-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-11-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2024-12-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2024-12-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-01-01: 68 positiveWeek of 2025-01-01: 22 negativeWeek of 2025-02-01: 15 positiveWeek of 2025-02-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2025-03-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2025-03-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2025-04-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2025-04-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2025-05-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2025-05-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2025-06-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2025-07-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2025-07-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2025-08-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2025-08-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2025-09-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2025-10-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2025-10-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2025-11-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2025-12-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2025-12-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2026-01-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2026-01-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-02-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2026-02-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-03-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2026-03-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2026-04-01: 12 positiveWeek of 2026-04-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2026-05-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2026-05-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2026-06-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2026-06-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2026-07-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2026-07-01: 3 negative
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Players online

712026-08-15 07:00 — 4 players2026-08-15 23:00 — 3 players2026-08-16 15:00 — 6 players2026-08-17 07:00 — 3 players2026-08-17 22:00 — 4 players2026-08-18 14:00 — 3 players2026-08-19 06:00 — 1 players2026-08-19 22:00 — 5 players2026-08-20 13:00 — 4 players2026-08-21 05:00 — 3 players2026-08-21 21:00 — 5 players2026-08-22 13:00 — 7 players2026-08-23 04:00 — 1 players2026-08-23 20:00 — 6 players2026-08-24 12:00 — 3 players2026-08-25 04:00 — 4 players2026-08-25 20:00 — 6 players2026-08-26 12:00 — 5 players2026-08-27 04:00 — 1 players2026-08-27 20:00 — 3 players2026-08-28 12:00 — 4 players2026-08-29 04:00 — 2 players2026-08-29 20:00 — 4 players2026-08-30 12:00 — 2 players
Concurrent players, hourly average, last 30 days (census samples).

Price history

$17.99$7.192024-01-302026-07-202024-01-30 — best price $15.292024-03-14 — best price $15.292024-04-15 — best price $15.292024-05-27 — best price $15.292024-06-27 — best price $15.292024-07-22 — best price $15.292024-10-07 — best price $15.292024-11-27 — best price $15.292024-12-19 — best price $15.292025-01-18 — best price $12.592025-03-13 — best price $12.592025-06-26 — best price $12.592025-07-24 — best price $12.592025-09-29 — best price $12.592025-10-13 — best price $12.592025-12-18 — best price $12.592026-01-16 — best price $12.592026-03-19 — best price $14.572026-04-06 — best price $7.192026-05-25 — best price $10.792026-06-25 — best price $8.992026-07-13 — best price $8.992026-07-20 — best price $17.99
Lowest recorded price across tracked stores, per day (census snapshots).

Completion

46
achievements tracked
91.8%
earned "Earn First Star"
1.8%
median achievement earned by

Global achievement rates from Steam.

Details

WindowsSingle-playerSteam AchievementsSteam WorkshopSteam CloudStatsSteam LeaderboardsIncludes level editorRemote Play TogetherFamily Sharing

6 supported languages: English, French, German, Spanish - Spain, Russian, Simplified Chinese

Console footprint

PlatformPlayers trackedCompletionTrophies/achievements
Steam (Steam)5340%46

Players tracked by Exophase (achievement/trophy trackers) — a sample of the player base, not total sales.

Player tags

3DLogicCodingPuzzleRobotsHackingPhysicsScienceModdableTop-Down

Census log

Computed from census-recorded observations only — dates are observation dates.

Players also track

Imagine EarthSol 0: Mars ColonizationLife is Feudal: Forest VillageAnother Brick in The MallForce of NatureStartup CompanyDude SimulatorRise of Industry

Similarity via IGDB.

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