Let's Look At: Human Resource Machine!

Human Resource Machine on Steam: store.steampowe...
Human Resource Machine is a unique puzzle game that tasks the player with writing a program to fulfill certain tasks using a drag-and-drop programming language. Check out my thoughts in this video!
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As Northernlion, I produce a variety of gaming content for KZbin every single day. Be sure to tune in if you're interested in reviews, previews, first impressions videos, gameplay, walkthroughs, and playthroughs of new releases, my favorite classic games, as well as my favorites from the world of indie gaming. Thanks for watching (and reading this description!) and I hope I'll see you again.

[@binnibep]

Following your New Year's Resolution gloriously there, NL.

[@ReveraxGaming]

+S T R I V E its actually really nice, i missed his let's look at. They are so nice and different

[@binnibep]

ReveraxGaming Yeah, man! I really like them, too.

[@ThirskFrostbane]

It is really nice. NL often covers games that otherwise would get much less exposure.

[@noatiendoboludos]

*loving* New Year's Resolution. LLAts brings a fuck ton of variety to this channel. And its fresh, new content nobody dislikes or gets tired of.

[@pivotguy196]

+ReveraxGaming I agree its a very nice pace change from the 300 episodes of isaac every day, even though I love those too

[@jeffsale5590]

Maybe a playthrough is in order? I can understand if you think it wouldn't be popular, but damn do I love your enthusiasm about this game!

[@jeffsale5590]

+Jeff Sale Also, don't apologize for having an intermediate to hard puzzle stump you.

[@alexgual]

+Jeff Sale Agreed

[@BeinDraug]

+Jeff Sale Seeing him work though the later levels would be every entertaining

[@jeffsale5590]

I hate the second channel thing, granted it's a bit irrational.

[@DeusAndrew]

I hope at the end of the game it is revealed that all the boxes you send out are products for Little Inferno™.

[@cadufraga6851]

i know the ending, if you want a spoiler

[@BeinDraug]

+Deus Andrew There is some relation to that plot line but it's more closely tied to world of goo

[@Doomroar]

+Cadu Fraga Spoilerino pleasearino.

[@cadufraga6851]

[SPOILER] At the end of the game, robots take over the Corporation and you get a retirement, when you get out the world has gone to sh*t and the robots rule it

[@Doomroar]

+Cadu Fraga Noice!

[@Skarthghost]

I would enjoy a mini-series of this.

[@ProGamer1115]

I'm sorry to say that you're probably not going get a mini-series of this game

[@Ayekalooter]

Great to see you sticking to your resolution to have more Let's Look Ats. Keep them coming, and thanks~

[@EmperorZ19]

Here's an optimal solution for Equalization Room, if anyone's curious: JUMP to A B COPYFROM 0 OUTBOX A C INBOX COPYTO 0 INBOX SUB 0 JUMP IF ZERO to B JUMP to C The difference is that, by arranging it this way, both branches (zero and not zero) contain only one jump

[@chrisleverne]

thank you, couldn't sleep without the proper answer and to tired to figure it out myself ;)

[@PoprawnyPolakHD]

I am so glad these "Let's look at" episodes keep coming. Currently there's no let's play in here I enjoy (due to the games, not Ryan's performance) so I am glad I have other opportunities to listen to his lovely voice :)

[@liamme54]

Little Inferno is my favourite puzzle game ever. for a game about burning random objects that takes place in an incinerator the story was so cute yet sad and the final act of the game made you really think about society as a whole and what we are doing too our planet. Human Resource Machine is going too be an automatic purchase for me just because of the Little Inferno nostalgia induced by the art style. I'm glad you covered this game Ryan

[@MrDevilcrier]

Thanks for all of the recent Let's Look At episodes! I always enjoyed them and am glad you're doing them more often now :)

[@owennelson6728]

I'm honestly so happy that you've decided to make these 'Let's Look At' videos again. A relatively short, although in-depth video every few days on a new or interesting game is something I thoroughly enjoy watching. It's a nice change of pace for your already diverse channel, and is extremely useful for someone like myself, who is always looking for new games to play but does not necessarily have the money to toss around and try them out for myself. (I know this is your intention, but I'm just stating) After spending even 10 minutes watching this pseudo-review, and I was able to decide for myself that this is something that I would be very interested in purchasing, and playing through for myself. So, hoping you read this, I would like to thank you NL for continually making diverse and entertaining content that I can enjoy. It's always a treat for me to take a look in my subscription feed and see a new series or 'Let's Look At' from you. Keep up the quality work! - Aenthis

[@dietaube6898]

Hey NL, just wanted to tell you that I'm really glad that the Let's Look Ats are back. That was one of the big reasons I subscribed to you back then when you had like... 100 videos for the original BoI. Keep it up, don't let it die like most new year resolutions go.

[@preuenthegreat518]

"Let me give you a hin-" AHH WHERES,THE PAUSE BUTTON I NEED TO DO THIS MYSELF

[@cadufraga6851]

yes! xD

[@omyyer]

+Preußen The Great Then you press space and youtube scrolls down like half a page. Then you learn to press k.

[@Thegamekid83]

+omyyer you have changed my life thank you so much

[@StarstormHUN]

+omyyer ohmygodtheresabuttonotherthanspacetopausethevideo I have been living in the darkness for so long. Thank you.

[@omyyer]

It's fucking K though. K.

[@orko4185]

Uh loving this game. Finally something i can apply my understanding of logic problems in a code like environment.

[@themrnails]

Thank you for getting back to Let's Look At series. It's the reason I subbed. This game is hard!

[@AbdulrahmanMajash]

Maayyne that video went by so fast. It feels nice to see you excited/being good at the game you play. More like this, I can only hope!

[@yungchiina]

I got your human resource machine right here

[@Doomquill]

Bought the game because of this video after seeing the explanation of 16:20. Solved it, then moved on to the next level. Only time in my life my wife has physically grabbed my laptop because she wanted to solve it first. Relevant info: she's a software engineer. Thanks for the vid, NL, now I have a video game to play that my wife loves :)

[@bman10981]

Really enjoying these LLA's NL. Glad to see you staying strong to your New Years resolution, keep it up!!

[@panta_rhei.26]

This video is the epitome of why I love NL

[@Asian_Caleb]

As someone that watches this channel daily, the rebirth of let's look at is fucking awesome

[@HunteroftheNorth]

Holy shit... another let's look at already. Keep going NL

[@cookirox]

Daddy should've covered TIS - 100

[@cookirox]

mmm he'd have to learn a new programming language though even if it is simple..ish

[@KevinOnTheInternet]

+jordan cook it's hardly a programming language. it's just a few commands, which seem pretty similar to this game. the only difference is in TIS-100 you have to type.

[@umbaupause]

+jordan cook You want his head going pop? But to not be facetious here, that would be awesome to cover.

[@Jason820]

If he does make it all the way to the end of Human Resource Machine, I think he's got a fighting chance at TIS-100. This one goes into strings and pointers once it finishes with arithmetic, it gets pretty involved considering how cumbersome the editor is.

[@rolofiend]

This is so nostalgic! I never actually played little inferno but I watched Hardyt3kyoyo do a let's play on it, and I loved it. Haven't even gotten to 30 seconds on the video, but I'm damn sure I'll love it!

[@MrUbershroom]

12:22 "While eating ebola cereal" -NL 2016

[@kaptenrotskjeg]

Loving the Let's Look at series being back!

[@LordUroko88]

make a series of this please

[@beautyisbrutal4088]

Please do this. It's amazing. I love programming and do truly enjoy games like this that are a view into human psychology.

[@williammitchell6254]

dat art style

[@MegaTyler93]

+William Mitchell dat profile pic.

[@meshpet]

+Ryan Lowry ohhh it's an ass... i wasn't sure for a sec there lol

[@drakedangereux8042]

Knocking these LLA's out of the park! I'm loving it :D More variety is always great ^^

[@lucacurcio706]

I'm still waiting for the Lets look at: Pony Island.

[@MercMercury]

Glad to see you enjoying a puzzle game for once. This looks right up my alley, but I wasn't entirely sold on the last Steam sale. I'll definitely be buying it next time!

[@ryukenxx2]

Is Dankest Dungeon ever coming back since the full release is soon?

[@username90491]

+Chu E. They havent even finished making the game yet many people who played it are waiting for it to be out of early access with acomplete story

[@Nachoking19961]

+Chu E. Yes, on stream yesterday he said he'd make a new playthrough of it, and said there "might be too many at the start" (vids that is). ;)

[@ryukenxx2]

Yukine Sekki Thanks for the information!

[@Kelthret]

+Flightless Wings It comes out full release on 8 days, on January 19th.

[@username90491]

bless

[@StapledFish]

Loving all the Let's look ats Ryan! Thanks for the entertainment

[@EpicGamerScout]

This game is in the base tier of the current humble bundle and will be for just under 2 weeks. Feel free to go pick it up there for 1 dollar everybody!

[@3limin4t0r]

Was looking forward to see the Let's Look At series back. It's finally here =)

[@BeinDraug]

Got this when it first came out as a fan of tommorow corporations games. Even though i'm not into programming i had a alot of fun. The last 15 or so levels are devilishly difficult and i admit i had to look up a number of solutions, but often finding my self in a "so close but so far" situation where i had the basic idea down but no idea how to fully execute it was rather gratifying. The overall atmosphere of the game game really helps to as it's very hard to get angry at the game itself, so dispite my difficulties i completed every level . The story is a nice bit of fun too

[@florianfanderl6674]

Multiply by 40 is pretty simple: Multiply it by 32 (just do 2 times more the thing you did when multiplying by 8) and keep the result from the multiplication by 8 and add them together in the end. Then you only need two slots. But I don't know which if my solution has less steps or commands :) Super funny game though. And excellent for none programmers to get into it, because it explains the algorithmical component of programming and how to find solutions in programming languages.

[@connoreaves1771]

Just finished my first assembly (MIPS) class in college. This makes my head hurt considerably less.

[@genericgloff]

If you liked this game make sure to check out TIS-100. It's a game where you have to use assembly to fix pieces of a computer and reveal a story. It's a little harder but it's closer to actual programming and I find it more fun.

[@TheSundengo]

As always, loving the Let's Look at's! (and everything else, obviously! You're my "go-to" guy for entertainment.)

[@amrit6252]

Looks pretty cool. Glad you're sticking to your resolution of more Let's Look At videos. :D

[@Blazingzeo]

Holy shit these freaking Lets Look ats are fuckin great m8 so glad you're doing these again

[@ZURATAMA1324]

NL, I think The Equalizer is not fully optimized because despite having finished its functions, it does not terminate itself before initiating an extra unnecessary ">inbox" command.

[@dirtygurty4]

I would love to see a play-through on Twitch with this, it would be a lot of fun solving the puzzles together

[@Takapon218]

"I'm left handed but I use the mouse with my right hand..." Ok I thought I was the only one who did that. My mom taught me how to use the computer, and she's right handed, so I started used the mouse with my right hand. But I have always written with my left hand.

[@PickledWhispers]

Hey NL - If you enjoy this, you might also like TIS-100. It's another puzzle game based on assembly language, and it's made by Zachtronics who also made SpaceChem and Infinifactory (both of which you have covered previously).

[@Andrewrb15]

20:00 I think could be better: Input, Copy to 0, Add to 0, Copy to 1, add to 1, Add to 0, (Copy to 0, Add to 0) x3, Output. I think that's one less step and works? Idk, might pick this game up though. Looks cool.

[@Andrewrb15]

Never mind, that's the same amount of steps lol. Still cool that there are different solutions that are equally efficient.

[@Hale444]

NL goes to a programming class and turns into Alan Turning.

[@tritiumH3]

this looks like a particular mathematical abstraction of machine language, known as a von Neumann machine. The hoops you go through to get an efficient program are pretty gruesome, that's why we have compilers usually.

[@ShadowStriker7X]

24:40 That optimization is that if the number you grabbed is zero, you want to immediately jump to putting it in the outbox. Doing the subtraction is unnecessary

[@Corvaer]

I really want to get back into programming so this is actually a nice refresher. Can't wait to try it.

[@ormigom4921]

For the tetracompiler, my initial thoughts were (number)40=(number)32+(number)8=(number)2^5+(number)2^3. So after doubling it 3 times, copy it to index[1], double it twice more, and add it to index[0] to multiply it by 40. But I dont have the game so I cant test it to see its efficiency without counting it out myself.

[@omyyer]

That apostrophe in "X's" made me cry

[@L4wLiP0p]

16:15 multiply by 2^3, save to a tile, continue doubling until you are at number times 2^5, then add. Let's see if I'm right. Nevermind my solution takes one more line than yours NL and yours seems way simpler also.

[@ZoidbergForPresident]

Last puzzle: remove the first jump and bring the jump if 0 to the end of the loop. Seems like a fun game to get on sale.

[@rosteroster]

That sense of satisfaction you feel is the reason I got into comp. sci for a career :D

[@cjoshskull25]

Do a quick and short Lets play of this game!

[@Blahidontcare11]

holy shit another LLA NL you beast

[@pivotguy196]

I have to say I think my favorite thing about Northernlion is that, being here since NL's dark souls playthrough, his channel is one of the very small minority where the fanbase is just as good as it has always been. I used to watch the creatures and northernlion, but as the creatures grew their content fell apart and their fanbase went to shit while Northernlion simply grew in content and fanbase over the years.

[@peteratchet5239]

I wish they added a penalty for how far the dude has to walk when copying to different addresses in memory (0-4), since that would be the cost of cache indirection, which is very important when writing performance code.

[@LigerzeroGaming]

Writing code is awesome enough. Make it a game and I'm totally sold.

[@kkoozzoollss]

The way I thought about Tetracontiplier was like this: 01 inbox 02 copyto 0 03 add 0 04 copyto 0 05 add 0 06 copyto 0 07 add 0 (makes it times 8) 08 copyto 1 09 add 1 10 copyto 0 11 add 0 (times 32) 12 add 1 (adding extra 8 from slot 1 makes it total of 40) 13 outbox 14 jump It makes it to use same amount of turns, but it was more satisfying for me to figure that out :D

[@OrchidAlloy]

I loved watching him geek out over this game

[@arnoutcoosemans1292]

Damn, I paused to work out the x40 one, and came up with a different solution, but it was exactly the same amount of steps to save the original number, double it twice, add it to the original, then double three times, making (4x+x)*8. nice first look!

[@6midlan]

I finished this game, bar the last optional puzzle, with no knowledge of programming. Great game

[@twTheivid]

As someone who is slightly interrsted in programming, this game looks fucking awesome. Now I feel like starting to learn to program.

[@christ1a2b3c]

New year, new NL. NL wants to finish Human Resource Machine. (Wave hand like a jedi)

[@thorstenoerts]

On the tetramultiplier 40 = 32 + 8, and to calculate the 32, you need to calculate the 8 (so store the 8 somewhere when you've calculated it). I think you can use this to optimize, but I can't be bothered going through the motions.

[@RobbyBobbyBoy]

My dawg, I'm in love with this game more pls

[@adammaynard8163]

Cool game, I would watch a mini series if you made it.

[@1995baza]

Remove the nested loop, and make the if 0 loop just skip your copy from and outbox commands. Hope that makes sense

[@Nemilime]

Would love a Let's Play, just bought the game thanks to this Let's Look At and I love it. Thanks for the recommendation.

[@AquaSteel]

Its a great game if you want to learn the basics of how computers work. Being an engineering student I really enjoyed it even though it did not take me long to finish the game.

[@RouteToImmortality]

Halfway through this video i stopped it to buy this game and play it without NL spoiling me the solutions. Awesome stuff!

[@AgentQu]

this would be a really cool way to teach assembly abstractly

[@Kelthret]

Love puzzles, liked the bit of programming I've done and enjoyed Little Inferno A LOT, so this looks like a no brainer.

[@andrewlee1463]

northerlion! you are my favourite commentator. I will support whatever game you play & keep up the good work! -fellow canadian

[@SparklyWalrus19]

I'm liking the LLA's bro, thanks!!

[@danikrimm99]

Hey +Northernlion, many programmers dont unterstand, that the best Algorythm is not the faststest or the shortest, it's the one you can understand when you read it one year later. I myself had some troubles with that. Do allway comment hard to read lines

[@ehudshapira2745]

This is basically a combat calculator, which is a common test held at sorting for computer sciences roles in the IDF, and remember more or less everyone serves in the army in Israel and goes through sorting. I remember the 2D Boy guys were Israeli, I assume it's no coincidence. It's probably not an uncommon thing in other places as well, but this makes sense to me.

[@yukitsa]

hey Nl, thanks for letting me know about this game, i'm trying to learn how to program and this It's just what i wanted, its very good to teach you the logic of coding. I would love to see you do a series on this game.

[@LordHypnos4]

For the equalization challenge you should be able to just eliminate that jump in the middle, because if the result isn't zero you'd skip the jump if 0 part and go straight to the end which is also a jump. At least I think

[@AsixSuffuri]

I was gonna say he could optimize a puzzle, but then he up and does it. Good to watch through, lest you embarrass yourself in the comments.

[@James-st9oe]

northernlion if you answer this I'll print it and hang it on my wall

[@DuskPlays1]

You know he answers his Twitter all the time. He's not pewdiepie. I've had conversations with him before

[@charliechuckles6494]

+james darienzo Have a seat, your idol will be here shortly.

[@James-st9oe]

+Dusk Plays thank you for the advice. I will be sure to tweet him

[@kefalos6759]

+james darienzo So you can print it out and hang it on your wall?

[@DaDoodz0r]

+rdskinsrck202 what the fuck?

[@cooldog198]

Any thought on a series for this?

[@PetreyTurkeybable]

Northernlion I just realized you and RockLeeSmile could make a game one day since he could do art and level design while you code.

[@StashGameplays]

For the Tetracontiplier level, it maybe would've been more efficient to place one of the numbers per square and simply multiply each by 8? I believe this would skip a step or two

[@SaudiKnight9]

I'm getting Assembly language vibe from this game as the closest regarding syntax wise. Thanks for the video :D

[@Waggles1123]

NL, if you like this game, you should look up TIS-100. It's similar to this but it's all written, and it's made by the same guys who made Spacechem and Infinifactory. Also, in the Equalization Room challenge (room 13) there is a slightly better solution (I haven't played, but it's something I've seen from other games). Instead of: [A] [B] Inbox Copyto 0 Inbox Sub 0 Jump if 0 to [C] Jump [B] [C] Copyfrom 0 Outbox Jump [A] You can put your "if 0" command in the top of the loop and save a line like this: [A] Copyfrom 0 Outbox [B] Inbox Copyto 0 Inbox Sub 0 Jump if 0 to [A] Jump [B] Unless the game doesn't like you putting an nul value into the outbox.

[@Paal2005]

+Waggles Good thinking, but I believe you would get an equivalent to an Access Voilation (Segmentation fault) Error. Your solution will on the other hand save one command from being run by altering it a little bit: Jump [B] [A] Copyfrom 0 Outbox [B] Inbox Copyto 0 Inbox Sub 0 Jump if 0 to [A] Jump [B] This makes an equal pair take 7 (instead of NL's 8) commands and an unequal pair take 6 (same as NL's) It comes as a cost of one initial command at the start, making this solution (E is number of equal pairs, U is number of unequal): NL's: 8*E+6*U Mine: (7*E+6*U)+1 The only input sample which would operate worse than his code is the once where E = 0.

[@Waggles1123]

+Pål Mathisen I understand that it might create an error in normal coding, but it depends on how this game's language handles those kinds of errors. Some will start you with a value of nul and ignore outputs of nul, treating them as an action but not causing any sort of faults that would halt the code. If that's the case with this game, then you could get away with the 8 commands instead of 9. I haven't played the game (I'll probably get it next time its on sale), so I'm not sure how it handles it.

[@Bdayboy1]

650K subs!!!! Nice job NL!!!

[@evanpincus2203]

World Of Goo was 2D boy. Tomorrow corp is the artist from 2D boy. The other guy made Subterfuge

[@lewman999]

I'm playing this game as I'm watching. Not to spoil the last puzzles (if you've not already seen them), but they're incredibly satisfying to solve. It's kind of amazing to think what you can do by the end of the game. They're the sort of thing that I'd struggle with implementing in a "proper" programming language (still learning), but I think it's a nice change of perspective to go to something so limited. I'm playing on Wii U, and it seems the interface would be nicer on a touchscreen, what with dragging, dropping and writing comments. I think there's a tablet version coming as well? So far, I've been able to solve all but one program, but I've barely got started on really optimising them. It seems the "number of commands" challenge seems to be for general solutions (that deal with everything in a similar way), while the "average number of steps" challenge seems to be for more bespoke solutions with specific edge cases detailed.

[@NearoC]

Wait, NL right hands mouse despite being left handed? I guess that explains the shooter game prowess, I'm kinda impressed.

[@TheAnes10019]

Glad Let's look at's are back:)

[@Katekyo504]

How come NL doesn't do more Steam Curator stuff?

[@SolidMarty]

yeah right?

[@DuskPlays1]

He doesn't like how the system gives incentives for devs to pay content creators to put their game on their list

[@PositronPlays]

+Katekyo504 The system's a little broken unfortunately. For anybody that already follows him, it's easy enough to get the opinion (and a more fleshed out one) on his KZbin channel, but the way curators are tagged to various game pages is fairly obscure. Typically only shows the most popular curators, but only the first handful, and sometimes not at all based on whether or not the developer wants curator comments to show up on the page. So the value added for current followers is almost non-existent and it's unlikely to bring in many more. TL;DR - It comes with a number of pitfalls that ultimately make it just one extra task to do that's not particularly worth it unless you're already at the top of existing Curators. That would be my best assumption as to why he doesn't, based on what I've read and what he's mentioned about it in the past.

[@The-Comedian]

+Katekyo504 He has Rebirth there. You don't need other games on the list. His job is done.

[@MellowJelly]

Just got here from 7 Billion Humans and you sounded so much happier back here. LOL just kidding I think you're more chill when you're live on Twitch that's all

[@zacjamieson9761]

I also came here from 7 billion humans!

[@deadserenity95]

I liked it at first, but I did feel like it maybe got a bit too complex for me as someone who has never done programming, to the point of spending like 30 minutes on puzzles NL did in a minute. Looks like a fairly good way to learn, anyone have more recommendations for visual ways to learn basic programming like this? A string of letters and symbols can be daunting to look at.

[@Honeybear1028]

Watching this while super high and with no programming knowledge. Its like pure egg with no other variables.

[@Shyhalu]

24:00 And thus, spaghetti code was born...and the goto keyword forever hated

[@Berengal]

If you like these kinds of puzzle games look up Manufactoria. The mechanics are very different, but it requires the same kind of problem solving programmers should feel familiar with. It's also a free flash game so no reason to not check it out.