in case you're missing spreadsheets during your week off work

December 28, 2021 8:02 AM

There's a little something for everyone in this twitter thread of spreadsheet-based games designed by a class of aspiring game designers. (Some individual games linked inside.)

Perhaps you would like to be an accountant for an army of the dead? Design a sleeping person's dreamscape? Experience a recreation of the Secaucus Junction train station? Participate in creating the next player's experience in a battle game? If you're looking for something a little more traditional, perhaps a Google-sheets-based implementation of Monopoly?

If you're finding yourself inexplicably missing the spreadsheet experience during your end-of-year time away from work, perhaps something here will soothe the savage spreadsheet beast in your soul.

posted by Stacey (13 comments total)

Oh boy. I read the description of the first game, immediately hit "like" on the first post in the Twitter thread so that I can find it easily later to check the others, and than came back here to favorite as well. I absolutely do not need additional things to mess with obsessively, but I'm a very weak-willed person.
posted by Ipsifendus at 8:17 AM on December 28, 2021

Take that, “spreadsheets are too powerful to give to the average user” crowd!
posted by MrGuilt at 8:26 AM on December 28, 2021 [1 favorite]

Nobody can ever miss spreadsheets during a week off work. If you think you do I won't allow it. [...] But nobody, NOBODY gets to miss spreadsheets on a week away from fucking work if you're lucky enough to actually get a week off work.

I couldn't agree more strongly. Don't you people know your week off work is your prime opportunity for spending uninterrupted time on your leisure spreadsheets?
posted by Superilla at 9:00 AM on December 28, 2021 [3 favorites]

What's a "week off work?" Is it like a "week of work?"
posted by pullayup at 9:08 AM on December 28, 2021 [7 favorites]

If you haven't made a spreadsheet for it, are you even having fun?
posted by fragmede at 9:48 AM on December 28, 2021 [1 favorite]

Hahahahaha "year end time off work" like that's a thing
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 10:05 AM on December 28, 2021 [1 favorite]

my hey what now
posted by snuffleupagus at 10:39 AM on December 28, 2021 [1 favorite]

Something something Eve Online.

I'd like to see the process reversed. E.g., an FPS interface for balancing the books.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 11:40 AM on December 28, 2021 [11 favorites]

I can tell you, if there's a way that I can shoot Quickbooks I will do it in a heartbeat.
posted by JDHarper at 1:39 PM on December 28, 2021 [2 favorites]

[opens door]

BOOKKEEPER for the dead!

[slams door, head falls off skeleton closest]
posted by fallingbadgers at 3:15 PM on December 28, 2021 [1 favorite]

I would have expected a lot more process simulation games; the closest thing I see is Synthetic Landlord. My instinct would have been to program something like Scram, but there's probably a good reason why I'm not making video games!
posted by tss at 3:19 PM on December 28, 2021

Speaking of EVE

A new optional feature added to the game’s test server allows players to completely remove any 3D visual components from the screen, and only render the text UI overlay.

posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 5:10 PM on December 28, 2021

I finally got the dream game working, and it was kind of cute? It's always interesting to see creativity under constraints.

(The other games I tried were a bit of a miss: the pattern one seemed trivial, the budget myth one a bit short, and Monopoly didn't work for me.)
posted by invokeuse at 5:11 PM on December 28, 2021