Programming is Fun! A Survey of the STEAM Digital Distribution Platform

In order to engage the player, video games are often based on challenges that must be overcome. What are colloquially known as programming games present these challenges as puzzles where computational thinking and coding skills have a fundamental role in successfully overcoming them, even though they are not serious games and have been designed purely as entertainment products. Indeed, algorithm design and coding is the fun part. This paper presents a survey of all such games up to February 2020 published in the Steam digital distribution platform, categorizing them by content covered according to a basic programming curriculum. This study provides some insights on the nature of this kind of games and allows assessing their adequacy as educational tools, broadening the body of knowledge on available games for teaching computational thinking and coding, beyond serious games.