CRUMB Circuit Simulator
- November 18, 2022
- Mike Bushell
Get on SteamCRUMB Circuit Simulator is an intricate game that allows players to design and simulate electronic circuits. With a user-friendly interface and a wide range of components, it provides an engaging and educational experience for electronics hobbyists, students, and professionals. The game also offers a testing and debugging feature to help players identify and solve issues in their circuits.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- CRUMB is a fantastic tool for learning electronics, allowing users to experiment with circuits without the risk of damaging real components.
- The 3D graphics and intuitive interface provide a unique and engaging experience for users, making it easy to visualize and build circuits.
- The simulator has great potential for growth, with users expressing excitement for future updates and additional components.
- The game is plagued by bugs, crashes, and a lack of updates, leading many to believe the project is abandoned or in a poor state.
- There is a limited selection of components available, which restricts users from building more complex circuits and diminishes its educational value.
- The lack of tutorials and guidance makes it difficult for beginners to learn and effectively use the simulator, requiring external resources for proper understanding.
- stability14 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game is widely criticized for its significant stability issues, being described as buggy, unstable, and incomplete. Many users feel that it resembles a poorly executed demo rather than a finished product, with reports of frustrating glitches and a lack of developer support as they focus on a sequel. Overall, the consensus is that the game's current state is disappointing and unpolished.
“It's buggy, unstable, and incomplete.”
“Developer seems to have abandoned this in favor of working on a sequel - which I'm keen to see when it comes out but can't help feeling like I've paid for a buggy demo so the dev can go off and make the full version.”
“As a programmer myself, I would be ashamed to release something this buggy.”
- gameplay14 mentions
- 29 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 21 % negative mentions
The gameplay has received mixed reviews, scoring a 5/10, with many users noting a lack of engaging elements and tasks, which could lead to boredom, especially for those unfamiliar with Arduino Nano. While the visual representation and interface are praised for their clarity and alignment with CAD systems, the absence of physics interactions, basic sensors, and meaningful gameplay loops detracts from the overall experience. Users express a desire for workshop support to enhance creativity and functionality within the game.
“Great work on the visual representation and view control (which matches most CAD systems for all you mechanical design folks out there), and I find the interface to be clean and simple.”
“The wiring mechanic is awesome - super flexible.”
“There's nothing for 'physics' (motors, steppers, effectors or visual 'mechanical' outputs) or basic sensors (IR, microphone, etc.).”
“There are zero gameplay elements.”
“It certainly hasn't got anything for you to really complete, no tasks (not even for learning) nor accomplishments (even in the most sandbox of sim games you still have gameplay loops, something that is simply not in the scope of crumb).”
- graphics12 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are generally well-received, featuring nice 3D visuals that enhance the experience, particularly in recreating environments like an electronics lab. While some users note that the graphics may appear somewhat incomplete, they still contribute positively to the overall gameplay, with ratings around 7.5/10 indicating a solid visual presentation.
“The 3D perspective and nice graphics make it a unique experience of digitally revisiting the electronics lab.”
“I will say that the game is done well, the graphics are good, and the functions are logical.”
“The positive, however, is that the graphics are nice (if they seem somewhat incomplete), and none of the issues I've mentioned are serious enough to detract from the experience.”
- optimization10 mentions
- 30 % positive mentions
- 40 % neutral mentions
- 30 % negative mentions
The optimization of the product has received mixed reviews, with users noting significant CPU consumption and performance issues, particularly with analog circuits. While recent updates have introduced consistent fixes and improvements, the overall performance remains lacking, especially for more complex tasks. There is hope that future updates will enhance performance, but current capabilities are not considered powerful or real-time.
“Since using Crumb, the amount of consistent fixes for performance and additions is great.”
“It's the most CPU-consuming simulator I've ever used; however, it's recently published, so developers may improve the performance for this app in the future.”
“I feel as though this product will gain features over time, but not really much in terms of performance.”
“However, the rotary switch on the power source is hard to modify, and it costs high performance of the GPU.”
“This is okay for TTL and basic oscillators, but any kind of analogue circuit is terrible for performance; I wouldn't call it powerful or real-time.”
“But it's also the most CPU-consuming simulator I've ever used. Anyway, it's recently published, so developers may improve the performance for this app in the future.”
- grinding6 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game tedious, often exacerbated by bugs and cumbersome controls, particularly for those prone to misclicks. This combination can lead to a frustrating experience during repetitive tasks.
“There's a lot of bugs and the controls are a little tedious.”
“If you're a misclicker like me, you'll find this very annoying and tedious.”
“This adds to the tediousness.”
- story4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 75 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
The story aspect of the game is criticized for its cumbersome presentation, particularly with tooltips that cannot be resized, making it difficult to engage with the detailed narratives provided in the manuals. Players find the process of placing components, like the breadboard, to be a challenging task, which detracts from the overall experience.
“Many tooltips cannot be resized, which is very annoying when there's a legitimate short story in the manual for operating a part inside that panel.”
