8 • SpaceChem
Hest owes more to SpaceChem than any other inspiration. It's a beautiful little gem of a game, released by Zachtronics back in 2011. SpaceChem challenges you to design, develop, and debug complex systems, with an interface that looks a bit like a node-and-wire visual programming language. But the feel of playing it is wholly unique, and worth reflecting on and drawing from.