Writing a Hacking Simulator in JavaScript

What is this?

More of Us is a hacking simulator game I started working on last year. I don't like the idea of abandoning this project and I want to finish it.

Why work on this?

I am interested in games with deep simulation, such as Dwarf Fortress, although I don't claim that this game will be as deep as Dwarf Fortress. I am more inspired by Zachtronics games than by Dwarf Fortress,  although I have read papers and interviews by the creator of Dwarf Fortress.

Hasn't this been done before?

I like Zachtronics games but I feel that the experience of coding within Zachtronics games could be improved. I would like to combine the open ended problem solving of Zachtronics games with the free wheeling exploration of casual creators.

Part of what defines casual creators is character customization. Today, I spent a few hours adding pronoun and name customization to my game. This is actually the first code I have written that I didn't immediately delete afterward.

I was inspired to add a command palette to my game by this user interface designer.

I still need to improve the user interface for this game (as well as the logic for data binding), but I am ending my work for today. I am surprised by how much time it takes me to perform even simple tasks - like writing forms - in JavaScript. I consistently underestimate the difficulty of game development. 

I enjoy making visual programming and procedural generation tools. Video games about programming give me an excuse to use those tools. I am excited to continue working on this game and eventually finish.

Have you ever played a Zachtronics game? How do you feel about programming games?