Well, while technically this seems to be made with Excel, it is only possible thanks to VisualBasic, which IS a programming language, and without which you can’t really have a chance to make a game.
I wouldn’t call it a “surprisingly accessible programming environment” either, otherwise more games (and more complex ones) would have been done already.
The exact same reason why this is surprising many people (OP too) is that Excel is not usually used this way, and that’s because it’s NOT a good programming environment, nor a good way to make games.
I’d love to see some beginner try to make a game with both Excel and with a real programming language, a Basic for example, and see where he/she have the most problems with. I’d bet my house it’ll be Excel.
Oh and btw, Excel has got VisualBasic scripting support for more than 20 years now, so this isn’t even something that has happened recently (unlike the article seems to suggest).
People, on those events (like the one this game was developed at), sometimes use “things” which are not usually used to make games or demos, just because it’s a challenge. I still remember an ASCII racing game made with the AmigaDOS, which was actually playable and fun, and had some really interesting and creative use of the console commands and features. Does that mean AmigaDOS is a “good programming environment”? Not really, just shows what dedication can lead to.
