Created by R74N, not Neal. Has been live on http://sandboxels.r74n.com as an independent project for several years. Just now hosted by Neal. Important distinction.
it doesn't answer the first question I have, which is basically "why". not in any sort of hostile sense, just that it would be very interesting to hear the back story behind this move.
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As a fan of both Neal and R74n this was an unexpected collaboration!
I can highly recommend building your own falling sand simulator. It's really fun to see how such simple rules create emergent behaviors. Sand pixels try to move down, then diagonally down. Water does the same, then tries sideways.
Out of curiosity: Do you use a high level language (like C#) or do you have low level optimizations on (e.g. assembly level)?
I imagine that there has to be some kind of map that keeps track of which pixels are "active" and need to be updated, but I wonder how do that efficiently.
Actually even higher level than that: it's all JavaScript, but it relies heavily on multithreading (see the linked Noita talk, which uses the same model). But basically:
The world is divided into chunks and the threads are processing them simultaneously in an even-odd checker pattern to avoid race conditions. When all pixels settle in a chunk it falls asleep and can be skipped altogether until an active pixel enters and wakes it up again.
Falling sand games bring back a lot of nostalgia. If you're interested, you should check out dan-ball's version which is one of the progenitors of the genre. Over the years he's added a ton of features, elements, and interactions, to the point where it now has a fluid mechanics simulation for air!
Ha55ii's powder game is perhaps the best of the genre, and the ease of sharing made for a pretty cool online community circa 15 years ago. I remember various calculators / computers created in powder game, along with a bunch of artistic efforts.
for context, this game was first built in 2019 by R74N. it looks like neal.fun has taken over maintaining/hosting its web version, while the Steam version continues development
I accidentally made soap once but haven't been able to repeat it. Lye plus oil or butter doesn't seem to work at least :/ Also, haven't been able to make lye – at least ashes plus water doesn't work.
Things that I have made:
* Bronze from copper and tin
* Brass from copper and zinc
* Rose gold from copper and gold
* Electrum from gold and silver
* Solder from tin and lead (while trying to make pewter)
* Thermite from rust and ground aluminum (or directly from scrap metal)
* Reduced iron from thermite, ignited with magnesium and a fuse
Wow, this is... kinda like the Noita engine but without the exploding yourself every 5 seconds. Probably going to spend the next several hours getting zero useful RL tasks done now, thanks again Neal.
My geology classes certainly did not mention sedimentary layers consisting of glass, quicklime, ash, salt, gingerbread, melted butter, and toast, from bottom to top.
Sort of igneous, because it came out of a volcano, but sort of sedimentary, because it starts out as an accumulation of powder that becomes a solid piece.
We have a couple of them on the HN Arcade, but I have added this one as well. https://hnarcade.com/games/games/sandboxels Might be time to add a category "Falling Sand Game"...
> Instead of the original R74nCom/sandboxels repository, mods will now be submitted to R74nCom/Sandboxels-Mods. All existing mods have been moved over.
Wait does that mean Sandboxels will become closed source?
2. You may not use our content for any commercial purposes without our explicit permission
4. We are free to use any content you create using our content for any commercial or other purpose. Content you create includes, but is not limited to:
- User-generated content
- Derivative works”
I found a hack to finish it faster (that does not involve using the console…). Enter responsive mode, resize window to a very small size: the DVDs will hit the walls very fast.
I can highly recommend building your own falling sand simulator. It's really fun to see how such simple rules create emergent behaviors. Sand pixels try to move down, then diagonally down. Water does the same, then tries sideways.
Me messing around with it eventually resulted in a game I'm now working on full time (think Noita meets Factorio): https://store.steampowered.com/app/2764460/Sandustry/
The world is divided into chunks and the threads are processing them simultaneously in an even-odd checker pattern to avoid race conditions. When all pixels settle in a chunk it falls asleep and can be skipped altogether until an active pixel enters and wakes it up again.
Though my favorite is Powder Game: https://dan-ball.jp/en/javagame/dust/
It has a little man you can control to jump around the landscape!
https://dan-ball.jp/en/javagame/dust/
https://sandboxels.r74n.com/new-home
Things that I have made:
* Bronze from copper and tin
* Brass from copper and zinc
* Rose gold from copper and gold
* Electrum from gold and silver
* Solder from tin and lead (while trying to make pewter)
* Thermite from rust and ground aluminum (or directly from scrap metal)
* Reduced iron from thermite, ignited with magnesium and a fuse
* Reduced iron from rust
* Steel from rust and charcoal
* Batter and dough from flour, water, etc
* Caramel from sugar and butter
* Mayo from oil, vinegar, and egg yolk
https://sandboxels.r74n.com/new-home
It doesn't explain why though, which is the most obvious question.
https://noita.fandom.com/wiki/Falling_Sand_Game
I still don't know what it is.
Sort of igneous, because it came out of a volcano, but sort of sedimentary, because it starts out as an accumulation of powder that becomes a solid piece.
https://github.com/R74nCom/sandboxels/blob/main/index.html
Wait does that mean Sandboxels will become closed source?
[1]: https://dan-ball.jp/en/javagame/dust/