Reminds me of that sand game, I don't remember the name, maybe just "Sand" or "Falling sand" or similar? I know there were a bunch of different versions of it, with a lot of different materials you could draw on the screen, and they interacted with each other in very interesting ways; not just gravity, but there was also a "plant" material that would grow when in touch with water, fire would burn it, gas would explote, etc.
Anyone knows what I'm talking about?
This was many many years ago, but I would love to try it again, although I don't see myself spending the amount of time I did back in the day creating complex mechanisms.
> The Powder Toy is a free physics sandbox game, which simulates air pressure and velocity, heat, gravity and a countless number of interactions between different substances! The game provides you with various building materials, liquids, gases and electronic components which can be used to construct complex machines, guns, bombs, realistic terrains and almost anything else. You can then mine them and watch cool explosions, add intricate wirings, play with little stickmen or operate your machine. You can browse and play thousands of different saves made by the community or upload your own – we welcome your creations!
Are you thinking of https://chir.ag/stuff/sand/ ? It was a Java applet I came across long ago via Fark from a Japanese forum. I really liked the concept but it was in a tiny 300x400 view. So I decompiled, resized it to be larger, recompiled, and have been hosting it at above URL since forever.
I tried to find the original dev but still haven’t found them. Of course with Java applets not working anymore, it’s just a relic of bygone times.
I still have a copy from 2006 saved on my computer of this and I'm pretty sure I originally got it from some sort of demo disk or something like that, maybe PC Gamer or Maximum PC - can't remember.
That site talks about Hell of Sand being another new version. That lead me to find this site that still hosts old .jar files of different versions of the game under the Falling Sand title - https://androdome.com/Sand/
This site I found on Reddit titled as "a modern version of the classic Hell of Sand" - https://www.projectsand.io/
Can't edit on the app I'm using, but I found this implementation of the game I was talking about: https://www.silvergames.com/en/falling-sand. Not the original, but it has all the elements I remember, plus some interesting things like wind. And works decently on my phone.
Other commenters have pointed out the original, but I just wanted to suggest checking out the game Noita, which is an exploration/roguelike set in a world that mechanically operates like the falling sand game.
oimo.io has a lot of really cool, often interactive, often 3D tech demos. Their recursive Conway's Game of Life was featured on HN before: https://oimo.io/works/life/
By far the most impressive thing here, to me, is the fact that my phone does not heat up at all. Literally every other web based game or toy causes it to heat up. How is this possible?
Same! It’s amazing how many physical phenomena it accurately models: convection, boiling, pressure, temperature, capacitance, turbulence, tension, elasticity, gravity, and so on.
I like this. No goal, no score, no timer. You can just play around and see stuff happen. Reminds me a bit of the game "Liquid War" where you try to surround your opponent
by circling in his tiny blobs and convert them to your color. Wonderful game.
There was an amazing physics sandbox game called Algodoo (formerly Phun), it’s been abandoned I think, but the last version is still playable and even available on iPad.
Anyone knows what I'm talking about?
This was many many years ago, but I would love to try it again, although I don't see myself spending the amount of time I did back in the day creating complex mechanisms.