User:Smellymoo/sandbox

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A user-created sandbox in The Powder Toy

A falling sand game is a genre of video game which is a subset of Sandbox games where it must use a Two dimensional particle system game engine.

Because they are particle systems they allow the user to place particles of different elements on a "canvas" which can interact with other particles in various ways leading to complex emergent behaviours. As Sandbox games they generally have an emphasis on free-form gameplay, relaxed rules, and minimal goals.

History[edit]

The original game first appeared[1] as a web-based Java applet on the Dofi-Blog (Japan) in 2005[2] and then was enlarged and rehosted as the "Falling sand game"[1] which gave the genre it's name. After that it became popular[3][4] and many variations have been made on the theme including adding Soft-body physics or fluid simulation, while other examples like Noita challenge the genre by combining it with a platformer.

Examples[edit]

Games that use a particle physics "falling sand" style engine include:

Title Year Platform Description
Falling sand game 2005 Java A.K.A "Hell of Sand" or "World of sand". The first game of it's type[2][1][4][5]
wxSand 2006 PC The first standalone version[6]
Powder Game 2007 Java,HTML5,Android,iOS multi-platform with mass appeal[7][8]
This is Sand 2008 Flash
The Powder Toy 2010 Windows, GNU-Linux, OS X, Android [9]
The Sandbox 2012 Flash, PC [10]
Sand Slides 2010 iOS, Android, WP8 [11]
Sand:box 2015 Android [12]
ReactionLab 2 2015 iOS, Android [13]
Sandspiel 2018 browser [14]
Noita 2019 PC a hybrid of falling sand style game with a platformer[15]

Features[edit]

Although all "falling sand" style games share a common paradigm due to using a similar game engine type there are various features that differentiate them.

Controllable humans[edit]

Notably Noita has a playable character and enemies as it's a platformer, but other older games introduced the concept:

  • "The Sandbox" uses elements literally called humans, which after placement you can then decide their roles in a society that you create.
  • "The Powder Toy" uses an element that has a fixed position as a 'spawn point' for its human element. This acts as the permanent start place for the stickman, and is indestructible.
  • "The Powder Game" also has controllable humans who are known as Players.

Rigid body physics[edit]

Other than "humans", other elements have been used in some games like vehicles or wheels.

Liquid simulation[edit]

"The Powder Game" and "The Powder Toy" both add pressure based fluid simulation to their engines. Which allows for more complicated behaviour of fluids and gases, for example water equalisation.

Sandboxes[edit]

Downloadable games also have the ability to save "sandboxes", or images that can be uploaded to image hosting websites and later downloaded and played in the game.

  • The Sandbox has a cross-platform online gallery where people can share their creations.
  • The Powder Toy/Game has online 'saves' where people can view the creations of others, and usually play with them.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c "Overview". Falling Sand Game.
  2. ^ a b "DOFI-BLOG どふぃぶろぐ". ishi.blog2.fc2.com.
  3. ^ "Time Killer: The Sand Game (It's Great Fun)". PC World.
  4. ^ a b "Falling Sand Game". boredhumans.com.
  5. ^ Carless, Simon (2005-12-24). "Welcome to the World of Sand". GameSetWatch. Retrieved 2011-06-21.
  6. ^ Quilty-Harper, Conrad (2006-02-15). "Falling Sand: The Sequel". Joystiq. Retrieved 2011-06-21.
  7. ^ ha55ii (2007-04-07). "Powder Game". dan-ball. Retrieved 2016-09-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ "Powder Game". Free game site DAN-BALL.
  9. ^ Xezu (2013-04-13). "The Powder Toy for Android". Retrieved 2017-04-14.
  10. ^ onimatrix (2010-12-28). "The Sandbox on Kongregate". The Sandbox. Retrieved 2011-11-01.
  11. ^ Logik State (2015-04-19). "Sand Slides Homepage". Sand Slides. Retrieved 2015-04-19.
  12. ^ smellymoo (2015-06-01). "sand:box on google play". Retrieved 2015-06-01.
  13. ^ HF Games (2014-07-18). "ReactionLab 2 Homepage". ReactionLab 2. Retrieved 2014-08-20.
  14. ^ bittker, max. "making sandspiel". maxbittker.com.
  15. ^ Cox, Matt. "From falling sand to Falling Everything: the simulation games that inspired Noita". rockpapershotgun.com.


Category:Online games Category:Java platform games Category:Flash games Category:Simulation video games Category:Video game genres

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