User:Smellymoo/sandbox

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
The original game first appeared as a web-based Java applet on the Dofi-Blog (Japan) in 2005 and then was enlarged and rehosted as the "Falling sand game" which gave the genre it's name. After that it became popular 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
Games that use a particle physics "falling sand" style engine include:

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

Liquid simulation
"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
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.