Falling-sand game

A falling-sand game is a genre of video game and a sub-genre of sandbox games which typically utilize a two-dimensional particle or cellular automaton based game engine to simulate various materials interacting in a sandbox environment.

A user-created sandbox in the video game The Powder Toy

In falling-sand games, the user can interact with (e.g. place and remove) particles on a canvas which can interact with other particles in various ways, which can lead to complex emergent behaviour.^[1] As sandbox games, they generally have an emphasis on free-form gameplay, relaxed rules, and minimal goals.^[2]

Despite the name, falling-sand games typically contain a multitude of materials besides sand, often called "elements".^{[citation needed]}

History

The first known popular example in the "falling-sand" genre was a web-based Java applet on the Japanese Dofi-Blog in 2005^[3][4] which was later expanded and rehosted as the "Falling sand game",^[4] which kick-started the genre as a trend and gave it its name.^[5][6]

The genre is not limited to free play canvas-style games; games such as the Powder Game contain additional mechanics, such as pressure based fluid simulation^{[citation needed]} allowing for example water equalisation, and RPG elements such as controllable characters.

Noita blends the traditional sandbox physics with Roguelike RPG mechanics, with sophisticated playable characters and enemies.^[7][8][9]

List of falling-sand games

Title	Year	Platform	Details
Down fall	1993	Atari ST	2 player falling snow[10]
Falling sand game	2005	Java	Also called "Hell of Sand" or "World of sand"[3][4][6][11]
wxSand	2006	Windows	The first standalone version[12]
Powder Game	2007	Java, HTML5, Android, iOS	Multi-platform with liquid simulation[13]
This is Sand	2008	Flash	Added changing the colour of the sand[14]
The Powder Toy	2010	Windows, Linux, OS X, Android	Has liquid simulation and Newtonian gravity[15][13]
The Sandbox	2012	Flash, Windows, Android, iOS	A series of games, including some 3D versions[16][17]
sand:box	2015	Android, iOS, Linux, Windows	Falling sand game with advanced digital circuit simulation.[18][19][20]
Sandspiel	2019	HTML5	Popular web-based version[21]
Noita	2020	Windows	A hybrid of "falling sand" style game with a Roguelike[13][9]