6 ms·

Wow! This thread brings back some fond memories. Long ago, I came across a tiny Java applet linked on Fark to a Japanese forum post. Everyone loved it but I fou

by chime 8y ago

Wow! This thread brings back some fond memories. Long ago, I came across a tiny Java applet linked on Fark to a Japanese forum post. Everyone loved it but I found it annoyingly small. It was barely 300px x 400px. I had been coding my senior thesis in Java and had recently learned how to use a Java decompiler. So I downloaded the applet, decompiled it, spent a few minutes figuring out exactly where the dimensions were setup, changed them to 960x640, compiled it all, and hosted it on my site: http://chir.ag/stuff/sand/ http://chir.ag/stuff/sand/ I'm always apprehensive about taking any credit for the Falling Sand Game because I DID NOT make it but I'm always glad to see it in the wild. First it was Fark, then a few months later Digg, then Reddit. At one point someone created a Wikipedia page linking to the enlarged version I was hosting, then it got deleted as not-notable, then someone wrote a song about FSG, then a hundred different versions of FSG popped up, many non-Java and functioning much better than the applet, then the Wikipedia page came back up. I've long stopped getting giddy emails from office slackers about how much time they waste on my site but even though I didn't really create this amazing game/toy/zen-garden, I feel lucky to have been a tiny part of the arcane pop-culture movement.

faitswulff 8y ago
Wow, what a great look into internet history. Do you still have the original forum post? I wonder who the original author was.
- glaberficken 8y ago
  Maybe this is the original author? World of Sand by DOFI (2005) http://ishi.blog2.fc2.com/blog-entry-158.html http://ishi.blog2.fc2.com/blog-entry-158.html can anyone find an earlier falling sand type game? edit: Found this after some googling: http://cowboyprogramming.com/2007/03/05/falling-sand-game-from-the-80s/ http://cowboyprogramming.com/2007/03/05/falling-sand-game-fr... very interesting! (includes assembly source code)
  - tom_ 8y ago
    There was a similar Archimedes program printed in Acorn user in the March 1992 issue. Atari ST game, in the same genre, from the Jan 1993 issue of ST Format: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHZB9nIzZ64 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHZB9nIzZ64
    - glaberficken 8y ago
      Fantastic! For those wondering how such a program was printed (and then had to be typed by hand from the magazine), here's a scan cap of the page in question https://imgur.com/a/Mng21o3 https://imgur.com/a/Mng21o3 And here you can find the full issue: http://8bs.com/aumags.htm http://8bs.com/aumags.htm
- klohto 8y ago
  http://ishi.blog2.fc2.com/blog-entry-158.html http://ishi.blog2.fc2.com/blog-entry-158.html
- chime 8y ago
  Just found these: [1] Original Fark thread: https://www.fark.com/comments/1826196/Draw-lines-to-alter-flow-of-various-substances-Surprisingly-addictive?cpp=1 https://www.fark.com/comments/1826196/Draw-lines-to-alter-fl... [2] My attempt to show others how to run this offline: https://www.fark.com/comments/1826196/17784666#c17784666 https://www.fark.com/comments/1826196/17784666#c17784666 [3] My comment about the rehosted/recompiled 960x640 version: https://www.fark.com/comments/1826196/17784943#c17784943 https://www.fark.com/comments/1826196/17784943#c17784943 [4] I'm smiling at Finger51's comment: Works great in FF1.5! [5] My original blog entry a few days later: http://chir.ag/200512302250 http://chir.ag/200512302250 [6] It's a bit sad that all the links to Digg, Reddit, and MSNBC are broken now. And I totally forgot about the traffic behemoth that delicious was! Here's a fixed version of the Reddit link, at least the page is up, even if the URL changed: https://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/21509/ https://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/21509/
drchickensalad 8y ago
This is easily one of the oldest and most enjoyable games I've played. Thanks for the work you've done!
- petepete 8y ago
  Reminds me a lot of Cataclysm, a game I played loads on the Acorn Archimedes as a kid. Damn, the game's 27 years old. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Byyz1Vlv8w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Byyz1Vlv8w
  - Freak_NL 8y ago
    My, that brings back memories. I love how that video starts on the RiscOS (3?) desktop.
emptyfile 8y ago
Wow, what a blast from the past, had completely forgotten about this. Found this when I was in grade school and I remember spending HOURS on it. Thank you very much.
lfowles 8y ago
Just seeing the chir.ag domain brought back pleasant memories :) I also spent an unreasonable amount of time in that era at dofi blog playing many other variants.
andai 8y ago
How are y'all getting the applet running? Doesn't work in my browser, and $ appletviewer sand7.jar isn't doing the trick.
- agglomerative 8y ago
  I tend to run old crusty applets with http://eclipse.org http://eclipse.org? This usually solves for weird, deprecations, and routes around profoundly unfriendly browser barriers, which, sadly and admittedly are required from a security standpoint for most clueless users. I prefer using Eclipse over IntelliJ CE, because Eclipse settings for static libraries that aren't handled by source control are a bit more concrete. IntelliJ CE is well-suited for many professional coding activities, but buries some commonly used, yet clunky settings that are right on the surface with Eclipse. Namely JRE/JDK choices, and build path settings for static jar files. On the other hand, you might need to know a bit about Java, to do this. For most HN users, and even many gamers, this is generally not too much of a problem.
- spookyuser 8y ago
  I followed these instructuions: https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/69m2ol/running_legacy_java_applets_without_a_browser_or/ https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/69m2ol/running_le... If you have the jdk installed (https://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jdk8-downloads-2133151.html https://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jdk...) you can simply run: $ appletviewer http://chir.ag/stuff/sand/
RugnirViking 8y ago
If i'm not very much mistaken, is the author not https://dan-ball.jp/en/ https://dan-ball.jp/en/?
- kristianp 8y ago
  The game runs in modern browsers now: https://dan-ball.jp/en/javagame/dust2/ https://dan-ball.jp/en/javagame/dust2/
spookyuser 8y ago
Thank you for commenting this! I was playing Sandspiel and it was bringing back vaguely positive memories of a similar game but I couldn't remember what it was or when I played it, then I saw your comment, opened falling sand game and instantly remembered the game. I must have spent so much time playing this when I was younger, it's great to have a working version again.

by chime 8y ago

faitswulff 8y ago

Wow, what a great look into internet history. Do you still have the original forum post? I wonder who the original author was.

glaberficken 8y ago
Maybe this is the original author? World of Sand by DOFI (2005) http://ishi.blog2.fc2.com/blog-entry-158.html http://ishi.blog2.fc2.com/blog-entry-158.html can anyone find an earlier falling sand type game? edit: Found this after some googling: http://cowboyprogramming.com/2007/03/05/falling-sand-game-from-the-80s/ http://cowboyprogramming.com/2007/03/05/falling-sand-game-fr... very interesting! (includes assembly source code)
- tom_ 8y ago
  There was a similar Archimedes program printed in Acorn user in the March 1992 issue. Atari ST game, in the same genre, from the Jan 1993 issue of ST Format: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHZB9nIzZ64 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHZB9nIzZ64
  - glaberficken 8y ago
    Fantastic! For those wondering how such a program was printed (and then had to be typed by hand from the magazine), here's a scan cap of the page in question https://imgur.com/a/Mng21o3 https://imgur.com/a/Mng21o3 And here you can find the full issue: http://8bs.com/aumags.htm http://8bs.com/aumags.htm
klohto 8y ago
http://ishi.blog2.fc2.com/blog-entry-158.html http://ishi.blog2.fc2.com/blog-entry-158.html
chime 8y ago
Just found these: [1] Original Fark thread: https://www.fark.com/comments/1826196/Draw-lines-to-alter-flow-of-various-substances-Surprisingly-addictive?cpp=1 https://www.fark.com/comments/1826196/Draw-lines-to-alter-fl... [2] My attempt to show others how to run this offline: https://www.fark.com/comments/1826196/17784666#c17784666 https://www.fark.com/comments/1826196/17784666#c17784666 [3] My comment about the rehosted/recompiled 960x640 version: https://www.fark.com/comments/1826196/17784943#c17784943 https://www.fark.com/comments/1826196/17784943#c17784943 [4] I'm smiling at Finger51's comment: Works great in FF1.5! [5] My original blog entry a few days later: http://chir.ag/200512302250 http://chir.ag/200512302250 [6] It's a bit sad that all the links to Digg, Reddit, and MSNBC are broken now. And I totally forgot about the traffic behemoth that delicious was! Here's a fixed version of the Reddit link, at least the page is up, even if the URL changed: https://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/21509/ https://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/21509/

drchickensalad 8y ago

This is easily one of the oldest and most enjoyable games I've played. Thanks for the work you've done!

petepete 8y ago
Reminds me a lot of Cataclysm, a game I played loads on the Acorn Archimedes as a kid. Damn, the game's 27 years old. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Byyz1Vlv8w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Byyz1Vlv8w
- Freak_NL 8y ago
  My, that brings back memories. I love how that video starts on the RiscOS (3?) desktop.

emptyfile 8y ago

Wow, what a blast from the past, had completely forgotten about this. Found this when I was in grade school and I remember spending HOURS on it. Thank you very much.

lfowles 8y ago

Just seeing the chir.ag domain brought back pleasant memories :) I also spent an unreasonable amount of time in that era at dofi blog playing many other variants.

andai 8y ago

How are y'all getting the applet running? Doesn't work in my browser, and $ appletviewer sand7.jar isn't doing the trick.

agglomerative 8y ago
I tend to run old crusty applets with http://eclipse.org http://eclipse.org? This usually solves for weird, deprecations, and routes around profoundly unfriendly browser barriers, which, sadly and admittedly are required from a security standpoint for most clueless users. I prefer using Eclipse over IntelliJ CE, because Eclipse settings for static libraries that aren't handled by source control are a bit more concrete. IntelliJ CE is well-suited for many professional coding activities, but buries some commonly used, yet clunky settings that are right on the surface with Eclipse. Namely JRE/JDK choices, and build path settings for static jar files. On the other hand, you might need to know a bit about Java, to do this. For most HN users, and even many gamers, this is generally not too much of a problem.
spookyuser 8y ago
I followed these instructuions: https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/69m2ol/running_legacy_java_applets_without_a_browser_or/ https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/69m2ol/running_le... If you have the jdk installed (https://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jdk8-downloads-2133151.html https://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jdk...) you can simply run: $ appletviewer http://chir.ag/stuff/sand/

RugnirViking 8y ago

If i'm not very much mistaken, is the author not https://dan-ball.jp/en/ https://dan-ball.jp/en/?

kristianp 8y ago
The game runs in modern browsers now: https://dan-ball.jp/en/javagame/dust2/ https://dan-ball.jp/en/javagame/dust2/

spookyuser 8y ago

Thank you for commenting this! I was playing Sandspiel and it was bringing back vaguely positive memories of a similar game but I couldn't remember what it was or when I played it, then I saw your comment, opened falling sand game and instantly remembered the game. I must have spent so much time playing this when I was younger, it's great to have a working version again.