[chime]

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/

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.

[drchickensalad]

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

[petepete]

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

[Freak_NL]

My, that brings back memories. I love how that video starts on the RiscOS (3?) desktop.

[RugnirViking]

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

[kristianp]

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

[andai]

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

[spookyuser]

I followed these instructuions: https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/69m2ol/running_le...

If you have the jdk installed (https://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jdk...) you can simply run:

  $ appletviewer http://chir.ag/stuff/sand/

[agglomerative]

I tend to run old crusty applets with 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.

[faitswulff]

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

[chime]

Just found these:

[1] Original Fark thread: 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

[3] My comment about the rehosted/recompiled 960x640 version: 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

[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/

[glaberficken]

Maybe this is the original author? World of Sand by DOFI (2005)

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-fr...

very interesting! (includes assembly source code)

[tom_]

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

[glaberficken]

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

And here you can find the full issue: http://8bs.com/aumags.htm

[klohto]

http://ishi.blog2.fc2.com/blog-entry-158.html

[lfowles]

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.

[spookyuser]

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.

[emptyfile]

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.