maxbittker / sandspiel-studio

Cellular Autonoma Playground

Sandspiel Studio

Sandspiel Studio is a new tool for creating and sharing new Sandspiel elements. It uses a block-based system to let beginners (and pros) create their own simulations.

When it's ready for release, the tool will be free, but right now we're looking for some kind people to support our development process and give us feedback.

So if you're interested in supporting the project and getting behind-the-scenes updates, sign up for our private discord!

- Max & Lu

Try it out!

You can try out Sandspiel Studio at studio.sandspiel.club

• There are some video tutorials on our youtube channel that show you how to make some simple simulations.
• Check out the block reference for more detailed information on what each block does.

For developers

This is how you can run Sandspiel Studio locally.
First, clone the repo.

Then, install:

yarn install
yarn build

Then, run:

yarn dev

sandspiel-studio's Issues

starterblocks.json is 100kb :O

Change base block from statement-style to top-style

Old:

New:

I think this would be better because:

• it fits in smaller screens better
• it's cleaner + tidier, so less overwhelming (eg: when you open a complicated element)
• it's how scratch works, which is what many users will already use, so it'll be more familiar

I think we need to change it now, rather than later because: It'll break all the saved+shared posts, so people will lose their work when we change it.

"clone -> right" block

like swap, but it makes two of you! (preserves data)

Holding down mouse should continue painting

Currently, you need to move the mouse to keep painting

improve behavior of element picker when elements are deleted

currently defaults to "air", should probably default to a "null" element or retain old value

Arrangement

Different things should re-arrange themselves nicely for different devices + aspect ratios + resolutions! It would be good to try out some different solutions in this repo to see what works/doesn't work!

Touchscreen

You can't paint elements onto the simulation with the touchscreen yet

change number of element / hide elements (launch blocking!)

`that` block

a block that gets keyboard status

if "DOWN ARROW" is pressed...
swap DOWN

:O

Make default blocks for each element

`ra` and `rb` support

It would be good to get some early placeholder support for setting + getting ra and rb values so that we can implement all the sandspiel elements in sand-blocks.

Naming an element as nothing causes crash

Share links should save the selected element

Sometimes I want to share what I've made with a specific element selected.

Make it easier to export/import/save/load your blocks

Too much 'here'

It's annoying having to put 'here' everywhere!!!

Like in this screenshot... I don't want to say

set ra 'OF HERE' to ra 'OF HERE' + 1

Instead, I just want to say

set ra to ra+1

Make the block colours nicer

Make the blocks bright rainbow colours 🌈

Naming an element as a number causes a crash

Update order messes up stuff

The order that the world updates makes lots of behaviours weird. Change to track which cells have updated, and stop them acting twice? Find a better update order?

introduction video + launchpass site

Swap block should change relative position of 'me'

Hopefully it doesn't cause any confusion!

No wind

There's no wind or fluid effects in sand-blocks. That's ok for now, but for full compatibility with Sandspiel, we'll need working blocks for this!

`getTypeOfChild` in `generator.js` is unreliable

getTypeOfChild is unreliable. When some (but not all) of a block's inputs are shadows, the order of childBlocks_ can't be trusted... It sometimes goes in a weird order. We should use a different way of getting child blocks.

more detail in readme

yeah.. please add more detail (not now but soon!) to test it. (Thanks)

A block that gets the cursor position?

Could be fun

Update order picker

Make a way of changing between different update order approaches (to test them out)

Make our own plus/minus blocks

Because I haven't got to them yet!

I'm currently experimenting with the best way of implementing them. Watch this space!

Consider a more object-oriented collection of blocks

Instead of being spatial, maybe it would be easier to treat cells as entities/objects.

move DOWN

Instead of

swap HERE with DOWN

Shorter ra/rb blocks

The current ones are very long. Can we make a smaller version?

storing vectors in registers

Element code doesn't generate until you click it in the menu

So if you make eg: plant from your sand code, it won't start acting yet.

Element Group block is weird

It's unclear how it should work.

Stuff like this makes sense:

But what would this do? (currently it's not allowed)

Maybe there should be an 'is any of these...' condition instead or something...

Visuals?

Consider adding big+clear visuals to the blocks?

Would it be possible to make sand-blocks useable by someone who can't read words?

"comment" block

Operator block should have implicit typing

The operator block (the one with add, subtract, multiply, divide) should implicitly change colour and type depending on what values you place inside it. (You can put both numbers and vectors into it).

I made an issue for this because it's a bit of a big job, and I know how to do it, but I'm focusing on experimenting with other things for now!

More coercion

Many blocks can't be placed in other blocks, which isn't fun.

And types can't be used as other types, which isn't fun.

They should try their best to work!

Share links should save the pause state

Maybe it would be good if getting a share link could save whether the world is paused or not too?

Element literals in the toolbox show weird values

Probably because the toolbox still refers to elements by old names like "SAND" instead of number IDs.

Remove unused elements from element literal block

Swapping into random neighbor doesn't correctly update "me" position

Instead, it rerolls a NEW vector to update "me" by.

Reconsider how vectors get added/subtracted to/from numbers

Maybe it could change magnitude instead.

Food for thought: https://youtu.be/h3FndHTu_7M

Nested transformations don't stack

When you put a transformation block inside a transformation block, they should combine. Instead, they should combine. Should be a simple fix by making pushTransformation and popTransformation functions or similar.

"is touching" block doesn't work with element groups

update ui based on global state

Swapping an element with down makes it looks like it's not moving

There could be a "If SAND is below here" block

rename elements

Typing quickly to rename an element doesn't update dropdowns properly

Consider 'partial' events

Consider making it so... an element's behaviour doesn't all get done in one event? Some blocks could be 'stopping points'? I see some issues with this regarding checking your surroundings, assuming they're still the same, and then they change in between turns. But maybe there is some potential goodness from having element code look like "do this THEN do this"

tooltips / explainer text for each block