A few months ago, I discovered a game that has gotten a lot of mileage in our house recently. It’s called The Powder Toy (Wikipedia article).
The Powder Toy is a 2D environment where you can build interactive images, scenes, and structures. It’s considered a “Falling-sand game” and it was originally released in 2010 as open-source software (which helps explain its large community and quirky interface).
Physics
Inside The Powder Toy is a full-blown physics sandbox. Every pixel represents an element with realistic material properties. For example, light-blue is ICE, which melts into WATER at 0°C, and can be crushed into SNOW at high pressures.
There are hundreds of unique elements, each with their own properties. Various elements can dissolve, combust, grow, decay, conduct electricity, and more.
- The Powder Toy is a computer simulation game. It is a Physics simulation game, and is played all around the world.
- The Powder Toy is a free physics sandbox game, which simulates air pressure and velocity, heat, gravity and a countless number of interactions between different substances! The game provides you with various building materials, liquids, gases and electronic components which can be used to construct complex machines, guns, bombs, realistic.
Deuterium Oxide is a dark colored water element that reacts violently with neutron, Gets smaller and absorbs contacted Deuterium Oxide if cooled,Gets bigger and releases absorbed Deuterium Oxide if heated. White D-Oxide in large amounts can be dangerous if in contact with neutrons. Neutron Explosions Strong Heaters Hot Neutron Beams strong fires Very high heat.
Each pixel can be inspected to identify the element and its current temperature and pressure. This is useful when you’re tinkering around and trying to understand what’s happening.
For example, I’d be building a volcano lair and then ask myself, “wait, why is the steam drifting to the left?” Then I’d realize that my lava chamber is heating up the air in the room, increasing the pressure and causing the air to rush out the door. Other sandbox-y games, like Minecraft, have some basic physics simulation, but this one is pretty detailed!
The Powder Toy Pc
Electronics
The electrical elements allow you to create circuits and chain reactions. It doesn’t take much knowledge to get something interesting to happen (you can make a laser gun or Tesla coil just by messing around). But if you want to go deep, there’s a tutorial in the Powder Toy Wiki that teaches you how to make logic gates and simple electronic devices. Naturally, some people have used these to build impressive electronics, like this (mostly) working calculator:
Exploration
There’s a huge database of projects that other people have built and uploaded. You can browse these projects in the app (or on the website), to explore what people have made (and blow them up with explosives 😈).
The breadth of the projects defies categorization. Some people build scenery. Others, little games. Others, construction kits that you can use in your own projects. Projects can be easily cloned, enhanced, up-voted, and commented on.
The game is also super hackable. There’s an in-game console for running commands or custom written scripts (the game has a Lua API). It supports mods which can be used to extend the set of elements and gameplay options. And of course, you can contribute to the core project on Github.
Education
All of the things I’ve mentioned above makes this an incredible educational game for kids.
The elements and their properties are great primers for chemistry and materials science.
The simulation of temperature, pressure, velocity, and gravity, helps develop an intuition for physics.
The console and APIs gives you opportunities to tinker with programming.
Playing the game is a creative process, where you make things, share them with the larger community, and get feedback. That’s the same process you’ll need to understand if you want to be an artist, designer, writer, comedian, or entrepreneur.
A common criticism of sandbox games is that there’s no narrative or objective to move you through the game and teach you how everything works. I get that… The Powder Toy is no “Legend of Zelda.”
But the ability to explore projects helps you see what’s possible instead of leaving you to figure the game out on your own. A little curiosity goes a long way.
It helps that there’s plenty of opportunities for dopamine rushes. The game gives you access to all sorts of exotic materials, that you can use to great, destructive, effect. Plutonium, Antimatter, Thermite, and Singularity are all effective tools for leveling a city (often, in a beautiful burst of fire and light).
Conclusion
The Powder Toy has been a welcome addition to our pandemic-induced homeschool routine. I really enjoy tinkering with it and seeing what my kids are building (during Daily Demos).
I don’t remember how I found this game but I couldn’t believe I hadn’t heard of it before. The game just screams “BRYAN” but nobody told me about it, even though it’s been around for over 10 years!
So that’s why I’m telling you about it. If you know someone who would like it, I hope you share it with them.
The Powder Toy License
Some user made content from The Powder Toy, being interacted with by the user. | |
| Original author(s) | Stanislaw K. Skowronek (retired) |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | jacob1 and various GitHub contributors[1] |
| Stable release | |
| Repository | |
| Platform | Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Android |
| Type | |
| License | GPLv3 |
| Website | powdertoy.co.uk |
The Powder Toy is a falling-sand game originally created by Stanislaw K. Skowronek(Skylark). It is now developed and maintained by jacob1, and various contributors to the project on GitHub. It is a free and open-source software licensed under the GNU General Public License version 3.0.[3]
It has a total of 185 different in-game materials (without mods) that have varying functions.[4]
The Powder Toy Controls
Gameplay[edit]
The Powder Toy, like most falling sand games, is a sandbox video game that allows users to create things in-game to share with others. It is also possible to create new content for the game by using Lua to create new elements, tools, and content.[1]
A public server for sharing in-game creations is provided as part of the game itself, allowing users to share anything that abides by the rules. Examples of player shared creations include functioning circulatory systems, and computers.[4] Content is rated using upvotes and downvotes, and can be reported to the moderators if it breaks the on-site rules or plagiarizes other works.[citation needed]
Reception and impact[edit]
The game has been noted by publications as a valuable tool for teachers and their students, receiving praises such as being called a 'great science game' for its potential use as a learning aid because of its accurate portrayal of physics, chemical reactions and more.[5]
References[edit]
The Powder Toy Wiki
- ^ ab'ThePowderToy: Readme'. GitHub. Archived from the original on 2018-03-29. Retrieved 2018-03-28.
- ^'Releases'. Github. Retrieved 3 September 2019.
- ^'ThePowderToy: License'. GitHub. Archived from the original on 2018-03-29. Retrieved 2018-03-28.
- ^ abCox, Matt (2019-10-10). 'From falling sand to Falling Everything: the simulation games that inspired Noita'. Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 2019-11-15.
- ^Explosive fun for students with THE POWDER TOY a great science game on edgalaxy.com (2010-09-03)
