Sandspiel Online Disaster Simulation — Falling-Sand Panorama

What this is

Disaster World · Falling-Sand Panorama is a browser disaster simulator built on the cellular-automaton rules of Sandspiel: one continuous 1800x220 world split across five regions, each running its own automatic disaster and climate system.

It is not a one-off animation — the physics keeps running. When you open the page the disasters are already happening: an electrical short somewhere in a tower block, fire climbing the flammable paint and timber lining; a levee breaching upstream and sending sediment-heavy floodwater across the fields; dry lightning striking a dead tree and running the fire line downwind through the whole canopy.

Five regions, five disaster systems

• City — urban fire + aftershocks — an electrical short in a skyscraper sparks a chain of fires; aftershocks periodically shatter glass and weaken structures while smoke pools between the blocks.
• Countryside — flood + mudslide — days of rain breach an upstream levee, floodwater carries sediment at the fields and cabins, and a mudslide pours down the slopes. Some of the rain here falls as acid.
• Wilderness — thunderstorm + forest fire — dry lightning strikes standing deadwood and ignites the canopy, wind spreads the blaze, smoke blots out the sky and embers drift downwind.
• Seaside — tsunami + typhoon — a distant quake lifts a wall of tsunami that runs shoreward and tears out timber and glass; the typhoon eyewall spins up tornadoes and torrential rain.
• Mountain — eruption + avalanche — a dormant volcano wakes and throws lava and volcanic bombs; the heat melts the snowpack into an avalanche, and ash and toxic gas blanket the valley.

What you can do

• Disasters only, no materials — the twelve brushes are disaster particles: Fire, Wildfire, Flood, Tsunami, Lava, Acid Rain, Lightning, Tornado, Volcanic Ash, Toxic Gas and Meteor, plus a Dig tool.
• Brush and intensity — brush size 1-18, intensity 1-10 sets the drop density; lightning and meteors are single-point strikes.
• Right-click destroys anything — right-click or the Dig tool removes any material, terrain included. Towers, trees, bridges and breakwaters all come apart.
• The camera is the simulation budget — physics only steps the columns near the camera, so all five regions evolve in the same frame.
• Switch scenes — the minimap, the region tabs, arrow keys (left/right) or number keys 1-5 jump between regions; scroll to pan, Ctrl+scroll to zoom.

The rule set underneath

• Density exchange — heavier materials sink: lava (7) sits below soil (6), sand (5) and ice (4.5), and water (3) below oil (2.2).
• Phase change and reaction — lava hitting water becomes rock and throws steam; acid rain eats concrete and rock and dissolves vegetation; toxic gas corrodes plants and timber.
• Structural support — concrete, wood and glass collapse when they lose their support and have no sideways connection (glass shatters to sand, timber breaks and falls, concrete crumbles to rock).
• A burn chain — wood, plants and oil are all flammable; fire has a lifespan and leaves smoke and ash behind.

Play keywords

sandspiel online, falling sand game, falling sand simulator, disaster simulator, cellular automaton game, sandbox physics game, pixel disaster, city fire simulation, tsunami simulation, volcano eruption simulation, free browser game, no download.

About this version

This is the English build of 灾难世界 · 落沙全景 (Disaster World · Falling-Sand Panorama). The Chinese-language original is here.