Falling Sand 3 — Heat and Material Sandbox

About the Game

Falling Sand 3 is an expanded version of Falling Sand 2. It keeps the same open-ended sandbox style, but adds a broader material set: wood, smoke, napalm, acid, mercury, plutonium, C4, wax, melted wax, rain, lava, ice, and plants.

The focus is experimentation. Build contained reactions, test fluids with different densities, melt wax, cool lava with water, grow plants, or trigger unstable chain reactions.

Controls

• Pointer drag: Paints with the selected element.
• Element palette: Pick a labeled element from the grouped, horizontally scrollable palette. The current selection stays visible above it, and each button includes a behavior tooltip.
• Generators: Place persistent emitters such as Spout, Oil Well, Acid Drip, Lava Vent, and Ember Jet to keep feeding reactions over time.
• Brush size: Adjusts how much material is painted per stroke.
• Speed: Changes the simulation update rate.
• Play/Pause: Freezes the simulation for inspection.
• Step: Advances one simulation frame while paused.
• Presets: Loads prebuilt scenarios such as acid rain, oil rig, nuclear test, lava falls, wax candles, and garden.
• Save snapshot: Stores the current state in this browser so you can continue later.
• Continue snapshot: Restores the latest locally saved state.
• Download state: Exports a restorable JSON file with the current state.
• Download image: Saves a PNG screenshot of the current canvas.

Tips

• Use Spout, Oil Well, Acid Drip, Lava Vent, and Ember Jet to build self-running experiments.
• Lava plus water creates stone and steam.
• Acid corrodes sand, wall, wood, wax, and plants.
• Oil and napalm burn easily.
• C4 reacts violently near fire or lava.
• Wax melts near heat and solidifies again when it cools.
• Mercury is heavy and displaces lighter fluids.

Start with a controlled material experiment

Pause the simulation, draw a small container, and place one material at a time. Use Step to inspect changes, or load a preset for a ready-made scene. Generators keep adding material, so they suit experiments that need a continuing supply.

Follow the ice and lava experiment, or return to the classic falling sand game for a simpler palette. These are playful particle rules, not measured temperatures or a chemistry laboratory.

News & Release Notes

September 26, 2026

• Black Hole and Supernova: Create cosmic disasters directly on the canvas, or load the new Cosmic Collision preset to see both in action.
• Powerful gravity: Black Holes now pull liquids and solid structures from much farther away, tear apart dense material, and consume anything that crosses the visible event horizon.
• Larger Supernova blast: Supernovas now unleash a much wider, more destructive wave of lava, fire, and smoke.
• Smoother Black Holes: Large painted Black Holes remain responsive while preserving their expanded gravitational influence.
• Redesigned element palette: Related tools are grouped, every element has a visible name, and the current selection stays on screen. Swipe sideways on smaller screens, use the mouse wheel, or move between tools with the arrow keys.