Life & fun · alternatives · 2026
24 alternatives to Sandboxels: Steam Edition
Experiment with pixels
Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes.
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- 3LP
Took a break from the falling sand simulation blog posts this week to work on another small project. It's a little pixel world generator- each time you visit, you'll see a new little world. I really like this stuff and had a blast building it yesterday!
2022 · jason.today · its alternatives →
- 4IM
2021 · simulator.money · its alternatives →
- 5AM
Hello HN! We’re a small creative studio specializing in real-time 3D experiences. Netlify approached us to design and build an interactive experience to celebrate reaching 5 million developers. Inspired by the classic game Marble Madness, we created a gamified experience where users control a ball through playful, interactive levels. The goal was to blend marketing content with the look and feel of a game to engage users. The app is built with Three.js [1], using our custom render pipeline and shaders, and uses Rapier for physics simulation [2]. The 2D content is overlaid on the WebGL view…
2024 · 5-million-devs.netlify.com · its alternatives →
- 6AS
I was inspired to make a web based ants simulator after watching this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81GQNPJip2Y Any feedback appreciated. Best viewed on Chromium based browsers. Firefox is slow for some reason and Safari is not tested as I don't have a Mac.
2022 · ants-sandbox.io · its alternatives →
- 7TF
It's free to play on steam, but you'll need a computer with a dedicated graphics card. I just released a new version after first releasing it 18 months ago. It's been a hard slog to scrounge time as it's not my day job but that's life. There's a ton of obvious improvements in the future (weather systems, temperature, varying rainfall, ice/snow, more biomes, more plate tectonics, lava, etc) but all suggestions/feedback is welcome.
2023 · store.steampowered.com · its alternatives →
- 8MS
2018 · magicsandbox.com · its alternatives →
- 9
Hi HN, I’m a chemical engineer and I manage logistics at a refinery down in Texas. Whenever I try to explain downstream operations to people outside the industry (including my kids), I usually get blank stares. I wanted to build something that visualizes the concepts and chemistry of a plant without completely dumbing down the science, so I put together this 5-minute browser game. Here's a simple runthrough: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=is-moBz6upU. I pushed to get through a full product pathway to show the V-804 replay. I am not a software developer by trade, so I relied…
Mar 2026 · fuelingcuriosity.com · its alternatives →
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- 11AS
The little particles will gravitate to your cursor (or touch location), and can even enter stable orbits if the conditions are right! Mainly an excuse for me to experiment with wasm and WebGL, but it makes for a surprisingly good fidget toy.
2024 · aestuans.github.io · its alternatives →
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- 13AI
Jan 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
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Stuck inside and missing the Ocean? We've got you covered
2021 · its alternatives →
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Everything you need to evaluate & improve prompts and LLMs
2023 · its alternatives →
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Local sandboxes for AI agents on your Mac, Linux, bare metal
Aug 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 19SA
After many months of development, we are releasing Squally as early-access on Steam! This game teaches low-level computer science; topics such as data types, data structures, bin/dec/hex, and x86 assembly are gradually introduced through puzzles and gameplay. https://store.steampowered.com/app/770200/Squally/ It's still very early in development, we currently have only released a card mini-game that teaches binary operations: https://i.gyazo.com/0a33bbac5bbb5421f7eb120edd3ff6bb.gif
2018 · its alternatives →
- 20AS
I didn't realize Universe Sandbox ran on MacOS, and I was in the mood to play around a bit. Some functions it's got: - Random system generation - Sonification is super fun too - Habitability Simulation (Just for fun, don't cite this please) - Replacing, spawning, deleting objects I've had tons of fun building this, so I hope someone else can share the joy. It's free and runs in the browser. I'd love to hear any feedback. I think this is at a state where I might leave it as it is, but if people are interested in other features, maybe I'll keep working on it. I've kept saying I'll stop working…
Dec 2025 · luna.watermelonson.com · its alternatives →
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- 22EW
2020 · exophysics.net · its alternatives →
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- 24PW
2021 · observablehq.com · its alternatives →
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Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →