Sandboxels news & patch notes

Sandboxels v1.14 is out now with long-awaited features and many less-awaited details.

Pushers

Sandboxels now has a Pusher machine!

When powered, it pushes pixels in a direction. This is great for transportation needs that Pipes or Portals don’t suffice, such as a conveyor belt or moving a pixel group!

Text

There is a new Text display element!

It dynamically reacts to color, size, and even some special elements, like Rainbow.

When placing Text, the underlying pixels are visible, but will be hidden once deselected.

They even support special variables for displaying temperature, charge, and more.

Human Improvements

We overhauled the code for Humans to use that new pixel-grouping system. Don’t worry, old saves with Humans will be migrated seamlessly when loaded.

• Humans can be dragged without breaking apart

• Humans can swim

• Humans can now control pixel groups when they are included - maybe you can make a mech?

Rapid Fire Changes!

There were OVER 100 minor changes this update - here are just some of the best ones:

• Heat Loss setting: Slowly return to room temperature over time

• Setting to show tick count again

• Pixel groups can be cut into multiple pieces with Erase

• Estonian language support

• Magical reactions were added to make recipes for many special elements

• Static can be painted

• Border has a special reaction when Rainbow is underneath

To see ALL the changes, see the full changelog below.

Full Changelog

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+ Pushers

+ Push pixels and groups with electricity

+ Add to a group to move all of its pixels at once

+ Text element

+ Place a text display on the canvas

+ Actual pixels show while selected or hovering

+ Dynamically responds to size and color

+ Absorbs the color of certain special pixels, like Rainbow

+ Humans can be safely dragged

+ Humans can swim

+ Heat Loss setting: Slowly return to room temperature over time

+ Setting to show tick count again

+ Pixel groups can be cut into multiple pieces with the Erase tool

+ More Shift-Select functionality:

+ Replace can specify which element(s) to replace

+ Smash can specify which element(s) to break

+ Rainbow, Static, and Border can specify animation speed

+ Support for Estonian

~ Increased support for Dutch, Emoji

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+ Smash tool and Grinder remove movable pixels from groups

+ Sensors show their specified element when hovered over

~ Sensors can detect solids if specified with Shift-Select

~ Portal destination lines are more translucent

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~ These reactions use purely fictional materials to make more elements craftable

+ Rainbow breaks into Antipowder, which will now be treated as a magical dust

+ 18 more Malware reactions, allowing more machine elements to be made

+ Positron recipe

+ Antimatter recipe

+ Thunder Cloud recipe

+ Bless recipe

+ God Ray recipe

+ Filler recipe

+ Lattice recipe

+ Ice Nine recipe

+ Portal recipe

+ Border element recipe

+ Midas Touch recipe

+ Special Lightning color when placed near Positron

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+ Static can be painted and is less harsh

+ Alcohol kills bugs

+ Sun has a density

+ Enter can be pressed to re-select elements, including Shift-Selecting

+ Scroll wheel changes brush size faster when Shift is held

+ Radiating Potassium causes decay into Calcium

~ Groups don't always move down if movable pixel is included

~ Groups can reliably use moving behaviors such as Floating Cloner

~ Supernovae create Magnesium

~ Strange Matter no longer converts Bless and Flash

~ Antimatter no longer explodes when touching Wall

~ Random no longer spawns undiscovered elements

+ Border element absorbs color of Rainbow placed underneath

~ Static and Border color is customizable

~ Elements with customizable colors have a default instead of only red

~ Improved Portal electricity teleportation

~ Language is now the first setting

~ Pixel count has "Pxls" after number

+ Settings menu can be navigated with Tab key

+ Saves track background images

~ Saves automatically track all simulation settings without specifying

~ Moved lesser-used Cloners to end of category

~ Rearranged some setting buttons

~ TPS shows 0 when paused

~ Improved responsiveness of prompts

+ Steam Edition: Square canvas size setting

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~ Fixed: Pixels aren't immediately rendered when placed in low simulation speeds

~ Fixed: Select Element prompt doesn't reopen after closing with no input

~ Fixed: Ruler diagonal measurement is inaccurate

~ Fixed: Pixels with a charged color (i.e. Neon) lose original color after charge

~ Fixed: Dragging pixels through a powered Gate creates ghost pixels

~ Fixed: Fuse can be dragged

~ Fixed: Ctrl+Shift+O doesn't re-load saves from Featured, Discord, or Workshop tabs

~ Fixed: Erased pixels stay in relations until moved

~ Fixed: E-wall, LED, and Spout don't sink when in a relation

~ Fixed: Fire stops relations made of Wood from moving

~ Fixed: Grouping a Bird with a powder causes crash

~ Fixed: Birds and Stink Bugs have trouble moving when grouped

~ Fixed: Grouping Liquid Light with a powder causes crash

~ Fixed: Humans can't move when grouped

~ Fixed: Streak View doesn't show background images

~ Fixed: Border Void and Loop settings don't retain after reset

~ Fixed: addElement function no longer works

~ Fixed: Battery frequency input allows negative numbers

~ Fixed: Speed setting input ignores minimum and maximum values

~ Fixed: Right-click erasing with Shift-Selected Filter also filters erased pixels

~ Fixed: Pixels place above absolute zero if set above air temperature

~ Fixed: Menus close when Tab key is pressed

~ Fixed: "Canvas is Hidden" message is uncentered

~ Fixed: "Canvas is Hidden" message can be replaced by load fail after some time

~ Fixed: Cursor position shown as Infinity when canvas is hidden

~ Fixed: Element hover stat crashes when returning undefined

~ Fixed: Trackpad pinch gesture resizes brush in opposite of expected way

~ Fixed: Long element info content is slightly cut off

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~ Humans now use relation system

~ Old saves automatically convert Humans

~ Compressed relations in save files

+ drawText function

+ directionToCoords helper function (Values 0-3)

+ Special keywords for Text element

+ \ - Pixel temperature

+ \ - "ON" or "OFF"

+ \ - Specify text for when charged or not

+ \ - Ticks passed

+ \ - Ticks passed, resets every 100

+ \ - Pixel count on canvas

+ \ - Any global variable

+ Rainbow, Static, and Border accept 'speed' property (Default 1)

~ 'onSelect' element property accepts 'element' argument to match 'onShiftSelect'

~ Gases with densities are no longer displaced when "movable" is false (e.g. Sun)

~ Deprecated: airDensity, airTemp, and absoluteZero variables will no longer receive support

~ Move any references to currentSaveData keys "airdensity", "airtemp", and "abszero"

~ Improved styling of choice and direction prompts

~ Saves can no longer arbitrarily change settings

~ Simulation settings are now stored in currentSaveData and are reverted on canvas reset

~ Save version is now sb8

This minor update refreshes the look of the UI in preparation for upcoming updates. Please provide feedback and be patient as we work through edge cases.

All buttons now have a sleek and darker look. The Settings menu has been redesigned to look less chaotic.

We have some exciting updates planned very soon!! Try out the new UI and let us know any feedback so we can include it in the next version.

If you would prefer to use the old UI, just enable the "old.js" mod and reset the canvas.

Our new update to Sandboxels, v1.13.2, is out now! Let’s dive right into the new features and changes.

Edit Mode

Remember all those weird miscellaneous tools in the Special category? They have been moved to the new “Edit” tab!

The “Edit” button is where the “TPS” option used to be, which is now in Settings.

We expect to add a lot more editing tools to this tab in the future, but for now we added TWO - Group and Ungroup!

Use the Group tool to merge multiple pixels into a single structure, which will make them all move together - even Solids which are usually stationary. They can be dragged and can displace fluids.

And if you attach something like a Fly…

Graphical Updates

Fire has been given a better transition from yellow to red as it burns. This applies to Cold Fire, too!

Liquids and Gases will appear less grainy than other pixels.

When placing Lightning near certain elements, such as Neon or Copper, it will change color!

We also tried optimizing a lot of the rendering and simulation code, hopefully it makes a difference on your end.

More Features

Fillers can now be painted and will fight other colors:

And some more:

• Icing (also known as Frosting or Buttercream) - a new element made by mixing Butter and Sugar

• Shift-Select can set the frequency of a Battery or the element of the Image tool

• Portals show destination lines when hovered over or selected

• Worms can compost more organic materials, like Paper

We also fixed 15 bugs, including a couple nasty ones involving the new Filters and Gates.

That’s not all!

We have some even bigger things planned. Stay tuned and, in the meantime, read the whole changelog for this update below.

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+ Edit Mode

~ Moved Special tools to the edit tab

~ Expect more tools in the future

+ Relations - Multiple pixels as a single entity

+ Group and Ungroup tool in edit tab

+ Grouped pixels fall and move as one structure

+ Grouped pixels are ungrouped when broken or changing states

+ Grouped pixels can displace fluids (Experimental)

+ More Shift-Select functionality:

+ Battery can set a frequency to create timers

+ Image tool can set element

~ Fire begins more yellow and gets redder quicker

+ Icing (Hidden) made with Butter and Sugar

~ Liquids and Gases appear less grainy

~ Settings changes

+ Speed option in Settings to replace TPS button

+ Keybind: T to change TPS

~ Renamed E button to Elem button

~ Improved simulation speeds

- Removed World Gen

~ We recommend the PRNGworldgenlib.js mod, a much better world generator

- Removed Cheerful Mode

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+ Escape can be pressed to cancel while drawing a line

+ Fillers can be painted and will fight other colors

+ Portals show destination lines when hovered over or selected

+ Portal In can be selected with the Elem button by typing 'Portal'

+ Lightning placed near certain elements will change color

+ Worms can break down Flour, Dough, Adobe, Paper, Confetti, Cellulose, Cheese, and Potato

+ Worms can move through Mulch

+ Radiation will radiate Batter

+ Rad Steam causes Cheese to rot

~ Filters and Gates are Acid-resistant

~ Portals no longer teleport Fuse

~ Ruler measures diagonal lines as a pixel count instead of hypotenuse

~ Unique flame colors for Nickel, Iron, and Mercury

~ Rearranged Special category

~ Opening the Info, Mods, or Settings menus will pause the game

~ Steam: All canvas sizes now stretch to the full screen width

+ Assigned densities to many solids

+ Keybind: Quote (") to toggle Edit Mode

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~ Fixed: Dragging pixels through Filters creates ghost pixels

~ Fixed: Filters can break when transporting to Gates or Pipes

~ Fixed: Pixels are rendered in incorrect position when mixing with Pipe, Filter, or Gate

~ Fixed: Broken modded saves are loaded every bootup

~ Fixed: Precision Dot is misaligned with 2- and 4-wide brushes

~ Fixed: Portals can't transmit electricity if surrounded by pixels

~ Fixed: E-cloner can't be set to Fuse by clicking on it

~ Fixed: Some saves throw TypeError "Cannot set properties of undefined"

~ Fixed: Prop tool always unpauses after dialog

~ Fixed: Z and Backspace keys select Heat by default instead of Sand

~ Fixed: Random can't place Fire, Plasma, Ink, Bless, Rock Wall, Cold Fire, Sun, Pointer, or Art

~ Fixed: Elem dialog doesn't close if button is pressed again

~ Fixed: Wrong font when language set to Italian

~ Fixed: Magnesium melts at a much lower temperature than expected

~ Fixed: Shift-selecting Random and inputting 'random' causes errors

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~ Note: Optimizations mean a lot of code was rewritten, please report any issues and be patient

~ Note: Don't pass an 'rgba' color to drawSquare, use the 'alpha' argument instead

+ Pixel relations system

+ Used to group pixels together

+ '_r' pixel property to identify its relation (should be an integer)

+ 'trackPaint' element property (boolean)

+ 'painted' pixel property (color code) given to these elements when painted

+ "Failed to load" message instead of hanging forever

~ 'con' contents only render if element has existing 'canContain' property

~ 'onMouseDown' element event only triggers with left clicks

~ Acid Gas 'ignore' property is now identical to Acid

~ Elements with a set density but no state are set to solid

~ Fuse no longer shows hidden element

~ Save version is now sb7

We worked hard to bring some highly requested features and improvements to this new Sandboxels update.

New machines

First, we added the Filter! It acts like a sieve, allowing only certain elements to pass through.

It also has a cousin called the Gate, which only allows pixels through if it is powered by electricity.

Pipes can interact with these new machines, transferring pixels between them.

The new “Shift-Select” option brings extra functionality to existing elements. Just hold shift while selecting any of the following elements:

• Erase - Only erase certain elements

• Cloner - Clone multiple elements

• Filter - Allow specific states or multiple elements

• Sensor - Sense specific elements

• Portal - Set unique channels

• Void - Only delete certain elements

• Random - Randomly place specific elements

• Explosion - Custom explosion radius

• Antibomb - Explode into specific elements

To make room in the Machines category, we merged a few elements and expanded functionality into others. Old saves will seamlessly migrate once loaded into the game.

• LEDs R, G, and B -> A single customizable LED

• Superheater and Freezer -> Heater and Cooler (Heat or Cool them to control temperature)

• Tesla Coil and Shocker -> E-cloner

New graphics

As you may have seen in recent YouTube/TikTok videos, background images and an Outline View are now here!

There are 6 default background images to choose from, but you can also use any image URL! To try the Outline View, press the ‘5’ key or select it in Settings.

We also improved the UI — Element buttons have a pixelated and colorful border. No more boring grays!

New tools

We added a Ruler tool for taking measurements! This was originally to support people with myopia (nearsightedness), but it can be pretty helpful for everyone.

The Drag tool has also been greatly improved! It’s now much faster and smoother, letting you move pixels at record speeds.

New everything

There were over 60 more changes and bug fixes we didn’t talk about!

Ever tried to place Humans with Replace Mode enabled? Or use them on a Cloner? Yup, it’s fixed.

Here is the complete changelog for this update:

+ Filter

+ Only allows the first element it touches to pass

+ Gate

+ Only allows pixels to pass if electrified

+ Only conducts electricity into itself and Wire

+ Canvas background images

+ Some presets and custom image URLs

+ Outline View (Press 5)

+ 2-wide and 4-wide brushes

+ Ruler tool in Special to measure lengths and angles

+ Manual element control

+ Shift-clicking certain element buttons prompt the user for more information

+ Erase tool allows only deleting certain elements

+ Cloners allow multiple comma-separated elements

+ Filters allow states (solid, liquid, or gas) or multiple elements

+ Sensors allow sensing specific elements

+ Portals allow the setting of channels

+ Void allows only deleting certain elements

+ Random tool allows pre-selected element choices

+ Explosion allows custom radius

+ Antibombs allow pre-selected explosion elements

~ Replaced LED Red, Green, and Blue with a single customizable LED

~ LEDs in old saves are automatically converted to the new element

- Merged Superheaters and Freezers with Heaters and Coolers

+ Heaters can be heated to heat the same as a Superheater

+ Coolers can be cooled to cool the same as a Freezer

- Removed Tesla Coil and Shocker

~ These elements in old saves are automatically converted to E-cloners

~ Drag tool is faster and smoother

~ Pixelated and colorful button borders

+ Translations for Swedish

+ Parital translations for Japanese, Thai, Arabic, Hebrew, and Viossa

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+ Pipes can transport pixels directly with Filter and Gate

~ Pipes no longer conduct heat

~ Brightened blue stage in Pipes

~ Incomplete pipes darken after being initialized

+ Oxygen can be used to dispose Molten Lead in reactors

+ Electrolysis of raw Salt

+ Smashing hot Cooked Meat releases Grease

+ Worms can compost Lettuce, Tomato, Corn, Pickle, and Bread

+ Rats can eat Spiders

+ Caramel and Herb make peppermint-colored sugar

+ Baking Soda can be made with Lye and Carbon Dioxide

+ Melting Ash with Dirt creates Tuff

~ Poison Gas no longer makes Slag from molten elements

~ Perfume can exist at room temperature

~ Acid doesn't dissolve Mercury or Diamond

~ Sulfur ignites when hot

~ All Cloud types can be smashed like Rain Cloud

~ Thermite burns into less Iron

~ Rock Wall deletes Light when placed over it for better eclipses

- Removed Gallium-Sodium reaction

~ Copper Sulfate reacts with more carbs

~ Rainbow recipe uses Pointer instead of Flash

~ Bless deletes Strange Matter instead of turning it into Neutron

+ Static recipe

+ Malware can mix with some metals to create machine parts

+ Tea stains Paper

+ Unique fire color for Tin

~ Element buttons are consistently spaced on all sides

~ Recolored Pyrite

~ Acid has a smoother texture

~ Purple Gold is slightly more purple

~ Hyphae and Lichen are grainier

~ Recolored Random button

~ Recolored Balloon button

~ Recolored Confetti button

~ Recolored Hair button

~ Recolored Pistil button

~ Reordered colors in many buttons for consistent "lighting" look

~ Rice, Candy, Nut Oil, Dye, Rainbow, and Spray Paint buttons display with dark text

+ Firefly alias 'Lightning Bug'

~ Shortened hiding setting labels

~ Language should automatically be set from browser preferences (Untested)

~ Re-saving after saving automatically fills in name, author, and description

~ Save browser thumbnails are crisper

~ Steam Deck compliance

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+ 'onShiftSelect' element property, called when selecting element while holding Shift

+ 'onlyConduct' element property, list of the only elements to conduct electricity into

+ 'renderTool' element property, renderer function called once per frame while selected

+ 'updateOrder' element property, prioritizes (positive) or deprioritizes (negative) tick order (integer; default 0)

+ autoResizeRatio(height,width) function (e.g. (16,9))

~ 'shiftDown' variable is set even when in a menu

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~ Fixed: Placing Humans with Replace Mode causes a gory mess

~ Fixed: Using Human on Cloners cause a gory mess

~ Fixed: Bottom pixels can be cut off on certain window sizes

~ Fixed: Line-drawing preview is opaque when using a theme

~ Fixed: Text in Debug popup can't be selected

~ Fixed: onClicked passes "unknown" when no element is selected, now passes null

~ Fixed: onMouseDown doesn't get called on mobile

~ Fixed: onMouseDown is called when clicking out of a menu

~ Fixed: Using Heat Ray on Stained Glass can make Rainbows

~ Fixed: Saves with pipes containing invalid elements fail to load

~ Fixed: Some Fireflies stay illuminated after hitting another

~ Fixed: Liquid/gaseous pixels with 'skip' property can be displaced by denser pixels

~ Fixed: Salt isn't considered a food and can't be eaten by Humans

~ Fixed: Corn can't be dragged or put into Pipes

Enjoy! :)

Players can now unlock trading cards just by playing Sandboxels on Steam!

A card drops every 30 minutes of playtime. Collect the whole set and craft the cards into a badge, emoticon, and profile background!

You can also use Steam Points to buy the emotes.

Enjoy!

This may have been the longest update to develop so far! It brings anticipated online features to the Steam Edition, along with many features for the web version, too!

🎨 Save Browsing 💾

There are now multiple ways to browse and load community-made canvases! Select one of the new tabs of the Saves menu:

Try our curated selection in the “Featured” tab. These have no mods enabled and should work for all players!

The “Discord” tab allows you to browse, search, and filter saves posted in our Discord server.

Finally, for those with the Steam Edition… Sandboxels now fully supports the Steam Workshop! You can publish saves right from the game for everyone to immediately try out.

🎮 More Steam Features 💨

In addition to Workshop support, Sandboxels now has a dedicated data folder on your computer, similar to other games.

This folder has subfolders for locally-stored saves and mods. The saves can be managed directly in-game — no more slots!

Discord Rich Presence support has also been added, which displays details about your canvas on your profile, such as your selected element and pixel count.

If your Steam client has another language selected, Sandboxels will try to enable translations automatically. The game version number and element counts from the web version are now also shown.

🧪 New Elements 🔥

Two new elements are ready to meet you!

Lye is a versatile powder made from Sodium-based reactions. It can be used to produce Soap, Bleach, and Methane. It can even un-galvanize Galvanized Steel!

Invar is a dark metal alloy, made by melting Iron with Nickel.

☔️ Streak View 🧐

A new view mode?!?! That’s right, press the 4 key on your keyboard to select Streak View.

This will leave a trail behind all moving pixels, which will fade over time, creating interesting spectacles like this rain below.

🌽 Small But Neat 🌈

Here’s a quick rundown of some other new features to try out!

• Buttons now have a smooth clicking animation

• Corn is now affected by gravity (Wow!)

• Many metals have been recolored, creating some unique element colors

• Sand can be dyed into Color Sand of the same hue

• Melting Glass with certain elements, like Gold, will create Stained Glass (Discover them all!)

• Clicking on an empty Cloner will set its element — no need to actually place it!

There were over 140 changes, including 19 bug fixes! Read the FULL CHANGELOG.

😌 Phew…

Try out the new update now!

We have a lot more planned around R74n in the coming months. Please enjoy!

♨️ CHECK STEAM ♨️

🆕 THE UPDATE 🆕

🕰️ What’s Next? 🕰️