sand-spoon

A modular and infinite falling sand game created in Godot.

Elements

Each type of particle is represented by a Godot Resource that extends from Element (or various subclasses with built-in functionality, such as Fluid or Powder). However, in the simulation itself, particles are represented with only two numbers:

• id a 32 bit integer representing this particle's element.
• data a 64 bit integer for extra state information. First 16 bits are reserved for storing temperature.

The simulation assigns a unique id to each of the Element resource when the game starts. As the simulation iterates though each cell, it will find the Element resource corresponding to that particle's id and call its process and get_color functions (which are essentially static). By extending the Element class, you can also extend the process function to interact with the simulation and create custom functionality.

Element functions

• func process(sim: Simulation, row: int, col: int, data: int) -> bool: Advances the particle of this Element type (located at row, col and with state data) by one frame. When extending this function, it is important to call the parent class's process function to preserve its functionality. If process quits early, it should return false if inheriting classes should also quit early.

Sample code

class_name MyElement extends Element

func process(sim: Simulation, row: int, col: int, data: int) -> bool:
	# Always keep this line. If `Element` transforms into
	# another element and quits early, this element
	# should not continue processing.
	if not super.process(sim, row, col, data):
		return false

	# Temperature is stored in the first 16 bits of `data`
	# as a 16-bit integer.
	var current_temperature: int = get_temperature(data)

	# However, temperature is simulated in different units
	# internally. Use the `convert_temperature` function
	# to compare internal temperature data with Kelvin degrees.
	if current_temperature > convert_temperature(293.0):
		# Set the 3rd byte with new state information,
		# then pass into the simulation.
		data = set_byte(data, 2, get_byte(data, 2) + 1)
		sim.set_data(row, col, data)
	else:
		sim.set_element(row, col, "sand")
		return false

	return true