[HN Gopher] Replicube: 3D shader puzzle game, online demo
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       Replicube: 3D shader puzzle game, online demo
        
       Author : inktype
       Score  : 165 points
       Date   : 2025-07-11 18:00 UTC (4 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (replicube.xyz)
 (TXT) w3m dump (replicube.xyz)
        
       | inktype wrote:
       | Note the "What is Replicube?" and "Introductory Puzzles" button
       | on the bottom, which might be easy to miss.
        
       | rickcarlino wrote:
       | Had hours of fun playing this with my son (steam version). Great
       | work.
        
       | creativenolo wrote:
       | Hard to use on a mobile with the keyboard popping over the text
       | editor, but looks like lots of fun. Wish there was a mobile app
       | version.
        
       | epiccoleman wrote:
       | Man, that's a fantastic way of making me interested in the game.
       | I'd heard of it before, but up until seeing this I figured I'd
       | have to spend money and hop onto my PC (where I play games, as
       | opposed to my work laptop) to check it out.
       | 
       | Now, 15 minutes after clicking the link, I've tried the game out,
       | had a fun time, and ... just might have to buy it.
       | 
       | I'm impressed that this sort of thing was possible with Godot
       | too. Very cool.
        
       | bovermyer wrote:
       | OK this is really cool. I'll pick it up on Steam.
        
       | flipnotyk wrote:
       | Very fun! Not sure if it's a me issue, but the music kept getting
       | static-y in the browser version for me. Maybe something to look
       | into.
        
         | yardshop wrote:
         | Same for me, when the code is not correct, the music is much
         | slower and very crackly. Once the code gives the correct
         | solution, the music speeds up and the crackles go away.
         | 
         | Also agreed, very fun!
        
         | popcar2 wrote:
         | It's an issue with Godot on the web unfortunately, when you're
         | dropping frames the audio starts clipping and crackling.
         | Judging by the other comment, the lua integration must be doing
         | some heavy work.
        
           | yardshop wrote:
           | I found that if I remove the number lines or position the
           | display straight on to an axis, that the crackling drops
           | considerably.
        
       | bstsb wrote:
       | related discussion:
       | 
       | Replicube: A puzzle game about writing code to create shapes
       | (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43979916)
        
       | bryan0 wrote:
       | I think today's answer is actually incorrect. Or at least the
       | reference animation has a hitch where it shows all red for frames
       | 12 and 13. if it shows 2 purples for frame 13 then the animation
       | is smoother and actually the math is much simpler.
        
       | granularity wrote:
       | Nice!
       | 
       | On the leaderboard I'd like to see code size vs cycles in a 2D
       | plot with the Pareto front highlighted.
        
       | sleepybrett wrote:
       | doesn't work in firefox. no thanks.
        
         | gryn wrote:
         | it does work in firefox. I've had no issues.
        
           | JoshTriplett wrote:
           | Likewise, works fine here.
        
       | strontian wrote:
       | i love this so much <3
        
       | slippy wrote:
       | Did anyone else solve the puzzle after finding a bug in today's
       | puzzle where on step 13 the circle you were trying to match
       | didn't change, but should have?
       | 
       | Oh, nevermind, it appears others noticed this bug, too!
        
       | tantalor wrote:
       | This runs horribly in Chrome. Every other keypress is dropped and
       | the music is super glitchy.
        
         | neuroelectron wrote:
         | Runs great on Brave on my iPad mini. It doesn't even have an
         | M-chip.
        
           | skeptrune wrote:
           | Brave is quickly becoming the browser that just works.
        
             | xerox13ster wrote:
             | That's _been_ Vivaldi. Brave is the browser that just
             | markets itself. If it  "just worked" it wouldn't need
             | crypto bs to lock you in and convince you it's "working".
             | 
             | I've been getting all my ads blocked just fine with Vivaldi
             | without inflating a shitcoin since before Brave had gourd
             | smeared on its forehead.
        
       | vivzkestrel wrote:
       | it would be absolutely amazing if we could have a puzzle very
       | much like this that shows how to write a 3d FPS game in webGL.
       | going absolutely step by step by showing how cameras work, then
       | showing how a character is added , then showing how collision
       | works, then showing how models can be swapped. imagine what an
       | insane learning series that ll be
        
       | woolion wrote:
       | The developers are also behind JellyCar Worlds, which I found to
       | be a wonderfully creative physics based "platforming" (there's a
       | twist!) challenges/puzzles. It's ton of fun to play with a kid,
       | yet there's a lot of really complex setups to really challenge
       | yourself if you want to. A real gem!
        
         | WhereIsTheTruth wrote:
         | The developer, Walaber is a solo indie dev
        
       | tda wrote:
       | I finished it with a code size of 118, 19.82 cycles per voxel.
       | Don't feel like making an account, but how does that compare?
        
         | mayoff wrote:
         | I golfed mine down to 15.623 cycles / voxel.
         | d2 = x^2+y^2         -- 6 / pi = 1.909859317102744
         | angle = 6 + 1.909859317102744 * atan(x, y)                  if
         | z ~= 0 or d2 > 20 then return EMPTY end         if d2 < 11 then
         | return GREEN end         if angle > t then return PURPLE end
         | -- ugly special case because reference isn't smooth at 13
         | if t == 13 or angle + 12 > t then return RED end         return
         | PURPLE
        
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       (page generated 2025-07-15 23:02 UTC)