[HN Gopher] Handsdown one of the coolest 3D websites
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Handsdown one of the coolest 3D websites
Author : razzmataks
Score : 333 points
Date : 2025-12-09 16:06 UTC (6 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (bruno-simon.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (bruno-simon.com)
| nness wrote:
| Does not work on Firefox :(
| amelius wrote:
| Works for me, on Linux.
| scandox wrote:
| Works for me Firefox on Android mobile
| neogodless wrote:
| Firefox, Windows 11.
|
| It loads, I can navigate (drag), and click the white diamonds.
|
| There are things like the RC truck and bowling ball that are
| not interactive and look like they should be, so I suspect it's
| a bug?
|
| EDIT: OK it's a learning curve. With mouse/keyboard, you can
| click the hamburger icon in the top right, and get to an
| explanation of controls. I am able to use WADS to drive the
| truck and push the bowling ball (with the truck.)
| werdnapk wrote:
| I reloaded a second time and it worked in Firefox. First time,
| the circle loaded and then nothing. After it loaded, I saw no
| issues.
| tgdn wrote:
| Does not work on Chrome, and actually freezes the tab
| Karawebnetwork wrote:
| On Edge, my tab did freeze for a few seconds then the spinner
| resumed its spinning and the 3D scene displayed.
| stronglikedan wrote:
| Worked for me on Windows with Version 142.0.7444.177 (Official
| Build) (64-bit)
| werdnapk wrote:
| I had to load the site a second time in Firefox to get it
| working. So, try again?
| flanbiscuit wrote:
| Same for me. Worked smoothly in Firefox (MacOS Desktop)
| samtp wrote:
| Worked fine on Chrome on Linux (Fedora)
| Wistar wrote:
| Worked very well for me on iPad Pro and Safari. Only took a few
| secs to load.
| dmd wrote:
| Works fine in Chrome on both my W11 and MacOS 15.7.2 machines.
| Shaanveer wrote:
| google on linux does not support webgpu. (its hidden behind
| some flags)
| https://github.com/gpuweb/gpuweb/wiki/Implementation-Status
| ycombinatrix wrote:
| That linked page says webgpu is behind a flag in Firefox for
| Android but the website worked for me.
| esseph wrote:
| Works fine on Chrome using Fedora 43.
| RyanOD wrote:
| Just be patient. It took a while to load up in Chrome on my
| MBP.
| frizlab wrote:
| People are discovering what it is to download an app (:
| jofla_net wrote:
| FF on linux worked great.
| include wrote:
| works on Brave :) and actually fery cool :)
| s1mon wrote:
| HN hug of death? I couldn't get it to load (beyond the
| grid/circle background) on Safari/Mac, but eventually it loaded
| in Chrome. Seems to just be a game - use AWSD keys. Not sure why
| this is "coolest 3D website" in this day and age.
| nomoreipg wrote:
| This is so insanely detailed I wonder how long it took him to
| build
| dtf wrote:
| The author has YouTube devlogged this project over the last 12
| months.
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uc3Ujdh8Ba4
| kaszus wrote:
| Author open sourced it
| https://github.com/brunosimon/folio-2025 (MIT license)
| tomashubelbauer wrote:
| I was just about to post this as a top-level comment. I
| enjoyed following the series.
| gregoriol wrote:
| Works well on Safari 26.1, nice "game-dev" example, but not clear
| if it's a demo or a personal website: if former then nice, if
| latter then unusable
| kdmoyers wrote:
| Works fine on my android phone. Impressive.
| GreeningRun wrote:
| Same. Fast loaded and very smooth
| FlamingMoe wrote:
| does not work on internet explorer
| tiborsaas wrote:
| Try to upgrade to IE8, I've heard it's awesome.
| esseph wrote:
| Game struggling in lynx
| PaulHoule wrote:
| Wow!
| nbadg wrote:
| For those that can't get it to load (it takes a minute, and I
| noticed my desktop's fan kick it up a notch while things were
| getting initialized, so... YMMV): this is a portfolio site done
| via a cozy-gaming-style AWSD game where you drive around in a
| jeep-like thingamabob. There are some cute easter eggs, including
| a sort of... shrine to each of the socials, which you can run
| into with your car and knock over (though the links remain
| clickable, of course!). It also looks like there's some degree of
| global state; for example, you can "sacrifice yourself to the
| gods of chaos" (ie drive into a portal) and a counter on the side
| of the portal goes up, presumably for everyone (since I certainly
| didn't drive into it 1700 times myself!). There's a strongly
| consistent art style, and just generally... seems pretty
| polished. Or at least, that's what it felt like after 5 minutes
| of driving around.
|
| All in all I'd say, I'm impressed, and enjoyed it. Though I think
| the HN title ("handsdown one of the coolest 3D websites") is
| maybe a bit much. It's an extremely-well-executed portfolio site;
| no more, no less.
| 01HNNWZ0MV43FF wrote:
| AWSD == WASD?
| pmarreck wrote:
| Or WARS, if you're colemak
| etyp wrote:
| is ,AOE too far?
| thecsw wrote:
| The best one.
| teekert wrote:
| It worked surprisingly well on ddg browser, iOS, iPhone mini
| 12. So, impressive!
| frizlab wrote:
| All browsers on iOS are (still, though sadly not for long...)
| the same browser. Only the skin changes.
| PaulHoule wrote:
| I navigated using touch on my iPhone and it felt a lot like
| playing _Genshin Impact_
| bdcravens wrote:
| Gotta admit, I knew the OnlyFans action button was a risky click,
| and I did it anyways ....
| gerdesj wrote:
| I mashed the button and ended up in a right old mess 8)
| ge96 wrote:
| well is it worth the sheckles?
| catapart wrote:
| Very neat! I and completely respect the skill. I respect the
| effort even more!
|
| That said, it's not 'hands down, one of the coolest 3D websites',
| at least that I've seen. It's all "technical", very little
| "design". For example, why is it 'isometric overhead'? There's no
| particular benefit in the view, and it's specifically harder to
| control than it would be with a 'chase'/'third-person' camera.
| It's not like this is an RTS or a city-builder-ish thing, where
| having an overhead layout works to your benefit. Rather, it's
| just easier to program a camera that never changes angles and
| input controls that never have to re-interpret camera
| position/rotation (lookat vector) to function correctly. And
| there's a kind of symmetry between a flat page and the "ground"
| that the truck drives on, so some parts of the web forms have
| been ported over to that.
|
| Again, none of that is bad and especially none of it is wrong.
| It's very cool that it works and works so well (technical)! It's
| just that the design feels more "portfolio" than it does "best ux
| for interacting with the environment I've created and the
| paradigms I've invoked (vehicle control)".
| robofanatic wrote:
| > That said, it's not 'hands down, one of the coolest 3D
| websites', at least that I've seen.
|
| Would love to see those websites.
| catapart wrote:
| Right? I'd love for some of them to still be around.
| Unfortunately, portfolio sites are ones that I find are often
| lost to time.
| esseph wrote:
| Reminds me of those insanely intricate flash demo websites
| Cpoll wrote:
| > For example, why is it 'isometric overhead'?
|
| That's design exactly. There's no technical obstacle to making
| it over-the-shoulder instead, but it changes the aesthetic. The
| animations focus on what the jeep does to things, so a racing
| view that helps you avoid running into things wouldn't be
| appropriate. It also changes how you see the assets. And you'd
| lose that 'RC Pro-Am' feel.
|
| > Rather, it's just easier to program a camera that never
| changes angles and input controls that never have to re-
| interpret camera position/rotation (lookat vector) to function
| correctly.
|
| Not really, you just put the camera on a spring arm attached to
| the vehicle. Vehicle movement isn't harder either. You get this
| stuff practically for free with any game engine.
| catapart wrote:
| What do game engines have to do with this?
|
| You're welcome to your counter-opinion about the design, but
| you haven't convinced me. I've played plenty of games with
| third-person views where the gameplay was quite conducive to
| running in to things. I can also appreciate that the design
| is faux-retro, but that's kind of my whole issue with it.
| Sticking to a design because it is nostalgic is not user-
| focused. It's demographically limiting, by design. It's
| specifically niche-targeting. That's the opposite of trying
| to make the best kind of thing for the most kinds of people.
| Which is a business interest of a portfolio site. Building a
| little game for people who likes those types of games? Sweet!
| More power to you. But if you're showcasing a demo for wide
| audiences, a critique of the niche-targeting is valid. Not
| nearly as important as the people claiming they can't even
| play the game, for sure! But if you bounce one person because
| they press up on the keyboard and the truck moves "forward",
| and they don't like that - it's a marked negative for the
| site's intent.
|
| You can't worry about pleasing everyone, and you especially
| can't worry about broad, overall, two-paragraph critiques on
| literal months of dedicated work. But neither of those make
| the critiques, themselves, improper or even wrong.
| Cpoll wrote:
| > What do game engines have to do with this?
|
| You seemed to imply that the developer chose isometric to
| make development easier. I'm rebutting that this is
| unlikely; they're equally easy with an engine (and if
| you're not using an engine, you're skilled enough that
| they're still equally easy).
|
| > But neither of those make the critiques, themselves,
| improper or even wrong.
|
| Are you referring to my critique of your critique of
| razzmatak's critique ("Handsdown one of the coolest 3D
| websites")? Surely if you're allowed to disagree with them,
| I am with you.
| catapart wrote:
| ah, easy enough then: mistaken inference on your part.
|
| > Are you referring to[...]
|
| I'm referring to critique, in general, for the former,
| and my specific two paragraphs of critique on the project
| - not the commentary - for the latter. Your being
| "allowed" to disagree with me is what is meant by the
| sentence "You're welcome to your counter-opinion about
| the design, but you haven't convinced me."
| moribvndvs wrote:
| Very cool, even works on mobile. Although, just a nit, driving
| with your finger frequently activates the long press menu in iOS
| and spoils things.
| ChrisArchitect wrote:
| (2019) amazingly
|
| Some behind the scenes from the Bruno himself:
|
| https://medium.com/@bruno_simon/bruno-simon-portfolio-case-s...
| non- wrote:
| The version that is live now is a big update from 2019 and was
| released today
| https://x.com/bruno_simon/status/1998361646939689235
| ChrisArchitect wrote:
| Good to know! thanks!
| andrenotgiant wrote:
| This got me thinking: Rewind 25 years, I can easily imagine 15
| year-old me sinking DOZENS of hours into playing this "game". I
| remember I put much more time than that into a free game that
| came in a box of cereal[0].
|
| Today, I loaded the site up and spend about 30 seconds on it
| before deciding "this is cool!" and moving on, probably never to
| return.
|
| What changed? I guess it's a mix of: (A) How I value my time. (B)
| The bar for "what pulls me in" in terms of gaming. (C) Some other
| factor around me just having already burned enough hours on
| games.
|
| I'm not really sure how much each factor contributes.
|
| [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chex_Quest
| CamperBob2 wrote:
| This particular site reminds me of The Messenger (
| https://messenger.abeto.co/ ) which was on HN not too long ago.
|
| If this is the sort of thing you like (or in your case, used to
| like), you will like The Messenger too, probably more.
| qoez wrote:
| I think it's in large part just having to do with us developing
| our frontal cortex and like impulse control. I would have
| probably gotten dopamine addicted to it 15 years ago, as well
| as wouldn't have some nagging back-of-mind thoughts about
| having to use my time to be converted into money to survive at
| that age.
| nurettin wrote:
| Your wonder and discovery phase is over.
| mikepurvis wrote:
| I dunno; I'm 39 and just spent 50 hours in Arc Raiders, much
| of it in a state of wonder and discovery.
|
| I think there's definitely a raising-the-bar effect here too.
| 61j3t wrote:
| It's called growing up
| Twisol wrote:
| > What changed?
|
| Personally, I feel too guilty about everything _else_ I 'm not
| doing. (This results in me feeling maximal guilt and doing
| minimal anything at all.)
| tobinfekkes wrote:
| I absolutely LOVED ChexQuest. It was fantastic. Just played it
| recently, in fact.
|
| I was roaming around RE-PC in Seattle eons ago, and found an
| old CD of the game for $1. Snatched that sucker right up.
| dwa3592 wrote:
| Holy shit, this is really cool. i felt like i was in a movie. the
| car blows up and is ready to go right away; the car drives in the
| water (faster if you hold down the space bar). music is nice; and
| the 3d rendering is also pretty smooth. love it.
| esseph wrote:
| shift is turbo mode
|
| B or CTL is brake
|
| H is horn
| cantalopes wrote:
| Cool indeer but i want to see someone from hr driving to that
| work experience driveway
| FpUser wrote:
| Love the design and programming (tested on Brave browser)
| allannienhuis wrote:
| Bruno's Threejs course is great. I'm about 2/3 the way through
| it, taking my time. Well organized and extremely well documented.
| Highly recommend, if a recommendation from a threejs novice is
| worth much.
| nokun7 wrote:
| I used to play a game called Pro-Am on Nintendo. This game
| reminds me so much of that. The controls are basically the same.
| esseph wrote:
| Pro-Am was amazing. Didn't like the sequel.
|
| The Unbeatable Car in the first game was kinda frustrating!
| retube wrote:
| MY 24GB of RAM struggles with this
| ProllyInfamous wrote:
| Some other bottleneck on your end.
|
| 8GB M3 MacBookAir runs it smoothly, with only a few seconds of
| loading.
| gldrk wrote:
| This is very impressive as an art project, but terrible as an
| actual home page. It's slow as molasses and difficult to
| navigate. Microsoft Bob failed for a reason.
| onion2k wrote:
| Bruno Simon sells courses on how to make things with three.js.
| As a homepage it is an exceptionally good example of what you
| can do with 3D in a browser, and what buying his course will
| enable you to build. It's a great home page with that context.
| It would not work for many other people.
| ge96 wrote:
| dang that froze my browser starting up on mbp 16" but yeah it's
| legit the truck you can drive around with arrow keys
|
| let's see ATS parse this
|
| the collision physics on individual items like chairs is pretty
| cool
|
| damn map has no boundary ha, weather system? damn
| sech8420 wrote:
| Awesome concept, but loading took 30 seconds and too many
| studders/lag on my phone.
|
| 11/10 creativity.
| MarkusWandel wrote:
| I'm old enough to remember the SGI tractor-trailer demo wagon
| where they were demonstrating their latest, $20K+, wares that
| could do immersive 3D graphics that were... crude compared to
| this. This was sometime in the 1990s.
|
| And by now my kids play fluidly immersive 3D games, on the web,
| on the kind of computers you can get for $10 off Facebook
| Marketplace.
| jauntywundrkind wrote:
| Building a good spatial website is so so high on my must do list.
|
| Alas, the state of WebComponents for 3d / spatial is so so.
| A-frame is still CJS only & won't work with my unbundled setup
| because of that, but that's sort of on me. Lume.io wraps three.js
| too and looks tempting, has a neat signals & cool behavioral
| classes. https://aframe.io/examples/
| https://github.com/aframevr/aframe/issues/4242 https://lume.io/
| stefanka wrote:
| So beautiful!
| iambateman wrote:
| This is unbelievable. So whimsical and fun and different...I
| really appreciated the attention to detail and joy that clearly
| went into it. Got to spend some time playing the racing game with
| my son and we can't figure out how people got 20 seconds...is
| there a speed boost?
|
| Anyway, super fun.
| devin wrote:
| Shift is boost. The keyboard near the start will show you
| controls.
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