Another cursor experiment, following Cursor Monarchs, Cursor Ivy, and Cursor Sphere. Design heavily inspired by Sandcastle on Steam. I havent tried it yet but it looks like a super cozy game.
Wet Sand Holds
The beach is a grid. Each cell stores its height, water depth, moisture, and how firmly the sand is packed. The bucket stamps a wet tower, the wall tool packs a ridge, and the spade digs. Loose, dry sand slumps when a slope gets too steep, so towers soften as they dry.
A small shallow-water simulation moves water between neighboring cells. The tide changes the level around the island, cuts below the water table fill from below, and fast flow shifts loose sand. Press Wave to see if your wall holds!
For the water lighting, I use twelve overlapping waves to approximate a moving net of caustics on the sand. Scottie’s CAUSTIC//LITE explanation goes into the idea in more detail. The caustics look way better in their version.
Under the Sand
This is a native Astro component using the Three.js already on the site. An orthographic camera looks straight down at a sand height field and a water mesh that stretch behind the post. The simulation updates only the rows near your screen; the rest waits until you scroll to it.
The castle lasts until you leave the page. Or until the sea gets it.