When we launched the v1012 update for SpaceChem two months ago we announced a challenge to create crazy designs using the new sandbox mode. It is now time to announce the winners!
Recycler, by GuavaMoment
Ever wondered how SpaceChem’s recyclers work? So did GuavaMoment, who submitted this design for a recycler that accepts any kind of molecule and breaks it down into a stream of hydrogens.
Cellular Automaton, by R. Daneel Olivaw
It might be best to let him explain:
It is an implementation of a cellular automaton using a molecular ring. Technically, it is a one-dimensional elementary cellular automaton of length 12 with periodic boundary conditions. Using a common template and toolbox, there are actually several sandboxes that implement a variety of the Wolfram rules for cellular automaton.
Tic-Tac-Toe, by cake>pie
ResearchNet regular cake>pie decided to take the meta route and recreate tic-tac-toe in SpaceChem. Moves are specified by using pairs of H/He/Li to describe coordinate positions. The design includes error checking to ignore illegal moves and support for both player specified moves and random moves (as shown in the video).
Brainfuck Interpreter, by Peer
The only reason SpaceChem’s sandbox mode exists is because of an email I received from Peer, who was working on building a computer in SpaceChem but needed more power. With the release of sandbox mode he was able to follow through and create a programmable interpreter for the brainfuck programming language.
The following video demonstrates a program that inputs two numbers (4-bit integers), adds them together, and displays the result. You can click the links at the beginning of the video to learn about the individual subsystems, and can click the link to the video itself to learn more about the project and instruction set.
Thanks to everyone who entered!
12 Comments
It is a shame I couldn’t enter because I was busy, I wanted to make conway’s game of life…
@Blueation: If you still want to make such a thing I’d be more than happy to post a video of it!
Yay! I like the tic tac toe. Is there a way to find out more about it?
Zach – The fact that you built a game that allows people to do this is quite the accomplishment.
Also that people want to do this!
Also – I *just* beat Atropos Station today… I probably spent two weeks on and off on that last challenge. Devious. Fantastic game!
I already feel great when I can simply finish a level.
Great work! Some people like me build a house in minecraft and others end up making a cpu…
Is GuavaMoment the same guy who made those awesome X-COM LPs? He sounds like that… Well, anyway, looking at that recycler of his, I thought how cool it would be if SpaceChem kept track of the energy released or required by all the reactions and presenting it in an interesting way, say you make a machine that oxidizes carbon to carbon dioxide and it tells you “Hey, making 1kg of carbon dioxide gives you 8 941 kJ of energy!”. Now think of making machines that actually have to care about that energy – you’d have to use energy from one reaction to power something else… Too bad that’d be quite hard to make if you wanted to follow real-life physics :D And probably not that much fun anyway, the game is awesome as it is :)
This is very cool although I must admit it’s way, way over my head.
I’m on the same boat as Carra (though I manage to go a bit further than a house in MC XD).
I know SpaceChem is like “weird science” compared to real chemistry (as in, it’s got barely anything at all to do with the real deal), but it’s what got me interested in it and in learning more about it, therefore granting me higher grades at school :).
So, congrats on that and thanks for such a wonderful little(huge) gem, Zach! Too bad I didn’t make it in time for the challenge, though :/
Well I am one of those people who built a computer out of redstone and am really disappointed that I completely missed out on this competition. Now I’m goung to try to make an interpreter for my preferred esoteric programming language: thue.
Sorry for posting in 2 comments, but how do I get into the sandbox mode?
@4D enthusiast: From the main menu, click the “Sign On” button to access ResearchNet, click “Create or Import Assignment”, and click “New Sandbox”. You can edit the assignment to have the inputs your design requires, and then can play the assignment to actually build your creation.
I like my use of the Sandbox best.
Trolling Spacechem
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[...] came a challenge for players to build “the most awesome sandbox pipeline imaginable”. The winners are almost mocking in their complexity, given that my chemical romance never got beyond first base. [...]