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The Calamity Game


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Rating: 4.8/5 (29 votes)
Comments (56) | Views (7,014)

calamitygame2.gifJohnBJust rolling on to the web and still in beta, The Calamity Game is a web toy and community that combines the complex, physics-based building of Armadillo Run with the free-form creativity of Line Rider. The app lets you craft solid structures, draw, use anchor points, add directed force and connect everything up with springs. Calamity is forming a community of users who are creating and sharing some enormously creative scenes (currently over 1,000).

The basic building blocks in The Calamity Game are simple, but learning to combine them to create a living scene can take some practice. Spend some time watching the demo videos and scenes other players have created to get a feel for Calamity.

Here are your basic tools:

  • Arrow - Lets you select, move and anchor objects
  • Pencil - Draws solid lines
  • Link - A basic connection object for creating structures
  • Spring - Like the Link, but with bounce!
  • Force - Enables object movement

Forging unique contraptions is the real challenge, just start simple and work your way to Rube Goldberg bliss. The Calamity Game gives you everything you need. A few of the top-rated scenes include a kite tugging the rag doll off into the sky, and an elaborate set-up to load a truck with boxes, all created from the same blank screen you stare at.

Dive into The Calamity Game and see what marvels you can conjure up. Be sure to watch the demo videos, they make the process of creating a lot smoother!

Play The Calamity Game

56 Comments

why_ra_ra July 11, 2007 10:42 AM

finaly! a game I can't lose! :)

Reply

Just rolling on the web is a bit of an overstatement, the calamity beta has been around for several months at least.

Anyway, a nifty lil webtoy, great physics...

Here's my fluid sim.

http://www.calamitygame.com/index.php?s=4811

(tip: zoom all the way out when viewing.)

Reply

Even though it seems at first that this game is based on the Goldberg principles, and most of it is, there are some times where I have noticed that it does not obey that principle. Here, I have a few of my builds (two of which I discovered a glitch), and none of them always come out the exact same way. The third one comes close, but the result is sometimes a little bit different.

http://www.calamitygame.com/index.php?s=4818
http://www.calamitygame.com/index.php?s=4820
http://www.calamitygame.com/index.php?s=4831

But, all things considered, I do find the game fun and enjoyable, so there's my two cents.

Reply

You just needed a little more action Deadl0ck...

http://www.calamitygame.com/index.php?s=4863

Sorry couldn't resist! :)

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I can't play it, too many people already using, make a mirror possibly?

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Oh, and here's exactly what it said:


Warning: mysql_connect() [function.mysql-connect]: User calamity_calamit has already more than 'max_user_connections' active connections in /home/calamity/releases/calamity-174/functions.php on line 15
Could not connect: User calamity_calamit has already more than 'max_user_connections' active connections

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Ezrabbit July 11, 2007 3:25 PM

I got the same error.
I think a mirror site is definitely in order!

Reply
drNumLock July 11, 2007 4:01 PM

Interresting game, especially the physics. Personally I find the linking object way to elastic. Shure everything bends and stretches a bit even when a small force is applied, but it's a bit to much in this "game"

Try to make a triangle (which should be a stable structure, i.e it cannot change shape) and apply a force to it. Quite revealing. I still can't think of any material that behaves like the linking tool in Calamity (except gas dampers).

On the other side, when you bear this in mind you can explore structures in a new and exciting manner.

I tested the behaviour of the linking tool with this little contraption:
Soft structure
http://www.calamitygame.com/index.php?s=4923

Reply
fiendly rad July 11, 2007 4:12 PM

i think its cool try mine

www.calamitygame.com/index.php?s=4928

Reply
MatrixFrog July 12, 2007 12:52 AM

I don't remember if sodaconstructor was ever reviewed on this site. If not, it would fit perfectly right after this one.

http://www.sodaplay.com/constructor/index.htm

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When I load it up, it doesn't let me click anything, and the start/stop button is just flashing quickly between the two. Can anyone help me?

Cesque

Reply

i remember soda construtor! i never could make anything, but i other peoople create preaty cool things!

Reply
FelixBat July 12, 2007 12:28 PM

I suggested Jay reiview soda constructor I could make alot

Reply

I promise we'll feature a review for Soda Constructor, but let's keep this discussion on topic and not upstage the Calamity Game, please? =)

Reply

I was going to mention sodaplay too. It's been a while since I checked it out, now that I think of it. I even managed to make a few simple things, but descriptions will have to wait until the promised review :P.

Anyway, Calamity.
I always tend to think up ways in which things could be improved, or expanded upon...
I think that if it incorporated some kind of way of controlling the force with finesse (just turn them on and off with a timer, for example) a lot more would be possible.
Or being able to choose whether a force's direction is Local or Global. For even more craziness, have the force dependent upon the orientation of a node which it is not connected to.

My scenes always run really fast (ah, the curse of upgrading one's computer!).

The ragdoll doesn't really display ragdoll physics. Each part needs to display the same rigid body physics that's demonstrated in the rest of the game.

I'm gonna go make something with cogs!
...
Ok, I've got two six-pointed stars that successfully interlock and mysteriously spin of their own accord.

ooh, another idea.
It's irritating me that I can't have my links overlap (which means no cars, poop!). So, I've got the idea that each link exists on one or more layers - two links collide with each other if they exist on the same layer.
That means that I can have my road, wheels, and car chassis on layer one, and connect them all together with links on layer two!

Also, I would like to have the option of the camera following something other than the ragdoll. It's not always the center of attention.

Reply
Blue_Blazer July 13, 2007 9:37 AM

Uhhh, Jay, I think we broke it

Reply
james39562 July 13, 2007 10:59 AM

Yeah, sorry 'bout that. It's my fault. I created a scene that will slowly take over the Internet, then the entire world. Ask Matthew Broderick how that works; He might remember.

Reply

Oh noz!

Well, I'm sure it will be back up soon. I'll email someone there about it.

Reply
james39562 July 13, 2007 12:31 PM

I hope it will be back up soon. I drew up a pretty decent plan for a little Goldberg scene of my own.

Reply

oh noz is right

this game looks fun but i am getting a forbidden error

Reply

The site is back up!

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all I have to say is OMGWTFBBQ!!! AWESOME better then anything I ever played

Reply

Okay, here's a car that I made.

http://www.calamitygame.com/index.php?s=5764

I've got the basic concept written in the scene description, but I'll say it again here:
The forces are attached to the wheels to make them spin around. The wheels are help in sockets in the bottom of the chassis. I attempted to make it in such a way that the bottom of the wheel extended outside the socket, but the entire wheel was not able to exit.
However, I made it too small - the wheel are squares and stop spinning very quickly. It's only because of the strange physics that the car moves forward at all.

I think that another version with larger, rounder wheels and sockets might work. I'd also use springs to try to keep the wheels where they're supposed to be.

Reply
bunny killer July 13, 2007 11:01 PM

here is one of my creations it was wierd http://www.calamitygame.com/index.php?s=5765

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Argh. I've been trying to make a new one, but it just doesn't look promising.
I made a nice round twelve-pointed wheel, complete with inner bracing (no operlaps, no crowding any nodes with too many links). No forces. I just wanted to see how solid it was, and the wheel just bends around itself and then flies away.

Methinks that the physics needs a do-over.

http://www.calamitygame.com/index.php?s=5766

Reply

I agree, it's a neat game but the physics is often disappointingly bad. Also, you can't select a group of objects and move them together, so modifying a scene is tedious.
But it's fun to modify each other's scenes. I posted a non-working seesaw and within minutes, two people had improved on it.

Reply
Killock July 17, 2007 6:01 AM

It's quite a fun game to play around in, but the physics are very bad. Very often things will just randomly spring around and start jumbling for no reason at all. Here's one of my creations:
http://www.calamitygame.com/index.php?s=6471

Reply
Blue_Blazer July 17, 2007 10:23 PM

I like my scene, but what the game needs is a save flag like line rider, it took me forever to do this because I had to check it over and over again from the start to where I was at, so that would be great for the 2nd beta version.
http://www.calamitygame.com/index.php?s=6618

Reply
fathampster July 17, 2007 10:42 PM

some people just completely bash every ones creations its really annoying

Reply
Blue_Blazer July 18, 2007 2:47 PM

Sorry, mine screwed up, check the fixed version

Reply
Blue_Blazer July 18, 2007 3:55 PM

Here is my new one, tell me what you think of it.
http://www.calamitygame.com/index.php?s=6705

Reply
Unknown July 22, 2007 6:22 AM

http://www.calamitygame.com/index.php?s=7116

this is mine...not so good...

Reply

The wheel problem (stopping spinning) is because of the way that forces are handled. If the wheel's center is a fixed point, it spins around it. If the wheel is free to move (non-fixed center), then any force just pulls the point that it attached to in the direction the arrow is pointing.
Hope that clears some things up.

Reply
Uberchild August 12, 2007 12:13 AM

this requires a really good computer or else it is POINTLESS!!! GAHHHHHH

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I use things like this to create stories. I even named the character, Calamity Man. Anyway, I'd like it if you could work with Calamity Man's material. That would allow you to make another Calamity instead of just a super-flimsy Link imitation.

Reply
firegamer4 October 8, 2007 8:16 PM

be sure to chek out my newest add ons

Reply
Mnkeymasta December 1, 2007 2:26 PM

A scene which I recently put up: Local Man gets eaten by Large Python!

http://www.calamitygame.com/index.php?s=17994

Reply

lol! uber photoshop on description photo xD

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WWWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! http://www.calamitygame.com/index.php?s=20041
uh oh cable too lo- OOOOOOF!
first one of mine

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I have quite abit of scenes

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Looks like the site was taken down.

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When I click on the game, I get ERROR 403 Forbidden.

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ERROR 403 Forbidden
that what it says

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please bring the calamity game back! please!

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private April 3, 2009 2:46 PM

whenever i try to play, this is what happens:

Forbidden

You don't have permission to access /index.php on this server.

Additionally, a 403 Forbidden error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.
Apache/2.2.11 (Unix) mod_ssl/2.2.11 OpenSSL/0.9.7a Phusion_Passenger/2.1.2 mod_auth_passthrough/2.1 mod_bwlimited/1.4 FrontPage/5.0.2.2635 Server at www.calamitygame.com Port 80

why??!?!? DX( >O

Reply

This sight is still down...
or at least on my computer.
Is there somthing I need to download?
Please tell me.
Thanks!

[Edit: The game is no longer available. -Jay]

Reply
PKPenguin June 23, 2009 11:03 PM

Is there somthing I need to download to play?
Because the website has been down on my computer for like... 2 YEARS!!!
Please tell me.
Thanks!

Reply

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