Phun

By: Derek Yu

On: April 3rd, 2008

This came out a while ago, but it’d be a shame if anyone missed out on it… Phun is an incredible 2d physics sandbox developed by Emil Ernerfeldt for his Master’s of Science Degree at UmeÃ¥ University, Sweden. The game lets you create objects of any size or shape and then hook them up to springs, chains, and other objects (all the while tweaking variables like density, bounciness, and friction). But what really makes Phun so “phun” is how intuitive the interface is – it’s super easy to use and even lets you undo and redo. No need to worry about making “mistakes.”

I remember spending a lot of time as a kid playing with stuff like Kid Pix on the computers at my school. Not to knock Kid Pix, because it was pretty awesome, but if Phun had been around back then, I probably never would have gone home.

(Note: To make water, just right-click any object and “liquify” it. This isn’t explained in the in-game help, so it took me a little while to figure it out.)

Posted in Freeware, Highly Recommended, Linux, Physics, Windows

crackers

Horrible spelling but great fun!
ZeppMan217

wow! impressive!
chutup

Yes, this game is awesome. It gets a bit boring after a while though. It’s fun to play little games with friends, like you build a castle and they build a tank to knock it down or something like that.
Anna

Yeah, SA had a thread about it a while ago. Using physics to create awesomely weird contraptions was totally great.
Jonas

This game makes me happy. I like being happy.
Melly

Goddamn you Sweden!
whocare

impressive. i like it. rich soil for ideas
http://www.g4g.it FireSword

Phun is fun. :)
http://www.ericmcquiggan.com TeamQuiggan

The first time playing this I had a sweet catapult and I destroyed a castle I had made, it was awesome.
Nikica

Oldie but goodie, well not so old.
Anyway like it much but gets boring after some time, like everything.
MisterX

It really isn’t old at all, it’s even still in active development :)
I also got to say I’m getting bored of it after a while, but that’s merely due to my own lack of creativity. Basically this “game” gives you endless opportunities to toy around with :)

On that note one could also mention Pocket Physics. It is a very similiar, yet much simpler game of the same kind. But it’s for the Nintendo DS and also free! As soon as I’m getting mine I’ll definitely pick that one up immediately.
Alevice

This seems like Garry’s Mod meets Paint
Corpus

Oh man, KID PIX! You just unlocked a whole chunk of my childhood memories. Those were some good days on the ole Mac. It used to play those weird sound effects as you drew…
Gr.Viper

I like the way you can go to options of a hinge and set it to be either motor or keyboard-controlled. A tiny ship paddling through water looks so nice. I have plans to make a tracked water-carrier with autobalanced water tank on spring suspension and capable of driving across rough terrain.
Haven’t designed a way to move a balloon yet.. :(
Mr. Small

I cudlnt get dis shi to work.
MrBig

How many Mr(insert-your-sizes-here) post comments here!?!? Dah well… this “game” is actually very interesting and allows the “player” to be pretty creative. Yes it can get boring after a while (as someone stated earlier – like all games), but it’s also great fun to go back to and try out different things after taking time off from it. Great way to impress your friends that have an interest in unique “games”. This one probably would have gone under the radar for a while if it wasn’t shown here, but that’s IMO.
whocare

if you create pinball or hockey board or other such things with it, it become not so bored as you think
ChrisSketch

Yay, glad to finally see this on TIGS. I stopped messing around with it a while ago, but maybe I need to go back and try to construct a trebuchet.