Drawing.garden

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

A minimalist web toy called Drawing.garden lets users fill a grid with randomly selected plant and creature emojis that play simple musical notes, prompting reactions ranging from calm satisfaction to mild frustration at its lack of goals or controls. Commenters explore it as a piece of digital art and a “zen” fidget, share small code hacks to manipulate the grid, and compare it to other playful, non-productive web experiments. The project also sparks reflections on the purpose of such creations—whether they need to be “useful” at all, or whether offering a brief, aesthetic break is value enough.

Overall impressions

  • Many commenters describe the site as calming, cute, charming, or “zen,” good for briefly turning the brain off.
  • Others enjoy it more than expected and liken it to adult coloring books or classic playful software (e.g., Mario Paint).
  • A subset of users find it pointless or mildly off‑putting because there is no clear goal or utility, especially given the “drawing” domain name.

Gameplay and audio mechanics

  • Interaction is simple: tapping/hovering on grid cells cycles through random plants and creatures; there is no win condition or pattern logic beyond randomness.
  • Some users set themselves goals (e.g., filling patches or the whole board with a single symbol).
  • Sound consists of randomly selected C, D, E, or G notes (subset of a major pentatonic scale) so almost any sequence sounds harmonious.
  • The sounds and emojis are not user‑controllable by design; this is stated as “part of the point.”
  • Several people either don’t notice sound at first or find it too sharp or anxiety‑inducing and prefer playing muted; mobile sound is inconsistent.

Implementation details and code experiments

  • The sketch is implemented with p5.js; the grid is built from <p> elements.
  • The favicon is dynamically generated using an SVG that embeds the current emoji, which some find a neat technique.
  • Multiple code snippets show how to:
    • Programmatically click or hover every cell.
    • Cycle each cell until it matches a chosen emoji.
    • Use left/right clicks to deterministically step through the symbol set.
  • Someone notes the creature list in the code lacks a lion, while others insist they saw one; this remains unclear.

UX issues and feature requests

  • Suggestions include: responsive resizing, storing/sharing the garden, easier erase (e.g., drag or hold), keeping one cell permanently empty, and preventing text selection during drag.
  • Mobile issues are reported (blank background, no sound, iOS pull‑to‑refresh); CSS fixes like overscroll-behavior and disabling elastic scrolling are discussed.
  • Some propose adding simulation behaviors (bees visiting flowers, spiders weaving webs, sunflowers turning, wind shaders, “ouch” on cactus) or rewards for 100% completion.

Art, purpose, and emotional responses

  • There is a mini‑debate on usefulness vs. purposeless play: some see it as delightful, meditative art; others feel uneasy when they cannot assign a clear purpose.
  • Comparisons are made to parks, landscape art, and video games as inherently non‑utilitarian but valuable experiences.
  • The project prompts reflection on what “drawing” means in a digital, grid‑based, symbolic context.

Related web toys and monetization jokes

  • Commenters share many similar “pointless” web toys and art experiments, celebrating this as the spirit of the web.
  • Monetization is discussed only jokingly (ads in emoji slots, sponsored tones, blockchain/AI buzzword satire).