▲For those that can't get it to load (it takes a minute, and I noticed my desktop's fan kick it up a notch while things were getting initialized, so... YMMV): this is a portfolio site done via a cozy-gaming-style AWSD game where you drive around in a jeep-like thingamabob. There are some cute easter eggs, including a sort of... shrine to each of the socials, which you can run into with your car and knock over (though the links remain clickable, of course!). It also looks like there's some degree of global state; for example, you can "sacrifice yourself to the gods of chaos" (ie drive into a portal) and a counter on the side of the portal goes up, presumably for everyone (since I certainly didn't drive into it 1700 times myself!). There's a strongly consistent art style, and just generally... seems pretty polished. Or at least, that's what it felt like after 5 minutes of driving around.
All in all I'd say, I'm impressed, and enjoyed it. Though I think the HN title ("handsdown one of the coolest 3D websites") is maybe a bit much. It's an extremely-well-executed portfolio site; no more, no less.
I navigated using touch on my iPhone and it felt a lot like playing Genshin Impact
reply▲Safari highlighted something and it highlighted the whole screen and I couldnt get it to unselect
reply▲It worked surprisingly well on ddg browser, iOS, iPhone mini 12. So, impressive!
reply▲All browsers on iOS are (still, though sadly not for long…) the same browser. Only the skin changes.
reply▲Why is that sad?
reply▲arcanemachiner6 hours ago
[-] Because Apple's walled garden is for your own good, Citizen.
reply▲So WebKit is the walled garden? I thought it was the App Store.
reply▲The App Store is the walled garden that doesn't allow anyone else to ship a browser engine, except in certain markets where they have been forced by law to create a "Web Browser Engine Entitlement" that non-WebKit browsers can use with super special permission from Apple.
reply▲andrenotgiant11 hours ago
[-] This got me thinking: Rewind 25 years, I can easily imagine 15 year-old me sinking DOZENS of hours into playing this "game". I remember I put much more time than that into a free game that came in a box of cereal[0].
Today, I loaded the site up and spend about 30 seconds on it before deciding "this is cool!" and moving on, probably never to return.
What changed? I guess it's a mix of: (A) How I value my time. (B) The bar for "what pulls me in" in terms of gaming. (C) Some other factor around me just having already burned enough hours on games.
I'm not really sure how much each factor contributes.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chex_Quest
Opportunity cost and perspective. We've probably played enough games to know how the cycle goes; there's a little voice in our heads now telling us that it's all just a big pixel hunt and the next few hours will be more of the same (my interest in a game fades once I learn the meta). And then there's so many games these days... so the other question is why not play something more interesting or exciting?
reply▲> What changed?
Personally, I feel too guilty about everything else I'm not doing. (This results in me feeling maximal guilt and doing minimal anything at all.)
tobinfekkes7 hours ago
[-] I absolutely LOVED ChexQuest. It was fantastic. Just played it recently, in fact.
I was roaming around RE-PC in Seattle eons ago, and found an old CD of the game for $1. Snatched that sucker right up.
nylonstrung5 hours ago
[-] ChexQuest is so much better than it has any right to be. Loved it as a kid
reply▲Did you have access to as many games back then? Maybe the novelty is less for this game?
If I wanted to play a game like this I'd play Lonely Mountain: Downhill, which has waaay more content.
CamperBob211 hours ago
[-] This particular site reminds me of The Messenger (
https://messenger.abeto.co/ ) which was on HN not too long ago.
If this is the sort of thing you like (or in your case, used to like), you will like The Messenger too, probably more.
I think it's in large part just having to do with us developing our frontal cortex and like impulse control. I would have probably gotten dopamine addicted to it 15 years ago, as well as wouldn't have some nagging back-of-mind thoughts about having to use my time to be converted into money to survive at that age.
reply▲Your wonder and discovery phase is over.
reply▲I dunno; I'm 39 and just spent 50 hours in Arc Raiders, much of it in a state of wonder and discovery.
I think there's definitely a raising-the-bar effect here too.
(shameless plug)
I love all the work that Bruno puts out there. His design and engineering skills are next level.
There are so many talented creatives using WebGL/WebGPU that I've recently launched WebGL.com / WebGPU.com, where I'm dedicated to bring together the community of creatives (designers, coders, AI/ML, etc.) pushing the boundaries of the web.
Would love to see what you would like to see (e.g. tutorials, demos, etc.)
Very neat! I and completely respect the skill. I respect the effort even more!
That said, it's not 'hands down, one of the coolest 3D websites', at least that I've seen. It's all "technical", very little "design". For example, why is it 'isometric overhead'? There's no particular benefit in the view, and it's specifically harder to control than it would be with a 'chase'/'third-person' camera. It's not like this is an RTS or a city-builder-ish thing, where having an overhead layout works to your benefit. Rather, it's just easier to program a camera that never changes angles and input controls that never have to re-interpret camera position/rotation (lookat vector) to function correctly. And there's a kind of symmetry between a flat page and the "ground" that the truck drives on, so some parts of the web forms have been ported over to that.
Again, none of that is bad and especially none of it is wrong. It's very cool that it works and works so well (technical)! It's just that the design feels more "portfolio" than it does "best ux for interacting with the environment I've created and the paradigms I've invoked (vehicle control)".
> For example, why is it 'isometric overhead'?
That's design exactly. There's no technical obstacle to making it over-the-shoulder instead, but it changes the aesthetic. The animations focus on what the jeep does to things, so a racing view that helps you avoid running into things wouldn't be appropriate. It also changes how you see the assets. And you'd lose that 'RC Pro-Am' feel.
> Rather, it's just easier to program a camera that never changes angles and input controls that never have to re-interpret camera position/rotation (lookat vector) to function correctly.
Not really, you just put the camera on a spring arm attached to the vehicle. Vehicle movement isn't harder either. You get this stuff practically for free with any game engine.
What do game engines have to do with this?
You're welcome to your counter-opinion about the design, but you haven't convinced me. I've played plenty of games with third-person views where the gameplay was quite conducive to running in to things. I can also appreciate that the design is faux-retro, but that's kind of my whole issue with it. Sticking to a design because it is nostalgic is not user-focused. It's demographically limiting, by design. It's specifically niche-targeting. That's the opposite of trying to make the best kind of thing for the most kinds of people. Which is a business interest of a portfolio site. Building a little game for people who likes those types of games? Sweet! More power to you. But if you're showcasing a demo for wide audiences, a critique of the niche-targeting is valid. Not nearly as important as the people claiming they can't even play the game, for sure! But if you bounce one person because they press up on the keyboard and the truck moves "forward", and they don't like that - it's a marked negative for the site's intent.
You can't worry about pleasing everyone, and you especially can't worry about broad, overall, two-paragraph critiques on literal months of dedicated work. But neither of those make the critiques, themselves, improper or even wrong.
> What do game engines have to do with this?
You seemed to imply that the developer chose isometric to make development easier. I'm rebutting that this is unlikely; they're equally easy with an engine (and if you're not using an engine, you're skilled enough that they're still equally easy).
> But neither of those make the critiques, themselves, improper or even wrong.
Are you referring to my critique of your critique of razzmatak's critique ("Handsdown one of the coolest 3D websites")? Surely if you're allowed to disagree with them, I am with you.
ah, easy enough then: mistaken inference on your part.
> Are you referring to[...]
I'm referring to critique, in general, for the former, and my specific two paragraphs of critique on the project - not the commentary - for the latter. Your being "allowed" to disagree with me is what is meant by the sentence "You're welcome to your counter-opinion about the design, but you haven't convinced me."
I can't see Bruno's site and I assume it's because of the HN hug of death, but an impressive 3D website that always comes to mind is acko.net, with its 3D rendered tubular logo. He even describes how it was done in a blog post.
https://acko.net/blog/zero-to-sixty-in-one-second/
I agree with you, it's not that it isn't impressive, but it functions poorly as a website. Innovation in design I'd expect from the HN title is something where the 3D enhances the user experience of the website itself, navigation interfaces feel natural, and so on.
This is a very well made little game that also showcases some of their work. I was hoping for something like, now I wish all websites were like this.
robofanatic12 hours ago
[-] > That said, it's not 'hands down, one of the coolest 3D websites', at least that I've seen.
Would love to see those websites.
Right? I'd love for some of them to still be around. Unfortunately, portfolio sites are ones that I find are often lost to time.
reply▲Reminds me of those insanely intricate flash demo websites
reply▲allannienhuis11 hours ago
[-] Bruno’s Threejs course is great. I’m about 2/3 the way through it, taking my time. Well organized and extremely well documented. Highly recommend, if a recommendation from a threejs novice is worth much.
reply▲jzer0cool51 minutes ago
[-] Nice! Ok, any list or core libraries used to help to create something like this?
reply▲I wish more of the web was like this. I miss the wild creativity of websites way back in the day. The web has mostly homogenized around what web UI should be. I love seeing weird experimental stuff made just for fun.
reply▲Does not work on Chrome, and actually freezes the tab
reply▲Works fine in Chrome on both my W11 and MacOS 15.7.2 machines.
reply▲reply▲ycombinatrix7 hours ago
[-] That linked page says webgpu is behind a flag in Firefox for Android but the website worked for me.
reply▲FF on linux worked great.
reply▲Karawebnetwork13 hours ago
[-] On Edge, my tab did freeze for a few seconds then the spinner resumed its spinning and the 3D scene displayed.
reply▲stronglikedan13 hours ago
[-] Worked for me on Windows with Version 142.0.7444.177 (Official Build) (64-bit)
reply▲Just be patient. It took a while to load up in Chrome on my MBP.
reply▲People are discovering what it is to download an app (:
reply▲Or they're discovering the limitations of Chrome.
It showed up very quickly on my desktop rig.
Linux, Firefox, with a CPU that's over a decade old, a GPU of about half that age, and the cheapest Internet that Spectrum will sell me.
Just a second or three of a weird luminescent throbber, and then "Click here to start". No inexplicable lags at all -- it was all very smooth.
Worked very well for me on iPad Pro and Safari. Only took a few secs to load.
reply▲I had to load the site a second time in Firefox to get it working. So, try again?
reply▲flanbiscuit11 hours ago
[-] Same for me. Worked smoothly in Firefox (MacOS Desktop)
reply▲Worked fine on Chrome on Linux (Fedora)
reply▲Works fine on Chrome using Fedora 43.
reply▲It's cool, but I actually find it pretty bad as a website. The UX for navigating and all that, it's bad. I was hoping for some innovation in UX which justifies the use of 3D in the website.
reply▲The unique UX of the site, driving around in a 3D car, is what makes this site go viral on occasion. If it were "good" UX, e.g. a standard portfolio site, no one would care and this guy wouldn't be as well known as he is. Therefore the UX is good.
reply▲Hum, I guess, as some kind of metric maximizing dark pattern.
But my point is that, it's not bringing in a new paradigm of UX that you'd want to immitate.
Though maybe it could if others started making "video games but it's just navigating through a website as you play".
I think it's not a website you make to get hired to make business websites like this to display information (unless maybe it's a gaming company), but if you want someone to make a game on the web then this is a perfect portfolio site.
reply▲Wow crashed Firefox on MacOS straight to desktop. Not even just the tab, the entire application.
reply▲Impressively playable on iPhone safari
reply▲moribvndvs12 hours ago
[-] Very cool, even works on mobile. Although, just a nit, driving with your finger frequently activates the long press menu in iOS and spoils things.
reply▲Works fine on my android phone. Impressive.
reply▲Takes a min to load even when it shows the circle complete. But a 1-2xrefreshes load it and yes, it is pretty sick. Wish you could zoom out more though. Nice work to Bruno!
reply▲The course is great. I am a fan. This, not so much.
One of the unsung problems of any technology is understanding what you can do with it that you could not do before. Lets say you are a prehistoric person and somehow you find a modern steel axe. What do you do with it? Ultimately, it is not the axe that is important, it is the metallurgy.
Lets say you are a modern person and you found bitcoin. What do you do with it? Again, my thought is not the bitcoin, it is the cryptographic technology.
Lets say you are a modern person and you find threejs. What do you do with it? My personal reaction is that there is so much more that can be done with threejs, react-three-fiber, react-three drei, shaders, shadertoys, than this.
For me the definition of "cool" is things that change how you see the world. Where you never look at things the same way. A little example for me was this:
https://codepen.io/prisoner849/full/wBGQYvy
How he created a world around his CV may not be groundbreaking, but very creative and done exceptionally well. I caught myself driving around for a couple minutes. Accepting cookies bakes a cookie, you get hidden easter eggs when you complete certain actions (like lift driving in water). Just like with any creative endeavor (movies, music, dance) doing something no one has ever seen isn't always the goal (striving for that can often feel forced/cringe); creating an emotion in someone is art - and this did that for me.
reply▲This is very impressive as an art project, but terrible as an actual home page. It’s slow as molasses and difficult to navigate. Microsoft Bob failed for a reason.
reply▲Bruno Simon sells courses on how to make things with three.js. As a homepage it is an exceptionally good example of what you can do with 3D in a browser, and what buying his course will enable you to build. It's a great home page with that context. It would not work for many other people.
reply▲It seems you need that context prior to visiting the website. Which, if you are looking to hire, and they send you to this site as a "show of skill" is totally great. But if you google searched for some info and stumbled on this, I'm not sure you'd even know what's on offer.
reply▲I think it's his personal site. The fact it's not littered with ads is kind of nice.
reply▲This is unbelievable. So whimsical and fun and different...I really appreciated the attention to detail and joy that clearly went into it. Got to spend some time playing the racing game with my son and we can't figure out how people got 20 seconds...is there a speed boost?
Anyway, super fun.
Shift is boost. The keyboard near the start will show you controls.
reply▲This is so insanely detailed
I wonder how long it took him to build
reply▲MarkusWandel10 hours ago
[-] I'm old enough to remember the SGI tractor-trailer demo wagon where they were demonstrating their latest, $20K+, wares that could do immersive 3D graphics that were... crude compared to this. This was sometime in the 1990s.
And by now my kids play fluidly immersive 3D games, on the web, on the kind of computers you can get for $10 off Facebook Marketplace.
This is a cool website but it's hardly groundbreaking. There have been hundreds (thousands?) of three.js/babylon.js in-browser demos over the past decade and this would qualify as top 10% area, but there's nothing here that hasn't been done before. It's fun, it's high quality, but it's not new, and as far as conveying useful information, it's actually quite cumbersome with high effort for low signal. And while it's polished, it doesn't come close to even the most basic indie 3d game.
reply▲OP said it's one of the "coolest", not the most groundbreaking website.
Could you share these other in-browser demos that are as amazing as this one?
Did you notice that it includes a shout-out to Bruno Simon?
reply▲It also crashed my browser tab
reply▲Cruising around when suddenly I see a tooltip with the N word pop up
reply▲Awesome concept, but loading took 30 seconds and too many studders/lag on my phone.
11/10 creativity.
MY 24GB of RAM struggles with this
reply▲ProllyInfamous9 hours ago
[-] Some other bottleneck on your end.
8GB M3 MacBookAir runs it smoothly, with only a few seconds of loading.
dang that froze my browser starting up on mbp 16" but yeah it's legit the truck you can drive around with arrow keys
let's see ATS parse this
the collision physics on individual items like chairs is pretty cool
damn map has no boundary ha, weather system? damn
cantalopes11 hours ago
[-] Cool indeer but i want to see someone from hr driving to that work experience driveway
reply▲Gotta admit, I knew the OnlyFans action button was a risky click, and I did it anyways ....
reply▲I mashed the button and ended up in a right old mess 8)
reply▲well is it worth the sheckles?
reply▲Reminds me of RC Pro Am :-)
reply▲HN hug of death? I couldn't get it to load (beyond the grid/circle background) on Safari/Mac, but eventually it loaded in Chrome. Seems to just be a game - use AWSD keys. Not sure why this is "coolest 3D website" in this day and age.
reply▲It just shows me a black screen (Firefox).
reply▲Does not work on Firefox :(
reply▲Works for me, on Linux.
reply▲Works for me Firefox on Android mobile
reply▲neogodless12 hours ago
[-] Firefox, Windows 11.
It loads, I can navigate (drag), and click the white diamonds.
There are things like the RC truck and bowling ball that are not interactive and look like they should be, so I suspect it's a bug?
EDIT: OK it's a learning curve. With mouse/keyboard, you can click the hamburger icon in the top right, and get to an explanation of controls. I am able to use WADS to drive the truck and push the bowling ball (with the truck.)
I reloaded a second time and it worked in Firefox. First time, the circle loaded and then nothing. After it loaded, I saw no issues.
reply▲Holy shit, this is really cool. i felt like i was in a movie. the car blows up and is ready to go right away; the car drives in the water (faster if you hold down the space bar). music is nice; and the 3d rendering is also pretty smooth. love it.
reply▲shift is turbo mode
B or CTL is brake
H is horn
works on Brave :) and actually fery cool :)
reply▲FlamingMoe12 hours ago
[-] does not work on internet explorer
reply▲Try to upgrade to IE8, I've heard it's awesome.
reply▲I used to play a game called Pro-Am on Nintendo. This game reminds me so much of that. The controls are basically the same.
reply▲Pro-Am was amazing. Didn't like the sequel.
The Unbeatable Car in the first game was kinda frustrating!
Love the design and programming (tested on Brave browser)
reply▲Works well on Safari 26.1, nice "game-dev" example, but not clear if it's a demo or a personal website: if former then nice, if latter then unusable
reply