Sandboxels Update: Pushers, Text Display, Draggable Humans + 100

Sandboxels v1.14 is out now with long-awaited features and many less-awaited details.

Pushers

Sandboxels now has a Pusher machine!

When powered, it pushes pixels in a direction. This is great for transportation needs that Pipes or Portals don’t suffice, such as a conveyor belt or moving a pixel group!

Text

There is a new Text display element!

It dynamically reacts to color, size, and even some special elements, like Rainbow.

When placing Text, the underlying pixels are visible, but will be hidden once deselected.

They even support special variables for displaying temperature, charge, and more.

Human Improvements

We overhauled the code for Humans to use that new pixel-grouping system. Don’t worry, old saves with Humans will be migrated seamlessly when loaded.

• Humans can be dragged without breaking apart

• Humans can swim

• Humans can now control pixel groups when they are included - maybe you can make a mech?

Rapid Fire Changes!

There were OVER 100 minor changes this update - here are just some of the best ones:

• Heat Loss setting: Slowly return to room temperature over time

• Setting to show tick count again

• Pixel groups can be cut into multiple pieces with Erase

• Estonian language support

• Magical reactions were added to make recipes for many special elements

• Static can be painted

• Border has a special reaction when Rainbow is underneath

To see ALL the changes, see the full changelog below.

Full Changelog

[Version 1.14 - March 8, 2026 - Pushing Thru]

+ Pushers

+ Push pixels and groups with electricity

+ Add to a group to move all of its pixels at once

+ Text element

+ Place a text display on the canvas

+ Actual pixels show while selected or hovering

+ Dynamically responds to size and color

+ Absorbs the color of certain special pixels, like Rainbow

+ Humans can be safely dragged

+ Humans can swim

+ Heat Loss setting: Slowly return to room temperature over time

+ Setting to show tick count again

+ Pixel groups can be cut into multiple pieces with the Erase tool

+ More Shift-Select functionality:

+ Replace can specify which element(s) to replace

+ Smash can specify which element(s) to break

+ Rainbow, Static, and Border can specify animation speed

+ Support for Estonian

~ Increased support for Dutch, Emoji

MACHINE CHANGES

+ Smash tool and Grinder remove movable pixels from groups

+ Sensors show their specified element when hovered over

~ Sensors can detect solids if specified with Shift-Select

~ Portal destination lines are more translucent

["Magic" Reactions]

~ These reactions use purely fictional materials to make more elements craftable

+ Rainbow breaks into Antipowder, which will now be treated as a magical dust

+ 18 more Malware reactions, allowing more machine elements to be made

+ Positron recipe

+ Antimatter recipe

+ Thunder Cloud recipe

+ Bless recipe

+ God Ray recipe

+ Filler recipe

+ Lattice recipe

+ Ice Nine recipe

+ Portal recipe

+ Border element recipe

+ Midas Touch recipe

+ Special Lightning color when placed near Positron

CHANGES

+ Static can be painted and is less harsh

+ Alcohol kills bugs

+ Sun has a density

+ Enter can be pressed to re-select elements, including Shift-Selecting

+ Scroll wheel changes brush size faster when Shift is held

+ Radiating Potassium causes decay into Calcium

~ Groups don't always move down if movable pixel is included

~ Groups can reliably use moving behaviors such as Floating Cloner

~ Supernovae create Magnesium

~ Strange Matter no longer converts Bless and Flash

~ Antimatter no longer explodes when touching Wall

~ Random no longer spawns undiscovered elements

+ Border element absorbs color of Rainbow placed underneath

~ Static and Border color is customizable

~ Elements with customizable colors have a default instead of only red

~ Improved Portal electricity teleportation

~ Language is now the first setting

~ Pixel count has "Pxls" after number

+ Settings menu can be navigated with Tab key

+ Saves track background images

~ Saves automatically track all simulation settings without specifying

~ Moved lesser-used Cloners to end of category

~ Rearranged some setting buttons

~ TPS shows 0 when paused

~ Improved responsiveness of prompts

+ Steam Edition: Square canvas size setting

BUG FIXES

~ Fixed: Pixels aren't immediately rendered when placed in low simulation speeds

~ Fixed: Select Element prompt doesn't reopen after closing with no input

~ Fixed: Ruler diagonal measurement is inaccurate

~ Fixed: Pixels with a charged color (i.e. Neon) lose original color after charge

~ Fixed: Dragging pixels through a powered Gate creates ghost pixels

~ Fixed: Fuse can be dragged

~ Fixed: Ctrl+Shift+O doesn't re-load saves from Featured, Discord, or Workshop tabs

~ Fixed: Erased pixels stay in relations until moved

~ Fixed: E-wall, LED, and Spout don't sink when in a relation

~ Fixed: Fire stops relations made of Wood from moving

~ Fixed: Grouping a Bird with a powder causes crash

~ Fixed: Birds and Stink Bugs have trouble moving when grouped

~ Fixed: Grouping Liquid Light with a powder causes crash

~ Fixed: Humans can't move when grouped

~ Fixed: Streak View doesn't show background images

~ Fixed: Border Void and Loop settings don't retain after reset

~ Fixed: addElement function no longer works

~ Fixed: Battery frequency input allows negative numbers

~ Fixed: Speed setting input ignores minimum and maximum values

~ Fixed: Right-click erasing with Shift-Selected Filter also filters erased pixels

~ Fixed: Pixels place above absolute zero if set above air temperature

~ Fixed: Menus close when Tab key is pressed

~ Fixed: "Canvas is Hidden" message is uncentered

~ Fixed: "Canvas is Hidden" message can be replaced by load fail after some time

~ Fixed: Cursor position shown as Infinity when canvas is hidden

~ Fixed: Element hover stat crashes when returning undefined

~ Fixed: Trackpad pinch gesture resizes brush in opposite of expected way

~ Fixed: Long element info content is slightly cut off

TECHNICAL

~ Humans now use relation system

~ Old saves automatically convert Humans

~ Compressed relations in save files

+ drawText function

+ directionToCoords helper function (Values 0-3)

+ Special keywords for Text element

+ [temp] - Pixel temperature

+ [charge] - "ON" or "OFF"

+ [on text | off text] - Specify text for when charged or not

+ [time] - Ticks passed

+ [time % 100] - Ticks passed, resets every 100

+ [pixels] - Pixel count on canvas

+ [var mouseSize] - Any global variable

+ Rainbow, Static, and Border accept 'speed' property (Default 1)

~ 'onSelect' element property accepts 'element' argument to match 'onShiftSelect'

~ Gases with densities are no longer displaced when "movable" is false (e.g. Sun)

~ Deprecated: airDensity, airTemp, and absoluteZero variables will no longer receive support

~ Move any references to currentSaveData keys "airdensity", "airtemp", and "abszero"

~ Improved styling of choice and direction prompts

~ Saves can no longer arbitrarily change settings

~ Simulation settings are now stored in currentSaveData and are reverted on canvas reset

~ Save version is now sb8