Alright, let me tell you about this little project I worked on recently. Got this idea stuck in my head, something with bubbles, you know? Just a simple visual thing.
Getting Started
So, I fired up my code editor. Thought I’d use plain old JavaScript and HTML canvas. Keep it basic. First step, just drawing some circles on the screen. Easy enough. Got that working pretty quick. Just static circles, nothing fancy yet.
Then, I figured, these bubbles gotta move, right? Started coding up some simple physics. Gave each bubble a random direction and speed. Had them bounce off the edges of the canvas. That part took a bit more tinkering than I expected. Getting the bounce angle right, making sure they didn’t get stuck. Classic stuff.
Hitting a Snag
Now, I originally had this vague idea, maybe put a faint image inside the bubbles, kinda subtle. Don’t ask me why, just popped into my head. Tried loading an image, drawing it clipped inside each bubble. Man, what a mess. Performance went down the drain immediately, especially with lots of bubbles. And honestly? It looked pretty tacky. Just didn’t feel right.
Also, making them react to the mouse, like popping them? That turned out fiddly too. Calculating clicks inside moving circles, it’s always a bit annoying to get perfect. My first attempt felt laggy.
Changing Tack
So, I took a step back. Said to myself, “Keep it simple, stupid.” Scrapped the whole image-in-a-bubble idea completely. Just wasn’t worth the headache. Decided to focus purely on the bubbles themselves. Making their movement look smooth, maybe adding some nice color variations, a bit of transparency.
- Focused on better physics simulation.
- Played around with color palettes until I found something calming.
- Optimized the drawing loop a bit.
- Simplified the interaction: just clicking near a bubble makes it pop with a little effect. Much cleaner.
The Result?
Ended up with this neat little interactive thing. Just a screen full of gently floating, colored bubbles. You click, they pop. That’s it. No weird images, no overly complex stuff. It runs smooth, looks kinda relaxing actually.
It’s funny how projects go sometimes. You start with one idea, hit a wall, and pivot. This little bubble exercise was a good reminder of that. Didn’t turn out how I first pictured it, but maybe that’s for the best. Just a simple piece of code, but hey, I made it, and it works. Spent a weekend on it, learned a bit, mostly reminded myself that less is often more, especially when you’re just tinkering for fun.
