TE
TechEcho
Home24h TopNewestBestAskShowJobs
GitHubTwitter
Home

TechEcho

A tech news platform built with Next.js, providing global tech news and discussions.

GitHubTwitter

Home

HomeNewestBestAskShowJobs

Resources

HackerNews APIOriginal HackerNewsNext.js

© 2025 TechEcho. All rights reserved.

Paper Apps

673 pointsby bluebirdfirewin4 months ago

33 comments

lifefeed4 months ago
I had the Dungeon Notebook. It was fun. I played it until I got bored, which was quick, then gave it away.<p>The ability to &quot;give away&quot; these little games are part of the fun. I&#x27;d like to see a game like this where &quot;giving it away&quot; is part of the game. Something you can pass around a school or a con. Like an analog version of Chain World, which was a mini-Minecraft-on-a-USB-stick that you were supposed to pass on. (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Chain_World" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Chain_World</a> )
评论 #42962953 未加载
评论 #42963122 未加载
评论 #42963610 未加载
评论 #42968187 未加载
rel4 months ago
Found these a couple weeks ago and bought the golf PDF for my &lt;7y&#x2F;o nephew and he was initially hesitant but then thrilled once he understood the basic premise. Didn’t have the heart to start teaching him A* and manhattan distance, that’ll come later.<p>I’m glad the creator made this and am looking forward to seeing more of these<p>Side note, these reminded me of pocket mod which I absolutely loved using 15 years ago <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;pocketmod.com&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;pocketmod.com&#x2F;</a>
评论 #42968999 未加载
pmkary4 months ago
This is both very funny and very sad :)<p>Paper is its own thing. if you think about it, the todo list in the computer was first a skeuomorph of the paper one. Now people have become so alienated from the paper that someone has brought their computer todo to the paper :))))<p>Not only this does not promote the paper, but is a huge promotion for the computer! By being a constant reminder to the notebook&#x27;s owner: &quot;this is not a computer&quot;, one will have no choice but to keep thinking of all the things they miss in their todo from a dynamic medium :))))
评论 #42963826 未加载
评论 #42962530 未加载
评论 #42965906 未加载
评论 #42962315 未加载
评论 #42962847 未加载
评论 #42965637 未加载
ggbjr4 months ago
So much hate. These are great for those of us interested in introducing a little more analog into the lives of our teenage kids. I’m re-upping now.
评论 #42962902 未加载
hexmiles4 months ago
I love paper tools and games.<p>Another one that i use is: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;davidseah.com&#x2F;productivity-tools&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;davidseah.com&#x2F;productivity-tools&#x2F;</a>
评论 #42963315 未加载
评论 #42962072 未加载
flpm4 months ago
We (me and my 8 year old) loved the Dungeon one and really enjoyed, as a carry-with-you-for-when-you-are-bored item.<p>Also cool is their d6 pencil, so you can roll a dice without having a dice, very smart idea.<p>I am really inspired by ideas like this: you can generate engagement with simple things like a piece of paper and a pencil. And despite some of the comments, I love that they call it an &quot;App&quot; because it makes you think what is an app after all: the code? the fact it runs on a phone? or that fact that it is readily available to engage when you are bored?
评论 #42965863 未加载
评论 #42965118 未加载
johnwayne6664 months ago
Interesting idea. There are also solo board games that can be carried in your pocket. Some of them listed here: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;boardgamegeek.com&#x2F;geeklist&#x2F;273744&#x2F;small-box-solo-games" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;boardgamegeek.com&#x2F;geeklist&#x2F;273744&#x2F;small-box-solo-gam...</a><p>Recommendations are welcome :)
评论 #42962297 未加载
评论 #42964496 未加载
评论 #42963050 未加载
评论 #42964439 未加载
bencyoung4 months ago
Personally I think this is a really cool idea: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;experiments.withgoogle.com&#x2F;paper-phone" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;experiments.withgoogle.com&#x2F;paper-phone</a>. Both mildly mocking and thought provoking at the same time!
评论 #42964263 未加载
robbomacrae4 months ago
I wish there was a bulk buy discount then these would make for awesome party bag fillers at my kids birthday parties. Much better than giving out candy...
latexr4 months ago
I really like the idea. I have some notes&#x2F;suggestions.<p>I only saw the GALAXY video and my immediate thought was that I wouldn’t want to scribble over the levels. I understand that’s kind of the point but I’m confident I’d enjoy replaying the same level to “speed run” it or giving the books away to someone else later. What I think could work is a detachable acetate sheet to place over pages. This way you can play it over and over.<p>I would ask that you make it obvious somewhere the places you ship from. Reason being I’m in the EU and having anything shipped from the US always bites me, to the point I just refuse to do it now because it’s never worth the cost and stress. Things often get stuck in customs, and if I can get them unstuck at all I need to pay insane taxes. Being able to verify the shipping origin would help.<p>One game that could be fun is something inspired by ChuChu Rocket. I remember as a kid liking to solve the puzzles, and once I imagined drawing the harder ones on graph paper so I could solve them on the go.
评论 #42965146 未加载
tunesmith4 months ago
The best &quot;Paper Apps&quot; concept I&#x27;ve ever experienced was the &quot;Ace of Aces&quot; series of books, published by Nova. Two books, one for you and one for a friend, in a airplane dogfight, where through a complicated page-flipping mechanism, you each see your own first person view of the other person&#x27;s plane.
jamesgeck04 months ago
This is part of an entire genre; solo roll-and-write board games. Here&#x27;s some other popular titles you can print off yourself:<p>PNP Arcade&#x27;s Dungeon Pages [1], Dangerous Space [2], and Power Creep [3] (each of which also have year-long sets). They&#x27;re sort of one-page tactical dungeon crawlers. Each successive set iterates on the theme, with Dangerous Space being more tactical and Power Creep introducing a crafting system.<p>Anything from Postmark games [4]. Most of these can also be played with a group, competing for a high score. In particular, Voyages simulates sailing the high seas looking for treasure, Aquarmarine is about diving as deep as possible to see sea life, and Waypoints is about choosing optimal routes on a hike in national park.<p>Bargain Basement Bathysphere, which has a long campaign. [5]<p>This Shut Up and Sit Down video has a good overview of some others, too. [6]<p>1. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.pnparcade.com&#x2F;products&#x2F;dungeon-pages-core-set" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.pnparcade.com&#x2F;products&#x2F;dungeon-pages-core-set</a><p>2. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.pnparcade.com&#x2F;products&#x2F;dangerous-space-core-set" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.pnparcade.com&#x2F;products&#x2F;dangerous-space-core-set</a><p>3. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.pnparcade.com&#x2F;products&#x2F;power-creep-core-set" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.pnparcade.com&#x2F;products&#x2F;power-creep-core-set</a><p>4. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.postmarkgames.com&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.postmarkgames.com&#x2F;</a><p>5. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;drive.google.com&#x2F;file&#x2F;d&#x2F;1mWjzWDWmzcPDCPeCkZ1LAD7ZLRl5L2qR&#x2F;view" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;drive.google.com&#x2F;file&#x2F;d&#x2F;1mWjzWDWmzcPDCPeCkZ1LAD7ZLRl...</a><p>6. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=sNghPlwbYe8" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=sNghPlwbYe8</a>
Triesault4 months ago
If you found this interesting, you should also checkout the Sidekick Notepad from CGP Grey &#x2F; Cortex [1]. CGP Grey has talked about this before in earlier videos [2] but recently updated a video discussing new designs [3]. The idea of &#x27;Paper Apps&#x27; and the &#x27;Sidekick&#x27; seem to be in a similar vein.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;cottonbureau.com&#x2F;p&#x2F;XT9MRF&#x2F;journal&#x2F;sidekick-notepad" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;cottonbureau.com&#x2F;p&#x2F;XT9MRF&#x2F;journal&#x2F;sidekick-notepad</a><p>[2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=fSwpe8r50_o" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=fSwpe8r50_o</a><p>[3] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=lk4lBV5wgGM" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=lk4lBV5wgGM</a>
foenix4 months ago
Hi Tom!<p>I went to school with Tom. He&#x27;s one of the first legit nerds I ever hung out with. Glad to see his business featured on HN!
评论 #42963703 未加载
Brajeshwar4 months ago
I love writing and continue to explore various writing tools (pen&#x2F;paper), and digital. Right now, I use a mix of digital and physical tools — fountain pens, paper notebooks, and devices (iPad&#x2F;iPhone&#x2F;Mac).<p>- Commonplace Notes: I almost always start in a physical notebook. I then transferred (typed) this to my digital version for more permanent reference.<p>- Journal: I write a lot. I moved to all digital about 10 years ago but moved back to physical about 5 years ago. I really love the tactile feel of the paper kicking back to my fountain pen, and I believe I will maintain my journal in a physical notebook.<p>- Temporary Notes&#x2F;Quicknotes: I used both a pocket notebook and the usual digital notes on the device available with me at that time. These notes are considered ephemeral and the useful info is moved to the Commonplace Notes or the Journal. I write almost all physical meeting notes in a physical notebook with a pen. They usually end up being the reference that gets circulated to the participants.
jjice4 months ago
These are neat, I’ve been seeing them around the web for a week or so now. That said, I’ve actually come around in the other direction. I was big on paper for lots of things, but have recently begun using my phone more for things like notes and todos.<p>The main reasons are searchability and archivability. My todos are always there, I can modify them, and they reach out to yell at me at the appropriate times. My notes done get lost in my desk anymore and take up no space.<p>I still like paper for fast writing and then I just port that over to my digital notes later.<p>I’m sure these are great for limiting distractability, but I’ve found that switching to an iPhone and not having my notifications in the top bar of my phone, along with having some type of focus enabled most of the day helps me not get distracted while taking care of something separate.
deadbabe4 months ago
I would love if the pencil had a spinning sort of top instead so you can quickly and discretely make rolls instead of having to throw it around and make a bunch of noise and commotion.
rickspencer34 months ago
$4.99 impulse buy. I bought a pdf to put on my remarkable 2 for my next plane trip. I hope that doing it this way doesn&#x27;t violate the spirit of using paper :)
评论 #42963214 未加载
bityard4 months ago
If the creator shows up (or if anyone else knows), can you shed some light on how exactly the Print and Play editions work? The product pages do not have enough information, unfortunately. After you pay, do you just get a static PDF with X number of pages? Or do the PDFs contain Javascript to generate new levels? Or does the website generate your PDFs for you, with a random seed if you ask it to? If so, how many times can you do it?
评论 #42964417 未加载
turnsout4 months ago
Ha, this is awesome! Reminds me of &quot;Real Apps&quot; from New Girl [0]<p><pre><code> [0]: https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Normal_(New_Girl)</code></pre>
gmurphy4 months ago
I brought the print-and-play GALAXY PDF for my son - he loved it and spent the next ten hours playing it, barely stopping to eat. Seemed like a good mix of mechanics and modern videogame progression rewards.<p>The shipping to Australia is a little pricy, but I aim to buy a set of the physical versions (they&#x27;re each randomized) to use as flashbangs for future boredom.
Levitating4 months ago
Reminds me of 6x6 tales[1]. Also anything sold on the PNPArcade.[2]<p>[1]: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;boardgamegeek.com&#x2F;boardgame&#x2F;307996&#x2F;6x6-tales" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;boardgamegeek.com&#x2F;boardgame&#x2F;307996&#x2F;6x6-tales</a> [2]: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.pnparcade.com&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.pnparcade.com&#x2F;</a>
beretguy3 months ago
Not paper but maybe some readers of this thread could find interest in Simon Tatham&#x27;s Puzzles:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.chiark.greenend.org.uk&#x2F;~sgtatham&#x2F;puzzles&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.chiark.greenend.org.uk&#x2F;~sgtatham&#x2F;puzzles&#x2F;</a>
lacoolj4 months ago
and we have officially come full circle
heyarviind24 months ago
I made the digital version of the golf game <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;paper-golf.netlify.app&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;paper-golf.netlify.app&#x2F;</a>
gmuslera4 months ago
The dungeon one &quot;procedurally generated&quot; reminded me of <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;xkcd.com&#x2F;221&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;xkcd.com&#x2F;221&#x2F;</a>
评论 #42962116 未加载
评论 #42963323 未加载
评论 #42962759 未加载
caycep4 months ago
I wonder what the trademark situation is on apps named paper…I’ve had at least 1 Dropbox owned paper app and a drawing&#x2F;painting app of the same name
jldugger4 months ago
The games are conceptually neat but I find the randomness added by die rolls a detraction these days. Just give me puzzles I can perfectly solve!
评论 #42965252 未加载
amadeuspagel4 months ago
&gt; Paper Apps™ are a fun, smart alternative to screen time.<p>But I need to reduce chair time, not screen time.
mrdoornbos4 months ago
I have several of these. They are great on the go.
aquir4 months ago
Very clever idea, looks like fun!
hassleblad234 months ago
The idea is interesting.
Edd3141594 months ago
“Paper Apps” seems like an overly snobby and infantilizing term for something we already had a term for: Puzzle Books &#x2F; Notebooks.
评论 #42962330 未加载
评论 #42964967 未加载
评论 #42963013 未加载
评论 #42962316 未加载
评论 #42967683 未加载
评论 #42966880 未加载