Asteroids JavaScript Bookmarklet to blow up any web site

[al_james]

Awesome. Now someone needs to combine it with websockets/node.js (or similar) so I can see the other players on the same page!

[Cushman]

Exactly what you wanted: http://realitymachine.net/asteroids.html

And the HN article, if you want to drum up some more players: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1738543

I hacked together a very (very) basic multiplayer with a paper-thin node.js server in coffeescript.

Yes, really: http://github.com/cushman/asteroids.js

It might deserve a newspost of its own, but I'd like to have a working server running so people can actually, you know, use it. Unfortunately, I haven't thought to get node running on my VPS before now, and it's almost 02:00 here...

[rudyfink]

It'd definitely put a new bent on up or down voting comments. I'm using it to blow away the comments.

[b0b0b0b]

collaborative ad filtering

[shaddi]

Finally, Farmville can get what it has coming to it.

[Shtirlic]

Hm, thinking about writing defence script to my sites and start js-war.

[tectonic]

Surround important elements with DOM shielding...

[mahmud]

How did I live for so long without this?

[eli]

Holy crap, I had an extremely similar idea last month for a bookmarklet that let you machine gun and blow up pages. In fact, it's sitting half complete in a projects folder. Erkie, get out of my head!!!!

At least it's open source, so I guess I can fork it and add in my ideas.

[joepestro]

Same here! Except instead of blowing up the page, you shoot at links to follow them. Also, fog that is revealed as you move around, minimap, etc. Maybe this can spark some more ideas?

http://tanksurfing.appspot.com/

[nzmsv]

Don't feel bad - this idea is pretty old. A program called "Desktop Toys" from the Win95 era comes to mind, and there are probably more examples.

[krosaen]

ideas are cheap :)

[dzlobin]

This + the AutoPager extension for Chrome = infinite game

[pilom]

I wish I could give this comment more points. It's a blast!

[plainOldText]

"Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away." - Antoine de Saint Exupery.

I think these Asteroids are a fun to use, web design tool to cut out what is not necessary. :))

[acgourley]

Not only great, in a few situations it's a useful and fun way to 'cross off' content on a site you don't need to see anymore. Like stories you wish were not on hacker news.

[makeramen]

what an awesome stress reliever. now i can get points for destroying facebook.

[crux_]

Protip for the paranoid: the author could nab your session cookie at the same time, too! :)

[avgarrison]

This is awesome! Too bad I'm the only one in the office at the moment...I guess I'll just go blow up Stackoverflow until somebody comes back.

[avgarrison]

Now, this is an ad-blocker with style.

[flatulent1]

Now to see something like this work with a net-enabled 3D television.

[jackowayed]

The HN homepage is very reliant on everything being there. One shot to a number did this: http://skitch.com/jackowayed/d29n5/hn-ass-kicked

[robin_reala]

Tables for layout will do that.

[stevefink]

This is one of the most creative time sinks I've ran across in a while, had to link it here.

[cloug]

use the bookmarklet mutliple times on the same page if you like armageddon-style destruction

[twism]

The TDs didn't last long.

[tectonic]

Someone should add touch events so it works on iPad / iPhone.

[tibbon]

Not a bad idea. Trying to think through them. I might mess with this today. Too bad you couldn't get the entire page to tilt/rotate, or you could use the motion sensor too.

[martinp]

This should be integrated in Adblock. Adding filters by blasting the ads you don't like actually sounds fun.

[msbarnett]

Fun, and it doubles as an easy way to spot table layouts.

[lallouz]

Spot....and kill them

[jhuckestein]

It's oddly non-deterministic. Add two ships and fly around a bit. They're paths will quickly diverge.

[aperiodic]

It's not that it's non-deterministic, it's just that, since your javascript interpreter doesn't execute each instance and its event handlers in parallel, each instance will receive slightly different inputs. This is because the number of times each instance's main loop fires before its keyup/down handler gets called will vary.

If you load up, say, 6 instances, hold the up button for a while to get them up to full speed, then turn for 4 or 5 seconds and let go, they'll be a bit divergent, but not too badly. They should all be going roughly the same direction, and wrapping around at roughly the same time.

If you load up 6 instances again, hold the up button for a while, and then turn back and forth very rapidly for a short period of time, they'll be much more divergent.

[a904guy]

I'm surprised no one has commented on the security issue about the bookmarklet allowing javascript to be placed/executed on any website... I can see the next wave of session hijacking in the making. Your DOM is not safe ;]

[kunjaan]

Let's have a leader board for every site with Points accumulated/second. "Kunjan Killed this site with a score of 1700". Are headings and hidden fields worth more points?