Neal Agarwal on neal.fun

In this episode, Samuel Arbesman speaks with Neal Agarwal. Neal has been building online playthings for most of his life. He runs neal.fun, which many listeners may already be familiar with, home to such games and internet toys as Infinite Craft and Internet Roadtrip. For example, Infinite Craft begins with the four elements of earth, air, fire, and water, which can be recombined in open-ended ways to build almost anything: water plus earth yields plant; plant plus fire equals smoke; smoke plus fire equals volcano—and then you’re off to the races. These websites are delightful, strange, and exciting, showcasing the sheer breadth of what the web can be.

Samuel and Neal discuss Neal’s origins and history making things on the web, and how he came to build neal.fun full time. Their conversation explores the unique nature of the web as a medium, and what it means to take it seriously. This connects to the challenge of describing the internet toys Neal creates, since they represent something truly new and delightful. They also touch on programming, how AI might make building weird online things easier, the communities that have grown around Neal’s creations, and his process for designing these games. Along the way, they even consider fellow travelers in this world of fun online creations.