
Space Invaders 404 - carlsednaoui
http://www.masswerk.at/404
======
mbesto
No, no it doesn't. It needs more _useful_ 404 pages:

[http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&ans...](http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=93641)

~~~
UnoriginalGuy
That article doesn't really say that 404 pages should be useful. Their use is
to tell the user that the page doesn't exist. As long as it communicates that
in a way that users can understand (and returned a HTTP 404) it has done it's
job.

There was a fad for a little while around 2000 where people tried to make 404
pages which would "guess" which page you wanted to visit, search it, or make
suggestions.

Not only did these projects leave gaping security holes in many sites but they
also seem to confuse many users more than if they had just been a roadblock
(often resulting in users going around in circles).

Plus, as another comment said, even Google doesn't follow Google's advice.

~~~
Adirael
I usually perform a search using the data I can get from the URL. I usually
get a category and some keyword (from the clean title URLs) so I can indicate
that there's a 404 and then offer some related results doing a search.

Angel

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bpierre
The 404 page on scri.ch (drawing tool I made with a friend) is a drawing like
any other on the website (you can draw on it, save it again, etc.), except the
HTTP status: [http://scri.ch/-](http://scri.ch/-)

~~~
graue
This is cool, but it badly needs an erase feature. Also, setting a
title/permalink for the finished drawing would be nice. Any plans to develop
it more?

~~~
bpierre
Thanks! Feel free to submit an issue [1], everything can be discussed, but the
absence of an erasing tool (or any other tool) is a strong feature for us and
our users.

[1]
[https://github.com/lisezmoi/scri.ch/issues](https://github.com/lisezmoi/scri.ch/issues)

~~~
graue
Ah, it's intentionally minimalist. That's cool too. Perhaps a small,
unobtrusive link to about.scri.ch to explain the philosophy would be in order
then.

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jontonsoup
One of my sites has something similar!! (No one sees it though :( )

[http://www.designedbyfd.com/404](http://www.designedbyfd.com/404)

~~~
UnoriginalGuy
You forgot to tell users that it is a 404 page...

Kind of 50% of the point of a 404 page (the other 50% being the status code
which you do deliver).

~~~
pseut
Unless it's been fixed in the 8 minutes since you posted, it does say 404
error in the graphic (in a thin font, though, so it's hard to see).

I agree that it should be in the page title, be more visible, and explain what
"404 error" means, though.

~~~
UnoriginalGuy
I cannot see it. Might be an issue this side then. I see the asteroids
floating around, and if I hit it I see a ship and can play an asteroids-like
game.

~~~
bink-lynch
It's just before you hit the space bar to begin playing the game, "404 Error!
Press space to start," then it goes away. I missed it too until I saw your
comment, then I went back and checked.

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Killah911
You might end up getting more traffic to your 404 pages than your site. I just
spent 5 minutes on the 404 page, haven't seen the contents of the actual site
yet.

~~~
nathan_long
It sure would ruin any chance of error reporting based on hits to your 404
page

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rca
Yup the web seems to be full of those.
[http://thefiletree.com/404](http://thefiletree.com/404)

~~~
alxndr
Whoa, that game is a blast!

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ggreer
I have a weakness for hexagons:
[https://floobits.com/404](https://floobits.com/404)

The 403 and 500 pages are a little more aggressive:
[https://floobits.com/static/403.html](https://floobits.com/static/403.html)
[https://floobits.com/static/500.html](https://floobits.com/static/500.html)

I think I've picked a nice combination of utility and aesthetics. The game on
masswerk.at's 404 page is pretty cool, but I could see it being a little
distracting or confusing for some users.

~~~
aptwebapps
I'm not sure if it's deliberate, or if my memory is accurate, but that reminds
me a lot of the 'access denied' bit at the end of 'Lawnmower Man'.

~~~
ggreer
Actually, I was inspired by Evangelion. I've never seen The Lawnmower Man.

~~~
curiousdannii
If the internet was Evangelion, there wouldn't be many humans left to page.

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tieTYT
This seems to be done with divs and dom manipulation. Anyone know why they
didn't use HTML5 canvas for this? I'm curious because I'm currently making an
HTML5 canvas game.

~~~
dspillett
Is it compatible with pre-canvas browsers (legacy IE and so forth)? That could
be a valid reason particularly if it was written a while ago.

~~~
tieTYT
Sure, that's a valid reason. I guess I should have stated the intent of my
question: Am I going down a bad path by trying to make my game with canvas
when I could be doing it with a bunch of divs like this page?

~~~
dspillett
For writing a new game I'd go Canvas generally. It will perform far better in
many cases, will often be easier to develop/maintain, and supporting legacy IE
and older mobile browsers is just going to drain your time for little gain.

Of course your target audience, if you have a more specific market in mind,
may make another decision for you!

------
aren55555
[http://hakim.se/experiments/html5/404/netmag.html](http://hakim.se/experiments/html5/404/netmag.html)

~~~
curiousdannii
I'm always amazed by Hakim's stuff!

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munger
Meh, it's novel for about 10 seconds... But seriously, did you complete the
level? I dabbled with it for about 10 seconds and then realized how long it
would take and lost interest.

~~~
lurkinggrue
I completed the level.

You too young for the old arcades then?

~~~
joezydeco
It's really easy to complete when the invaders never drop down at the end of
each line. Nice tribute to the game but fatally flawed.

~~~
Retric
They do drop down but not every pass.

~~~
masswerk
In fact they drop down a row after some time and every time a row of invaders
has been cleared. But they are to stay above the error code by design (the
code always being the center of the action).

------
basicallydan
:D

Another one: [http://snowpool.org/tgescg](http://snowpool.org/tgescg)

Disclaimer: It's a fork of a game I made.

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davidjgraph
You bastard, I have a deadline and you post me this?

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joslin01
Problem is that when you get a 404, you're typically expecting something else.
A game isn't going to change your entire plan and distract you for 10 minutes.
Wait.. this is the internet, that is what will happen! Genius!

------
justinhj
I amused myself with a grumpy cat 404 [http://heyes-
jones.com/404](http://heyes-jones.com/404)

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stuartcw
How to win. Get in the middle of the 0 and drill a small hole with your own
missiles up through the 0. From now on you will be safe and most of your shots
initially will hit an invader. Once you get down to the last one it is a
matter of timing.

If they break through the 0 and you are in danger, move under another safer
part and drill a hole again.

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webstuff
Here is another HTML5 space invaders game
[http://www.webdigi.co.uk/fun/space&#x2F](http://www.webdigi.co.uk/fun/space&#x2F);
You can also control this with your iPhone! (Socket.io/nodejs)

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trjordan
How familiar!

[https://appneta.tv.appneta.com/nathoeusntaheous](https://appneta.tv.appneta.com/nathoeusntaheous)

OK, fine, not interactive, but still familiar.

~~~
masswerk
Don't forget that this page isn't exactly new. Around since March 2012. (See:
[https://plus.google.com/u/0/113952620110664554186/posts/bak1...](https://plus.google.com/u/0/113952620110664554186/posts/bak12igQ969)
)

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zethraeus
Further sass: you can click the title to change the error code, and it talks
down to you a bit if you enter 666. There might be other fun ones too.

~~~
masswerk
To get a list of all known codes see:
[http://masswerk.at/status](http://masswerk.at/status)

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thoughtpalette
Interesting when you change shotSpeed var to 50, only the middle row registers
being hit, and when it's 100, none of the invaders register hits.

Pretty fun :}

~~~
masswerk
bad boy hacker! ;-)

~~~
thoughtpalette
I was just frustrated at the low fire rate :P

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quackerhacker
Awesome 404!

If you don't have time to make a game, then you can always RickRoll ur
users... totally kidding :)

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ywang0414
Thanks for helping me wasting 10 mins of my life :)

~~~
cunac
most likely that was best 10 minutes of your day :-)

~~~
ywang0414
Probably true haha!

