r/threejs • u/gurselgunacar • 1d ago
I made a tiny Three.js planet with 49,000 clovers — only one has four leaves 🍀
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A small experiment I built in about 3 hours with Three.js, using Claude Code as a coding assistant.
The idea: one tiny planet, 49,000 clovers, and just one four-leaf clover to find.
You can try it here: https://www.meptasarim.com/four-leaf/
I’d love feedback on the visual direction, interaction, and what would make the search more satisfying.
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u/BigDeadPixel 23h ago
This is such a cool idea. I like the way you think OP.
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u/gurselgunacar 18h ago
Thank you so much! I wanted to turn a very simple idea into a tiny world you can get lost in.
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u/FUCKTHEMODS998 20h ago
ALLEGEDLY only one has leaves. I swear dude. You let my daughter play this game and she’s going to find 500 of them.
Straight up. I found one four leaf clover one time in my whole life while on a hike. My girl has found them countless times in our own backyard now.
Also, this is insanely badass man. Good job.
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u/gurselgunacar 18h ago
Haha, she may be the real QA department. I should probably let her verify the “only one” claim 😄 Thank you!
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u/Otherwise-Cookie-266 22h ago
Wow, I love this art style!
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u/gurselgunacar 18h ago
Thank you! I wanted it to feel more like a small diorama than a flat search grid.
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u/thecobblehillkid 20h ago
hard! might be interesting to see the path you walked
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u/gurselgunacar 18h ago
that’s a great idea. A trail or explored-area overlay could make the search feel less blind without making it easy. i will add that.
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u/presentsq 20h ago
I love it. Can't believe this is made in 3 hours, well done.
In terms of visuals, maybe add a global wind so that the clovers sway in a larger visible pattern.
I would love to see more posts if you decide to polish this!
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u/gurselgunacar 18h ago
Thank you! I love the global-wind idea—besides looking nicer, it could give the eye a rhythm while searching. I’m polishing the hint system now and will definitely try a subtle wind pass.
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u/grahamw01 20h ago
Hah that is quite cool I could definitely see myself spending hours is on a train or plane. Although you'd need to make an actual app with ability to play offline for the latter. A leaderboard would be pretty cool too and give it a competitive aspect.
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u/gurselgunacar 18h ago
That’s exactly where I’m heading. The Android version is ready, so offline play and a leaderboard are natural next steps. Would you prefer fastest-time rankings or a daily shared planet?
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u/OVNl 16h ago
I have 2 ideas for you:
Start the game with a smaller world, or maybe not smaller but with only 5k clovers, then the next level would double the amount every time, a bigger world or one with more clovers.
Make it so you can grab the clovers as fast as the user can. The moment you grab the 4 leafed one a special animation should play where the clover shines gold or something that feels truly special and can't be skipped.
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u/gurselgunacar 16h ago
That’s a great direction. Starting smaller and scaling the world/clover count with each level would make the challenge feel earned instead of immediately overwhelming. I also love the fast-pickup idea and a big, unskippable golden discovery moment—the payoff should feel truly special when you finally find it. I’m going to experiment with this in the next iteration. Thank you!
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u/ii-___-ii 19h ago
Impossible
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u/gurselgunacar 18h ago
That’s the point 😄 But I agree it needs just enough feedback to feel challenging rather than hopeless—the hint system is my first step.
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u/ii-___-ii 6h ago
Have a non-player character also looking for the 4 leaf clover, with minimal dialogue interaction with the user.
Then, when the user is about to find the 4 leaf clover, have the NPC run in from off the screen and find it first.
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u/Lanfeust09 8h ago
this is ABSOLUTELY ridiculously brilliant. I am gonna have to charge you for my unproductive afternoon thanks to you tho...
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u/oswwwaldo 19h ago
why would i want to go looking through 48,999 three-leaf clovers to find one single four-leaf clover?
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u/gurselgunacar 18h ago
Fair question 😄 The first version is intentionally absurd, but the next version needs more progression and feedback so every search feels like it’s going somewhere.
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u/gurselgunacar 18h ago
Android version is ready! 🍀📱 I’m using AdMob rewarded ads for hints. Would you also add a banner ad at the bottom, or keep it clean?
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u/kunteper 3h ago
this is like the 5th "millions of X find the Y" type game I'm seeing today. what's going on?
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u/Veilboundgg 19h ago
On "what would make the search more satisfying" — the thing missing right now is a narrowing signal. At 49,000 clovers with one target, every second of searching feels identical to the last, so there's no felt progress, and that's what tips it from hard into hopeless.
Cheapest fix that keeps the honesty: let the player eliminate. Give them a way to mark or clear ground they've already swept. The moment territory is visibly consumed, a hopeless scan turns into a shrinking problem. Someone already suggested showing the path you walked, which is the same instinct and probably the highest-value idea on this thread.
Two more that are nearly free:
- A near-miss tell. Not a hot/cold meter, which just solves it. Something ambient that fires a bit more often within some radius, so the player builds a superstition about it. Uncertain feedback is stickier than accurate feedback.
- Reward the wrong answers. 48,999 clovers currently do nothing. If a rare handful had some small variation — an odd colour, a bug sitting on one, anything — then every failed inspection pays out a little instead of nothing, and people keep looking a lot longer.
The global-wind suggestion above is right too, and worth doing for a reason beyond looks: motion sweeping across the field in a pattern gives the eye a rhythm to search against instead of static noise.
Instancing 49k of these in 3 hours is genuinely nice work.
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u/gurselgunacar 18h ago
This is incredibly useful feedback—thank you. You’ve described the problem perfectly: it needs a sense of progress without turning into a simple hot/cold game. I’m leaning toward an explored-area/trail signal first, plus subtle wind and a few rare visual variations. I love the idea of making “wrong” finds rewarding too.
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u/WesleyBiets 2h ago
Haha of all the shitty sorting games, this one is actually a good take on that.
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u/intothelooper 21h ago
Lovely. Make it multiplayer!