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Own the Void – a trillion-cell infinite canvas

Own the Void – a trillion-cell infinite canvas

by sneezydwarf·Feb 13, 2026·2 points·2 comments
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AI Analysis

●MidBold BetWizardryRabbit Hole
The Take

This is an engineering-first take on the million-pixel idea: a 1,000,000×1,000,000 logical grid where only claimed cells hit storage and the client pulls tile-based viewport queries while a DPR-aware Canvas draws without full redraws. The clever parts are the sparse-storage model and edge serving via Cloudflare Workers+D1, but the product hinges on hard questions — D1 query scaling, cheap moderation for free text, and whether a €1-per-cell economy actually funds permanent storage.

Category
Social
Target Audience

General web users, digital artists/collectors, and people interested in novelty permanence/micro-ownership

Post Description

I’ve been building a project called Own the Void.

It’s a 1,000,000 × 1,000,000 logical grid (1 trillion possible cells).

Each cell can be permanently claimed. Cells only exist in storage once purchased — the empty space is implicit.

Tech stack:

• Cloudflare Workers (monolith) • D1 (SQLite) • Stripe for one-time payments • Canvas rendering (React does not render the grid)

Frontend:

• Infinite pan & zoom • Tile-based viewport queries • Only occupied cells are fetched • DevicePixelRatio-aware rendering • No full-canvas redraws

Each claimed cell stores:

• A curated background color • Up to 32 characters of text • Optional HTTPS link

No images, no ads, no NFTs.

The idea was to explore permanence and ownership at absurd scale while keeping the system simple and low-cost.

Curious about:

• Scaling D1 for viewport queries long term • Moderation approaches for minimal text content • Whether the €1 per cell model is viable at scale

Would appreciate feedback from people who’ve built large canvas or map-style systems.

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