Fast Physarum Simulation in the Browser with WebGL2

In 2021 I found this cool slime mold Physarum simulation, where particles formed organic patterns by following trails left by others and I was hooked. It looked mesmerizing and it somehow felt like time to build a neat simulation again.

In my past, I built many simulations and visualizations. Back then, this always involved using a framework and building an executable, usually in C/C++. This was okay if you wanted to run it on your own machine, but it made sharing with others a hassle. You don’t just send around executables, and most people don’t want to bother with compiling code themselves.