Interplanetary Postal Service: Fluid Dynamics

Interplanetary Postal Service is an addictive spaceship game designed to explain the physical effects of fluid dynamics and illustrate the forces that arise during flow. This title is featured in our collection of educational physics games.

The game consists of 8 missions where your goal is to deliver mail to ramps located in difficult, inaccessible locations. To succeed, you must account for various forces acting on your ship, including gravity, fluid dynamics, and the conversion of positional and kinetic energy based on your movement.

What is Fluid Dynamics?

As defined by the scientific community, fluid dynamics is a subdiscipline of fluid mechanics that describes the flow of liquids and gases. In this game, you will experience how these flows affect the trajectory of your spacecraft.

Core Physics Concepts in the Game

1. Gravitation: Gravity is the force that attracts matter. In the game, gravity constantly pulls your ship toward the ground, increasing your descent speed as positional energy converts to kinetic energy. This follows the Law of Gravity formulated by Isaac Newton.
2. External Fluid Forces: The gas (fluid) acting on the outer surface of your ship transmits kinetic energy. This can push your ship in the direction of the flow if the force exceeds the air friction acting in the opposite direction.
3. Engine Forces: These are the player-controlled forces that allow you to navigate. You must generate enough thrust to overcome the surrounding environmental forces to stay on course.

Fluid Dynamics was developed by S-macke for the js13kgames competition and is available as Open Source.