2009 · Algoryx Simulation AB · Physic

Algodoo

Algodoo is a physics-based 2D sandbox freeware from Algoryx Simulation AB as the successor to the popular physics application Phun. It was released on September 1, 2009 and is presented as: a learning tool, an open ended computer game, an animation tool, and an engineering tool.

Released: 31 August 2009
Platforms: Windows macOS
Genres: Physic
Developers: Algoryx Simulation AB
Publishers: —
Modes: Single-player

About

Algodoo () is a physics-based 2D freeware sandbox from Algoryx Simulation AB (known simply as Algoryx) as the successor to the popular physics application Phun. It was released on 31 August 2009 and is presented as a learning tool, an open-ended computer game, an animation tool, and an engineering tool.

The software is functional with desktop and laptop computers, touch screen tablets, and interactive white board systems such as SMART Boards. The physics engine in Algodoo utilizes the SPOOK linear constraint solver by Claude Lacoursière and a modified version of the Smoothed-Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) computational method. On the App Store, it costs US$7.99 and is only available for iPadOS.

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Development

In 2008, Emil Ernerfeldt created an interactive 2D physics simulator for his master's thesis project in computer science at Umeå University in Umeå, Sweden. This project was released for public and non-commercial use under the name "Phun" and gained considerable attention after a clip of Ernerfeldt using the software went viral on YouTube.

In May 2008, Ernerfeldt brought the Phun project to Algoryx Simulation AB, a company founded in 2007 by Ernerfeldt's former supervisor at Umeå University, Kenneth Bodin. In 2009, Phun was rereleased under the name "Algodoo" (a combination of the words algorithm and do). The name change was motivated by the fact that the word "phun" is used by a pornographic site and the fact that trademarking "phun" was nearly impossible.