Sometimes you get an idea about something you want to make, and you a pretty sure there is something there. Except you can’t quite get your simulation to work.
You can sort of get it to work, but it doesn’t really do what you want. I find in such situations, the best thing to do is to create a simulation of the simulation.
In other words, I make something that is kind of like the thing I’m trying to simulate, even if the details are wrong. Then I play with that for a while, and try to learn from it.
Usually, that process eventually leads to some insight that lets me build the thing I was trying to build in the first place. But this time I am building it the right way.
Or maybe this is just a fancy way of saying “Fake it ’till you make it.” 🙂