If it feels similar to a fluid simulation, that's because it is how many grid based fluid simulations are computed. They take into account density, pressure, ve

If it feels similar to a fluid simulation, that's because it is how many grid based fluid simulations are computed. They take into account density, pressure, velocity, divergence, etc, of neighboring cells, and compute the state of the current cell. The higher resolution the grid (can be a 2d or 3d grid), the higher quality the simulation.