TIDEPOST
A free browser game from Core Systems Asset Factory. Genre: Simulation. Free.
TIDEPOST is a free browser game, free to play in the browser.
You carry the mail between 9 islands, and the ocean itself is the mechanic. Free, in your browser. The sea in TIDEPOST is a real current field. The pale lines drawn across the chart are its true streamlines, not an artist's impression of moving water, but the actual level sets of the function the game is solving. Sail along them and a crossing is cheap. Sail across them and it is dear.
And the whole field moves with the season, so what is a fair passage in early summer is dead to windward by winter. You do not fight it and you cannot beat it. You learn to read it, and you learn to spend it. Four systems, and every one of them reads the other three The current decides what a crossing costs. Lay off a course and watch the track bend to use the water. The stores decide how far you can go.
Sailing eats provisions; a well supplied island fills you up and a wanting one gives what it can spare, so the network you keep supplied is the range you have. The cargo decides the order. You always carry letters and they are always welcome, but each island is short of one particular thing that another island makes. 6 goods, and the route is the puzzle. The gear changes which water you can use.
AI disclosure, as the store page states it: AI Assisted, Code, Graphics, Text
Free · Get it on itch.io. Files, screenshots and the full description are on the store page.