Looking at the examples, it seems like you can make 1D and 2D strings/grids of resistors here in much the same way you would in a 3D model; you just can't make a 3D grid (or non-planar circuits). My general experience working with and teaching basic circuits is that it's rare that we consider current flow in a genuinely 3D medium: the vast majority of problem-solving examples approximate wires as simple 1D paths for charge to follow, and more careful treatments that talk about where charges accumulate to guide current flow around corners, etc. still almost always illustrate their points in 2D diagrams/examples.

So my impression is that this simulation is likely to give a pretty solid qualitative sense of how these systems work, despite its 2D framing.

This is because it's actually an emergent property already in 2d space.

Consider a resistor shaped like a capital letter Z in 2d space, with ground at one end and 1V the other. (Assume also that the Z has a square aspect ratio). The potential along the bar in the middle will initially be equal, because all points on the bar are equidistant from our voltage sources (AKA charges) . But the potential will drop along the arms of the Z. So charge will move along the arms and accumulate at the corners, until there is also a voltage drop along the bar, and ohms law holds.

These are cool _ wave propagation vids too; Nils Berglund wave visualizations: https://youtu.be/v0cZjOIfwos?si=07w2Wd4dPlGmNxHp

_: photon, fluid, standing transverse,, plasma

What about longitudinal waves in plasma, superconductors, and superfluids though? https://www.google.com/search?q=What+about+longitudinal+wave...

I suppose vorticity doesn't matter that much for classical electronic circuits