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Physics: Quick question

Started by Piksel Sep 13, 2000 at 9:47 PM 1 replies 700+ views

Original Post

Sep 13, 2000 at 9:47 PM

How in depth do you get when applying physics principles and equations to a game? Example: Do you actually calculate (for a driving simulation), car velocity = ... km/h, car acceleration = ... car mass = ... and then put each little bit into an equation? Or do most of you cheat and say "If car hit a bump, then in_air = 100 (decrease this variable each loop, and increase the z variable until in_air = 0)" Or do you actually make an equation for it? -piksel Piper's games

Zipster

511

Zipster

Sep 13, 2000 at 10:20 PM

Depends how complicated the engine will be, and how realistic the game will be. If you want a really realistic game, you''ll probably need to calculate all the physics.

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Premandrake

Sep 13, 2000 at 10:37 PM

All the physics? Well, I think going down to the atomic level may be a bit excessive for a game, but...

Seriously though, physics in games currently are a tough target. Most of the time it is implement basic newtonian physics: ie. springs, rotational forces, acceleration and so on and then hack at it until it gets to a playable state.

Generally, coding a special case simulator (like you described) would be fine for very simple applications, but for more advanced 3d work, like a racing game for example, that might not be sufficient. It really is a case of experimentation, but you will probably end up mixing up the 2 techniques to get a playable game.

PreManDrake

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