Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER 7
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Sports Simulations
T
he first six chapters of the topic have been pretty generic. You have learned the basics of
Newtonian mechanics, kinematics, projectile motion, and collisions. Now it's time to take what
you've learned and apply it to specific problems. In this chapter, we will explore the physics of
sports simulations. You will learn how to model a golf ball in flight, how to simulate a bank shot
in basketball, and many other things besides.
The good news is that you have already learned pretty much everything you need to create
realistic sports simulations. When a football, golf ball, or baseball is in flight, it is essentially a
projectile. We discussed projectile dynamics in Chapter 5. A basketball hitting the backboard
or a tennis racquet making contact with the tennis ball are both examples of collisions. We saw
how to model collisions in Chapter 6. The other subjects that we will apply—such as forces,
accelerations, friction, and so on—were covered in Chapters 3 and 4.
The sports that we will look at in this chapter include the following:
•Go f
•
Baseball
•
Basketball
•Soccer
In addition, we'll take a brief look at how to model other sports.
We'll start our exploration of sports simulations with the game of golf.
Golf
Golf is an old game. It originated from a game played in eastern Scotland in the fifteenth
century where players would hit a rock around a course of fields and sand dunes with a stick or
primitive club. Apparently there wasn't much to do in fifteenth century Scotland for entertain-
ment. Nevertheless, golf became so popular in Scotland that it, along with soccer, was banned
in 1457 so the people who played it could prepare to defend the country against an expected
invasion from England. The ban lasted until 1502, although it was mostly ignored anyway.
The concept of keeping track of golf strokes was introduced in 1759. The first 18-hole golf
course was built at St. Andrews in 1764. Golf has increased in popularity up to this very day
when millions of people around the world play the game. Golf technology has become quite
sophisticated, with titanium club heads, graphite shafts, and so on, but the basic objective of
the game is the same—to hit a ball with a club and have it go straight and far.
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