Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Knowing Some Physics Will Make You a Better
Game Programmer
Having a physics-based understanding of how things work will make you a better game
programmer in several ways. For one thing, having a physical understanding of what you are
trying to simulate gives you the knowledge of what effects to include in your game. For example,
let's say you are creating a golf game. You know that golf balls can hook, slice, and draw, but
how do you model those effects? If you know the physics behind golf ball flight, you know that
it is the spin given to the golf ball that causes these effects. You can then obtain the mathemat-
ical equations that describe spin and build realistic spin effects into your golf simulation.
As another example, consider a car simulation where the car has to drive around a curve in
the road. If you didn't know anything about physics, you might just have the car go around the
curve at whatever speed it was traveling. If you knew the correct physics, however, you would
know that when an object travels around a curve, an effect known as
centripetal force
pushes
the object outward. If the car is going too fast or if the curve is too sharp, the wheels of the car
won't be able to hold on to the road, and the car will slide or spin outwards. Centripetal force
can be an interesting and exciting effect to add to your car simulation if you're aware of its
existence.
Having knowledge of physics also allows you to know what effects to leave out of your
games. A classic example is when a person is shot with a bullet in a computer game and he is
thrown backwards through a window or some such thing. In reality, the force caused by a bullet
striking an object is relatively small—not enough to drive someone backwards.
Let's Add Some Realism to Your Games
Hopefully by now you're sold on the idea of game programmers learning about physics and are
ready to start adding realistic physics models to your game programs. So let's dive right in and
get started. The first thing we'll do is to spend some time going over some basic concepts that
you will use in all of your physics modeling. We'll accomplish that goal in Chapters 2 through
6. Once we have the basics well in hand, we'll develop physics models for specific applications
including sports, cars, boats, planes, rockets, explosions, and lasers. Let's turn the page and
start with the basics.
