Colliding billiard balls. Missile trajectories. Cornering
dynamics in speeding
cars. By applying the laws of
physics,
you can realistically model nearly everything in
games that
bounces around, flies, rolls, slides, or isn't sitting
still, to create compelling, believable content for
computer games, simulations, and animation. Physics for
Game Developers serves as the starting point for those who
want to enrich games with physics-based realism.
Part one is a mechanics primer that reviews basic
concepts and addresses aspects of rigid body dynamics,
including kinematics, force, and kinetics. Part two applies
these concepts to specific real-world problems, such as
projectiles, boats, airplanes, and cars. Part three
introduces real-time simulations and shows how they apply
to computer games. Many specific game elements stand to
benefit from the use of real physics, including:
- The trajectory of rockets and missiles, including the
effects of fuel burn off
- The collision of objects such as billiard balls
- The stability of cars racing around tight curves
- The dynamics of boats and other waterborne
vehicles
- The flight path of a baseball after being struck by a
bat
- The flight characteristics of airplanes
You don't need to be a physics expert to learn from Physics
for Game Developers, but the author does assume you know
basic college-level classical physics. You should also be
proficient in trigonometry, vector and matrix math
(reference formulas and identities are included in the
appendixes), and college-level calculus, including
integration and differentiation of explicit functions.
Although the thrust of the book involves physics principles
and algorithms, it should be noted that the examples are
written in standard C and use
Windows API functions.
Contents
Preface
1. Basic Concepts
2. Kinematics
3. Force
4. Kinetics
5. Collisions
6. Projectiles
7. Aircraft
8. Ships
9. Hovercraft
10. Cars
11. Real-Time Simulations
12. 2D Rigid Body Simulator
13. Implementing Collision Response
14. Rigid Body Rotation
15. 3D Rigid Body Simulator
16. Multiple Bodies in 3D
17. Particle Systems
App. A Vector Operations
App. B Matrix Operations
App. C Quaternion Operations
Bibliography
Index