photo credit: Unhindered by Talent
After getting the almost-real graphics covered, game makers are now focusing on getting physics to realistic levels. You know, crates falling and bouncing like they would in normal life. Most of the time, certainly for AAA game titles, it’s just a nice little gimmick. However, indy game developers have long been experimenting with physics as a real gaming device. Bridge Builder might be the granddaddy of them all, but here’s a long long list of smaller games where physics plays a central role. A look at the top-rated games will keep you busy for a long time.
If you want to get your hands dirty yourself, there are many options. You could get SketchyPhysics, a plugin for Google Sketchup. Take a look at some of the movies to get an idea of what you’ll get. It’s really rather impressive. One of my next experiments is checking if this can be used together with IRender.
Another option is the huge number of libraries out there for pretty much any programming language. For instance, the Actionscript Physics Engine is certainly worth a look if you’re into ActionScript.