Ive started to try making a real game, but first I need to learn physics. I dont have any books on it, but found 4 or 5 good articles on Gamasutra. But they all start at a level above my understanding. See, I dont even have highschool math finished, because Im a kid. so physics is becoming more and more impossible for me to understand. I tried to make a little demo where a dot bounced around on the floor according to the basic laws of physics, ie it would bounce correctly an have momentum and stuff like that. But it doesnt work, the dot just fly all over the place. So now Im going to buy a book, and I need to know which one you guys think would be most helpful. All opinions are appreciated Thanksa alot

Have you thought about working on a real game that does not require physics to begin with?

Graham Rhodes
Senior Scientist
Applied Research Associates, Inc.

What grade are you in? As long as you have a basic understanding of algebra (and a little bit of geometry, read: sine, cosine, tangent), you should be able to easily find the other, basic stuff you need to learn.

IM doing Geometry next year.

I''d suggest that you read some of the articles here on gamedev.net, and also articles at www.gamasutra.com. There are fairly good introductions to the basics of 3D geometry and matrix transformations.

Just don''t worry too much about physics to begin with. Try to develop some simple animations and interactions first. Just have things move at a constant velocity, do very simple collision detection (axis aligned bounding box test, which is quite simple), and when things hit each other just have them bounce back in the opposite direction. The idea is to get use to the math and geometry. I''m certain you can get a jumpstart on your geometry class. Hell, you''ll probably know more than your teacher next year if you work hard on your game before then!

Once you have some basic things working well, then you can start to think about adding some elementary physics, for example just adding gravity to make the motion of objects a bit more realistic.

I just don''t want you to bite off more than you can chew. I''d hate for you to get frustrated by trying to delve into complex physics before you even understand the geometry. One step at a time will be much more satisfying, even if it takes a while to get where you want to be, .

Graham Rhodes
Senior Scientist
Applied Research Associates, Inc.

Chris Hecker wrote an excellent series of articles.

http://www.d6.com/users/checker/dynamics.htm

Look under the "Pysics Articles" Heading

Read all you can and don''t get discouraged, especially when you see some of the posts and replies in this forum. I won''t say that physics is neccesarily easy, just a lot easier than what is mostly shown here. Also, try to locate a college physics 101 or eqivalent textbook that was written for algebra-based physics. While you may not be able to understand everything, you should be able to grasp the ideas and use the formulas presented there.

David Bourg''s book, "Physics for Game Developers" may be appropriate. It does discuss some stuff that probably shouldn''t be in the book, but there is some very basic physics in there too. A person who has not yet taken a geometry course might be able to learn quite a lot from this book.

Listen to Anonymous Poster. Don''t get discouraged. Hard work and perseverence will be rewarded!

Graham Rhodes
Senior Scientist
Applied Research Associates, Inc.