How about a FPS/3PS in space where for a time, the simulated gravity stops working and weightless fighting starts?

In a weightless environment, the three dimensional physics starts getting really complicated. You have to make sure to handle newton''s third law (I.E. Forces act in pairs), and also rotational mathematics. Heres an extreme case where realism would only make matters worse.

For argument sake, lets analyze whats needed.

First, a weightless environment needs some energy in it. Everything sitting in the middle of nothing will remain there indefinately. Anybody that happens to be floating with no means of making contact with anything else is stuck there. So, some form of suctioncup grapple hook would be needed to move yourself to a stable surface.

Next, with the absense of gravity, weapon mechanics begin to operate differently. Bullets move in straight lines and have no definate range. If the containing room is spinning or in a state of acceleration (which would sorta create weight), then the projectiles, and for that matter everyone in the room, is affected.

Last I can think of is debris. After an explosion, shrapnel would expand outward in straight lines. Fragmentation weapons would therefor be fatal to everyone in the room. Paper sent around would probably move in straight lines, but aerodynamics would mess their paths up.

So, take what I''m talking about with some salt. You may want to just say "We''ll ignore that case and not put this item in the room."

I was figuring to only allow those physics within a long corridor where almost everything is a fixed object. I was wanting a game that puts emphasis on using your surroundings to your advantage and paying attention to the pitfalls of them as well so that if you're in space when you are fighting, you will use knife-like weapons instead. And you would use a thruster to manuver.

[edited by - smiley4 on February 14, 2003 2:24:36 PM]

quote: Inmate2993:
Next, with the absense of gravity, weapon mechanics begin to operate differently. Bullets move in straight lines and have no definate range.{/quote]
Kinda like Quake, eh? ;-)

If the containing room is spinning or in a state of acceleration (which would sorta create weight), then the projectiles, and for that matter everyone in the room, is affected.

It''s a bit tricky, but acceleration is pretty similar to gravity. Rotational momentum is a bit trickier, but still solvable. You just need a good math/physics background… or a good book on it.

quote: Last I can think of is debris. After an explosion, shrapnel would expand outward in straight lines. Fragmentation weapons would therefor be fatal to everyone in the room.

Shaped charges?

There''s still the ricochet problem, but that''s true in any game (if you choose to implement it).

i dont think the physics would be too rough, but then i just got out of my college mechanics course and i feel fresh on it
i personally think the hardest thing would be to find a control scheme that would allow the players to intuitively control the characters (as the majority of controlled momentum changes will be based up pushing off surfaces in 3 space)

Don''t forget the force of the acceleration of the projectiles leaving the weapon! Those miniguns have quite the kick. And that kick will send the shooter propelling backwards (and accelerating while they are shooting) unless they are braced. Also, different guns have different hammer or exhaust characteristics. It is enitirely possible that a type of weapon sends the user down (or up or right or left or...) instead of backwards!

Couldn''t Descent be thought of as a zero-G FPS? One of the things that''s needed for a sense of weightlessness is a loss of any true concept of up and down. If you want to keep that, then you''ll need some half-assed excuse for keeping your guys head up and feet down (gyroscopic stabilizers in the suits was one of Heinein''s favorites).

As to equal/opposite physics, that''s a must. Remember, though, a bullet that weighs .01 kg going at 100 m/s is only 1N of force, which will send you backward at 1 cm/s. I think. My decimal places might be off.

If you opt to let people rotate and flip with physics, then you''ve got to consider torque and center-of-mass, as well as moment of inertia, and rotational momentum, and the rest of that chapter in the physics textbook. Really, anything that people would notice in a video game is covered in Physics 101, so if you have the option of taking it, try it out. The math that people generally take for computer science dwarfs anything you''ll use in PHYS 101, so it''s a good grade, too.

That''s assuming that some of the people here are still in college. I''m a philosophy major, and PHYS 101 will be my best grade this term. Easy stuff, even with no high school physics experience.

In all honesty, though, I''d rather not have my character totally at the mercy of physics. In real life, you can flail your arms, or grab onto things, or do any number of other actions that''ll affect your rotation and orientation. If your avatar in the game is twirling like a thrown hammer, you''ll just get pissed. I''d like to see hard-core physics for everything else, though. Bullets (http://www.nennstiel-ruprecht.de/bullfly/), debris, corpses, and even maps could be in motion realistically.

I''ve always been enamored of the idea of being on a spaceship with artificial gravity caused by spinning. As you travel closer to the axis of spin, gravity lessens, and as you approach the perimeter, it gets more and more powerful, so that if you''re in the center, you''re nearly weightless, but on the outer communications relays, you''re at 3 G''s and objects fall at 30 m/s/s. That would be cool.

Realistic maneuvering in free-fall is going to be very hard to come up with a non-cop-out control system for with current systems - it is possible for non-rigid bodies with 0 net angular momentum to rotate for example, but it requires a fair amount of flailing around - if you''re in a good swivel chair and have some space around you, you can try waving your hands in a horizontal circle in front of you - most of the time there''s too much friction involved for it to work properly, but I have managed to rotate myself (slowly) round a full circle in each direction doing this (it works better if you have something heavy in your hands, but it gets tiring more quickly that way too). However, I can''t think of any plausible control system that would allow someone to freely wave all four limbs in this way in game and still do anything useful with them. Even a VR suit has drawbacks.

Of course, a simple cop-out involving rigid suits and computer controlled thrusters for rotation/propulsion would make the control problem manageable. Speaking of which, I believe the Babylon 5 game that Sierra canned was using Newtonian physics for its StarFurys