Physics for Game Developers

It's the clear, mathematical presentation here that makes this title a winner. Starting with the basics of Newtonian mechanics, the author covers all the basic equations needed to understand velocity, acceleration, kinematics, and kinetics, among other concepts. A knowledge of college math (including calculus) is assumed. (Appendices review the basics of matrix and quaternion mathematics for those needing a refresher.)

Central to this book is its presentation of modeling projectiles, airplanes, ships, and cars. The author first presents essential mathematical concepts for each kind of object (for instance, pitch, yaw and roll, and lift for airplanes; modeling fluid drag for ships; and braking behavior for cars). For many chapters, Bourg then presents Windows-based DirectX programs in C++ to illustrate key concepts. For example, you can experiment with different parameters to view a cannonball's path. (On their own, these programs make this book a great companion text to any advanced high school or college physics course since students can see the effect of each variable on the behavior of each body in motion for a variety of equations.)

Modeling collisions is a central concern here (a necessity, of course, for action games). To this end, the author provides collision detection and the mathematics of 3-D rigid bodies for simulating when bodies collide. As the sample programs get more involved, the author discusses techniques of tuning parameters for performance. A standout chapter here models a fluttering flag using particle systems.

In all, this text proves that physics and computers are a perfect match. The author's patient and clear mathematical investigations of common formulas and concepts can add realistic motion to any computer game, as well as help teach essential concepts to any student or hobbyist who's interested in physics and doesn't mind a little college-level math. --Richard Dragan

Topics covered: Mathematical formulas and sample C/C++ code for physics for simulations and games, basic concepts in physics, Newton's Laws of Motion, coordinate systems and vectors; mass, center of mass and moment of inertia; kinematics (velocity and acceleration), constant and nonconstant acceleration, 2-D and 3-D particle kinematics, rigid body kinematics, angular velocity and acceleration, force (force fields and friction, fluid dynamic drag, buoyancy, springs and dampers, torque), 2-D, 3-D, and rigid body kinetics; collisions (impulse-momentum, impact, linear, and angular impulse), projectiles (simple trajectories, drag, the Magnus Effect, variable mass), simulating aircraft (geometry, lift and drag, controls), simulating ships (flotation, volume, resistance, and virtual mass), simulating hovercraft and cars (including stopping distance and banking during turns), basic real-time simulations (integrating equations of motion, including Euler's Method), 2-D rigid body simulator, implementing collision response (including angular effects), rigid body rotation (rotation matrices and quaternions), 3-D rigid body simulator for an airplane (including flight controls and rendering), multiple bodies in 3-D (including implementing collisions), particle systems, reference tutorials for vector, matrix, and quaternion mathematical operations.

Product Description
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 enriching 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. Although you don't need to be a physics expert to understand Physics for Game Developers, the author does assume you have a basic college-level understanding of classical physics. It should also be noted that the examples are written in standard C and use Windows API functions.

Inside the covers, you'll discover a review of Newton's laws accompanied by a hearty dose of explanatory graphics. Warning: as a prerequisite, he assumes solid math and basic intro college physics skills. Next, he segues into Kinematics, you know, the underlying mechanics of motion of objects.) He teaches linear and angular displacement, velocity and acceleration. Don't worry, it's not all equations and graphs, he includes helpful sample code (in C) too.

The final chapters cover advanced topics like 3D rigid body simulators and rotations, collision response and particle systems. Before you reach those chapters however, Bourg covers specific examples for projectiles, aircraft, ships, hovercraft and cars.

With the advancement in speed and power of today's microcomputers, achieving reality in games is certainly possible. Bourg's book helps you achieve that without having to spend days in the library pouring over college physics texts. This book is a sound physics review and very well written for the gaming professional.


Physics guy   September 20, 2005
Bruce Rubinstein
7 out of 7 found this review helpful

This book is superb in his examples for anyone who understands 3-d programming but is lacking physics in there game. I took his chapter 17 flag example and ported the code into my 3-d engine. It worked perfectly . I have boats in my game but could not get them to move realistically. I am know porting his rigid body and collision chapters into my game. To be fair I have graduated from mechanical engineering and KNow the concepts of momentia inertia, angular velocity,drag,vectors etc. This is a must for this book. I hope to have airplanes flying in my game from his book examples.

What I am praising is his physics examples. I do not care about units or language choice which seems to be a complaint. From his book I can add reality in terms of physics which I could not find in any other book.





Good book for flash games   March 24, 2007
Yohami Zerpa Gonzalez (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

It gives a decent coverage on 2D and math vectors before it jumps right into kinetics, rigid bodies, momentum, torque, etc. Other people complain about the junk C code used to explain things here, but I just care about the concepts and understanding them and the book meets that goal. So buy it if you are like me?


Impressive   September 4, 2002
Chokri Oueslati (Daytona Beach, Florida United States)
This book is impressive, close every other book!!
All physics formulas and theory that a software engineer developing games or simulators ought to know. However, if you don't have a good math background then you're probably better off buying another more comprehensive book.


Good physics for programmers   March 14, 2002
Roberto Colnaghi Jr. (Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful

I love physics, and this book show a great way of how to apply it in game programming.