Our sound engineers (Fuligin Sound) designed an FMOD event which selected playback samples based on the materiality and 'intensity' of the incoming collision. relative velocity, normal impulse) is paired with the Impact Sound data and sent off to FMOD.
When impacts (inevitably) occur, collision data (eg. Every collider in the game has an Impact Sound component that contains data about 'hardness', 'weight', and 'materiality'. Sound also plays a huge role in communicating environmental physicality. The ability for the player to sense wild contrasts in inertial behaviors is truly magical. With no drag or other forces to get in the way, there's virtually no object that's immovable by the player. A wonderful benefit of working in zero-g is that you can crank the mass of objects well beyond usable limits than if they were pinned down by gravity. This was supported by a physically-simulated character which aims to let you sense the force required to move your body and the weightless objects in your environment.Īpart from the space station itself, we aimed to make every object physically simulated. The key component in establishing a satisfying sense of motion all comes down to the communication of mass.
Minerals (right) on the other hand could support lower iterations that allowed us to simulate a field of… 28,725 asteroids. To assist us with balancing performance and stability across each mission, we created 'physics settings profiles' which provided sensible values given the requirements of each environment.ĭata (left) contains a large quantity of hinges which we had to stabilize with high velocity iterations.
As previous generation consoles tend to be fairly CPU bound, we had to be very wary of not pushing the limits too far. Other than changing solver iteration counts, we made very little changes to the default physics settings. Keeping the simulation in 2D was essential in keeping design and technical complexity low, and allowed us to push the limits for simultaneously simulated bodies, which often reached the hundreds. Under the hood, we just use Unity's standard 2D physics engine powered by Box2D. Tuning physics settings and using hacks to keep things held together were vital in making for a solid, juicy experience, but multiple elements are at play in giving every interaction satisfying weight.
Perrin: The physics system in Heavenly Bodies is one of its key points of uniqueness, so it was incredibly important to us to ensure that it behaved in a stable, predictable, and beautiful way. How did you design and fine-tune Heavenly Bodies' physics system to create a satisfying, zero-gravity environment that enables those kinds of interactions? Game Developer: Based on what we've seen so far, the cosmonauts will collide into their interstellar surroundings with satisfying bumps and bonks. Mending and maintaining delicate solar arrays and space telescopes would be a complex task at the best of times, but in Heavenly Bodies players will need to complete those cosmic chores in zero-gravity, wrestling their brave astronauts' loose limbs as they bump, bonk, and blunder into all manner of delicate machinery.Īfter catching a glimpse of the game in-motion, we caught up with studio co-founders Alexander Perrin (game developer and illustrator) and Joshua Tatangelo (game designer and visual artist) to learn how the duo implemented Heavenly Bodies' zero-gravity physics and appendage-bending control scheme. The floaty, spacey title implores players to take control of a weightless cosmonaut (or cosmonauts, if you fancy some co-op antics) and bring life to delicate science instruments that have been jettisoned into the infinite. It's a force we should all cherish, then - unless you enjoy the idea of drifting though the void like a human dirigible - and as evidenced by 2pt Interactive's newly-released puzzler, Heavenly Bodies, our lives would be a lot harder without it.
0 kommentar(er)
