Is ODE good enough for me?

Game Mechanics
#1

Hi,
I’m trying to create a 2D top-down shooter with realistic physics. I’ve tried my own 2d impulse physics engine for about half a year now, and I’m pretty much there, but there are quite a few of small problems that I can’t solve, or find mention about on any paper.

I need my bodies to be constrained to only 2 dimensions. I want it to be fast too, so I don’t want ODE to be doing extra work for 3D and then applying a 2D constraint.

The only extra feature I need, is to specify different directions for friction. ie. For a car, I want the sideways friction to be greater than the forward and backward friction.

Can ODE do all that I need? If so, I’m really looking forward to using it.

Thanks for your input.
-Cuppo

#2

hmm, I wonder if someone as any information about this… I’ve been wondering about it for a long time and I saw another thread on the same topic a while ago with no replies.

CuppoJava please let us know if you have any plans for sharing your 2d physics engine, I know of at least one programmer looking for someting similar…

#3

Well, ode is very fast for 2d and 3d. So really, there shouldn’t be a problem with speed. You will need to apply your own 2d constraints, but the calculations shouldn’t be a problem. Again, profile and see…

Yup, this can be done using contact parameters:


contact.setMode(Ode.dContactApprox_1 | Ode.dContactMu2);
contact.setMu(100);
contact.setMu2(500);

Mu is a friction coeffecient which can also be used as the maximum force applied to the bodies as friction. Mu is in the direction of the contact, Mu2 is in sideways friction you speak about. And the normal is the normal of the two mu directions…

Well, using ode is far far better than rolling out your own…

DP