Physics in General
Posted: Wed May 21, 2008 9:51 amHere is a link to a very useful video about understanding physics, by the wonderful Richard Dawkins.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6308228560462155344&q=ted+talks+dawkins&total=16&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0
I've watched and read lots of physics by Dawkins and others, but this one I feel is very relevant to video games. Not in that it gives you any specific equations, but more that it asks you to decide which is child, and which is parent?
As I see it....there is only once color, there is only one sound, there is only one mathematical equation, and everything else is just a variation on that equation. That's why programming is so difficult sometimes....you must decide which comes first, the chicken or the egg. And if you switch back and forth as you program, you will have problems.
You might have noticed in posts here or there the term 'control actor'.....an actor that takes care of many things throughout the game, just as a government controls a mass of people, or your brain controls your body. What works on a large scale often works on a small scale. And random chaos usually doesn't work on any scale, so it's good to know WHAT you want to do, before you even ask 'HOW' to do it!
Let me know what you guys think!
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6308228560462155344&q=ted+talks+dawkins&total=16&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0
I've watched and read lots of physics by Dawkins and others, but this one I feel is very relevant to video games. Not in that it gives you any specific equations, but more that it asks you to decide which is child, and which is parent?
As I see it....there is only once color, there is only one sound, there is only one mathematical equation, and everything else is just a variation on that equation. That's why programming is so difficult sometimes....you must decide which comes first, the chicken or the egg. And if you switch back and forth as you program, you will have problems.
You might have noticed in posts here or there the term 'control actor'.....an actor that takes care of many things throughout the game, just as a government controls a mass of people, or your brain controls your body. What works on a large scale often works on a small scale. And random chaos usually doesn't work on any scale, so it's good to know WHAT you want to do, before you even ask 'HOW' to do it!
Let me know what you guys think!
just kidding...