Vector Fields

[~Memzak~]

So a while back I was browsing the BSF (burning sand forum) to look for some basic algorithyms for a powder simulation game. (basically like all other falling sand games) and came across a thread that dealt with vector fields. At the time I didn't know what was I cracking and thought it looked interesting ad moved on.

All's fine until I mentioned this to my friend today while discussing how my powder simulation game (mark 1) failed miserably and how it in fact didn't fail that bad in comparison to how it was done in PG. (it's just that PG actually fixed it to work) So recently we did basic vectors in Science and it got me thinking, what about an array of vectors that indicate the size and direction of wind whilst simulated. I then discussed this with my friend and the possibility of having multipixeled objects and how to get it to effect them.

A brief trip back to the BSF and I found that the thread I looked at earlier actually did cover the basics of a vector field, the idea that I just thought of years after they did. So now my friend said he'd do it as a side project/for fun (like always) and program something that includes a vector array as well as a scalar array (for heat) and make the final product a compound of the two. (making heat effect pressure and effect wind, since heat can be pressure and vice versa in some situations) He's also going to add multipixeled objects effected by the 'wind' and 'pressure'


TL;DR
Friend is making PG-like game using vector and scalar arrays which will include multipixeled objects. Discuss.

[ganondorfchampin]

Physics simulations are one of the thing things you actually use complex calculus and vector stuff for. Vectors are used a ton in game design.

[~Memzak~]

Yea I looked into it and saw some calculus involved there. (calculating the trajectory of the wind and whatnot)

Officially, my maths class only starts calculus on Monday, yet he has taught me the basics and differential and some other useful things. (whereas he has taught him self a lot, especially when it's converting maths to programming. A while back he learnt about bezier curves and how to implement it into programming and then did so for a random race track generator in our WIP car game)

So yea, calculus is useful.

On the topic of math, I remember a couple weekends ago he wrote a program for a fractal generator (on the complex plane) with a zoom function. While not as fast as Xaos (a VERY decent fractal generator+explorer due to the way it gets the "estimated" value of a fractal and increases the quality in a google-earth-esque manner) it was still pretty epic. (cycling through RGB colors and being able to increase iteration count being features) Unfortunately it doesn't zoom in infinitely due to reaching values too precise for a double to cover all the decimal points.



Unfortunately his most used and default go-to programming language is C++ (which again is useful for CPU intensive programs) which is a problem since I'm much better at Java than C++. The current game we are working on is in Java. (also to save a LOT of time with cross-platform nonsense) whereas the previous roguelike game we made (and never finished like a lot of our projects) was in C++ and I really had limited input on that. Although, that should serve as incentive for me to get better at C++. :/

I'll post executable of the roguelike and fractal generator in another thread, if I can dig it up again. Only difficulties would be you'd need the allegro library for C++ (latest version) and need to have linux installed to run it.

[Qwerty]

Any good hints in here? I think they've discussed that at some point in that board.

[~Memzak~]

Yes, that's the exact board I was browsing. It does have quite useful threads. Especially the 'Challenge to Programmers" thread.

I also noticed you posted a couple times there.

[Qwerty]

I've been involved in more than a few attempts to revive them, to no success. At this point even their little false activity is gone.

[~Memzak~]

Lol turns out we both abandoned the project again and went back to programming our car game. XD He's doing the AI, but I was fiddling around with AI for a bit too. (it's fun to have actual other cars on the map. XD)

[noodlesoup]

If you find any more cool stuff about programming a physics simulation, don't hesitate to post it

I googled this and went on the fsgf to read more.

[~Memzak~]

Well we kinda ditched the physics simulation game (the powder game-esque game) in favour of finishing our car game. He's working on AI. (which looks spectacular) and I'm working and the Car selection menu and the car class + stats in general.

Although we have made a priority list now:
Finish Car Game
Make 2D Physics Engine Based on Newtonian Physics. (aslo a cheap way of learning our science work)
Make a Particle Simulator

You'll probably be interested in the bottom two, so when we start it I'll post links here.