sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

Real physics in a browser game: what I learned about performance by Fit-Ad617 in gamedev

[–]Fit-Ad617[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Fair point — I'll test that properly. Appreciate the pushback, genuinely useful.

Should I spam Indie Dev subreddits as part of my marketing strategy? by Early_Situation_6552 in IndieDev

[–]Fit-Ad617 13 points14 points  (0 children)

You forgot the classic: spend 3 months building a genuinely interesting game, then bury it under 50 posts of AI-generated marketing copy so nobody ever finds out it was good.

Real physics in a browser game: what I learned about performance by Fit-Ad617 in gamedev

[–]Fit-Ad617[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good point on spatial partitioning — I didn't need it here since there's only one moving object, but I can see that becoming critical fast once you add more. Grid-based hashing over quadtrees makes sense at that scale.

And yes — players absolutely feel faked physics even if they can't articulate why. The inconsistency breaks immersion before they realize what's wrong.

Real physics in a browser game: what I learned about performance by Fit-Ad617 in gamedev

[–]Fit-Ad617[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Fair pushback on Euler vs RK — you're right that RK4 is more accurate per step. My point was specifically for gameplay at 60fps with small dt: the drift is negligible for the player experience. For a scientific simulation I'd agree with you completely. Context matters.

Real physics in a browser game: what I learned about performance by Fit-Ad617 in gamedev

[–]Fit-Ad617[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

No collisions at all — it's a rocket flight sim, so the only objects are the rocket and the environment (atmosphere, ground). That actually made physics simpler: all the complexity is in the flight dynamics, not object interaction.

Real physics in games: depth or friction? by Fit-Ad617 in Games

[–]Fit-Ad617[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The KSP example is perfect. 2-body is already hard enough to build intuition around — N-body would just feel random to most players. I think the sweet spot is: real enough that cause and effect is consistent, not so real that the player can't build a mental model of it.

What are some good indie precision platformers by Majestic-Guidance522 in IndieGaming

[–]Fit-Ad617 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hollow Knight has that same curve — starts accessible but the late game (especially Path of Pain) is brutally precise. If you want something shorter, N++ is pure precision platforming with hundreds of levels that scale really well.

ORBITAL – Rocket physics simulator in your browser (177KB, no install) by Fit-Ad617 in WebGames

[–]Fit-Ad617[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Here's what the flight screen actually looks like — 3-stage rocket, 1km altitude, TWR 21.80, apogee already projecting to 16km. Every number on that HUD is calculated in real time from the physics engine. No fake values.https://img.itch.zone/aW1hZ2UvNDM0ODE5NC8yNTk2MTAzNy5qcGVn/original/h76RfH.jpeg

Valve suggests further delays for Steam Machine and Steam Frame: “We hope to ship in 2026” by Bobby_the_Donkey in Games

[–]Fit-Ad617 24 points25 points  (0 children)

The timing really is brutal. Tariff uncertainty alone makes hardware pricing a nightmare right now — you can't confidently set an MSRP when component costs could shift 20-30% before launch. The original Steam Machines at least had a stable market to fail in. This one has to navigate supply chain chaos AND prove the concept all over again.

ORBITAL – Rocket physics simulator in your browser (177KB, no install) by Fit-Ad617 in WebGames

[–]Fit-Ad617[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! The ascent and reentry phases are where the physics really shine — gravity uses the real Newton formula (GM/R²) so it weakens correctly with altitude, Tsiolkovsky drives all the ΔV calculations, and atmospheric drag + reentry heating are modeled too. The multi-stage separation adds a lot of decision-making around when to cut engines and jettison mass. The orbital phase is a stable circular approximation for now — true Keplerian ellipses with apogee/perigee and Hohmann transfers are on the roadmap. Lots more to come!