Mobile game devs, is the animation deciding the results, or is the previously calculated result dictating the animation? (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 9 months ago by Trollivier@sh.itjust.works to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

25 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Dear mobile game devs. When I play games like that, I always wonder if it's the physics engine that's actually random and produces the result?

Or is the result calculated before the animation happens, and dictates the animation?

I've always wondered. I have some notion of programming, but from far back, and I've been scratching my head long enough about this.

Thanks in advance.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] intensely_human@lemm.ee 9 points 9 months ago

The cheapest way to do this is to let the animation (the physics simulation) determine the result.

Picking a bin for the ball to go into, then working backward from that to an animation that looks like it’s following the same physics at other animations, is far more computational work.

Therefore, my money is on the animation determines the result. Now, it may be pre-determined from parameters, but that doesn’t mean it’s predictable, due to a concept called “computational irreducibility”.

[-] Paradachshund@lemmy.today 2 points 8 months ago

I'll +1 this by also mentioning that physics, despite seeming fancy, is one of the easiest things to implement in most game engines because they all have built in physics systems at this point. That's why there are so many no budget games that rely on physics heavily.

Now getting physics to be really good and interesting is a whole 'nother can of worms...

[-] conciselyverbose@kbin.social 2 points 9 months ago

You could very easily just project the last bounce, and if it's going to go into the good spot, cheat and adjust the path, based on predetermined odds. It wouldn't be hard at all to turn a 1 in 7 chance if the physics would be uniformly distributed without cheating into 1 in 700.

[-] intensely_human@lemm.ee 1 points 8 months ago

True. I think this happens with pinball recall for lumosity. The level you’re on isn’t correlated to the number of bumpers on the board, but to path length. I figure they just try paths until one’s sufficiently long to be a challenge to the player.

Unfortunately it has the opposite effect. I look at the board and my eyes instantly calculate all the paths and one’s the longest. No working memory required on my part. And that longest path is where the ball’s coming in 90% of the time. It sucks.

this post was submitted on 02 Feb 2024

73 points (95.1% liked)

Ask Lemmy

26646 readers

1524 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions

Rules: (interactive)

1) Be nice and; have fun

Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them

2) All posts must end with a '?'

This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?

3) No spam

Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.

4) NSFW is okay, within reason

Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].

5) This is not a support community.

It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.

Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.