Press Release
December 11, 2001
Enrich Game Content With Physics-Based Realism: Latest O'Reilly Book Provides Starting Point for Game Developers
Sebastopol, CA--When David Bourg became professionally involved in game
development, he discovered that colleagues from his "other" profession
as a naval architect and marine engineer thought that making video
games was less intellectually challenging than designing ships. "The
funny thing," says Bourg, "is that classical engineers, such as
mechanical and marine engineers, and game developers are often solving
similar problems using similar techniques, but they just don't know
it."
Bourg, who is author of the just-released Physics for Game Developers
(O'Reilly, US $39.95), adds, "While engineers focus on physical
accuracy when solving problems, often at the expense of visual
development, game developers have often focused on visual realism at
the expense of physical accuracy. This dividing line is becoming
blurred now as game developers strive to add physical realism and
engineers strive to add advanced visualization to their respective
products or processes."
Physics-based realism is not new to gaming; in fact, many games on the
shelves these days advertise their physics engines. By applying the
laws of physics--specifically mechanics--game developers can
realistically model nearly anything that moves to create compelling,
believable content for computer games. Bourg uses the example of
designing a hunting game, complete with first-person 3D, beautiful
textures, and an awesome soundtrack to set the mood. "But as a
developer, you still have a sense that something is missing. This
something," Bourg says, "is realism. You want the game to feel more
'real' by challenging the gamer's marksmanship by adding considerations
such as distance to target, wind speed and direction, and muzzle
velocity. Moreover, you don't want to fake these elements; rather, you
would like to model them realistically based on the principles of
physics."
Physics for Game Developers serves as the starting point for game
developers who want to enrich their games with physics-based realism.
The first part of the book is a mechanics primer that reviews the basic
concepts and addresses aspects of rigid body dynamics. The second part
applies the concepts to specific real-world problems from existing
computer games. And finally, the author introduces real-time
simulations and shows how they apply to computer games. While the
reader does not need to be a physics expert, Bourg assumes a basic,
college-level understanding of classical physics, typical of
non-physics and non-engineering majors.
According to Bourg, knowledge of physics-based realism will be
crucially important for programmers who want to compete in developing
ever more sophisticated games. "It's important for game developers to
realize that there is an awful lot of information available that will
help them add physics to their games," Bourg explains, "but this
information won't necessarily be found in 'traditional' game
development sources. Sure, you can scour the Internet, trade journals
and magazines for how-to's or fish out an old physics text and start
from scratch, but you'll likely find that the information is too
general to be applied directly or too advanced." In Physics for Game
Developers, Bourg pulls together the information game developers need
to enrich their games' content with physics-based realism, but don't
know where to start.
Online Resources:
Physics for Game Developers
By David M. Bourg
ISBN 0-596-00006-5, 326 pages, $39.95 (US)
order@oreilly.com
1-800-998-9938
About O'Reilly
O'Reilly Media spreads the knowledge of innovators through its books, online services, magazines, and conferences. Since 1978, O'Reilly Media has been a chronicler and catalyst of cutting-edge development, homing in on the technology trends that really matter and spurring their adoption by amplifying "faint signals" from the alpha geeks who are creating the future. An active participant in the technology community, the company has a long history of advocacy, meme-making, and evangelism.
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