In fairness, Metanet Software's first video for Robotology (found after the break) is more physics demo than it is gameplay demo -- or even proof of concept, for that matter. Though considering the pedigree behind the game (Metanet made N+, this week's Xbox Live deal!), we're willing to overlook the less than thrilling minute-plus video in celebration of the sheer tenacity with which Metanet attacks its game development.
In fact, according to the Metanet website, the action in the video represents, "almost 800 lines of code, painstakingly hand-transcribed from graph paper and Flash mockups" -- oh my! Here's hoping it all pays off when the game ships ... eventually. And now, friends, we play the waiting game.
Actually, once someone loses a game, the rest is immune for 30 minutes. An official rule to avoid dickwads that bite the bullet by announcing 'YOU JUST LOST THE GAME!' and start a chain reaction.
Haha, this is like the first thing people do when they want to learn how to make a physics engine with ragdolls. It's called a ball-and-stick constraint system. Ball and stick constraints are easy to implement (as noted by the low line count for the code), highly stable (doesn't crash or freeze and works reasonably well with any configuration of objects), and adapts well to three dimensions and deformable objects with very little extra effort. The biggest downsides are that it scales very poorly to larger simulations or more complex shapes, and that it starts to break down with heavy objects, fast velocities, and large stacks of objects.
I've never heard it referred to as ball and "stick," perhaps you mean socket?
In any case, yes, these constraints are at the core of what they're doing, but it reaches farther than that. As you can see, they've created a two-dimensional character rig using a series of these constraints. There's a lot more to it than just a ragdoll (which would just collapse to the ground), they've also implemented inverse kinematics, and some simple AI to allow the rig to stand on its own and turn around.
@WiredKnight: Isn't the ball and socket just a type of joint? I've only heard it called the ball-and-stick constraint system since it uses stick constraints for the bones and ball constraints for the joints.
You're right that it definitely has some inverse kinematics going on. I didn't even notice that until you pointed it out.
I never saw the fascination with any on the N games. They always seemed boring after the first level after you already sad: 'Oh, the physics are notable...'
Hopefully this game will involve more action than N+. I want fighting vs enemies/players not versus the environment/clock. Something that plays kinda like Megaman or Metroid, except deathmatch or other common multiplayer modes. Also with plenty of ranking up and unlocks to use in the game.
