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Game Physics: A Practical Introduction
The practical books focus on giving a more hands-on introduction to game physics using simple C++/C# examples.
The book is an ambitous book through - and covers a lot of ground - rigid bodies, constraint solvers, soft body dynamics, debugging, hacks and tips in a single text!
 | Game Physics: A Practical Introduction by Kenwright |  |
The book is currently on its 6th revision - it's come along way and each revision has added new improvements. 
When I say a long way .... I mean a long way..... I remember tinkering with little bouncy‑ball effects on my Spectrum. Yeah, that old thing. If you've never seen one, don't worry... most of them are sitting behind glass in museums now, gathering dust next to floppy disks and rotary phones.
But honestly, that's the fun part.
All these years later, the maths hasn't really changed. Newton's laws are still doing their thing, just like they always have. The only real difference is that now we've got machines that don't wheeze and groan every time you ask them to do a square root.
And that's why this book isn't about clicking buttons or dragging sliders around some shiny UI. It's about getting right down to the metal - writing the stuff yourself, feeling the bumps, hitting the walls, and figuring out what's actually going on under the hood. It's a bit of a lost art these days, but it's a satisfying one.
People sometimes say, "Why bother? Just use a library." And sure, you can. But you miss out on the good bits - the tinkering, the head‑scratching, the tiny victories when something finally behaves after hours of refusing to.
Rolling your own physics isn't for everyone. It can be rough. It can absolutely test your patience. Sometimes the code just... decides it's going to do whatever it wants, and you're left staring at the screen wondering what life choices brought you here.
But that's where the magic is. There are a dozen different ways to solve every problem, and half the fun is discovering the little trade‑offs, the hacks, the "well, this shouldn't work but it does" moments. There's no one‑size‑fits‑all answer - just the one that fits your problem on your day.
| Table of Contents | |
The following gives you a look at what's in side:
Chapter 1 Introduction and Overview
Chapter 2 Mathematics
Chapter 3 Collision Detection (Part A)
Chapter 4 Basics
Chapter 5 Particles
Chapter 6 Clothes and Fabrics
Chapter 7 Springs (Bouncy, Stretchy, Springy)
Chapter 8 More Collision Detection (Part B)
Chapter 9 Sorting Algorithms (for Games)
Chapter 10 Penalty Methods (Temporary Springs)
Chapter 11 Impulse Methods
Chapter 12 Constraints
Chapter 13 Constraint Solvers
Chapter 14 Ragdolls
Chapter 15 Breakable and Destructible Objects
Chapter 16 Solid Code
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