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Author Topic: GamaSutra and the Physics of Super Mario Galaxy  (Read 5784 times)

David

  • Trusts the fungus
« on: April 08, 2008, 09:22:22 PM »


While I am not going to attempt to fully understand every aspect of the article, GamaSutra has an article up about the gravity system used in Super Mario Galaxy.  The more technically-minded folks out there might find it interesting -- as best as I can tell, the gravitational pull on Mario is generated based on the closest polygon on the planetoid and a single ray dropped down from Mario's center.

If this makes more sense to you than it does to me, you are either Megabyte or the sort of person interested in reading the article.  Go take a look, either way.

Source: GamaSutra
« Last Edit: April 08, 2008, 09:41:23 PM by Super-Jesse »
Let's do the Mario, all together now!

Super-Jesse

  • Unstoppable News Machine
« Reply #1 on: April 08, 2008, 09:26:43 PM »
as best as I can tell, the gravitational pull on Mario is generated based on the closest polygon on the planetoid and a single ray dropped down from Mario's center.

.....Haha planetoid is a funny word.

All this talk about Mario Kart Wii has made this news a refreshing change of pace.
<Kojinka> When I saw this thread back on top, I was afraid this was gonna be another pointless bump by a new member, but when I saw Super-Jesse's username, my fears were laid to rest.

MaxVance

  • Vance Vance Revolution
« Reply #2 on: April 08, 2008, 10:07:24 PM »
I'm surprised that SMG gravitation hasn't yet been the subject of an xkcd comic.
Remember that your first Goomba boldly you walk? When Mario touched that mushroom being brought up more largely remember that you are surprised? Miscalculate your jump that pit remember that it falls?

ShadowBrain

  • Ridiculously relevant
« Reply #3 on: April 08, 2008, 10:09:33 PM »
.....Haha planetoid is a funny word.
Was that a word before SMG?
"Mario is your oyster." ~The Chef

MaxVance

  • Vance Vance Revolution
« Reply #4 on: April 08, 2008, 10:11:03 PM »
Yes.
Remember that your first Goomba boldly you walk? When Mario touched that mushroom being brought up more largely remember that you are surprised? Miscalculate your jump that pit remember that it falls?

Chupperson Weird

  • Not interested.
« Reply #5 on: April 08, 2008, 10:18:48 PM »
SURROUNDED BY NUBS
SURROUNDED BY NUBS

I dunno about anyone else but I found that article to be pretty straightforward. Also, learn English.
That was a joke.

MEGAߥTE

  • In flames
« Reply #6 on: April 08, 2008, 11:09:05 PM »
I thought the gravity system was rather obvious, and I'm a bit surprised nobody bothered to write it out until now.  It's neat that he even included some code, though.
Also, his explanation isn't completely true because it doesn't take into account the directed gravity zones within the game.

Suffix

  • Steamed
« Reply #7 on: April 08, 2008, 11:13:35 PM »
Wow, this looks to be one of the most interesting series of articles I've ever seen on video games! While I don't know how the code behind this works, I was already well aware that Mario automatically aligns himself with an invisible polygonal plane tangent to a planet's surface below directly below him. That's a mouthful right there, but it just means that there's an invisible, flat plane below Mario, on the ground, at all times. This plane, again, is tangent to the surface polygon directly below Mario.

The gravitational zones, however, are even simpler than Mario's ability to fall towards any curved surface. In that case, there would just be four planes for up, down, left, and right, and Mario would fall towards any depending on his current location.

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