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coffeecoderstoday at 7:32 AM3 repliesview on HN

Funny thing: this feels "realistic" because it’s not perfect physics. A perfectly simulated Hooke's law spring actually looks fake and too stiff. But if you let the animation wobble a bit more and slow down the damping, our brain reads it as weight and squishiness.

It’s basically controlled sloppiness.


Replies

dataflowtoday at 9:51 AM

> this feels "realistic" because it’s not perfect physics. A perfectly simulated Hooke's law spring

Confused. Perfect physics means perfectly simulating reality, not perfectly simulating an unreal idealized formula. Are you saying Hooke's law doesn't feel realistic or are you saying a simulator for a realistic spring doesn't feel realistic?

skrebbeltoday at 9:51 AM

Elasto Mania is a great game from decades ago (but still for sale!) that exploits this fact to a hilarious extent. You control a motor bike with excessively wobbly physics making all kinds of stunts possible (and necessary, to complete the levels) that are spectacular and surprising.

https://elastomania.com/

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iamflimflam1today at 8:12 AM

Same is true in a lot of old platformer games. Real physics feels horrible.

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