I've been working on a game involving vehicular combat (mainly cars -
think Car Wars or I76) and I am ready to start thinking about damage
models and how weapons/collisions should effect trhe vehicles. I'm
interested both from a realistic stand point and from a gameplay
enhancing standpoint. It should be noted that "realistic" in this case
means armored cars using advanced plastic alloy armor and composites for
everything from windshields to tires...so the important thing is to be
internally consistent, not realistic in terms of modern day technology.
From a car's physics/handling standpoint, what are the effects of a tire
going flat, suddenly running on a rim, etc...? What about suspension
damage (I'm presuming mainly bent/tweaked). Also, what about wheels
losing alignment? Does this happen often?
As for engines and transmissions, what is the most likely effect of
damage to an engine (assuming anything from leaking a bit of oil to
losing all it's oil, to having a good chunk taken out of it)?
Any suggestions from the physics experts out there on how to model the
effects on a tire when the body is bent around to contact it?
As for the more theoretical design, I'm still up in the air about how to
implement armor. Wheels/tires will definitely be separate damagable
components as will most equipment/components in the car (again, think
car wars for those who have played it). I'm not that thrilled with
simply having "armor values" for each side, though. I'd like something
more representative of how armor and projectiles/collisions/explosions
interact. For example, it is quite possible for a projectile to go
through armor while leaving the armor largely intact. any thoughts on
how to implement this while still having the game be fun? I could go
for the old "critical hit" chance, but that doesn't thrill me. I have
no problem with calculating the impact force based on projectile
weight/speed/angle of impact (and the similar characteristics for
collisions and explosions). The question would be how this impact
(which I'm already modelling for physics purposes) can be translated in
to damage.
Any other thoughts on the whole process? I know this is all sort of
vague, but it's an area I don't know much about (neither from a real
world physics pov nor from a game design pov).
All help is appreciated!
Aaron
