Soft Body Physics

[geirj]

In "Automation Game" we surely eventually will be able to testdrive our newly designed cars on a testtrack or a country road. What a treat.

I'll really would like this to be happening with a technology called "Soft Body Physichs" which gives a tremendous realistic
feel to it. This is simply amazing, and is the "new thing" in game design.

Have a look at http://www.rigsofrods.com/content/?s=84 ... dc24852ed8
and
http://www.beamng.com/content/

Rigs of Rods is based on "Ogre" and Beam NG on "Cryengine 3" the latter has the best graphics and possible more realistic physics.
Rigs of Rods have a number of vehicles made by the community, which Beam NG has'nt.
None of them is focused on userdesigned cars, and thats where "Automation Game" will have its edge.

With this technology crashtests and safety could be implemented and visiualized perfectly in "Automation Game" as we know
safety is an all important part of cardesign nowadays.

Is it possible to implement any of these or any other similar technologies into "Automation Game", or is it simply to timeconsuming
or expencive to consider?

[Der Bayer]

We will very probably not be able to drive the cars by ourself, but have some test animations. Mainly because of the reasons you stated in the end. This is a tycoon game, not a racing game and there are only 2.5 people working on this.

[JussiE]

... and Beam NG on "Cryengine 3" the latter has the best graphics and possible more realistic physics...

I think BeamNG Drive -technology demo/game was shifted to use Torque 3D while ago. And the BeamNG physics engine can be used with whatever other 3D-engine you like. I'm no expert in these things but this is what I have understood...

[Cheeseman]

I have been using Rigs of Rods for years now and countless times I have attempted to makes vehicles. They use a node beam system and complicated bots and bobs to make this possible and can only be made manually. It is extremely complicated so for it to be brought into Automation IMO. That plus the fact that it will somehow have to be automated as we can adjust parts of the car as we desire and it will just become overly complicated and messy.

And then there is the fact that you will somewhat have to drive the vehicle before you can see the body deform and that requires time, people and money.

[Kev2442]

In fact, as it's just plain crazy to include or create a testing mode in-game, the Beam NG Drive could be one of the possibly car-converters. I play a bit of RoR, and I see why it's that difficult. But we can still hope this one would be better designed for custom content creation...
I downloaded the tech demo and will soon see how it feels, but for now it looks very promising.