game
youtube
A ship in Asteroids has an angle and it has a velocity, and they are two
different numbers. Turning changes where it points. Thrust adds to where it is going. That gap between the two is the entire feel of the game.
Turning an angle into a direction is two lines — cosine is the x, sine is the y — and then thrust adds that direction to the velocity. Adds. The mistake is setting it instead, and if you do that you have not built a spaceship, you have built a car: it goes exactly where it points and it stops the instant you let go of the key.
The bit everybody has felt and nobody has ever seen drawn: turn the ship a hundred and eighty degrees while it is moving and hold there. The nose points backwards. The velocity does not care.
Game Shorts #5. One mechanic per video, then the full game in long form
|
2026/09/14
youtube
