We have discovered over 60 different ways NOT to create soft-body physics. Since we are indie and self-funded, currently without deadlines, we have that luxury to explore, experiment, and even fail a few times in the process. If we had written a whitepaper then, it could have led many developers in the wrong direction, wasting their production cost and efforts. For example, 12 days ago, the framerate on the same objects in the video above was roughly 30-40 fps. We do not wish to write a tutorial this early because our process is continuously evolving as we move forward. Once we have released a game or two on Desktop and mobile and it is a proven success, we may write an in-depth tutorial or whitepaper. However, we have made enough progress to fully integrate them with the rest of our Tatsu Toybox framework. Soft-Mesh and Dynamic Colliders are both still a work in progress. Soft-body physics or dynamics are much more advanced it is more CPU intensive and requires heavier calculations. Note: Soft-mesh is not a soft-body replacement it is an alternative. We will still use soft-body physics in our games, but only when soft-mesh can not do the job. Soft-Mesh allows us to add more and larger objects and control how the mesh deforms after a collision. On the other hand, Soft-Mesh doesn’t require much processing power, mainly because it only deforms the mesh – not process and calculate the springs, mass, velocities, and all of the nodes of the body. Soft-body physics in Unity can achieve catastrophic vehicle damage and deformation but sometimes at high CPU cost. For example, driving a vehicle in a racing game at 200 mph and “accidentally” running into a wall should result in catastrophic damage – not just a few scratches on the bumper or only a broken headlight. Soft-body physics adds a level of destruction in games most gamers are guilty of enjoying.

Unlike static colliders, dynamic colliders can be controlled by a rigidbody. Dynamic Colliders are advanced shape matching convex colliders that mimics almost any shape at runtime, even water-like forms.

In addition, it works in conjunction with our dynamic colliders. Since it does not require heavy calculations, it is about 80% faster than soft-body physics and can work on mid-level mobile phones with excellent performance. Soft-mesh is a new alternative to soft-body physics in Unity that handles only mesh deformation and collisions.

Soft body physics games