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This course is a gentle introduction into the world of 2D game physics! We'll review all the beautiful math that provides the foundation for most physics engines, starting with a strong review of vectors, matrices, basic trigonometry, rigid-body collision, and touching a little bit of calculus as well.
The lectures are designed to teach all concepts from first principles. In our journey, we'll review several topics from physics, like velocity, acceleration, integration, mass, forces, gravity, drag, friction, rigid body dynamics, collision detection, constraints, etc.
We'll also put theory into practice by coding a very simple 2D physics engine from scratch using the C++ programming language.
We'll start by writing a simulation of particle physics, which is a good start for us to address concepts like movement, forces, displacement, and integration.
We'll then proceed to work with rigid bodies by adding shapes to our objects, like circles, rectangles, and polygons. We'll also learn how to code the collision detection and collision resolution between these rigid bodies.
We'll conclude our C++ implementation by adding constraints to our physics engine, which will help us add different types of objects to our engine, like joints and ragdolls. Ultimately, constraints will help us improve the stability of our engine, and they are a great opportunity for us to discuss some interesting ideas from calculus.
All you really need is a simple code editor and a C++ compiler. We'll use a cross-platform library called SDL to display our graphics, and since we can find a C++ compiler for virtually any operating system, you can follow along on either Windows, macOS, or Linux!
Also, make sure you have pen and paper ready for the lectures. This course will probably be a little bit different than other programming courses you took before. We will take our sweet time and make sure we understand every formula we find along the way!
This is a self-contained course with no formal prerequisites. However, you will probably get the most out of it if you already know the basics of coding (if-else, loops, functions).
We will explore some very interesting math along the way, but all you really need is to know some simple algebra. If you know how to solve the equation below for x, then you should be able to follow along and have fun like everyone else!
And finally, if you never programmed in C++ before... don't worry! Many successful students come from different languages like Java, Python, JavaScript, Swift, and others. We'll go over the ugly parts of C++ together.
Gustavo Pezzi is a university lecturer in London, UK. He has won multiple education awards as a teacher and is also the founder of pikuma.com.
Gustavo teaches fundamentals of computer science and mathematics; his academic path includes institutions such as Pittsburg State University, City University of London, and University of Oxford.
This course is not just a simple tutorial on how to use a physics engine like Box2D or Bullet. This course focus on the foundation of what makes physics engines tick, including a comprehensive review of the beautiful math that comes with it.
While you can find other resources on game physics out there, most of them are either too theoretical or overwhelmingly complex. This course is a beginner-friendly introduction to the world of game physics, providing a mix between the theory we'll see in the lectures with the practical examples we'll write using C++.
So, if you ever wanted to understand what happens under the hood of a physics engine, then get ready and buckle up! This is going to be a 35-hour journey of pure nerd fun.
73% of our students come back for another course
We don't offer discounts on our courses. Ever.
"Great course! Approaching a topic as difficult as a physics engine in a beginner-friendly way is no small feat. This course opened my eyes to many possibilities and concepts. Thank you very much Gustavo, I hope one day we have the 3D version too!"
"I love this course, gustavo made complex physics and math easy to understand."
"Amazing Course! The only course I know that goes into constraints and impulse solvers. Gustavo breaks it down very simple so that it is easy to understand. Learnt a lot about game physics. Thanks so much!"
"Absolutely worth it! Besides being an incredible programmer, Gustavo is a really thoughtful and patient teacher. He breaks down really well these concepts and presents them in very easy and digestable manner. The course is math heavy, but things do make sense if you stick with it. Even if you do not end up writing game physics from scratch further down the line, knowing how they tick internally will immensely help you if you choose to use and configure a third party library."
"Probably one of the best courses I've ever taken. Extremely informative, well taught and made. A great base from which to start learning more advanced game physics topics. A great introduction to 2d game physics programming!"
