The secrets to gaming gravity

polygon.com:

“Find the fun.” Game development’s common refrain can manifest as the creation of a new game mechanic, the refinement or combination of existing mechanics, or making something simple — like jumping, flying, and fighting — feel great. Even falling.

In games like Fortnite, Apex Legends, and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, plummeting from the open skies to the hard ground below is an experience. Simulated gravity pulls players downward, and game mechanics let them float, spin, and flourish as they fall. Simulated air friction may slow their descent, while visual effects like motion lines and field-of-view trickery help convey a sense of speed. Rocketing back upward to the skies, whether by jump pads or simply the strength of a game character’s two legs, is defined by a separate force that needs to feel fun, too.

Gravity is part of the physics engine of every video game, says Chris Winder, leading gameplay engineer at Apex Legends developer Respawn Entertainment. “The gravity in Apex is about twice that of normal Earth gravity,” Winder said in an email to Polygon. “This, combined with similarly increased jump velocities, is one trick games use that can help to make the game feel faster while still feeling within the bounds of realism.”

Physics simulation is generally thought of as a function of simulation games like the Gran Turismo series or Kerbal Space Program, but Winder points out that “it’s present to some degree in nearly every game we play, from Super Mario Bros. to Rocket League to Apex Legends.”

Video games can not only manipulate the strength of gravity to meet their needs, they can simply ignore it when they want to — all in service of making it feel good, said Jeremy Russo, game director at Velan Studios. His studio’s sports title Knockout City uses a gravity effect inspired by fighting games to help the game feel better. (Interestingly, Knockout City’s gravitational constant takes a different approach to Apex; it’s about half of Earth’s