Add support for either Box2D or Bullet?

[RubyNova]

There has been many discussions about LLAPI supporting a variety of games.

To that end, I am wondering if we should provide physics support via Box2D or Bullet.

It would only be LLAPI though, as I have no intention of supporting physics in the HLAPI due to the nature of said HLAPI.

Thoughts?

[capnkenny]

Hmm...I think this really comes down to how versatile this engine should be.

If we're still on track for all 2D but a focus on VN, I think this would be a really interesting addition later on - not only can we provide physics for non-VN users but we can also give VNs a unique quirk to mix things up a bit from the norm.

Also, no HLAPI? (I'm not familiar with what the HLAPI for this would look like so don't mind me.)

[RubyNova]

No HLAPI specifically because the HLAPI is geared towards bog-standard VN tools such as dialogue box, "CGs" as they're called (why are they even called this though? All I ever think about is the trauma Unity Cg gave me) and so forth.

Therefore I don't think an HLAPI for physics makes much sense.

[capnkenny]

Ahh, okay that makes sense. This goes in line with a (unsure if) proposed editor that was briefly discussed in Discord.

[RubyNova]

The design for the visual editor is very much up in the air, but, yes I imagine that the vanilla editor will just be for VNs.

I hadn't really considered the implications for the editor for this stuff. I'm unsure if we even want to consider supporting physics in the editor, we need to watch the scope there I'd reckon.

Maybe the editor can support scriptable editor modules, so we can add support for things like this in-editor later if there's a demand for it? Would be a safe way to cut down on workload, at least until the demand is there.

[capnkenny]

I'd agree, however I suggest we open a new proposal for the editor so that this thread does not go OoS 🙂

[RubyNova]

So back to the main focus of the proposal; is this a good idea in any capacity?

[capnkenny]

I believe it is a good addition once we can scope it out (with graphics and audio getting done, as well as the possible revamp of NovelRenderer, I think we'd probably push this back until that is done).

Looks like they're both accessible via vcpkg as well 👍

[RubyNova]

Awesome to hear! But yes I agree it is not an immediate priority, I want to get the VN focus semi done

[Pheubel]

i'm gonna have a look at to how i could incorporate box2d

[Pheubel]

Adding support for both box2d and bullet should be possible. But it might be better to first come up with a plugin interface, that way it should be easy for users to just use a simplified implementation through the plugin interface. If the plugin interface does not provide enough power to the user, then they should still be able to use the underlying physics engine.

it might be good to throw this issue on the backburner for not and instead look at providing a standardized interface that can handle the heavy lifting in a new issue.