Make ball feel less heavy

[LegendOJ1 (Owen)]

In my game, the player controls a ball. Currently, I have the system working with the code and setup below. However, there is one issue: the ball feels heavy and unresponsive when trying to switch direction.

All the solutions I have found online involve increasing the force and therefore the speed. I don’t want to make the speed any faster though. How can I make the ball feel less heavy without increasing the maximum speed? I think I basically need to detect when the direction of the ball changes and add a higher force until it switches direction.

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Ball setup (sphere part containing two VectorForces):

My code for moving the ball:

local RunService = game:GetService("RunService")
local Players = game:GetService("Players")

RunService.RenderStepped:Connect(function(dt)
    local newMoveDirection = Players.LocalPlayer.Character:WaitForChild("Humanoid").MoveDirection
    currentBall.MoveForce.Force = newMoveDirection * 1500
    
    -- apply drag force to limit the speed
	local speed = currentBall.AssemblyLinearVelocity.Magnitude		
	if speed > .1 then
		currentBall.DragForce.Force = -currentBall.AssemblyLinearVelocity.Unit * (speed^2) * Vector3.new(1, 0, 1)
	else
		currentBall.DragForce.Force = Vector3.zero
	end
end)

Video of the “heavy” feeling problem:

(notice how it takes a while to slow down to change direction)

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[Kilpamations (Kilp)]

Maybe try changing the mass of the ball?

[Laser_Gun5540]

Use lower density on CustomPhysicalProperties and maybe even turn massless on. Alternatively, try multiplying the force with a fraction of or the entire mass itself so it scales with mass.

[LegendOJ1 (Owen)]

Looks like using CustomPhysicalProperties and lowering the density worked great. I have now caused another issue though - I had code that would shoot the ball forward on jump.

currentBall.AssemblyLinearVelocity = currentBall.AssemblyLinearVelocity * Vector3.new(5, 0, 5) + Vector3.new(0, 60, 0)

With the lower density, this doesn’t work. I have tried increasing the force in the first Vector3, but it doesn’t work. Do I have to tweak any of the other CustomPhysicalProperties or would it just be the density that is affecting this? If it’s the density, how could I keep my “propel” effect with the new density?

[Laser_Gun5540]

Use a LinearVelocity, those are like the deprecated bodymovers and will move it up no matter what

[LegendOJ1 (Owen)]

Using a LinearVelocity worked after figuring out the math to apply the force in the direction the ball is moving - thanks for your help!