Hello developers and any staff members (hopefully!),
I recently started thinking about creating a horror game, and I needed a way to create realistic tentacles. But, due to the current physics of Roblox (blocky and rigid), there is no way to achieve the squishy-ness of a tentacle. Inspired from Blender, I had an idea of something that Roblox can add for this: soft-body physics.
If you do not know soft-body physics, here is an example:
Soft body is anything from squishing an object to crumpling it (by definition, it is deforming that object in any shape or form).
Although it’s Roblox’s iconic look, the blocky aspect of this platform shouldn’t be everything. By adding in soft-body physics, developers can create more realistic and interactive environments. Of course, I shouldn’t be focusing too much on the solution, but allowing us to configure a soft part’s distinct properties (like some of the ones below from Blender) would give us more control over this type of physics.
Use Cases
The addition of this type of physics can have so many use cases, that I would never be able to list them all out! But, here are some from many subcategories of soft-body physics:
LAUNCHPAD - parts that shoot a player high in the air. (JIGGLE)
They already exist in many games, but in forms of rigid blocks which is not really what players expect. If a player touches a launchpad, it should jiggle a little bit (sort of like slime blocks from Minecraft).
TENTACLES - usually used in horror or an aquatic type of game. (SQUISHY-NESS)
It’s hard enough animating a tentacle that has many joints (to have curvature), but the end result is usually not the best it can possibly be due to it missing the vital squishy-ness that animal body parts have.
TRAMPOLINES - similar to launchpads but don’t allow players to defy gravity. (ELASTICITY)
In real life, if someone jumps on a trampoline, it bends down a little in the center. But in Roblox, we currently have no easy and efficient way to do this, which leaves out that nice touch that players love.
SPRINGS - round coils that are used for various ranges of movement. (TENSION AND COMPRESSION)
From little toys to car suspensions, springs are everywhere around us. To create a realistic car, not only do the tires have to press in a little at the points of contact with the ground, but the suspension should make the body of the car bob a little–both of which require soft-body physics.
CRASH - many racing games most likely have something built in for a crash the vehicles may experience. (CRUMPLING)
If a Roblox car speeds into a wall, right now with the current physics, the most realistic thing we can do is let all the parts loose and create an explosion. However, cars are designed so that they crumple at the intended spots (i.e. the front and back). Soft-body physics would allow the Roblox car to actually crumple in the front because the parts that make up that area would have certain low resilience properties that would come into play during contact with the wall.
If This Feature is Added
A player’s experience is significantly amplified if their surroundings behave like they intend them to. For example, things that are soft are supposed to be soft (i.e. a rubber ball). Roblox is seeing a vital transition from a novel, blocky game to a modern and realistic engine. As we continue to grow, we must remember our motto we promised our players: “powering imagination”. By adding in this type of physics, not only are the use cases above (and many more) possible, but developers have a sandbox approach when creating their dream games. I believe that Roblox should improve its engine in a way where fewer and fewer developers can see it’s limitations (i.e. the saying, “anything’s possible on Roblox”).
Thank you for reading my request,
and Happy Pi Day! 