Okay, so I’ve been messing around with these ragdoll physics games lately, and I thought, “Wouldn’t it be hilarious to make them play volleyball?” So I did just that. Here is the whole journey for you!
The Idea and Setup
First off, I found a basic ragdoll engine. I didn’t want to build that from scratch, no way! I just wanted the floppy, goofy characters. Then, I set up a simple scene: a flat court, a net, and two ragdoll dudes, one on each side.
Making Them Move (Sort Of)
This was the tricky part. I started by giving each ragdoll some basic controls. Think “W, A, S, D” for movement, but since they’re ragdolls, it’s more like “W, A, S, D” for flailing wildly. It was already pretty funny to watch, even without the ball.
- W: Flail upwards (sometimes resulting in a jump… sometimes).
- A/D: Shuffle left and right (more like stumble drunkenly).
- S: Kind of crouch? Or just collapse. It’s a mystery.
Adding the Ball
I added a simple sphere for the ball, gave it some physics (bounciness!), and placed it in the middle of the court. Now the real chaos could begin.
Trying to Hit the Ball
Here’s where things got really interesting. I didn’t want to make it too easy. I wanted the ragdolls to have to really work to hit the ball. So, I made it so that only their hands (or whatever part of their body randomly flails into the ball) could actually affect the ball’s trajectory. I made those little hands move with the players keypress.
This is where things get comical. With the keypress, and the ragdoll randomly swinging its limbs… it was hard!
The First “Game”
I hit “play” and… well, it was a mess. A beautiful, hilarious mess. The ragdolls flopped around, occasionally smacking the ball in completely unpredictable directions. Sometimes they’d hit it over the net. Sometimes they’d knock it straight into their own face. Sometimes they’d just fall over.
Tweaks and Laughs
I spent a good while just tweaking things: adjusting the bounciness of the ball, the force of the ragdolls’ flailing, the height of the net. Each tiny change made a huge difference in the gameplay (and the level of ridiculousness). I added and changed my characters randomly swinging limbs to the ball’s general direction. It improved it a little bit, but it was still the wild west!
The Final Result (For Now)
It’s nowhere near a polished game. It’s barely even a “game” at all. But it’s fun. It’s the kind of fun that makes you laugh out loud, even when you’re playing alone. That’s the magic of ragdoll physics, I guess. They’re just inherently funny, especially when they’re trying (and failing) to play volleyball. I’m still toying around with it, but its pretty awesome so far!
