“Net force” is important, because it means that if two forces are pushing on either side of an object with the same amount of force, the object will not move. Newton’s first law of motion states “an object will remain at rest or in uniform motion with constant velocity unless acted on by a net external force.” This means that an object will not move unless the net force acts upon it. Indeed, the process of applying Newton’s laws in a video games is often called a “simulation”, often through the use of a special sub-system called a “physics engine”.īefore we can begin applying Newton’s three laws to video games, we should be clear on what exactly they are. In video games, we also apply these same laws, but in a video game context. In real life, we explain how objects move and interact using Sir Isaac Newton’s three laws of motion. In order to become immersed in a video game, players often expect the game world to react in a realistic way, which means physics calculations. Increasingly important in today’s video games is the use of physics. As computer hardware technology has gotten faster and more advanced, so too has the entertainment software running on it.
