ianxofour | Bad Piggies: Segway Piggy Transporter @ianxofour | Uploaded 11 years ago | Updated 2 hours ago
Here is an interesting demonstration of some unusual physics in the game. Imagine trying to lift yourself by pulling up on your own hair. It doesn't work because of Newton's 3rd Law, which indicates that every force (pulling up on hair) has an equal and opposite force (downward force by your arm pulling on the hair). In the Bad Piggies game, the driving wheel doesn't really follow Newton's 3rd Law. In this case, the drive wheel is literally driving on the pig's head. The wheel pulls the vehicle up, but since there is an imbalance in the game engine's 3rd law, the pig's head does not exert an equal opposing force back onto the vehicle. The net effect is a force from the drive wheel along the tangent at the point of contact with the pig. As a result, the drive wheel pulls the vehicle up and right. This force then rotates the vehicle clockwise, which would cause the vehicle to flip forward unless it is countered by something else. The umbrella offers the negative feedback to prevent the flipping, as its drag resistance increases as the vehicle stands more upright. The balloon at startup is used to rock the vehicle so that the pig rolls to the drive wheel.
Here is an interesting demonstration of some unusual physics in the game. Imagine trying to lift yourself by pulling up on your own hair. It doesn't work because of Newton's 3rd Law, which indicates that every force (pulling up on hair) has an equal and opposite force (downward force by your arm pulling on the hair). In the Bad Piggies game, the driving wheel doesn't really follow Newton's 3rd Law. In this case, the drive wheel is literally driving on the pig's head. The wheel pulls the vehicle up, but since there is an imbalance in the game engine's 3rd law, the pig's head does not exert an equal opposing force back onto the vehicle. The net effect is a force from the drive wheel along the tangent at the point of contact with the pig. As a result, the drive wheel pulls the vehicle up and right. This force then rotates the vehicle clockwise, which would cause the vehicle to flip forward unless it is countered by something else. The umbrella offers the negative feedback to prevent the flipping, as its drag resistance increases as the vehicle stands more upright. The balloon at startup is used to rock the vehicle so that the pig rolls to the drive wheel.
