Space Orbit Simulator

What it does

We created a prototype 2d space debris modeling system.

The user controls a spacecraft that can enter realistically simulated orbits and interact with the environment.

How we built it

The application is powered by a custom game engine implemented using Simple DirectMedia Layer that is compliant with our own Newtonian physics implementation. This means phenomenon such as orbits are not explicitly implemented, by, for example, locking a ship in a circle around a planet, but rather emerge naturally from the physics simulation.

As a fun little side feature, we also gave the ship a projectile canon it can use to break debris orbiting around the planet apart.

Challenges we ran into

We faced numerous problems during all stages of the development of our project.

One of these problems included the camera object disappearing randomly for no apparent reason.

Another problem we faced was that we needed to implement a particle system that did not previously exist. It was quite difficult to compromise between looks and performance, but we eventually managed to make a working particle culling system.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are very proud of our physics simulation, as a lot of physics had to be reworked for this project.

What we learned

We had to re-learn a lot of things relating to calculus, or in one of our team member's case, learn them for the first time. We also improved our time management skills.