applecinnabun
@applecinnabun

the nature of game development is that sometimes you will need to multiply a physics number by -1 to fix it. you won't know why. you can either agonize over it all day and still not know why, or just surf that sweet, sweet -1 wave into the sunset


Qwarq
@Qwarq
this is so real
wait, what... shit
this is so real
fuck
this is so real
fine, i'll multiply by -1
this is so real

cgranade
@cgranade

what they don't tell you is that this is also true in physics. if you ever get an answer that doesn't make sense, try multiplying by -1, 1/2, or both.

there's concrete reasons for this, like the fact that electrons are defined to have negative charge, or that Schrodinger's equation has a minus sign in most conventions, or that the minkowski metric is either (+++-) or (---+) depending on whether an author is more comfortable with time or space corresponding to negative distance. off-by-half errors come from whether you include spin or not, whether you're working in natural units, and so forth.

almost no one can get physics numbers right, including actual physicists.


You must log in to comment.

in reply to @applecinnabun's post:

I hate how true this is...

But typically it's due to the sequence of some arithmetic (probably...)

I'm just too lazy 9/10, plus I doubt a -1 multiplication is that expensive in the scope of modern computers.

in reply to @cgranade's post: