November 15, 2024

Chipmunk Physics Reaches Version 5.0

Posted December 11, 2009 at 11:01am by iClarified · 4190 views
Howling Moon Software has announced a new version of the popular Chipmunk Physics engine. Chipmunk is a simple, lightweight and fast 2D rigid body physics library written in C. It's licensed under the unrestrictive, OSI approved MIT license, meaning it's free to use even in closed source, commercial games. Our aim is to give 2D developers access the same quality of physics you find in newer 3D games.

New in 5.0:
* New joints/constraints system: Much more flexible and programable than before. Joints have adjustable parameters now so you can use them like servos, etc.
* Raycasting: useful and implemented very efficiently
* New collision callback API: You now can register callbacks for collision begin/separate events among other useful things.
* Sensor shapes: Collision shapes that call callbacks but don't generate collisions, like sensors in Box2D or triggers in Unity
* API for safely removing objects from the space from callbacks

Chipmunk Physics is used in many hit games including StickWars, I Dig It (Both number one on the iPhone App Store for weeks), Xmoto, Zany Doodle, Pinch 'n Pop, and our own Twilight Golf and Crayon Ball! It's found in the popular iPhone library cocos2D, and has been seen on the iPhone, Mac, Windows, PSP, and Wii! Chipmunk is usable from many languages including Ruby, Python, Java, C, and more. Chipmunk has a very active community that tends to quickly address questions and welcome new developers.

A full feature list may be found on the documentation and download page. A set of demonstrations is available for download. Source is included, so it's a great way to learn the engine by example.


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