Projects: ChipmunkS60

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Using OpenC, the Chipmunk open source physics engine is now available for S60 devices.

Recently, physics-based games have gained trendemous popularity. Almost every 3D game now includes a more or less advanced physics engine. Many games even use physics as their main gameplay element. One of the first popular examples was The Incredible Machine, followed many years later by Bridge Builder. Recently, games like World of Goo combined 2D physics with a unique and very accessible way of presenting physics to players.

With the power of today's smartphones, it is also possible to create physics-based games on mobile devices. A good example is Numpty Physics on Nokia's Maemo platform. David Berger has now ported one of the most popular open source 2D physics engines (Chipmunk) to the S60 platform.

He integrated the physics engine into the Mobile Paint example from Nokia, which already features the user interface for drawing on the screen. The physics engine then takes over the elements and continuously calculates the effects of gravity as well as the interaction of the individual elements with each other.

Draw immovable ground using the line tool. Circles or rectangles are movable objects that will obey the laws of physics and will automatically fall down. If you tap on the color tool, you increase the gravity. Tapping on the size tool decreases gravity; that way, you can even simulate negative gravity.

The Chipmunk engine was ported to S60 using OpenC++. As it requires a touch screen for drawing elements, it only works on S60 5th Edition devices (or later) - e.g., the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic or the Nokia N97. The full source code is available for download below. Currently, compiling for the emulator doesn't work because of problems with that compiler - using the GCCE compiler for the device works fine though.

Quick Facts

Integrated in the Mobile Paint example from Nokia, you can draw rectangles, circles and lines and instantly see them getting physical properties.

Compatibility

• S60 5.x
• Maturity level:
    Prototype / Proof of Concept

Developed by

• David Berger
• "Symbian OS" course project at:
  Upper Austria University of Applied Sciences
  Campus Hagenberg, Department of "Mobile Computing" / "Media Technology and -Design"
• Supervised by: Andreas Jakl

Published

• March 2009

Price

• Freeware

More Information

• Please contact the developers for more information.
• Official project website: FantasyHaze

Download

• ChipmunkS60 (v1.0, S60 5.x)
• ChipmunkS60 Article: "Mobile Physics" (originally published at the Forum Nokia Blogs)

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