Stable Static Worlds
There were some gnarly physics edge cases that did not like my moving world shape colliders. It was time to finish these off once and for all. I decided the best solution would be to keep the current world still while the rest of the solar system moves around it. So large world surfaces no longer move and physics passes can be a lot simpler.
To freeze the current world the solar system has to simulate around a fixed point as if the fixed point were moving naturally within the solar system. Hmm.
I set about scribbling vectors, orbits, and rotations and came up with a simple set of rules. Getting the solar system to look right from this new perspective took some figuring out.
Above you'll see as Mars (left side green circle that doesn't move) 'orbits' the sun (left side small yellow dot) via the sun orbiting Mars with Earth getting dragged along. Looks odd but to a Martian it's indistinguishable from Mars flying around in space. Almost.
Next comes rotation. Getting the worlds into the right positions was only part of the problem. They still need to look like they're spinning, even when the world you're standing on is held still.
Whew, when all that's done by every object in the solar system but the static one it produces an identical effect as if the static body is rotating about it's own axis.
With all that everything looks like the place you're standing on is moving and spinning through space.
On the art side of things, someone suggested that black bars could look cool. So I took a crack at making a cinematic intro. I like how it interacts with my parallax system a bit.
