Reducing CPU intensity of physics games

Hi everyone,

So I've made my little physics game and it's quite fun however when I export it to my iPad it slows down to unplayable levels. The game basically involves bouncing a physics ball between different objects to score points. My game has been simplified as much as possible and now it simply cannot be simplified any further without become boring (i.e too few physics objects). I should mention that at the moment the ball, the blocks and the borders are all physics objects however I only really need the ball to be a physics object but I can't seem to make a physics ball bounce off the other objects without them being physics objects too.

Is there any fix for this?

Any way to make a physics object bounce off a solid object?

Are there any other physics engines I could use which are less CPU intensive so the game is playable on iPad?

How come games like Angry Birds are playable on mobile phones when they seem to incorporate quite a few different physics objects simultaneously?

Sorry about all the questions! Im just really excited cause I've just about finished my game however now I'm a bit scared that it will never make it off the computer and onto mobiles and tablets.

Hope somebody can help

The bullet behavior has the ability to bounce off solids. That will be far less CPU intensive than physics.

Hi Arima,

Thanks for the reply. I need physics behavior in the ball as Im using impulses etc. to control it. Is there a way to have bullet behavior and physics at the same time?

I tried it but it looks like they are not compatible.

Not really, no. You could use some math to calculate the effect on the ball's speed and trajectory and set the speed and angle of movement of the bullet behavior, but that's all I can think of.

There is a "set stepping iterations" action of the physics behavior that you could try to fiddle with to reduce the accuracy but increase the speed of the physics simulation.