Build Games That Move Like Reality

Physics simulation isn't just math on a screen. It's how objects fall, collide, and react in ways players can feel. Our autumn 2025 program teaches you to create believable motion and interaction systems that make virtual worlds come alive.

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What Actually Happens Here

We skip the boring lectures. You'll spend most of your time building, testing, breaking things, and figuring out why they broke.

Hands-On From Day One

First week, you're already coding basic collision systems. No theory marathons. We introduce concepts when you need them to solve real problems.

Work With Real Engines

You'll use the same tools professionals rely on. Not simplified versions or educational software. The actual frameworks people ship games with.

Small Groups That Talk

Classes cap at twelve students. Everyone gets individual feedback. When someone's stuck, we actually notice and help them through it.

Student working on physics simulation code with multiple monitors showing real-time particle effects

Physics That Feels Right

Good physics doesn't announce itself. Players just notice when something feels off. A character who falls too slowly. A car that turns like it's on rails. Objects that clip through walls.

We teach you to spot these issues and fix them. You'll learn the difference between technically correct simulation and motion that players believe in. Sometimes those aren't the same thing.

By month three, you'll be adjusting gravity, friction, and mass values by feel. Testing until movement looks natural instead of mathematical.

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People Who Teach This

Both instructors spent years making games before they started teaching. They know what matters and what doesn't.

Ruben Cordova

Physics Systems Instructor

I spent six years building vehicle physics for racing games. Taught myself most of it through trial and error. Now I show students the shortcuts I wish someone had shown me.

Leonor Varela

3D Mathematics Instructor

Math for games is different than school math. I focus on vectors, quaternions, and transforms. The stuff you'll use every single day if you make 3D games.

What You'll Actually Build

Example of rigid body collision detection system in a game environment

Collision and Response

Your first major project is a physics sandbox. Boxes, spheres, and capsules that collide correctly. Sounds simple until you're debugging why two objects pass through each other at high speeds.

You'll implement broad phase detection, narrow phase testing, and impulse resolution. Then optimize it so the frame rate doesn't tank with fifty objects on screen.

Character controller demonstration showing physics-based movement and interaction

Character Controllers

This one frustrates everyone at first. Characters need to climb stairs without bouncing. Stand on moving platforms. Not get stuck in corners. All while feeling responsive to input.

We look at several approaches. Kinematic controllers. Physics-based systems. Hybrid methods. You'll build at least two different versions and compare how they handle edge cases.

How The Program Runs

Nine months total. Classes twice a week. Projects due every three weeks. Most students also work part-time, so we designed the schedule around that.

Months 1-3: Core Systems

Vector math, forces, basic collision detection. You'll build simple prototypes to test concepts. Expect to rewrite your code multiple times as you understand things better.

Months 4-6: Advanced Mechanics

Rigid body dynamics, constraint systems, vehicle physics. Projects get more complex. This is when students start seeing how everything connects.

Months 7-9: Portfolio Project

Build something substantial. Could be a racing prototype, a destruction system, a physics puzzle game. Your choice. We provide guidance but you own the direction.

Program Starts October 2025

Applications open in June. We accept twenty students. Selection is based on a short coding challenge and a conversation about what you want to build. No formal background requirements, but you should already know basic programming.

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