Simulating realistic ball behaviour in interactive videogames

A system, comprising:

• a memory;
• and
• a processor, communicatively coupled to the memory, the processor configured to:
• determine a current spatial position of a simulated ball rolling on a surface of a simulated terrain;
• determine, based on a slope of the surface of the simulated terrain, a likelihood of ball dribbling;
• identify a segment of a path of the simulated ball over the surface from the current spatial position of the simulated ball, such that a dribbling criterion based on the likelihood of ball dribbling is satisfied on the segment of the path;
• determine, based on a speed of the simulated ball, a dribble-simulating surface angle adjustment range;
• choose a dribble-simulating surface angle adjustment value from the dribble-simulating surface angle adjustment range;
• adjust, based on the dribble-simulating surface angle adjustment value, a surface normal of a segment of the surface on the path;
• and
• determine, based on the adjusted surface normal, a next spatial position of the simulated ball.

A computer-readable non-transitory storage medium comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to:

• determine a current spatial position of a simulated ball rolling on a surface of a simulated terrain;
• determine, based on a slope of the surface of the simulated terrain, a likelihood of ball dribbling;
• identify a segment of a path of the simulated ball over the surface from the current spatial position of the simulated ball, such that a dribbling criterion based on the likelihood of ball dribbling is satisfied on the segment of the path;
• determine, based on a speed of the simulated ball, a dribble-simulating surface angle adjustment range;
• choose a dribble-simulating surface angle adjustment value from the dribble-simulating surface angle adjustment range;
• adjust, based on the dribble-simulating surface angle adjustment value, a surface normal of a segment of the surface on the path;
• and
• determine, based on the adjusted surface normal, a next spatial position of the simulated ball.