Hey everyone,
I’m working on a physics-based game that features ramps like quarter pipes, half pipes, and other curved transitions. I’m trying to build a landing/transition system similar to what you see in skateboard, BMX, or scooter games, where the player smoothly lands back onto the ramp after launching off it.
Right now, I have a physics-based pawn that can launch off ramps just fine, but the landings are inconsistent. I often overshoot or undershoot the ramp. I’m trying to figure out how these games handle this kind of system dynamically (for example, BMX Streets does this really well, even with community-made maps).
What I’ve Tried So Far
1. Predict Projectile Path + Tagged Ramps
I use Predict Projectile Path to trace where the pawn will land.
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If the trace hits a tagged ramp and the ramp’s slope angle is between 45°–85°, I store that hit location.
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Then, I apply a force to guide the player toward that point and align their rotation to the surface normal once they’re close enough.
This sort of works, but if my velocity overshoots or undershoots the ramp, it fails to correct the trajectory.
2. Radial Sphere Trace Below the Player
Instead of using the predicted path, I cast a series of radial sphere traces beneath the pawn (about 5 traces, basically a half circle of traces below my player) to detect tagged ramps and find the best slope angle between 45°–85°.
- Once it finds a valid hit, it stores the location and applies force to guide the pawn toward it.
This approach works better because it can pull/push the player back toward the ramp if they’re slightly off. The downside is that it’s inconsistent. It only works if I’m still above the ramp within that angle range. I also tried having it update to find the closest angle to 85, but it often just stores any angle between that threshold.
3. Ramp Splines
I also experimented with splines that follow the shape of each ramp. The pawn finds the closest spline point and follows it for landing.
This works a little better but similar to the radial trace but would require me to manually set up a spline for every ramp, which isn’t ideal. Especially because I have different ramps with different types of slopes.
If anyone has insight into how games like BMX Streets or Skater XL handle dynamic ramp landings and transitions, I’d really appreciate it. I’ve spent a ton of time iterating on this and can’t quite nail down a consistent solution. I know they have probably spent a lot of time making their systems and isn’t an easy one size fits all solution, but any guidance on how I can try to make something similar would be great.
Thanks in advance for any help or ideas!