Trying to get actual good arrow physics in 2D

Questions & Answers
1

Hello, I have a 2D game that you can shoot arrows. To do this, I have 2 sprites for my arrow asset, I have an arrowhead and an arrow body glued together with Fixed Joint 2D.

The arrow head and the arrow body have their own Rigidbody2D and Collider2D. However, I’m trying to have atleast a somewhat realistic physics so the arrow head is top heavy and leads the arrow.

Here is a GIF of the arrow physics I have now

Imgur

As you can see, the arrow kinda has some realistic physics midway but shooting straight up the arrow does not turn towards the arrow head, here at the settings for each of the rigidbody

165890-arrowhead.png
165890-arrowhead.png490×550 42.9 KB

Arrowhead components ^

165891-arrowbody.png

Arrowbody components ^

It’s been a lot of trial and error adjusting the drag, mass, and gravity of both items, my standard gravity scale is 2.5 for the sake of the player physics feeling better.

What should I change to accomplish better arrow physics? Is there a better approach for having arrows?

2

The arrow has 2 points to it, the arrow head and the arrow body. The arrowhead is heavier than the body for it to fly straight.

Here is the component with the arrow head and arrow body:
165950-arrowheadgood.png

Arrowhead Rigid ^

165951-arrowbodygood.png

Arrowbody Rigid ^

What I learned here is Mass plays a bigger roll than I though, the arrow body is at 1 and head 5x masser, lowering the head mass makes the physics behave weird and this is the sweet spot I found for it. I would rather have a consistent gravity scale so they are the same based on my player gravity scale. Linear drag plays more of a part in the body to simulate air and I figure angular drag can help with the realism (You can correct me on this though I don’t actually know how an arrow works)

Speed at which arrow is show it handled by a script on the camera that helps it shoot in the right direction

Here is a gif of the result I am happy with, tweaking to preference of course