Hi!
It’s February and as promised last time, we have another Defold Community Challenge! Some of you might have solved a simple caesar cypher last time and know that this time, we encourage you to play with PHYSICS! 
Goal
Create a Defold project with physics simulations involved.
Your goal is to make something that actively breaks, reacts, or responds physically in a fun, surprising, or expressive way. Think about using physics as the core mechanic. Make things that collapse, explode, fall apart, interact, bounce, deform, break, chain-react, or otherwise do cool physical stuff.
You’re encouraged to push physics to do interesting things: clever puzzles, emergent interactions, destruction effects, simulated materials, physics-driven animations, or even creative visualizations of forces.
Your work should demonstrate an interesting, interactive, or visually compelling use of physics - everything as long as the physics behaviour is intentional, visible, and meaningful to the experience, ideally something that wouldn’t exist without it.
Examples of interpretations of the goal:
- A stack of objects that collapses when disturbed
- A physics based vehicle driving simulation
- A ragdoll playground
- A marbles rolling toy
- Fluid or gas simulations
- Creative uses of joints, collision shapes, forces, or impulses
- Charms like soft bodies, breakables, destructible terrain, and so on.
The goal is for the community to play with physics, learn more about it and have fun doing so!
Time
27 days
Start: 2026-02-01T15:00:00Z
Finish: 2026-02-27T15:00:00Z (with a grace period if needed for late entries)
Submission Requirements
Submit your entry in this thread with:
- The title and a brief description
- A playable build (HTML5 / desktop)
- A link to the repository with the source stored
- Optional visuals (GIFs/screenshots)
Entries must:
- Be built in Defold
- Meet the goal description, use the physics in some essential way
- Be self-contained, open-source projects
Rewards
Defold sponsors 3 awards for the Challenge - €25 Steam Gift Cards! Let’s play some cool games (pst, especially ones made with Defold!)
In order to reward both experienced developers for their stunning work and beginners who try their best, the Defold Team will select 3 winners, one in each category:
Best Technical: The best, most advanced entry from technical point of view
Best Visual: The most striking, visually beautiful entry.
Best First-time: The best entry by user, who didn’t participate in the previous challenges
Inspiration & Ideas
Here are starters and helpful resources:
- Defold Physics Examples
- Defold Polygon Editor - for making convex collision shapes
- Defold Debris - open-source project with spawning multiple physics objects
- Water Sources - open-source game with meta-balls fluids using Defluid
- Throw a Crow - open source game similar to Angry Birds
- Kenney Physics 2D Assets
- Kenney Impact Sounds
Tutorials:
- Tutorials on 2D physics and 3D by @Asatte
- Defold Physics Tutorial by Game From Scratch
- Defold Physics Tutorial by David Chadwick
- Space Shooter tutorial by Unfolding Gamedev
- Defold Meshes by @mozokevgen - if you are thinking about “breaking” meshes
- Defold Physics API, especially physics.set_event_listener that allows you to listen to physics callbacks in a single script (no need to add scripts to game objects with collision components to handle them).
Defold has a built-in physics engine, but if you’d like to experiment with other solutions check out community extensions:
- Defold Box2D Native Extension by @d954mas
- Defold 2D Collisions Native Extension by d954mas
- Defold React Physics Native Extension by d954mas
- Defold AABB Native Extensions for 2D and 3D by @selimanac
Previous Community Challenges:
https://forum.defold.com/t/community-challenge-recreate-balatro-card-effects-in-defold/76854
https://forum.defold.com/t/community-challenge-explosions/77315
https://forum.defold.com/t/community-challenge-post-processing-effects/79178
https://forum.defold.com/t/community-challenge-tiny-worlds/81931
Let’s Break It!
We’re excited to see what you’ll build!
Ask questions here, share ideas, and collaborate!
