Getting Started On Space Sim - Need Direction

[meathelix]

I'm currently working on a bit of a nonstandard space sim, in that the player can exit control of the craft and walk around the ship at any time, as well as walk from one ship to another docked ship, walk from a ship to a space station interior, etc.

What I have are basically a few different collision and physics frames of reference that overlap each other here and there, and I need to know if Bullet has the features I need for such an endeavor in addition to some general advice on which direction to start exploring and implementing. I'm a long time programmer and game dev, but this is my first serious foray into integrating a physics engine into a 3d game.

Quick basics:

• The ships are an assemblage of 3d tiles that are basically defined in a 2d array. Everything is on a grid and everything is fairly low-fi in the visuals, e.g. lots of box shapes.
  The player can walk around the ship, through corridors and rooms all made from these tiles.
  The player can pilot the ship.
  Ships can dock with one another.
  There may or may not be gravity inside of a ship.
  The player may be able to walk on the exterior of a ship, given the continuous nature of the sim I'm going for.

Eventually there will be more complicated things like destructible ships and planets, but I'm trying to tackle a smaller, more manageable chunk first before working up to something a little less sane.

[gennoevus]

I'm currently working on a bit of a nonstandard space sim, in that the player can exit control of the craft and walk around the ship at any time, as well as walk from one ship to another docked ship, walk from a ship to a space station interior, etc.

Hey! I've had this idea for years!! I was thinking of doing something like this but it wasn't high enough on my priority list. You beat me to it - this sounds cool and if you do it well I must have it!
I am newish to bullet myself so I don't want to say too much - other than that I think bullet should be able to do all of this .. zero gravity and walking outside the ship might be hard though - when there is no gravity, there is no 'up,' making a character controller complicated. I'm sure you can figure something out though.