data/claims/destructible-terrain.yamlDestructible terrain (general)
Concept: Destructible terrain.
The NES Lode Runner booklet says the player may drill only through fissured bricks, not solid surfaces, and that drilled holes fill in again after a period of time; guards caught in a hole when it refills die and are replaced by new guards at the top of the screen. destructible-terrain/lode-runner-dig
About: Q1197566 Destructible terrain
ManualLode Runner instruction booklet (NES, North America) ·p. 4may dig through fissured bricks only, notLode Runner instruction booklet (NES, North America) · p. 4that you've drilled will fill in again after aLode Runner instruction booklet (NES, North America) · p. 4when they refill will die and be replenishedLode Runner instruction booklet (NES, North America) · p. 4by new guards at the top of the screen.The booklet is Nintendo of America's for the 1987 NES version (its copyright line reads ©1987 Broderbund Software), not the 1983 Apple II manual. It gives no refill time. Page 5 adds that some fissured bricks, such as one directly under a ladder, can't be dug.
Cited by: Destructible terrain
Jimmy Maher's history of Lode Runner says drilled pits fill in again after ten seconds, and that monks (the guards) climb out of a pit in a few seconds, so a pit that closes while a monk is still inside buries him. destructible-terrain/lode-runner-refill-time
About: Q1197566 Destructible terrain
WebLode Runner ·paragraph opening "There's a deceptive amount of depth"the pits you drill are automatically filled in again after ten seconds, while monks climb out of pits into which they’ve fallen in just a few seconds.Maher's own description, not a quotation of Doug Smith, and not measured here; it doesn't say which version he timed.
Cited by: Destructible terrain
The NES Bomberman booklet describes two kinds of wall: bricks, which the flames of exploding bombs dissolve and which hide the exitways and power-up panels, and concrete, which bomb fire doesn't damage, so Bomberman can shelter behind it. destructible-terrain/bomberman-bricks
About: Q28464434 Destructible terrain
ManualBomberman instruction booklet (NES, North America) ·p. 4, BRICKSThese dissolve when hit by the flames of exploding bombs.Bomberman instruction booklet (NES, North America) · p. 4, BRICKSHidden within the bricks are exitways and “power-up” panels, so it is wiseBomberman instruction booklet (NES, North America) · p. 4, CONCRETEConcrete walls aren't damaged by bomb fires, so BombermanThe booklet's own year isn't on its pages; it is Nintendo of America's NES booklet.
Cited by: Destructible terrain
The NES Legend of Zelda booklet describes the bomb only as a weapon, a blast against enemies (p. 13); of the invisible doors in caves it says only "That's a secret". destructible-terrain/zelda-booklet-bombs
About: The Legend of Zelda Destructible terrain
ManualThe Legend of Zelda instruction booklet (NES, North America) ·p. 13, Bombenemy with the explosive blast.The Legend of Zelda instruction booklet (NES, North America) · p. 18In the caves where people live are invisible closed doors. How to open them? That's a secret,The whole text layer was searched; "bomb" appears in it once, as the name of that item entry.
Cited by: Destructible terrain
Scorched Earth 1.5's documentation sorts weapons that remove dirt ("Earth Destroying Weapons") from weapons that add it ("Earth Producing Weapons"): the first can clear a mountain in the way or the ground under the firer's own tank, and Liquid Dirt fills holes and smooths the terrain. Dirt left in the air normally falls; a Suspend Dirt setting, 0 by default, lets it hang. destructible-terrain/scorched-earth-dirt
About: Q1786006 Destructible terrain
ManualScorched Earth 1.5 documentation (SCORCH.DOC) ·SCORCH.DOC lines 1115-1122Earth destroying weapons are weapons which cause large (or small) amounts
of dirt to be destroyed.
…
destroying weapons are also good for removing mountains that are in your
way, or even removing dirt beneath yourselfScorched Earth 1.5 documentation (SCORCH.DOC) · SCORCH.DOC lines 1168-1169The category of Earth Producing Weapons includes weapons which take some
form of compacted earth that explodes into a much larger amount of dirt.Scorched Earth 1.5 documentation (SCORCH.DOC) · SCORCH.DOC lines 1184-1185Liquid Dirt Liquid Dirt oozes out wherever it lands, filling
holes and smoothing the terrain.Scorched Earth 1.5 documentation (SCORCH.DOC) · SCORCH.DOC lines 1890-1891Suspend Dirt 0-100 0 This number allows dirt to remain
suspended in the air some of the time.Version 1.5, whose title page reads "Copyright (c) 1991-1995 Wendell Hicken" (line 42); the 1991 release isn't read here. The pinned copy is the shareware zip; the quotes are in SCORCH.DOC inside it.
Cited by: Destructible terrain
The Worms PC manual says the Bazooka "causes devastation to the landscape", and that the Blowtorch and the Drill let worms dig and burrow in it, the Blowtorch at six angles and the Drill straight down. destructible-terrain/worms-landscape
About: Q278771 Destructible terrain
ManualWorms game manual (PC, US) ·p. 5, BazookaCauses devastation to the landscape and large blast wave.Worms game manual (PC, US) · p. 7, Blowtorch and DrillThese utility weapons allow Worms to dig and burrow in the landscape.Worms game manual (PC, US) · p. 7, Blowtorch and DrillThe Blowtorch can be selected at any one of six different angles to digWorms game manual (PC, US) · p. 7, Blowtorch and Drillwhereas the Drill can only drill vertically downCited by: Destructible terrain
Andy Davidson, who programmed Worms, told Time Extension it grew from the artillery games he had loved "since the 8-bit days", two tanks trading shots by angle and power, and that what interested him most was generating random landscapes; letting the tanks move was, he says, new for a genre that was "normally very static". destructible-terrain/worms-origin
About: Q278771 Destructible terrain
InterviewThe Making Of: Worms ·section opening "He began developing a new game"These were where two tanks on each side of the screen had to destroy each other considering angle and power.The Making Of: Worms · section opening "He began developing a new game"the one thing that really interested me was generating random landscapesThe Making Of: Worms · paragraph opening "The Amiga allowed me"This was a new thing for artillery games, which were normally very staticCited by: Destructible terrain
Red Faction's lead designer, Alan Lawrance, told The Ringer that its Geo-Mod system takes a low-polygon shape that mimics an explosion and subtracts it from the world's geometry, floor or wall, leaving a hole; the team wanted to go beyond destroying a chair, a barrel, or a crate to destroying walls, the ground, or a structure. destructible-terrain/red-faction-geo-mod
About: Q2135987 Destructible terrain
InterviewThe Destruction (and Reconstruction) of Destructible Environments in Video Games ·paragraph opening "Here’s how Lawrance explains the Geo-Mod system"We take a low-[polygon] shape that mimics the explosion, and that shape gets subtracted from the world.The Destruction (and Reconstruction) of Destructible Environments in Video Games · paragraph opening "Here’s how Lawrance explains the Geo-Mod system"And you, on the fly, modify that geometry and leave a hole there.The Destruction (and Reconstruction) of Destructible Environments in Video Games · Red Faction sectionWe just wanted to take that beyond that and actually destroy the walls, or the ground, or bring down a structure.Lawrance's words, quoted in Ben Lindbergh's feature (a web source, so tier 1 here).
Cited by: Destructible terrain
Alan Lawrance says that when Volition set out to make a game with destruction it looked at what was out there, "and there really wasn't anything". destructible-terrain/red-faction-precedent
About: Q2135987 Destructible terrain
InterviewThe Destruction (and Reconstruction) of Destructible Environments in Video Games ·Red Faction sectionWhen we came up with the desire to make a game with destruction in it, we looked to see what was out there, and there really wasn’t anythingLawrance's is a developer's view of the field around 1998-2001, not a survey; the atlas doesn't take it as a finding.
Cited by: Destructible terrain
The Ringer's Ben Lindbergh sets Red Faction's Geo-Mod against the "more primitive environmental mayhem in 2D games like Dig Dug (1982), Rampage (1986), or Worms (1995)", and says Red Faction debuted in May 2001. destructible-terrain/ringer-2d-precedents
About: Q2135987 Destructible terrain
InterviewThe Destruction (and Reconstruction) of Destructible Environments in Video Games ·Red Faction sectionprimitive environmental mayhem in 2D games like Dig Dug (1982), Rampage (1986), or Worms (1995)The Destruction (and Reconstruction) of Destructible Environments in Video Games · paragraph opening "Sometimes a deadline does wonders"worked well enough to wow reviewers when Red Faction debuted in May 2001Lindbergh's narration, so secondary although the source is an interview feature (see the source's notes).
Cited by: Destructible terrain
The Ringer reports that John Slagel, Red Faction's lead programmer, wrote a game as a teenager in the mid-1980s on an IBM PCjr in which bombs dropped from an ASCII-art plane left craters in the ground. destructible-terrain/slagel-crater-game
paragraph opening "“It fell on me,” Slagel"Slagel had designed a game on his IBM PCjr in which the player used the space bar to drop bombs from an ASCII art plane onto targets on the ground, creating craters.Lindbergh's account; the game wasn't published.
Cited by: Destructible terrain
Alan Kertz, formerly of DICE, told The Ringer that when Battlefield: Bad Company was made "there were a few games doing destruction, but nobody was doing it on the multiplayer front", and that destruction has to leave craters, negative space, and rubble where players can still hide. destructible-terrain/bad-company-multiplayer
About: Q648128 Destructible terrain
InterviewThe Destruction (and Reconstruction) of Destructible Environments in Video Games ·Bad Company sectionThere were a few games doing destruction, but nobody was doing it on the multiplayer frontThe Destruction (and Reconstruction) of Destructible Environments in Video Games · Bad Company sectionThere’s got to be craters, there’s got to be negative space, there’s got to be rubble leftoversKertz's words in a web source, so tier 1.
Cited by: Destructible terrain
DICE's general manager Karl-Magnus Troedsson told Game Developer that the studio's focus on destruction came out of discussions of how to differentiate itself, and recalled a Battlefield: Bad Company demo in which a tank kept "shooting holes in the houses", forcing a player on foot to move. destructible-terrain/dice-differentiate
About: Q648128 Destructible terrain
InterviewHow DICE fell in love with destruction ·paragraph opening "[The concentration on destruction]"[The concentration on destruction] definitely came out of discussions [about] how we would differentiate ourselves to othersHow DICE fell in love with destruction · paragraph opening "We had one demo I remember"the tank was just going 'boom boom boom,' shooting holes in the houses all the timeCited by: Destructible terrain
Game Developer's 2012 feature says the Frostbite engine debuted in 2008 with Battlefield: Bad Company, which let players destroy parts of walls and parts of vehicles. destructible-terrain/frostbite-debut
About: Q648128 Destructible terrain
InterviewHow DICE fell in love with destruction ·paragraph opening "Earlier DICE games"The Frostbite engine debuted in 2008, powering BattlefieldHow DICE fell in love with destruction · paragraph opening "Earlier DICE games"which allowed players to destroy objects such as parts of walls and parts of vehicles.The writers' gloss, not Troedsson's words, so tier 1.
Cited by: Destructible terrain