Deformable Terrain on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
In
How Cover Shaped Gaming's Last Decade
An early example of a shooter game that featured fully destructible environments was '' Kagirinaki Tatakai'', an early run and gun shooter developed by Hiroshi Ishikawa for the
In video game
A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...
s, destructible environments or deformable terrains are environments that can be destroyed by the player. It may refer to any part of the environment, including terrain, buildings and other man-made structures. A game may feature destructible environments to demonstrate its graphical prowess, underscore the potency of the player character's given abilities, and/or require the player to leverage them to solve problems or discover new paths and/or secrets.
Early examples include the Taito
is a Japanese company that specializes in video games, Toy, toys, arcade cabinets, and game centers, based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The company was founded by Michael Kogan in 1953 as the importing vodka, Vending machine, vending machines, and Juk ...
shooter game
Shooter video games, or shooters, are a subgenre of action video games where the focus is on the defeat of the character's enemies using ranged weapons given to the player. Usually these weapons are firearms or some other long-range weapons, a ...
s ''Gun Fight
''Gun Fight'', known as in Japan and Europe, is a 1975 multidirectional shooter arcade video game designed by Tomohiro Nishikado, and released by Taito in Japan and Europe and by Midway in North America. Based around two Old West cowboys ar ...
'' (1975) and ''Space Invaders
is a 1978 shoot 'em up video game developed and published by Taito for Arcade video game, arcades. It was released in Japan in April 1978, with the game being released by Midway Manufacturing overseas. ''Space Invaders'' was the first fixed s ...
'' (1978), where the players could take cover behind destructible objects.Brian AshcraftHow Cover Shaped Gaming's Last Decade
Kotaku
''Kotaku'' is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Notable former contributors to the site include Luke Smith, Cecilia D'Anastasio, Tim Rogers, and Jason Schreier.
History ...
An early example of a fully destructible environment can be found in Namco
was a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company founded in 1955. It operated video arcades and amusement parks globally, and produced video games, films, toys, and arcade cabinets. Namco was one of the most influential c ...
's 1982 game ''Dig Dug
is a maze arcade video game released by Namco in 1982. It was distributed in North America by Atari, Inc. The player digs underground tunnels to attack enemies in each level, by either inflating them to bursting or crushing them underneath rock ...
'', in which the whole of each level is destructible, though enemies can usually only follow the player through a combination of pre-made tracks and paths made by the player. A similar game released that same year was '' Mr. Do!'' by Universal. In most games that feature destructible terrain, it is more common for only part of the environment to be destructible to prevent players from cutting their way directly to the goal.
An early example of a shooter game that featured fully destructible environments was '' Kagirinaki Tatakai'', an early run and gun shooter developed by Hiroshi Ishikawa for the Sharp X1
The , sometimes called the Sharp X1 or CZ-800C, is a series of home computers released by Sharp Corporation from 1982 to 1988. It is based on a Zilog Z80 CPU.
The RGB display monitor for the X1 had a television tuner, and a computer screen ...
computer and released by Enix in 1983. The ''Worms
The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) is a taxonomic database that aims to provide an authoritative and comprehensive catalogue and list of names of marine organisms.
Content
The content of the registry is edited and maintained by scien ...
'' series, starting in 1995, also features terrain which can be completely obliterated.
The earliest first-person shooter
A first-person shooter (FPS) is a video game genre, video game centered on gun fighting and other weapon-based combat seen from a First person (video games), first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action directly through t ...
example may be '' Ghen War'', released in 1995 for the Sega Saturn
The is a home video game console developed by Sega and released on November 22, 1994, in Japan, May 11, 1995, in North America, and July 8, 1995, in Europe. Part of the fifth generation of video game consoles, it is the successor to the succes ...
, which featured a 3D terrain map generator that allows fully destructible environments. However, the trend to make more and more items and environmental features destroyable by the player hearkens back to the explosive barrels in '' Doom'' (1993). Games like '' Blood II: The Chosen'' (1998) also featured large numbers of destroyable objects; in that game a room filled with objects could be turned into an empty room filled only with debris.
Newer iterations of this feature can be observed in games such as '' Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi'' and '' Dragon Ball: Xenoverse'', where the fighters' dashes and super moves can destroy large rock formations and buildings, ''Spring'', ''Crysis
''Crysis'' is a first-person shooter video game series created by Crytek. The series revolves around a group of military protagonists with " nanosuits", technologically advanced suits of armor that give them enhanced physical strength, speed, ...
'' (CryEngine 2
CryEngine (stylized as CRYENGINE) is a game engine designed by the German game developer Crytek. It has been used in all of their titles with the initial version being used in ''Far Cry (video game), Far Cry'', and continues to be updated to sup ...
), '' Mercenaries 2: World in Flames'', '' Battlefield: Bad Company'' ( Frostbite 1.0), '' Battlefield: Bad Company 2'' ( Frostbite 1.5), '' Battlefield 1943'' ( Frostbite 1.5), ''Black
Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...
'', and '' Red Faction: Guerilla'' (Geo-Mod). Future implementations are core facets of gameplay and can be found in ''Battlefield 3
''Battlefield 3'' is a 2011 first-person shooter game developed by DICE and published by Electronic Arts. It is the sixth main installment in the '' Battlefield'' series and a follow-up to '' Battlefield 2'' (2005). The game was released on Micr ...
'' ( Frostbite 2), '' Diablo 3'', ''Battlefield 4
''Battlefield 4'' is a 2013 first-person shooter game developed by DICE and published by Electronic Arts. The game was released in October and November for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, and is the sequ ...
'' and '' Battlefield 1'' ( Frostbite 3), '' Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege'' (AnvilNext 2.0), and '' BattleBit Remastered'' ( Unity), ''The Finals
''The Finals'' is a free-to-play first-person shooter, developed and published by Embark Studios. The game focuses on team-based matches on maps with a destructible environment, where players (who are divided into a number of distinct classes) ...
'' (Unreal Engine 5
Unreal Engine 5 (UE5) is the latest version of Unreal Engine developed by Epic Games. It was revealed in May 2020 and officially released in April 2022. Unreal Engine 5 includes multiple upgrades and new features, including Nanite, a system that ...
)
See also
* Deformable body * Dynamic terrain *Terrain rendering
Terrain cartography or relief mapping is the depiction of the shape of the surface of the Earth on a map, using one or more of several techniques that have been developed. Terrain or relief is an essential aspect of physical geography, and as su ...
References
{{video game gameplay Video game terminology