Wreaking Havok: Difference between revisions

[[File:wreakinghavok.jpg|link=Concerned|frame|[[Too Dumb to Live|Mr. Frohman cannily uses game physics to overcome an obstacle.]]]]

 

 

Prominent exercises in game physics for the sake of it.

 

 

But, like nuclear power, a physics engine can also be used with reckless abandon. Sometimes the developers, giddy with the possibilities afforded them by real-time collision modeling, become drunk with power. You'll run across applications of the physics engine that shout "Hey! Check out these physics!" so loudly it comes dangerously close to breaking the fourth wall.

 

 

* Example the first: knocking out a support beam, causing a chunk of the ceiling to crash down on a see-saw and launching you into the air toward the next section of the level.

* Example the second: knocking out a support beam, causing a chunk of the ceiling to crash down on you.

 

 

As well as Havok there is the Bullet engine, nVidia's PhysX, NewtonDynamics, and many more. It's just that Havok is the most prominent. And Wreaking Bullet sounds like [[More Dakka]]. See also [[Tech Demo Game]].

 

{{examples}}

== Action Adventure Games ==

 

== Beat Em Ups ==

 

** It's possible they also used Havok to model the physics involved in [[Grievous Harm with a Body|tossing opponents into each other,]] although this feature was also present in ''Melee.''

* ''[[Lugaru]]'''s physics modeling is goofy but fun. Kicking enemies into each other nets you a "Nice Aim!" bonus, downed enemies struck with a bo staff will sometimes launch hundreds of feet straight up into the air, and ragdolling yourself with the Leg Cannon attack and tumbling down hills never gets old. ''[[Overgrowth]]'' looks to continue the tradition, but with more complex ragdolls and objects.

** In an interview, it's revealed that they used their version of the gravity gun to create the damaged areas in Doom 3. You're armed with a ''Developer weapon'' in the expansion.

** [[Hilarious in Hindsight|Hilariously]], it was removed from the initial release of the main game because, despite being not only useful for the devs but also fun for them to goof around, they thought it would be an annoying distraction for players. The next year, when ''[[Half-Life 2]]'' was released, they regretted it enough to add it to RoE.

** Telekenesis is also one of the three plasmids you have to get to beat the game, despite it being [[Awesome but Impractical|near]] [[Useless Useful Spell|useless]] for everything other than the [[Broken Bridge]] you need it to cross. Coincidence?

* ''[[Painkiller]]'s'' third boss, in an impressive demonstration of [[Malevolent Architecture]], effortlessly smashes his way through ancient arches and spires, scattering the debris all over the place. On the other hand, this tactic is more annoying than hazardous, since the gigantic blocks of solid rock are somehow completely unable to damage the main character even if they land directly on him from 30m high.

* ''[[Perfect Dark]]'' has a ''very'' primitive physics engine. It could be used to provide limited cover in some levels, but the only time the creators used this deliberately was in the last level, with the piece of rubble that had to be pushed over a switch.

* ''[[First Encounter Assault Recon]]'' has such a conspicuous physics system you really have to wonder which came first: its horror setting or its physics engine. To clarify, this is a game where objects moving by themselves are meant to creep the player out. Only the thing is, the player model itself is rendered in-game ([[First Person Ghost|despite the game]] [[Averted Trope|being first person]]), and ''the player model is in itself a physical object''. What this means practically is that you'll ''constantly'' find yourself bumping into things and knocking stuff off of shelves like the clumsiest special forces operative in history. Sometimes you'll hear something you just knocked loose making a noise you can't see and whip around thinking something is trying to sneak up on you. On top of that, the physics are prone to glitching when dealing with heavy inanimate objects, like corpses, falling in piles atop each other. They'll often drop to the ground and then begin bouncing off the ground and another object that fell on top of them, starting to bounce up and down very quickly and making a ton of noise. And that's not even getting into the tendency for a corpse's limbs to embed themselves into a wall.

* ''[[Deus Ex: Invisible War|Deus Ex Invisible War]]'' is one of the earlier games to use the Havok engine to manipulate most of the game-world's object. The problem is that most objects' weight were set way too light, which led to many amusing (and annoying) results. This also make simple tasks like stacking up two (or more) boxes to reach higher places almost impossible, since they roll/fly away at the slightest touch. Oddly there are no balls to play with on the many pool tables found in the game, ''which exist in the first game''.

* Judging from [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3AW8Y4AMUQ#t=1m05s this], ''[[Battlefield 3]]'' has this trope in spades.

** Players have messed around with the vehicle creation system and physics engine to create everything from [[Humongous Mecha|Humongous Bipedal Mecha]], ''Transforming'' [[Transformers|Humongous Bipedal Mecha]], all matter of flying machines, and even a car that can drive on walls and the ceiling.

** Then there is the Kinetikos.H featured in Rooreeloo's [[Let's Play]] of the game, which runs specifically ''because'' of the Havok engine's screwy physics.

** This seems to be a prevalent problem throughout the entire game. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MWEHwvcnyM Watch this] and laugh. "Physics? What are those?"

* This is the entire point of ''[[Trine]]''. It wears thin after a while, although the [[Scenery Porn]] helps make up for it.

** It wears especially thin when the mage gains the ability of summoning floating platforms, negating any need to figure out a way to beat the physical obstacles below.

== Puzzle Games ==

 

* Garbage disposing puzzle game ''[[Trash Panic]]'' has havok physics. It's possible (though rare) to accidentally create a see-saw design and send something undamaged flying out of the can (which costs a life). It's got soccer balls too.

* ''[[Stair Dismount]]'' is one of the earliest examples, developed in 2002 with the goal of using the interactive physics engine to throw a ragdoll down some stairs and causing as much damage as possible.

== Role-Playing Games ==

 

** At other points in the game, the physics engine mostly leads to you knocking everything off the tables when you so much as walk slowly by them.

*** And God help you if you decide to decide to engage in a little [[An Interior Designer Is You|home decorating]]. Trying to place a book on a shelf could result in everything else on that shelf ending up halfway across the room. It gets even worse if you have the [[Game Mod]] that makes most objects in the game use physics. If you dare to pick up a book from a bookshelf, expect it to collapse down on you within the next five seconds.

== Turn-Based Tactics ==

 

 

== Wide Open Sandbox ==

* Most of ''[[Carmageddon]]'''s fun comes from the [[Rule of Cool|unrealistic but awesome]] physics, which allow you to roll boulders over your opponents, sling pedestrians into each other, and so forth. The Pinball Mode powerup cranks this [[Up to Eleven]], causing all objects to ricochet off one another with increasing speed; confined spaces become deadly, shrapnel-filled Bouncy Castles.

* ''[[Dwarf Fortress]]'' has fluid dynamics that differ subtly between water and magma. You are advised to learn their differences well, lest ye flood your fortress. They're both quite useful if you want to build a [[Doomsday Device]].

 

== Massively Multiplayer ==

 

** ''[[Dragon Nest]]'' actually used Havok earlier but advertised it less, probably because the object destructions seem to have been just ''pre-rendered'' with the engine.

* ''[[Second Life]]'' pre-dates ''Vindictus'' by about six and a half years. Its [[Wide Open Sandbox]] nature and physics engine permit players to create all sorts of interesting situations, although some exercises, such as a ten-link chain, have been known to wreck havoc upon the server's CPU. (The chain in question did sway quite convincingly, at about a frame every five seconds.)

[[Category:Just for Pun]]

[[Category:Video Game Physics]]