How Games Do Destruction

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Let's talk about video game destruction, and break down the techniques used to dent cars, break boxes, tear through scenery, and blow up buildings.

=== Sources and Resources ===

- Sources

[1] Massive D: Stranglehold's Breakable Object System | GDC Vault
https://gdcvault.com/play/462/Massive-D-STRANGLEHOLD-s-Breakable

[2] Destructible Environments in Control: Lessons in Procedural Destruction | GDC Vault
https://gdcvault.com/play/1030643/Destructible-Environments-in-Control-Lessons

[3] Advanced Physics in Astro Bot | GDC Vault (Paid Access)
https://gdcvault.com/play/1035282/Advanced-Physics-in-ASTRO-BOT

[4] The Art of Destruction in Rainbow Six: Siege | GDC Vault
https://gdcvault.com/play/1023307/The-Art-of-Destruction-in

[5] How to Dissect an Exploding Spaceship in Hardspace: Shipbreaker | GDC Vault
https://gdcvault.com/play/1026837/How-to-Dissect-an-Exploding

[6] How Red Faction's Geomods Work | John Slagel
https://web.archive.org/web/20100109011210/http://john.slagel.com/Geomods.html

[7] Soft Body Physics Explained | Gonkee
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyQP4t_wOGI

[8] Introduction to JBeam | BeamNG
https://documentation.beamng.com/modding/vehicle/intro_jbeam/

[9] Oldschool Car Damage System - Devlog 4 | Marcis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhgDqx4a2E8u0026t=1s

[10] Far Cry: How the Fire Burns and Spreads | JFLevesque
https://jflevesque.com/2012/12/06/far-cry-how-the-fire-burns-and-spreads/

[11] Exploring the Tech and Design of Noita | GDC Vault
https://gdcvault.com/play/1025695/Exploring-the-Tech-and-Design

[12] What Astroneer's devs learned while leaving Early Access | Game Developer
https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/what-i-astroneer-i-s-devs-learned-while-leaving-early-access

[13] Coding Adventure: Marching Cubes | Sebastian Lague
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3iI2l0ltbE

[14] Teardown Engine Technical Dive | Stream Archive
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZP7vQKqrl8

[15] Just Cause 4: Destruction Design Breakdown | Playcrafting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34sL8vGMARw

[16] Battlefield Bad Company 2 - Destruction Masking in Frostbite 2 using Volume Distance Fields | EA
https://www.ea.com/frostbite/news/destruction-masking-in-frostbite-2-using-volume-distance-fields

[17] How to destroy a building? | Den Kirson
https://denkirson.proboards.com/thread/2757?page=1#43105

[18] Red Faction: Guerrilla - Destruction Part 1 | Volition
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9o0FsEoyrIg

[19] Blowing Up the Outside World: Destruction Done the Next Gen Way | GDC Vault
https://gdcvault.com/play/1670/Blowing-Up-the-Outside-World

[20] Living in a Stressful World: Real-time Stress Calculation for Destroyable Environments | GDC Vault
https://gdcvault.com/play/1014658/Living-in-a-Stressful-World

[21] The Finals has Insane Destruction Now... | WillfromWork
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y47ijezhZoA

[22] The Finals Destruction is EVEN Better Now... | WillfromWork
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODxsHs_4HwU

[23] Completely Destroying an Entire Map in The Finals | DefendTheHouse
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVzhxHO4cWo

[24] Engineering Mayhem: Technical Deep-Dive into Environmental Destruction in The Finals | GDC Vault (Paid Access)
https://gdcvault.com/play/1034280/Engineering-Mayhem-Technical-Deep-Dive

[25] Teardown design notes | Voxagon Blog
https://blog.voxagon.se/2020/11/05/teardown-design-notes.html

[26] Road to the IGF: Nolla Games' Noita | Game Developer
https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/road-to-the-igf-nolla-games-i-noita-i-

[27] Ask the Developer Vol. 19: Donkey Kong Bananza | Nintendo
https://www.nintendo.com/us/whatsnew/ask-the-developer-vol-19-donkey-kong-bananza-part-1/

=== Chapters ===

00:00 - Intro
01:29 - Control
03:17 - Astro Bot
04:52 - BeamNG.drive
06:31 - Far Cry 2
07:55 - Teardown
10:23 - Red Faction: Guerilla
15:49 - Conclusion

=== Games Shown ===

Burnout Paradise Remastered | 2018
Max Payne 3 | 2012
Donkey Kong Bananza | 2025
Far Cry 2 | 2008
Instruments of Destruction | 2024
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege | 2015
Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection | 2022
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 | 2024
Red Faction: Guerilla | 2009
The Finals | 2023
Just Cause 3 | 2015
Battlefield 1 | 2016
Noita | 2020
Control | 2019
BeamNG.drive | 2015
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 | 2010
Battlefield 4 (2013)
Stranglehold | 2007
Half-Life 2 | 2004
Hardspace: Shipbreaker | 2022
Red Faction | 2001
World of Goo 2 | 2024
Jelly Car Worlds | 2022
Wreckfest 2 | 2025
Teardown | 2022
Spelunky | 2012
Minecraft | 2011
Astroneer | 2019
7 Days to Die | 2024
A Game About Digging a Hole | 2025

=== Credits ===

Music provided by Epidemic Sound - https://www.epidemicsound.com/referral/vtdu5y (Referral Link)

=== Subtitles ===

Contribute translated subtitles - https://gamemakerstoolkit.com/translation/