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...

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

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

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

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

[6] How Red Faction's Geomods Work | John Slagel
https://web.archive.org/web/201001090...

[7] Soft Body Physics Explained | Gonkee
   • Soft Body Physics Explained  

[8] Introduction to JBeam | BeamNG
https://documentation.beamng.com/modd...

[9] Oldschool Car Damage System - Devlog 4 | Marcis
   • Oldschool Car Damage System - Devlog 4  

[10] Far Cry: How the Fire Burns and Spreads | JFLevesque
https://jflevesque.com/2012/12/06/far...

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

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

[13] Coding Adventure: Marching Cubes | Sebastian Lague
   • Coding Adventure: Marching Cubes  

[14] Teardown Engine Technical Dive | Stream Archive
   • Teardown Engine Technical Dive [Stream Arc...  

[15] Just Cause 4: Destruction Design Breakdown | Playcrafting
   • Just Cause 4: Destruction Design Breakdown  

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

[17] How to destroy a building? | Den Kirson
https://denkirson.proboards.com/threa...

[18] Red Faction: Guerrilla - Destruction Part 1 | Volition
   • Red Faction: Guerrilla - Destruction Part ...  

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

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

[21] The Finals has Insane Destruction Now... | WillfromWork
   • The Finals has Insane Destruction Now...  

[22] The Finals Destruction is EVEN Better Now... | WillfromWork
   • The Finals Destruction is EVEN Better Now...  

[23] Completely Destroying an Entire Map in The Finals | DefendTheHouse
   • Completely Destroying an Entire Map in THE...  

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

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

[26] Road to the IGF: Nolla Games' Noita | Game Developer
https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-pl...

[27] Ask the Developer Vol. 19: Donkey Kong Bananza | Nintendo
https://www.nintendo.com/us/whatsnew/...

=== 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/referra... (Referral Link)

=== Subtitles ===

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