Shaking it Up: SimCity’s Physics
Hey everyone! I'm Robert Perry and I'm the engineer in charge of physics for SimCity. The two things I enjoy most are building things and solving problems. SimCity is a fun way for me to do both.
When we use the phrase, “what you see is what we sim,” we really mean it. With that said, why should physics get left out? Physics provides another tool to simulate what happens in a city. We’ve coupled physics with the GlassBox engine to create an even deeper simulation. Every building in SimCity is simulated in the physics engine. Buildings are attached to the ground with a physics model that simulates the forces that act on that building. When a module is stacked on a building, the building reacts. If multiple modules are stacked on a building, they all react. If an object strikes a building, the building reacts – modules included.
Disasters are where the physics system is put to best use. Disasters are able to affect the game physics in a variety of ways. A small meteorite will set a building rocking; a large one will reduce it to a pile of rubble on the blackened, scorched ground. Physics is a great simulation tool and it adds depth and nuance to the game, but there are some things we don’t solve using physics. One example is vehicles. The transport team has done a great job of with the vehicles and there’s not a lot the physics would add there. Vehicles turn, merge, and navigate with detailed behavior. At the scale the vehicles operate at the physics system wouldn’t dd enough benefit to justify the cost in performance.
When we’ve hit instances where physics alone isn’t the best solution, we’ve been able to team up with the artists to create integrated solutions. Simulating a tornado is far beyond the scope of SimCity. We use a hybrid approach with the tornado that allows an artist to create a particle system to drive physics bodies. The tornado sucks up buildings and vehicles, drives them up and through its funnel with an animated particle system, and seamlessly releases them to the physics system. The final result is that tornados will chew through your city and fling buildings and vehicles like a giant blender that has been released in your city.
We announced four disasters last week on our Facebook page. Besides the meteor shower and tornado I’ve already talked about, we also revealed the earthquake and UFO disasters. Earthquakes, in particular, make for good use of physics, as triggering this particular disaster will shake buildings to the ground (as one would expect). And UFOs, besides abducting Sims and stealing resources, will slice buildings in two with a laser. Typical alien behavior. Keep checking back, we’ll be revealing more disasters later on.
What I talked about today is just a small taste of what to expect in the new SimCity. As you know, disasters have always been a big part of SimCity and they’re better than ever. Make no mistake, buildings will crumble, debris will fly, and stuff will explode. This SimCity is a simulation with great depth and detail. Physics allows us to layer on more detail and ultimately bring more fun to SimCity. I’m looking forward to hearing what everyone thinks of the disasters.
Comments
I´d prefere to see your new
I´d prefere to see your new Info in a video, so I could see more footage of the game! :D
They use some high end
They use some high end graphics and i love to play these games as they deliver best quality of game play for the players.
Regards,
xbox 360 lag switch
Great article, but when will
Great article, but when will the next Gameplay-trailer come if I may ask?
Yeah, and wonderful design
Yeah, and wonderful design city.
Replacing damaged parquet
I hope I dont get too
I hope I dont get too attached to my sims before they die:)
btw I like that we build multiple (but smaller) cities instead of one big city like in SC 4
we can experiment much more with multiple cities
Enough with the boring
Enough with the boring disasters. Show us more gameplay videos! :P Continue on the casino-city, show us how boats/ships look and work, or show us how towns in the region affect each other. =) A Tuesday post without a video? Heresy!
IKR!! I want more vids on the
IKR!! I want more vids on the Casino city, That vid rocked!!
Sim City is so magnificent,
Sim City is so magnificent, but it is so depressing to know that my PC will not help.
Hopefully we can "worsen" the graphics quality from the Options menu!
And the tornado is still made
And the tornado is still made of movie magic... Oh well...
Although I must wonder how airplanes and helicopters will work with the physics engine in this game, considering that it's an official 3D space we are building the cities in...
Shame there is no video for
Shame there is no video for us 'visual learners'.
Although I am glad the disasters are now REALISTIC and not some animated hologram.
Especially excited for the tornado, which got the biggest make over. I hope they come in all different sizes like in real life.
Great, but I do still think
Great, but I do still think the city sizes are far to small. I would have preferred one big city instead of multiple small cities. Sorry for my bad english.
Your English isn't bad at all
Your English isn't bad at all (but too, not to)
Very Nice..... i can see you
Very Nice..... i can see you guys are working really hard on this game and i appreciate that :D
Also how about antoher Video on the Casino City!!!! that was an epic stradegy vid 1# i want to see 2#!! PLZ :P
I just want to thank all of
I just want to thank all of you who do these little blogs. I know that a great majority of us are excited about this game, and your blogs (while being teasers) keep us enthused. I hope all of you are just as excited to be making it.
Very good! EXCELLENT this new
Very good! EXCELLENT this new version of SimCity.
You want to play it! I hope that soon add "Flood" to SimCity.
you have no idea the physical
you have no idea the physical pain I experience every time i look at this page, i can't wait for February!
Does the physics of one
Does the physics of one building affect another?
Kinda confused on how physics
Kinda confused on how physics wouldnt play a role in traffic? I would think trucks and buses would start a little slower in acceleration and stopping then say a little mini-car.
CANT WAIT!
CANT WAIT!
@wish there's a video for
@wish there's a video for visual learners..
Wish there was a video that demonstrated that 'physics' means animations aren't 'canned'.
--
@"The transport team has done a great job of with the vehicles and there’s not a lot the physics would add there."
I'd fire anyone this stupid on the spot.. but then this kind of comment is the basis of the simplicity of the 'simulation'. Cars that can't break when going down a slope, or trucks that are too heavy to go up a slope or around corners. A subway car that's over loaded with passengers that breaks down faster.. yeah wait that one doesn't apply. There's all kinds of things that transport could benefit from physics.
Am I the only one who doesn't
Am I the only one who doesn't like disasters?.. like... at all? By the way things have been released lately, you'd think the whole point of the game was destroying everything you strive to build. I hope there's a no-disaster mode or something.. I mean, handling realistic day to day problems like fires, flooding, etc. is one thing, but if earthquakes, tornadoes and aliens ravage my city every month, I won't be playing.
it would be great if the
it would be great if the closed beta will be available very shortly and me testing the beta....
Little concerned about
Little concerned about disasters now as you said "as triggering this" which seems to indicate you won't get it unless you select to have this disaster. From what I was reading it seemed they were random like in the original SimCity and not just user triggered as with the more recent.
do the region play video!
do the region play video!
do the region play video!
do the region play video!
Hope it will take advantage
Hope it will take advantage of my multi-cores system efficiently so it can generate some super realistic tornado.
Add Floods (That means there
Add Floods (That means there should be rainfall for a while or a storm, not an instant Flood) and Lightening to disasters. Also a snow blizzard and that also affects traffic and people going to work and school. Even a spreading disease disaster. ;) I also wanna see more videos. I've already turned into a simcity.com stalker seeing if there are any new videos... Casino City needs a video#2.
When watching the video on
When watching the video on the sims and sim city the lady at the end said that the game would be released on mac in february as well. I wouldn't mind pre-ordering the game but at last check it still said mac release date was TBD. Do you have any details on that?
On a side note the Tornado looks awesome. Can you at least tell us how many different disasters there will be?
You guys seriously need to
You guys seriously need to make the casino city video 2!
Or why not make a 'lets play simcity' kind of videos every week? You know, the king of which exist on youtube for SC4...
I bet people from SC4Devotion
I bet people from SC4Devotion and Simtropolis will find a way to mod the game in such way that we have bigger cities within 6 months...
As much as I'm a fan of the
As much as I'm a fan of the series, the one thing i've always wanted to see is a realistically falling building.
Skyscraper simulations in collapses/other tragedies was terrible in sim city 4 and from the previous videos, don't seem to be much improved in the new simcity - why oh why won't you give us properly collapsing skyscrapers...?
When some peopel think of
When some peopel think of Michael Kors wallets, exotic materials do not seem to come to mind. Not necessarily a bad thing, just not an association. But when they see these beautiful bags they will be hit by them. michael kors on sale
What about a city near the
What about a city near the water? Can you get storms and hurricanes that will flood your town?
it need to have poor middle
it need to have poor middle class and rich taxes to be able to adjust etch tax bracket with the industrial residential comical taxes
it need to have poor middle
it need to have poor middle class and rich taxes to be able to adjust etch tax bracket with the industrial residential comical taxes
Sound great, I'm always
Sound great, I'm always interested in how devs make games. Now, after finding out that SimCity will run on intergrated graphics, I'm so damn hyped for this game.
My computer also cant support
My computer also cant support Simcity that nicely.I hope there are minimum graphic options.
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