New Video: How Physics-Based Destruction Works (in Instruments of Destruction)
Instruments of Destruction · published
Let's jump straight in and get to the video, then I'll go into a bit of info on the video, and when to expect another update (and console versions) for Instruments of Destruction:
The video is just under 10 minutes long, and it took around 40 hours of work to complete it. It's not quite as slick or animated as I hoped it would be, and the pace is too fast, but it's done and I think it does a decent job of explaining how the destruction works.
This is my second devlog video (first was on DodgeBomb, which was renamed Fireball 2). There's a lot more I could talk about with Instruments, especially the overall design, and the vehicle building system. The vehicle build system was actually more technically challenging than destruction, but I'm not sure it's as interesting to watch a video about.
After making this video, it's pretty clear that there are a lot of ways destruction could be improved in future games. With visuals in particular, everything could be better in multiple ways. But Instruments does two things better than most other destruction systems: It has a ton of objects, and it interacts with physics/other systems well.
I'm still not sure when I'll make more destruction-based games in the future. I'm looking forward to it though, as working on the destruction stuff is something I enjoy. It's challenging, but also creative and interesting work. Even visuals for destruction are fairly fun to work on, though I wish I had either gone more realistic or more stylized with Instruments. Something to keep in mind for future projects.
Future Instruments Work
I've had an Xbox Series X devkit for almost 3 weeks, and I'm still not able to make a build for it. It's not a technical/game problem (yet), as I'm just waiting to get access to some software that let's me do it. I'll be emailing the relevant parties again today. The PS5 port is nearly done (Alan has done all the work there), so porting to the Xbox will be a lot easier because of that.
There are a few other Instruments updates I'm ready to start working on once that issue is resolved. Some further optimizations from Alan have also benefitted all versions. Those will be coming in the next update as well.
As for when the next update will be, I don't have an estimate yet. No estimate for the consoles yet either. I might be working on Instruments stuff sooner than later, but I'm still trying to figure that out, and I don't have a clear picture of everything I need to do next. If my plans are clarified sooner than later, I'll update this post with more info.