Give Me PhysX And I'll Destroy The World
One of the things I look for in a quality videogame is a sense of immersion in the world; that feeling that my actions have consequences. I want the world to realistically react to what I do no matter how ridiculous. Obviously developers cannot code for my every whim but the more freedom gamers are allowed the more the game world feels real. Implementing a physics engine into a game is one of the best ways to allow gamers that freedom while still preserving the illusion of the game. Ageia, creators of the PhysX hardware and software, are hard at work creating tools that make physics implementation much easier for developers.
With the recent announcement that graphics card powerhouse NVIDIA will acquire Ageia it could become easier than ever for gamers to reap the benefits of the PhysX engine. I have to admit, when I bought a new computer last year I did not go the extra mile for the Ageia board. At the time I couldn't see the benefit. After seeing some demos of games running with enabled PhysX and without I could end up regretting that decision.
Ageia has already gone to lengths to make it easier than ever for developers to implement real-world physics into games with minimum effort. In November of last year they introduced the Adaptive Physics Extensions Development Platform (or APEX) which is a set of PhysX tools and modules that aim to raise physics development from the programmer level to the artist level. The APEX tools have three main components: pipeline offload, scaling level of detail, and pre-built verticals.
Ageia's PhysX technology can make buildings and surrounding architecture destructible.
The pipeline offload focuses on optimizing existing game engines to reduce the workload of the CPU and GPU when computing physics. Scaling level of detail dynamically reduces or increases the level of the physics simulation in accordance with the level of the graphics card and processor of the machine. Finally pre-built verticals are libraries written to simulate specific physical objects such as foliage, leaves, fluid emitters, puddles and even destructibility.
Hey that's great, but what does that mean for me? For one thing it means that developers are more apt to include physics as a real game mechanic that can influence gameplay. In our GDC meeting with Michael Steele, Vice President of Marketing at Ageia, I confessed my skepticism about the product and Michael answered by letting the technology speak for itself. First he loaded a movie of a level from Unreal Tournament 3 where the player was shooting the rocket launcher and Tarydium Stinger into the buildings and surrounding trees with no effect; just a puff of smoke and fire here or there but no lasting cosmetic change. With PhysX enabled the weapons wreaked havoc on the environment and the guns became much more satisfying.
The improvements aren't strictly graphical. The physics will affect gameplay and level design as well. Is someone sniping from a nice high perch? Rather than find a way to get up there or an available angle you can just destroy the perch. Can't flush an enemy out of an entrenched spot behind a wall? Now you can destroy the wall and expose them. These are simple examples but once you open the door on something like this it can change the way you play the game pretty dramatically.
Ageia's PhysX engine is already a part of the Unreal Engine 3 but with the addition of the APEX libraries UE3 could become even more attractive to developers. Ageia is looking at implementing their technologies into other game engines but their immediate goal is getting the technology integrated with the NVIDIA GeForce cards as quickly as possible. Gamers who are craving a little more realism in their gaming experience may be looking to Ageia-powered NVIDIA cards in the future.
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