Posted June 18, 200519 yr http://www.ageia.com/pdf/wp_2005_3_physics_gameplay.pdf ...perhaps the most significant enhancement will relate to game effects, where environmental and other factors currently unavailable to game developers can easily be incorporated. As the wind blows through a lonely game world, trees will bend and sway, leaves will blow and scatter, with shutters banging loudly and curtains blowing in the breeze. When the monk walks through the catacombs, smoking torch in hand, his flowing robes will drape realistically over his legs and the heroine’s ponytail will blow in the wind as she rides her mount across the landscape. As the castle explodes, the spray of rubble will rupture the walls on the surrounding streets. These subtle yet essential effects will add a completely new layer of visual realism to games, immediately boosting immersion. These physical simulation-based visualizations will be altered by inputs and actions, substantially raising the bar in variety and richness to a level that cannot be matched by canned animations. Soon thereafter, physics will work its way into gameplay itself. Perhaps the blowing breeze exposes hidden soldiers behind the branches, while the monk’s shifting robes reveal a knife or a hidden letter. The number of active characters in a scene can jump from a handful to dozens or even hundreds, each with its own unique physical and logical characteristics. Ultimately, developers will create scenes and entire games using the same laws of physics that govern the physical universe, enabling players to interact with any object in any scene at any time, providing pervasive interactive realism. In concert with the CPU and GPU, PPUs will allow game developers to create characters, worlds and effects that rival Hollywood movie visual quality, with compelling interactivity and a profound leap forward in visual, immersive and interactive realism.
