This Game’s Physics Will Blow Your Mind!

Yellow Brick Games’ creation, titled Eternal Strands, can be seen as a heartfelt tribute to some timeless action-adventure games. It blends aspects from games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Shadow of the Colossus, Dragon’s Dogma, and even Monster Hunter, forming an exciting blend. Despite being their debut title, the team behind it is a group of industry veterans with combined decades of experience. This expertise is evident in all aspects of the game, from level design to resources, but the most prominent feature in this game is undoubtedly the physics systems within Eternal Strands.

In the game, “Eternal Strands,” the central gameplay revolves around the three distinct powers that the character, Brynn, utilizes during her journey through the Enclave. By harnessing Flame power, she can incinerate or freeze enemies, while the Frost power offers a freezing effect. Moreover, with Telekinesis, she manipulates both enemies and objects within the game environment. To ensure an engaging experience and create a responsive world for “Eternal Strands,” Yellow Brick Games designed a complex set of mechanisms that control the instant-to-instant gameplay. In an interview with Game Rant, directors Mike Laidlaw and Frederic St-Laurent elaborated on transforming the open-world sandbox into a powerful tool within the game’s arsenal.

Eternal Strands Uses Complex Physics-Based Thermodynamics

In the captivating world of Eternal Strands, I find myself equipped with extraordinary abilities thanks to its intricate physics systems. As Brynn, I harness my powers to shape the environment and the beings that inhabit it. With Telekinesis at my fingertips, I can effortlessly pick up and fling objects (and even adversaries) around. However, it’s the thermodynamic powers of Frost and Flame that truly expand my arsenal. Mike Laidlaw and Frederic St-Laurent, the game’s visionary Directors, emphasize that these thermodynamic powers underpin every aspect of the game. They encourage us to think beyond simple fireballs or winter blasts; instead, they represent Brynn’s ability to control and mold the game’s dynamic sandbox. This means I can construct an icy bridge, torch obstacles, or even freeze or burn enemies for strategic advantage.

According to Laidlaw, the main difficulty in creating these abilities that feel satisfying while ensuring the game world and enemies respond appropriately was devising a thermodynamic system where heat isn’t just represented as fire damage, but rather a specific amount of heat exceeding a certain threshold. Frederic St-Laurent further explains this system.

Instead of exploring a traditional approach by asking “What happens when I apply this power to various objects one after another?”, let me rephrase it as a more engaging perspective: “I’ll introduce you to this intriguing power. Let’s see how this power interacts with our realistic, physics-driven simulation, taking into account heat and cold. Now, imagine the conversation between the power and the simulated world, and then observe how each object in the real world responds to this interaction within the simulation.

Designing an Open World That Could Be Used as a Weapon Presented Some Challenges for Yellow Brick Games

Indeed, creating a semi-open world where thermodynamic principles are in action and every environmental element responds dynamically posed significant hurdles for Yellow Brick Games. As Laidlaw points out, emphasizing destruction allowed Brynn to tear down pillars or employ her Frost and Flame powers from thermodynamics to burn or freeze the surroundings. This meant that each environmental component had to be given weight and properties to react authentically in response.

In other words, St-Laurent highlights that determining parameters for every aspect of the game, including each material, represented the primary hurdle in the creation of Eternal Strands. However, as Laidlaw emphasizes, this systematic approach has been incredibly beneficial, with St-Laurent adding that these systems empower players to generate their own enjoyment using the tools we’ve provided.

The end result, of course, is Eternal Strands where the world is the player’s weapon.

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2025-01-17 17:23