Destructible environment

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In video gaming the terms destructible environment, or terrain deformation, refers to an environment within a game which can be wholly or partially destroyed by the player. It may refer to any part of the environment including terrain, buildings and other man-made structures.

An early example can be found in Dig-Dug, in which the whole of each level was destructible and enemies could usually only follow the player through a combination of pre-made tracks and paths made by the player. In most games that feature destructible terrain, it is more common for only part of the environment to be destructible to prevent players being able to cut their way directly to the goal.

Newer iterations of this feature can be observed in games such as Crysis (CryEngine 2), Mercanies 2 as well as others. Future implentations will be core facets of gameplay and will be found in Far Cry 2 (Dunia game engine) and Battlefield: Bad Company (Frostbite game engine).