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Yes, the falling sand roots of Noita make it a little tricky, because it's a really good Roguelike platformer/shooter, that has a lot of interesting systems and

Yes, the falling sand roots of Noita make it a little tricky, because it's a really good Roguelike platformer/shooter, that has a lot of interesting systems and mechanics, but the sand mechanics and physics are kind of a "value add" rather than core gameplay. I haven't played much Noita, but from what I know the wand system is more important for success than taking advantage of the environment. It somewhat misleading because the game was introduced with "ever pixel is simulated", but that doesn't actually matter as much as advertised in most runs. For years (I even pitched it to Dennis Gustafson, the creator of Teardown) I've wanted to do a 3D falling sand game that could naively be described as Noita x Teardown, but outside of the technical challenges I haven't thought of a concept that truly takes advantage of falling sand automata and isn't just a sandbox.

ehnto 5y ago
I think that's the trouble, there aren't a wide range of stories that benefit at their core from detailed "atomic/particle" level physics. You can get 90% of the gameplay for half the cost in most cases. The only thing I can really think of are games centered around construction and civil engineering, fluid dynamics, mining and infrastructure systems. I'm not sure if you have played the game "Infra" but it made me think it would be fun to have a procedurally generated structural inspection game based on real physics, and you were tasked with fixing it with the right materials and processes. Another example would be a game centered around big engineering projects, like what you see on Discovery channel documentaries. Having to build or maintain a water treatment plant, or some kind of simplified oil rig. Teardown did a great job of gamifying the mechanic of detailed destruction and physics but it did always feel like it was a story trying to sell the mechanic, which is fine, I absolutely loved the game.
- Impossible 5y ago
  The Noita team explored some game ideas along those lines and had challenges. If you haven't seen the GDC 2019 talk about tech and design of Noita I recommend checking it out. They show some early prototypes focused on building https://youtu.be/prXuyMCgbTc https://youtu.be/prXuyMCgbTc

ehnto 5y ago

I think that's the trouble, there aren't a wide range of stories that benefit at their core from detailed "atomic/particle" level physics. You can get 90% of the gameplay for half the cost in most cases. The only thing I can really think of are games centered around construction and civil engineering, fluid dynamics, mining and infrastructure systems. I'm not sure if you have played the game "Infra" but it made me think it would be fun to have a procedurally generated structural inspection game based on real physics, and you were tasked with fixing it with the right materials and processes. Another example would be a game centered around big engineering projects, like what you see on Discovery channel documentaries. Having to build or maintain a water treatment plant, or some kind of simplified oil rig. Teardown did a great job of gamifying the mechanic of detailed destruction and physics but it did always feel like it was a story trying to sell the mechanic, which is fine, I absolutely loved the game.

Impossible 5y ago
The Noita team explored some game ideas along those lines and had challenges. If you haven't seen the GDC 2019 talk about tech and design of Noita I recommend checking it out. They show some early prototypes focused on building https://youtu.be/prXuyMCgbTc https://youtu.be/prXuyMCgbTc