In a game like Fallout, it only makes sense that the pyrotechnics are impressive. The world of the game is built on nuclear energy — which means that, when everything starts catching on fire, it has to look a lot more impressive than your average video game grenade.
Fallout 4 is no exception — in fact, it's got some of the best explosions out of any game this year. Granted, when every car houses a nuclear reactor, players should expect more than a few detonations ... but even so, Fallout 4's nuclear explosions look fantastic.
So, how did Bethesda manage to make its nukes look so good? Well, that's a complicated answer: video games have been trying to make their explosions look better and better for years now, and there are a few different techniques that developers can use when simulating smoke and fire. Unsurprisingly, Bethesda developed its own method when developing Fallout 4 — and if you've ever wondered how exactly it made its explosions oh-so-pretty, YouTuber Simonschreibt has got you covered:
Who knew something that only appears onscreen for a few seconds at a time was so complicated?
It's a fascinating look at the tech behind the game — while Fallout 4's explosions may be a bit more complicated than those of other games, it's safe to assume that pyrotechnics will only get more and more complex as gaming hardware progresses. With particle effects and other effects becoming so prominent in the current generation of hardware, who knows what could come next?
If anything, the video proves just how dedicated game developers are. Simonschreibt's video spends six minutes talking about how explosions work in Fallout 4 — if it took that long just to explain a single aspect of a single feature in a single game, think of how long it would take to actually make those assets and get them working in-engine.
As if Fallout 4's attention to detail wasn't already impressive enough.
If you're looking for more on the ins-and-outs of gaming tech, check out more of Simonschreibt's videos over at his YouTube channel.
