Path of Exile - Now with cloaks!

Path of Exile now has cloaks or in tech parlance cloth physics technology. There is an interview with the person responsible at the Path of Exile site.

Hi Alex! Thanks for taking part in the interview! Could you please introduce yourself and let us know a little bit about your history with gaming and programming?

Hi Bex. My name is Alex and I graduated from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. Since my early school days I have really enjoyed writing programs related to all kinds of physics simulations. A game called Ballance was one of the earliest games that employed a very precise, accurate and fast rigid-body physics. I was basically obsessed with the idea of mimicking that.

Since those times I have really enjoyed making all kinds of programs based on physics simulations. Some examples: a guitar synthesizer that produces sound from simulating string deformations, AI for robots in a simulated physical environment, all kinds of optics simulations (path tracing, global illumination) and simulating broken heart fracture dynamics. You can see some of my work on my YouTube channel here.

I have always been driven by games. Some of my inspirations have been exploring the weird world of Planescape: Torment, the smooth gameplay of Devil May Cry, gravity gun physics in Half-Life 2, running Mephisto in Diablo 2. There are so many games that gave me inspiration, but one of the most important is, you guessed it, Path of Exile.

Could you please tell us about your current role at Grinding Gear Games and what an average work day is like for you?

I was hired to do all kinds of experimental stuff. Implementing physics was the most natural thing for me to start with because I wanted to make the game world feel more responsive. I wanted to make it react to the player and give more visual feedback to actions. We aren't quite there yet in terms of integrating physics in all game assets that might benefit from it but the physics engine is ready. At work I do pretty much the same thing that I do for fun, I experiment with implementing all kinds of tech.

What is the most challenging aspect of programming physics for Path of Exile?

Path of Exile is a very dynamic game and when implementing physics, performance is the top priority for me. Because of that, I can't introduce any noticeable framerate drops due to physics. I was writing the Path of Exile physics engine from scratch and it had to behave somewhat naturally under completely unnatural circumstances like characters using Leap Slam with 100% increased attack speed or a Lightning Warp that basically shrinks the character to size of 0, teleports and then gradually inflates them back to normal size. A direct consequence of physics simulation for items like cloaks is them wrapping around character's head, tangling between arms and legs and flapping all over the place when attacking 10 times a second. Introducing non-physical constraints to prevent such behaviour gets pretty tricky.

What is your favourite thing you've worked on for the game so far?

I'm allowed to do any kind of crazy stuff that makes the game feel better and does not impact performance. Something as simple as character movement is actually more complicated than one may think because we want the character to affect light cloth objects they run past due to induced air flow currents. To do that, I made a very fast approximation of an actual vortex pattern created by objects moving through medium, called Karman Vortex Street, that's actually created by moving actors. It automatically creates relatively realistic and very cheap (performance-wise) approximation of air turbulence for all character movement including skills such as Whirling Blades.

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Looks sweet however animations are still shit

The animations seem pretty decent to me. At the very least they don't look immersion-breaking, which is an important factor. The corpse whirling effect seemed way over the top though. Perhaps they didn't want to deal with the impact physics? Still, I think they need to tone that down.

I think they should raise the system requirements and let you zoom out more

PoE's an exceedingly fast-paced game, with dozens upon dozens of enemies being affected on-screen, multiple times a second. GGG's recently been tackling performance under such circumstances and the game performs remarkably better than it has in the past - both for video and cpu workload. This is context as to why efficiency is at the forefront of developer discussions.

Although much of that video is hilarious to watch with the NPC-model weapons, the important part to pick out is the blowback on the capes after the flameblast effect ends.

Originally Posted by SirJames
I think they should raise the system requirements and let you zoom out more

+1 for zooming out more. I never completely got used to the current zoom level

The animations seem pretty decent to me. At the very least they don't look immersion-breaking, which is an important factor

No shit its important.

Most characters are in a crouched stance where legs form almost an X. While I can stomach that on Thief/Wtich some classes like the Templar that looks absolutely ridicilus.

How is that not breaking immersion, you didnt even play this game rofl

Originally Posted by luj1
No shit its important.

Most characters are in a crouched stance where legs form almost an X. While I can stomach that on Thief/Wtich some classes like the Templar that looks absolutely ridicilus.

How is that not breaking immersion, you didnt even play this game rofl

When I am being chased around by 20 monsters and I got 5 to 8 abilities/potions to manage, last thing I am looking at is bullshit like you just described.

Originally Posted by Archangel
When I am being chased around by 20 monsters and I got 5 to 8 abilities/potions to manage, last thing I am looking at is bullshit like you just described.

I agree with this. While I always play RPGs with heavy emphasis on story and immersion, ARPGs are just for killing hordes upon hordes of enemies. And PoE excells at that.

Originally Posted by luj1
No shit its important.

Most characters are in a crouched stance where legs form almost an X. While I can stomach that on Thief/Wtich some classes like the Templar that looks absolutely ridicilus.

How is that not breaking immersion, you didnt even play this game rofl

I was commenting on the video, not the game. Focus.

Eh? How's the story in this one? Tried Grim Dawn or Helsing, but couldn't get into it.

Not a game you play for story.
The game has a world that is slowly being filled up as you go through acts but story itself is always left in the background and often partly hidden from the players. You have to dig it up from all sources and sometimes fill the gaps yourself to get the full picture.

If I had to compare it with another aRPG, probably Diablo 1 would be best comparison where story was also very very not in your face. Diablo 2 already went with a more cinematic approach.

Eh? How's the story in this one?

Its absolute bull shit. And the same can be said of its "lore". Dunno why you'd look for a story in a mindless hack&slash game though.

On the other hand, enjoyable and fluid character animations/stances are a must for this type of game , but PoE's are goofy as fuck. Every character has hunched back , suffers from scholiosis and cant walk without crossing its legs like a girly girl.

Hats down for particle effects though, theyre easily on par with D3 but srsly Diablo felt better in 2.5D i swear. PoE is a good, cancerous trade simulator and many a man-child has found refuge in its warm choke

Tried Grim Dawn or Helsing, but couldn't get into it.

Than dont …. those are fairly solid SP action games, this is an MMO

Originally Posted by Archangel
When I am being chased around by 20 monsters and I got 5 to 8 abilities/potions to manage, last thing I am looking at is bullshit like you just described.

Well I dont consider animations BS in a hack&slash (on the contrary) but thats good for you, at least youre aware the animations are absolute shit and are swallowing it like a man

No, I called your opinion bullshit not the animation. As I said, I dont' even notice them because at high levels dying is just 2 seconds of not paying attention.

Originally Posted by Archangel
Not a game you play for story.
The game has a world that is slowly being filled up as you go through acts but story itself is always left in the background and often partly hidden from the players. You have to dig it up from all sources and sometimes fill the gaps yourself to get the full picture.

If I had to compare it with another aRPG, probably Diablo 1 would be best comparison where story was also very very not in your face. Diablo 2 already went with a more cinematic approach.

Wait so what actually is the story? Are there decent quests, npc's, hubs, dialogue, etc?

My boyfriend, girlfriend, trinket, book, etc is at the bottom of this dungeon map with 4000 monsters, please go get him/it/her and hurry. This is "almost" the sum total of dialog

Originally Posted by BoboTheMighty
Wait so what actually is the story? Are there decent quests, npc's, hubs, dialogue, etc?

The story is that there is this darkness that is working in the background to corrupt anyone looking for greater power. It has existed for a long time and brought down multiple civilizations that existed on that continent where you are exiled. As you progress you learn bits and tidbits about this, you see its effect on the world and different people and eventually you go and confront its current host.

Originally Posted by Archangel
As you progress you learn bits and tidbits about this, you see its effect on the world and different people and eventually you go and confront its current host.

Which is Archangel?

I'll wait for this then a bit more, still have some backlog to deal with.

Originally Posted by BoboTheMighty
Which is Archangel?

I'll wait for this then a bit more, still have some backlog to deal with.

Nope, that is the kind of "twist" only new Blizzard can come up with