Procedurally breakable objects are really up to the physics system to implement, and they haven't really been done in any game to date. Julio of Newton Game Dynamics has an early demonstration of his implementation here:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Q3wF0Klk5wU
It isn't graphically impressive at this point, but it is a proof of concept.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Q3wF0Klk5wU
It isn't graphically impressive at this point, but it is a proof of concept.
I think it's a good start for breakable objects. Yes this gives me the same impression as this demo I seen on pouët.net not so long ago: http://pouet.net/prod.php?which=50062
Ultimately, a full set of CSG operations would clear the floor for all cases and would give full circle on building models from within the engine, as well as destroy them. for my project, I absolutely need CSG to go on. I tried making my own models procedurally and they end up incompatible with a shadow system. And I absolutely need to build my models from inside the engine as it goes with the concept of my game plan.
When I saw CSG implemented for BlitzMax ( http://www.blitzbasic.com/Community/posts.php?topic=74293 ), I was more than happy, only to find thow, that the speed taken for one operation is just too demanding for realtime gaming in Blitzmax. So, that is why I haven't gone Blitzmax really. But having this in a game engine would of course facilitate having a really fast working implementation and ease of use. I do not think it has ANYTHING to do with a physics engine, but more with model building, maintenance. It is just a convenience to have CSG and physics talk together imho.
I know I won't be the poor soul coding a CSG engine, but I absolutely need this for my project. It saddens me that DarkBasic has it, which is a language I will never program in, or use DarkGDK or PureGDK even thoe I gave it some reflection not so long ago. I think game development would change a lot if we had CSG, a lot of creative souls would rise.