WormsDC:Worm vaporization threshold

(Up to Category:Miscellaneous research notes)

If a worm is hit with enough force it will be pushed off of the landscape entirely, killing it instantly. This, coupled with pixel debris, gives the false impression of the worm being "vaporized".

Here is Andy Davidson's take on the phenomenon:

"I think actually that the worm is being blown through the land into the water killing him instantly. Checks are normally done on worms to stop them being embedded in the scenery from massive explosions, as it would have been too slow to work out and clear the points in between as well as look silly.

Those checks weren't done on objects like mines to keep things running smoothly though, which is why you can see mines have been blown completely out of the game by the combo explosions leaving little holes in the scenery. In normal situations it was never an issue.

My guess is the check for drowning is kicking in before anything else, and the splash sample is being cancelled out by the other sound effects. 2 channels were used to pan the explosion sample in stereo, one for worm noises and the last channel for other effects such as mines bouncing."

A demonstration of this effect can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZn8GWJK2Dg