Dynamic levels of destructive detail in electronic game display

#The present disclosure generally relates to electronic games, and in particular to rendering game objects in a session of an electronic game.

#Many electronic games provide gameplay sessions, which are instances of gameplay. During gameplay sessions, many game objects are rendered, such as graphical elements representing terrain features. Often, during a gameplay session, game objects are “destroyed” in the course of gameplay, which may involve rendering a destruction of one or more game objects in the gameplay session, such as the shattering of a pane of glass. Rendering the destruction of game objects can involve the use of a large amount of computing resources, such as random access memory and processor cycles. Sometimes, destructions during gameplay can cause the gameplay session to request use of more computing resources than a client device running the electronic game can provide at that time. This may cause myriad issues, such as low frame rate, lag, or the crashing of the electronic game. Such issues may lead to undesirable gameplay experiences for users playing the electronic game on the client device.

#Embodiments relate to providing dynamic levels of destructive detail in a game object displayed in an electronic game. A client device receives information on game objects for destruction. The client device determines a level of destructive detail for the game objects based on performance data. The level of destructive detail corresponds to a number or configuration of shards for the game objects to destruct into. The client device retrieves graphics data for the game objects based on the determined level of destructive detail. The client device renders the destruction of the game objects using the retrieved graphics data.

#FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a client device, according to an embodiment.

#FIG. 2 is a block diagram of software modules in a memory of the client device of FIG. 1, according to an embodiment.

#FIG. 3 is a block diagram of graphics data used by software modules in memory of the client device of FIG. 1, according to an embodiment.

#The figures depict various embodiments of the present disclosure for purposes of illustration only. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from the following description that alternative embodiments of the structures and methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principles, or benefits touted, of the disclosure described herein.

#In the following description of embodiments, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide more thorough understanding. However, note that the embodiments may be practiced without one or more of these specific details. In other instances, well-known features have not been described in detail to avoid unnecessarily complicating the description.

#Embodiments relate to displaying of the destruction of game objects in a gameplay session. A gameplay session is an instance of gameplay of an electronic game upon a client device. Users may participate in a gameplay session via the client device. For example, the client device receives input from a user indicating a gameplay action within the gameplay session, such as to destroy a game object. The destruction of game objects may be initiated by factors other than received user input. For example, a game object may be destroyed based on actions by a non-player character (NPC) controlled by the electronic game, or based on scripted events included in the electronic game.