Building destruction often comes down to breaking pre-made chunks apart. John Leorid wanted something that reacts more like a real structure.
His Unity ECS destruction system treats buildings as connected pieces. Walls, floors, and pillars all support one another, and when that support disappears, the rest of the structure reacts naturally.
The system checks how forces travel through the building. Every connection measures how much force and torque it receives, then compares them against its own limits.
Once a connection can no longer support the load, it breaks. That changes how the remaining forces move through the structure, which can trigger more breaks across the building.
This idea comes from John's background in civil engineering. Many of the calculations are based on formulas used to analyze real structures, with values adjusted to work well in a game.
Not every connection behaves the same way. Some resist compression, while others are better at handling tension or bending. The system also handles cases like cantilevers, unsupported sections, and pressure building up inside the structure.
Once a section loses enough support, it separates into its own chunk and Unity's physics takes over. This lets large pieces fall, collide with the environment, and damage other parts of the building.
Earlier versions relied on a custom physics solution with invisible collision bodies to smooth out rigid impacts. More recent versions simplify that while keeping the same structural ideas behind the destruction.
John says the project has been an R&D side project since 2019. Over the years he has tested several techniques before arriving at the current system, which takes inspiration from Red Faction: Guerrilla's GeoMod 2.0 destruction engine.
He continues returning to the project whenever he has new ideas to test or optimize, working on it alongside his other game.
If you'd like to learn more about the project or the creator, you'll find the links below.
Interested in learning more?
If you’re interested in the technical side of Unity? The Unity Dev Bundle brings together six books covering shaders, math, procedural shapes, editor tools, and character customization.
Shaders, tools, animation, math, and more, the new "Unity Dev Bundle" is still available for a bit longer. 🔥 Get it here: https://t.co/gPPcuZDuFX#unity3d #gamedev pic.twitter.com/mnxRUCtUHC
— Jettelly Inc. (@jettelly) April 8, 2026
Jettelly wishes you success in your professional career!
Did you find an error? No worries!
Write to us at [email protected], and we'll fix it!
Level up your skills in Unity! Grab our bundle and start learning today.
We invite you to explore "The Unity Dev Bundle", a comprehensive bundle on the concepts and fundamentals seen in this post.
Other posts that might interest you.
-
Barely Breathing received a new procedural puddle system that uses raycasts, BFS, and Marching Cubes to react to walls and uneven ground. -
Senior Effect Artist Dong Cheol Kim created a free Unity tool that generates common VFX meshes and lets artists reshape them inside the editor. -
Gameplay programmer Agustin Rosso open-sourced RossoForge, a modular Unity ecosystem with reusable packages for game flow, UI, pooling, events, and other common Unity systems.
