I just added a new blog post at the Wind River blog, about determinism and illustrating Simics-style determinism is by looking at the game Bad Piggies. Games and simulators have quite a lot in common, actually.
In particular, Bad Piggies is perfectly determinstic.
The details are all in the Wind River blog post, but I felt I wanted to share some cute screenshots from the game here.
First, we see how levels most usually end, with a broken vehicle and a bouncing pig. The main departure from reality in the physics engine in Bad Piggies is that fact that the pig is made from some indestructible material and can take any amount of pounding without getting more than a few cartoon stars around the head. Perfectly OK, as that makes for a compelling game.
Second, the animations are also just wonderful, the pig (and the queen that sometimes tags along) look genuinely scared as they jump fly and bounce around.
The game is highly recommended, and I have seen people just watching a run laugh out loud as things do not work out too well… it is like a classic Roadrunner cartoon come live, or silent movie physical humor.
(Screenshots taken from the HD version on a Google Nexus 7, and then edited down to size).