Now I think about it some more; The Elder Scrolls 5 - Skyrim is going to be a place filled with Snow and Ice, but ice physics is something I don’t think I have ever seen in a game.

Does anyone have any good examples of “ICE PHISICS” ?

Something like frozen water that breaks and ice bergs that float.

One nice Ice Berg.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ew2j_7Sk1sA

Note:
or is it ice physics.

Walking on thin ice
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEhiUZ8IRKo
(That sound of the ice cracking is epic)

Star Wars The Force Unleashed early demos had some physics demostration, and it showed amazing wood, ice, jelly physics. Though having good physics in games costs a lot of performance. I'd rather not having it, it would sacrifice gameplay.

I would think that "frozen water that breaks" could be just like any other solid more or less and the door to SI floated.


I think I have a more interesting consideration for "ice physics" and that is inertia of PC on ice... aka, sliding.

Digital Molecular Matter. Look for it, it is grand.

Sort of. In "A Dog's Life" walking on ice resulted in sliding. Additionally, inertia played a role; the faster you were running, the harder it was to stop, and the faster and longer the distance you would slide. Turning was very difficult, because while trying to turn, your momentum would be sliding you forward as well. I feel it really simulated the lack of traction on such a smooth surface as ice.

For good ice physics in water, Bethesda would have to use better water physics to enable items (NPCs, creatures, sea ice) to "bob" up and down. This includes having the water waves large enough to cause minor changes in height as the wave passes under the item.

CnC Tiberian Sun had some kind of 'Ice Physics', all the small vehicles and infantry were able to pass the ice but tanks just could stand on it for or short while, if they drove onto an instable part of the ice it brokes or if they stood too long on ice it first became instable and then it brokes.
Sure it wasn't real physical but I think something similiar should definitely be possible.

With a good http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcdKHA6f7qM you can emulate any kind of material.

Physics for ice exist, but it would be still too early for realistic ice in a game. Maybe in 5 to 10 years.

Cryostasis, ice would break and give way to freezing waters. If you heated a room ice around the room would melt into water. Lots of interesting things, but it was pretty taxing on your PC.

In terms of sliding annoyingly, some of the Spyro games had good 'physics'

Of course it exists. Take a look at modern engines with destructive environment. Breakable buildings, floors, etc. Nothing really stopping you from doing the same on ice.

Even more awesome would be Snow Physics. Imagine in game avalanches caused by unstable build up of snow on mountain slopes. not going to happen this side of my retirement though.

Yeah, anything relating specifically to ice would be an implementation choice, rather than an ice-specific engine feature (destructible environments, slippery surfaces, etc all have many uses). At least, I can't think of anything ice does that would be specific enough not to also have other uses. I wouldn't mind seeing a relevant demo though...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpQQm10cpo4 did the "slippery surfaces" thing rather well (for its day).

There s always ICE Physics in my Bourbon or Scotch.

If I remember correctly, Skyrim is more of a Tundra, mostly. So I'm sure we'll see frozen lakes, rivers, etc. But ice bergs? Bethesda probably won't touch those. Though, who knows? A new engine means a new way of doing things. SI's door was a static object, it didn't really float in the water as we know things to float. It just sat at a specified point and didn't move.

Slipping and sliding on ice is in several games and isn't that new of a concept. Breaking ice, well that would be just like breaking any other material which is in some games. Red Faction Guerrilla is a good example of this. Melting ice... I don't think I've seen that yet. Could probably be done on a small scale but probably not feasible for any practical application in Skyrim.

Most of the technology is there but I doubt you will see anything too extravagant in Skyrim as far as ice is concerned.

I think freezing and melting would be doable to a limited extent. Not so much in terms of a realistic reaction to ambient temperature (the most you could do is give temporarily spawned ice objects a lifetime based on the ambient temperature, and then either destroy them or shatter them into smaller pieces once it expires). But if it means shooting an ice block with fire or shooting a pool of water or wet surface with a cold spell, then that's doable in terms of CPU time since it only happens every few seconds of gametime at most -- even if the calculations are a bit complicated. But really, active melting is just another form of destructible terrain, and active freezing is just destructible terrain in reverse.

Actually, Dwarf Fortress uses ice physics now that I think about it. Probably doesn't count though. But it's a good example of how complicated and process intensive it can be on a large scale.

I found some stuff about snow, but about ice I still can’t find anything.

Snow unfreezing shader
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkmV9Sz4cQ4

Snow Shader
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51bati9kMZs&feature=related

Softbody Snow Shader
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8A0gGHoloaE&NR=1

Snow Prints In 3ds max 2010(Example)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNlqf2COkYo&feature=related

In the Deadly Reflex (Oblivion) mod you are able to freeze people in there spot in a block of ice and then hit them to shatter them to pieces.

It also worked in Red Alert 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KquAGHT1_IA

The ice levels in Super Mario Bros. 2 were very annoying,

This is a great topic to explore, especially considering where this chapter will take place. I'd like to "see" some cave openings covered with a sheet of ice or snowfall that you would of course have some clue it was in the area. You could then cast a fire spell, hack at it, etc. to break it down and get inside. Sliding on ice would be so cool, and why not have some places that if you fell or slid into would end up causing you to lose most of your control and you end up sliding down steep troughs or ravines. Now you are stuck somewhere you can get back up from and will have to either continue exploring that area or use some other means to travel out of there.

Walking on ice should definetely be implemented but in a realistic way. Yes, you can slide on ice, but you can also be stopped by rougher ice and/or trip, at least on natural ice, since it's not all smooth and straight. Not all ice is slippery, though. Some rough ice you can walk on as easily as rock, if you're careful to never trust it to be so.
I remember I once had to go back home, down an icy slope. I slide all the way down, running when crossing streets that where melted and holding on those worderful lamposts that were there just for me! The trick is to never believe you can actually stop but stop whenever you have the chance!

I once skated on a small iced river. It was interesting to see that most ice was white and opaque, but once in a while there was a very perfectly clear spot of ice you could see through to the bottom on the river, like it was undisturbed water. The ice was at least 3ft deep. Extra safe. Beautiful.

Maybe you could find shops in Skyrim where they sell grips or snowshoes! That'll be interesting to add different ways of walking on ice/snow with or without grips/snowshoes...

I like the idea of snowshoes, that should be easy to realize it's existence for that area. There could be areas of soft thick snow that make it hard to walk and slow you down considerably or you could buy/craft snowshoes to increase your manuverability.

an interesting physic aspect of ice is that under pressure it can turn into water unlike most solids.