Systemic Elements · Game Mechanic Compendium

Definition

Systemic elements is an environment system driven autonomously: fire, water and wind are states of the world’s terrain and materials that spread by rule, so where a fire runs and what it consumes follow from the simulation, not a script. The elemental reaction synergy is a named result when two elements meet on one target or surface, as in Divinity: Original Sin’s electrified puddles; this archetype is an element spreading. Status effects hold what a burning character suffers, and rain putting out fire is a cross-reference with dynamic weather.

How the parts interact

The stored state belongs to each tile or pixel: burnable or not, wet or dry, burning or burnt. A spread rule moves it to neighbours. In SimCity fire spreads fairly rapidly through forests and buildings, more slowly over roads, and not across water or clear land. In Noita a burning pixel tries to ignite a random neighbour, so fire runs through oil and stops at water, which turns to steam. In Far Cry 2 wind carries fire through dry grass, and a wildfire is nearly impossible after rain.

The spread feeds other mechanics. Far Cry 2’s enemies die of burns within seconds, and a fire on one side of a camp draws the guards. SimCity’s fire stations, placed and funded yearly, put out fires within a radius, and the player can bulldoze firebreaks. In Flash Point: Fire Rescue, after each player’s actions a die roll places smoke, smoke beside fire becomes fire, fire on fire explodes, and the building collapses at 24 damage markers. Removing a fire costs 2 action points.

Variations

Tile spread (SimCity, Flash Point: Fire Rescue): fire moves at rates set by terrain, or on a die roll.
Wind and wetness (Far Cry 2): wind and dry grass speed a fire; rain damps it.
Rule engine (The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild): elements change the state of materials and of each other, and materials cannot change each other.
Material simulation (Noita): every pixel is a material, and gases follow liquid rules inverted.

Components

Status effects is the most frequent component: Far Cry 2, Breath of the Wild and Noita set characters burning or drenched. Stealth and detection appears in Far Cry 2’s diversion fires. SimCity reads base building and upkeep; the cooperative board game reads action points and a progress clock, its damage track. Breath of the Wild’s designers adopted the engine for puzzles, and Noita runs it over procedural generation. The spread rule, wind and extinguishing have no catalog mechanic. No tabletop role-playing example is cited.

History and provenance

The earliest documented use cited is SimCity (1989), whose manual describes fire spreading by terrain and floods that spread. Fire rules in 1970s board wargames and earlier computer games remain unsurveyed. Tarn Adams describes Dwarf Fortress (2006) advancing fires, fluids and temperature in each pass of the world. Far Cry 2 (2008) made grass fires a tactic, its guide calling fire a force multiplier, and Flash Point: Fire Rescue (2011) carried fire spread to the board. Nintendo presented Breath of the Wild’s chemistry engine at GDC in 2017, and Noita (2020) applies its rules to every pixel.

Notable examples

Notable examples, in chronological order. Notes describe how the system works in each game; the components are the mechanics it combines there and the parts its own working parts; the latest reference is a widely played game from 2020 or later.
Game	Year	Medium	Parts	Components	How the system works
SimCity Will Wright (Maxis)	1989	Video	Propagation, Containment	Base Building, Upkeep and Attrition	Fires spread fairly rapidly through forests and buildings, more slowly over roads, and never across water or clear land, and floods spread gradually. Placed fire stations put out fires within a radius set by their yearly funding, and the player can bulldoze firebreaks.
Far Cry 2 Ubisoft Montreal	2008	Video	Exposure, Propagation	Status Effects, Stealth and Detection	The official guide says wind carries fire quickly through dry grass, that fire is weaker in green or wet places and a wildfire nearly impossible after rain, that set-alight enemies die of burns within seconds, and that a fire on one side of a camp draws guards away.
Flash Point: Fire Rescue Kevin Lanzing (Indie Boards & Cards)	2011	Board & card	Propagation	Action Points, Progress Clocks, Cooperative Play	After each player's actions a die roll places smoke on the board, smoke beside fire becomes fire and fire on fire explodes, and the building collapses when all 24 damage markers are placed. Players, winning or losing together, spend 2 action points to remove a fire marker.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Nintendo	2017	Video	Exposure, Propagation	Physics Puzzles, Status Effects	A chemistry engine treats fire, water, ice, electricity and wind as elements and trees, rocks and the player as materials: elements change materials' states and each other's, materials cannot change each other's, so fire sets a tree alight and water puts it out.
Noita Latest Nolla Games	2020	Video	Exposure, Propagation, Lasting damage	Procedural Generation, Status Effects	Every pixel of a procedurally generated world is a simulated material. A burning pixel tries to ignite a random neighbour, so fire runs through oil, stops at water and turns it to steam, and an enemy drenched in oil can be set alight.

Provenance

Earliest documented use: SimCity (1989), video. Confidence: low. The earliest documented use cited is SimCity, whose manual describes fires that spread at rates set by the terrain and stop at water and clear land, and floods that spread. Fire rules in board wargames of the 1970s, and computer games before 1989, remain unsurveyed, and an earlier use is likely, so confidence is low.

Sources

Maxis. SimCity user documentation (Amiga, text edition). Rulebook User Reference: Disasters; Fire Departments; Funding Levels; Maps/Graphs Window. Accessed 2026-10-30. Fire spreading through forests and buildings, slower over roads, not across water or clear land; firebreaks made with the bulldozer; spreading floods; fire stations' radius, cost, maintenance and funding.
David Knight. (2008). Far Cry 2: Prima Official Game Guide. Prima Games. Book Key Locations, fire tip; Weapons: Flare Pistol, LPO-50 Flamethrower, Molotov Cocktail. Accessed 2026-10-30. Wind carrying fire through dry grass, fire weaker in green or wet places and after rain, enemies dying of burns, fire as a force multiplier, and fires drawing guards' attention.
Kevin Lanzing (Indie Boards & Cards). (2011). Flash Point: Fire Rescue rulebook. Rulebook 1. Take Action: Actions; 2. Advance Fire: Explosions, Secondary Effects; Game End. Smoke placed on a rolled space, smoke beside fire turned to fire, explosions and shockwaves, flashover, 2 action points to remove a fire, collapse at 24 damage markers, and players winning or losing together.
Hidemaro Fujibayashi, Satoru Takizawa and Takuhiro Dohta (Nintendo), Game Developers Conference. (2017). Change and Constant: Breaking Conventions with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Talk The talk that set out the chemistry engine, cited through the reports below.
Daniel New (Thumbsticks). (2017). Breath of the Wild, science, and clever little lies. Article Accessed 2026-10-30. Fire, water, ice, electricity and wind as elements and trees, rocks and the player as materials; the three rules; the engine adopted so that puzzles could reference the way the real world works.
Mike Minotti (GamesBeat). (2017). The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild makes chemistry just as important as physics. Article Accessed 2026-10-30. The three rules, fire setting a tree alight and water putting out fire.
Daria Loginova (80.lv), interviewing Petri Purho. (2019). Noita: a Game Based on Falling Sand Simulation. Interview Accessed 2026-10-30. A burning pixel testing a random neighbour, fire spreading in oil and stopping at water, water turned to steam, gases as inverted liquids, burning wood destroyed after a time.
Joel Couture (Game Developer). (2019). Road to the IGF: Nolla Games' Noita. Article Accessed 2026-10-30. Every pixel simulated, oil set alight, an oil-drenched enemy killed by fire, and Purho's account of the simulation as emergence-generating machinery.
Nolla Games. Noita (Steam store page). Website Accessed 2026-10-30. Every pixel physically simulated in a procedurally generated world; the full release of 15 October 2020.
John Harris (Game Developer). (2019). Q&A: Dissecting the development of Dwarf Fortress with creator Tarn Adams. Interview Accessed 2026-10-30. Active fires handled, fluids advanced and temperature updated in each pass of the world.

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Updated: 2026-10-30
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West, James, Jr. (2026). "Systemic Elements." Game Mechanic Compendium, updated 2026-10-30. http://localhost:4321/systems/systemic-elements

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