Drop Zone

So guys, time for another question. Choose your category: People or Places? I’m going to have to hurry you. I’m really going to have to push you for an answer guys, we’re live, sorry guys. Sorry guys, would you like me to toss a coin? You have to go with a category guys…

…Places it is. Which of these places is not in the UK?

Never mind Millionaire, that’s yesterday’s news! The next in this year’s veritable feast of brand new quiz reboots is The Million Pound Drop, though not without its purse-strings being tightened considerably. Shifted to afternoons, it is now rather awkwardly dubbed The 100k Drop and appears on Channel 4 from tomorrow.

Starting in 2010 and running until 2015, Million Pound Drop was broadcast live, usually around 9 or 10PM on Friday and Saturday nights for a few weeks at a time. Confronted by four drops, pairs of contestants had to answer questions by gambling a real million pounds (in £25k bundles) on the drop – ideally all on the right answer, but they could split their money if they were unsure, with the caveat of leaving at least one clear at all times. Any money placed on the wrong answers, well, dropped, plummeting through the trapdoor and rumbling like thunder down a chute and into the clutches of security guards. If they made it through eight (later seven) of these gruelling questions, they got to keep whatever was left.

It was an energetic show and perfect for the weekend. It was also quite fascinating to see contestants handling a physical cash prize, which doubtless had an impact even though it wasn’t remotely theirs unless they made it to the last question. I used to quite enjoy it – at one stage, I even survived the online play-along game to unlock application for the programme. The urge didn’t last, though. Being greeted with a form that was almost forty pages long, and realising I probably couldn’t have written that much for a life story at that point, I decided they could keep their million pounds.

I likely wouldn’t have made it on anyway; I may have met one requirement of being under-35, but sadly I’m not photogenic, nor am I perma-smiley and hyperactive, which were seemingly hard and fast rules. I always thought it a bit rich of Davina McCall to shout out to the over-60s for leading the online game – as they often were – because you knew they were never going to get due representation on the programme.

Million Pound Drop all got a bit samey after a while, and meddling with the format rather than where change was actually needed likely accelerated its downfall. I’m actually curious about The 100k Drop, though. One presumes the policies of prime-time will be relaxed, and that should mean more diverse questions, and that should mean a more diverse programme. Yay for diversity. It could end up being a better show. We’ll see!

Anyway, all of this rambling at a ridiculous hour in the morning is because I wanted to do a quick sim test with the drop. It’s a compelling set piece, with an aura of ‘boss battle’ about it. It’s still satisfyingly intense when it kicks into life and the wonga falls.

I originally created bundles of cash with individual notes – the most rigid notes you’ve ever seen! – but simulating any more than a handful of these was a bit too much for my computer, so I had to go with forty blocks instead. It was relatively simple from thereon in, throwing a Rigid Body tag onto the bundles, Colliders on the trapdoors and then animating them in sequence. The scale and surroundings may be slightly off as most of it was done purely from memory – perhaps I’ll come back to MPD and give it Millionaire-esque treatment with a full set model. Or perhaps not, who knows. I don’t. It’s late. I’m going to have to hurry you guys – let’s see what’s gonna drop.

(Spunkie is in Scotland, Crapstone in Devon, and Loose Bottom in Lewes. Fucking is a village in Austria. So, now you know!)

• 100k drop
• 3d
• Art
• Channel 4
• cinema 4d
• Game shows
• million pound drop
• simulation