#Dynamic Waterfalls and River

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

low hornet
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More dynamism is Waterfalls, Rivers, and water in general. Not only are rivers more "realistic" looking, in that they fall from a source and flow into the ocean eventually or what not, but also there is an actual flow to the water.

Now whether or not the water blocks are finite or infinite doesn't matter. The idea is that every water block has a direction its flowing, and a speed. So there might be rapids or it might be flowing slowly. Maybe you can tell from the texture or maybe you'll see where the fish or some particles flow. The river itself should flow in a direction from the source of the river down to the ocean or whatever.

I imagine the game can't generate the whole river system at once, rather starting with a random middle of it, so it would need to pick a direction. Probably all rivers would be heading the same direction, either north or south, depending on where you are on the planet. Either way, it'll be flowing downhill.

Lakes might be calm, but there might still be a flow to them. Whether rivers flow into them or not. This could create small waves. Definitely on an ocean it should create larger waves that follow the tides and the moon.

If two currents of opposite directions are flowing into each other, it can create a whirlpool. Or not if that's too hard to code.

Waterfalls when flowing down a cliff could dissipate into particles or the like to simulate the look of a waterfall, while there are perhaps invisible blocks to identify where the water is flowing. If it's in particles, when you turn off the particles render it just shows the blocks themselves. But the blocks could be thin and vertically aligned, maybe shrink wrapped around the blocks they're flowing around.

Maybe there are also puddles which could form from tides or after rain which are just like a thin slab of water on the ground.

low hornet
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There will be some rivers with rapids, and others that are slower moving. The slower moving ones might be easier to move through, but also might have leeches or something. idk. Maybe they're murkier too

low hornet
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I hope this suggestion isn't too realistic, just some flow directions. Not acting as finite water

wispy sonnet
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for a lake there would probably only be flow by the inlets and outlets

low hornet
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It might be easier that way, yeah, instead of the lake having Waves or the like

wise juniper
rocky palmBOT
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GG @wise juniper, you just advanced to level 4!

wispy sonnet
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yeah, he could probably make some function based on the perlin noise as well as some white noise to predetermine the start and flow of rivers -- like there could be something such that if a value of 1 in the white noise aligns with a high value in the perlin noise that has even higher values surrounding it (basically a spot on a mountain where there is a bit of a crevice), then a river will start from there and flow along low values in the perlin noise towards a lake or ocean to form a river

quasi lichen
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I mean in the future there could be simplified weather systems that would determine where a river could form

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like if you know enough about the earth's surface and how air moves you could probably determine around about where rivers would be, which could also be done here

formal oak
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I think probably the thing that intrests me most is the idea of wave textures and ripples on water, like how grass looks but for little wave cards that move in the direction of flow, or splash effects like the ones in Effektive, or even little rain drips!

low hornet
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Sure, yeah

grizzled kraken
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My biggest issue with this is the computing power water actually takes in a game. Terraria gets away with it by water only needing to technically be a 1d plane with bumbs and ripples but when you extend that to a 3d environment you then need to add an entire 2d mesh that moves which will kill your frame rate. The effektive mod idea might work but it'd need to be done afterwards. I think in a world where the water can go 6 direction instead of 4 it'll look 'real' enough

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I do like the idea that flowing water moves the player faster depending on how fast the water is moving

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That way things like swimming up a straight down water fall isn't possible

low hornet
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Yeah

neat raven
wispy sonnet
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fair but also i dont think thatll be too much of an issue

neat raven
low hornet
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Ken: The Processing Power for that is insane

Nah, I totally get it lol

quasi lichen
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Eh it can probably be optimized but it might be much harder due to hexagons

errant lion