Water Rendering In Games by Digital Foundry

[Brian Boru]

Of all game elements, water has always interested me the most—probably because for the life of me I couldn't even begin to figure out how our dev and art geniuses accomplished what appears on screen. In this remastered old 1-hour video dealing mostly with console game examples, DF dives deep

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwHs22kd4S4


First times I met water which made me go 'Wow' was with the 2004 games Far Cry and Half Life 2—I used to dive and swim around underwater in FC just to appreciate the novel 3D beauty of it all.

I'd met cool water before—eg 1996s Red Alert with the ships and subs—but only as a surface. Then in 2007 we had Crysis and Bioshock, which had great water—I used to have to wipe the spray off my monitor!

I haven't played more recent ocean games like AC Black Flag, Sea of Thieves etc, but the water in videos of them looks phenomenal. What are your fav games for water experience?

 

[Colif]

2004? I saw water in Wave Race in 1999 and I am still waiting for someone to do better... it might not look very good by todays standards but it was how it felt. Sure, it was never on PC but there you go... some exclusives remain that way.

I didn't know DF made any games

 

[Brian Boru]

I saw water in Wave Race in 1999

He talks about Wave Race a lot, altho from much earlier than your experience.

I am still waiting for someone to do better

Good news! It's way better these days. As a wise man said about Wave Race…

it might not look very good by todays standards

 

[Frindis]

Assassin's Creed: Odyssey has some of the better water I have seen. I especially like the vibrant colors they use in the game that make it believable together with the water physics. Sea of Thieves is another that comes to mind and that game had impressive waves, which got more impressive when sailing on a smaller sloop. The first experience of good water physics I can remember would be Bioshock. When I took the elevator underwater and experienced Rapture for the first time the vistas were quite breathtaking. Another impressive feature was how the water would behave when moving in/around cracks and different objects. It looked realistic. Another part I just remembered is how the fire and water would behave realisticly together in that small segment before you took the elevator underwater.

​

 

[ipman]

Yes I've always been amazed at the quality of the seas, lakes and rivers in many games.

Watchdogs 2 has realistic seas and I enjoy sailing on them. In GTAV you can have a lot of fun powerboating and sailing on the seas and even carry out underwater missions in a sub and swim with orcas. The rivers you can use as a means of stealth attack and escape in both these games.

RD2 for lakes and rivers with some almost realistic fishing thrown in. Taking a canoe the length of a river over rapids and all the encounters along the way is good fun.

Also I think sound effects in games are often not noticed as much as visuals, but some rivers and waterfalls sound amazing even deafening at times.
(Could be a good cue for some realistic water feature screen shots) then we could really compare.

 

[Brian Boru]

good cue for some realistic water feature screen shots

Far Cry water has generally been good, all the way since FC1 in 2004. I'm sure there's better, I usually concentrate on gameplay when evaluating so i haven't noticed much.

Here's a breezy lake in Far Cry 5:

Far Cry 6 couple. First, leaving the starting island after breaking the blockade:

Second, a tranquil late evening seascape:

 

[Zloth]

I've never seen good water. I've seen water done better than previous games, but it always falls pretty far short of what I want to see. Waves may look nice, but you'll often see that they only extend out a little before turning into something else. Whitecap effects never happen sanely. The shores are always terrible one way or another - either the waves just shrink away or, worse, they stay big right up to the land. Like the video said, we just haven't found a way to deal with fluid physics without melting the PC itself into a fluid.

Strange - we had videos from NVIDIA showing off fluid dynamics (mostly smoke) way back in the 480 days that I still haven't seen matched in a video game.

Water does make for some gorgeous screenshots, though!

Assassin's Creed: Odyssey

Cyberpunk 2077

 

[ZedClampet]

I've never seen good water. I've seen water done better than previous games, but it always falls pretty far short of what I want to see. Waves may look nice, but you'll often see that they only extend out a little before turning into something else. Whitecap effects never happen sanely. The shores are always terrible one way or another - either the waves just shrink away or, worse, they stay big right up to the land. Like the video said, we just haven't found a way to deal with fluid physics without melting the PC itself into a fluid.

Strange - we had videos from NVIDIA showing off fluid dynamics (mostly smoke) way back in the 480 days that I still haven't seen matched in a video game.

Water does make for some gorgeous screenshots, though!

Assassin's Creed: Odyssey

Cyberpunk 2077

I think we're making a little progress, but it's probably not much of a priority until there's a game where waterflow really impacts the gameplay in some way. Here's a video of Unreal 5 with a fairly realistic coast and another one showing water movement:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLmiqJJI5ZQ

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qun9Utp9dyw


I couldn't really tell you what game I've played that does water best, but I can tell you what I thought was the most annoying water in a game. That was in Dying Light. Every time you got out of the water there was a "wet eyes" effect that caused you not to be able to see for what seemed like quite awhile, particularly when there were enemies around.

But my biggest water complaint is slow swimming speeds, especially in games like Far Cry (as compared to other games with swimming). I used to get impatient and decide to try to swim across lakes rather than run around them...very stupid decision. Get a quarter of the way across and decide it's taking too long and swim back....

 

[ipman]

I like this from WD2 and it also teaches you the basics of sailing>

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUFZ16kt614&ab_channel=KRCGames

 

[Brian Boru]

a game where waterflow really impacts the gameplay

Those videos look great! I can see surfing and kayaking games proliferate once the hardware becomes affordable—or of course, Crytek could make another rig melter. Get skateboard and rally car games on the water.

slow swimming speeds, especially in games like Far Cry

Interesting… I'll always swim in preference to taking a boat unless it's a very long trip, which it almost never is. You can't enjoy being nipped at by a shark in a boat
Of course I always get the movement speed perks and activate sprint when swimming, so it's rarely much slower than hunting up a boat anyway.

basics of sailing

Wow, great brakes on that boat

 

[Zloth]

Ragdoll robot dive for the win! That water looks a good bit better, especially the shore.

 

[ZedClampet]

Those videos look great! I can see surfing and kayaking games proliferate once the hardware becomes affordable—or of course, Crytek could make another rig melter. Get skateboard and rally car games on the water.



Interesting… I'll always swim in preference to taking a boat unless it's a very long trip, which it almost never is. You can't enjoy being nipped at by a shark in a boat
Of course I always get the movement speed perks and activate sprint when swimming, so it's rarely much slower than hunting up a boat anyway.



Wow, great brakes on that boat

You're thinking of 5 while I was thinking of 4, which is my personal favorite, and there are no swimming skills in 4, just an injectable that lasts 30 seconds and isn't an early unlock. Plus until you get the garden at your house, you have to like gathering flowers to craft it, which I prefer not to do. Without that, sprint swimming is frustratingly slow to me. But once I unlock the garden, it's okay.

 

[Pifanjr]

But my biggest water complaint is slow swimming speeds, especially in games like Far Cry (as compared to other games with swimming). I used to get impatient and decide to try to swim across lakes rather than run around them...very stupid decision. Get a quarter of the way across and decide it's taking too long and swim back....

It's one of those cases where realism should make place for fun. Unless you have a good reason for why swimming should be significantly slower, it's just annoying when you swim at the pace of a snail.

 

[Brian Boru]

I was thinking of 4

Ah yes, I agree re 4—swimming was even better in 3 than 4. That Himalayan swim in 4 took me 3 tries before I figured out I could break the ice en route for a breather—I'd tried to make it in one shot and of course failed miserably. That was indeed slow.

 

[Frindis]

But my biggest water complaint is slow swimming speeds, especially in games like Far Cry (as compared to other games with swimming). I used to get impatient and decide to try to swim across lakes rather than run around them...very stupid decision. Get a quarter of the way across and decide it's taking too long and swim back....

Reminds me of the times I tried to swim in Arma 3. The game had VERY slow swimming speed:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2seGBIUYaY

 

[ZedClampet]

Reminds me of the times I tried to swim in Arma 3. The game had VERY slow swimming speed:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2seGBIUYaY

If you threw in running out of stamina and drowning, that would be Valheim.

 

[Brian Boru]

swim in Arma 3

Odd that YTer uses C&C's General Sheppard—RIP Eric Martin—as his icon, but hasn't any C&C videos 🤷‍♂️

 

[Brian Boru]

Did a bit of swimming in Far Cry 6. Lifeguard was yelling something at me, dunno what…

Oh, maybe he wanted me to catch a few of those. I was in a good humor, so…

I could get used to fishing by shotgun—only drawback was I got my toes nibbled when I jumped in to retrieve each 'catch'. In order of appearance:
French Grunt, Snook, Barracuda;
Reef Shark, Angelfish.

 

[ipman]

I always have to remember to switch to GTAV controls mentally because a few are not the same as other games. One is the enter/exit vehicle which uses F key and I often get swimming wrong; W-up and I suppose I'm used to that key for forward, L=Shift is forward underwater.

As sometime in a cop chase I can end up driving into and underwater I have to switch in my mind quickly or drown. I ended up the other day with the car stuck in a tree.

 

[Brian Boru]

switch to GTAV controls mentally because a few are not the same as other games

You know about rebinding keys, ie change them to what you want?

I do that in most games—much easier than rebinding my brain

 

[ipman]

You know about rebinding keys, ie change them to what you want?

I do that in most games—much easier than rebinding my brain

Yes thanks, I've got a Razer Tartarus which is easy to rebind on, but I have a problem with GTAV when things get really hectic and if the F is where the E is it's easy to end up jumping out of the car.

 

[Frindis]

Speaking of water rendering, this just in:

POOLS on Steam

Walking simulator. Explore, admire and listen. Uncanny. Relaxing. Unnerving. Eerie. Immersive. No monsters chasing you or jumping towards at your screen, but can feel oppressive at times by invoking fears of getting lost, the dark, tight spaces and liminal space architecture. Inspired by backrooms.

store.steampowered.com

I tried the demo and it was all right. The water looks nice, not as good to move in though and when you run you make a weird clacking sound with the shoes which is annoying. It's a swimming pool labyrinth kind of simulator, at least that is what I get from it after some minutes of navigating around. Some ambient sounds surprise you but mostly it is just you alone with pools to walk or swim in.

 

[Colif]

He talks about Wave Race a lot, altho from much earlier than your experience.

I might have seen it in 96, I think I got the dates wrong in post... 99 was when I stopped using a N64 and got 1st PC.
its almost 28 years ago, its hard to be exact.

 

[Brian Boru]

I tried the demo and it was all right

What seems the best Steam review so far says that Chapter1 sucks, but Ch 2 is really good. Could be dev has no marketing savvy, doesn't know he must grab player early on.