DF Retro Marathon - Water Rendering In Games - The H2O Special

I’ve always noticed that since the early 2000s, water was a key part of the presentation. Some of the most beautiful water systems is in BOTW/TOTK. The dynamic fluidity of water is a core part to ant game that wants to convince audiences it is pushing next Gen boundaries.

Nice water🙂

awesome report! now I need to pee

I remember that in the PS3 the water was really advanced like in the ducks demo, ratchet and clank and little big planet

N64 was not released in 1995, it was released in 1996 ( that includes Japan).

Idk how I didn't see this before but this is an awesome topic. I've found it an interesting part of game graphics forever and I'll never forget how stunned I was by Crysis 1s water (and that was on PS3 in 2011 mind you)

I think there's 2 parts of what makes great in game water. The appearance and the animation. IMO GTA V or maybe rdr 2 has the best water animations ever. It's easily the most realistic water animations. Other games may have water that's more pleasing to the eye, but as much as I think Rockstar games are overrated, nobody does a better job with water. Not even guerrilla games whose Horizon 2 is still the best looking game ever

Gamecube water was the most pleasing to my eye

The 2008 pc game Cryostasis had dynamic water like Hydrophobia, though perhaps to an extreme that was to its own detriment. It was demanding of computers at the time and can't run well on modern hardware. Large quantities of water looked great, but small puddles looked more like mercury than water. Still, if you can get a stable framerate, the water simulation is the most impressive I've seen in a game.

Virtua fighter 4 on ps2 had some of the best looking and dreamiest water I’ve seen til this day.

same video ! but DESTRUCTION !

how can john miss to tell that gamecubes flipper gpu was developed by ATi technologies the creators of Radeon graphics cards, while telling the fact that xboxs graphics were designed by nvidia right after?? typical digital foundry.

You know, I was convinced that Star Fox Adventures was the first commercial game to implement screen-space reflections as seen in the character reflection on the floors of Krazoa Palace. But I guess devs have been doing that trick for years beforehand, just in a less noticeable way.

Gta 5 has amazing water

Kameo's water was great too.

"Next week"....

Surprised there was no Skyrim. Talk about "artist-driven" water FX. The river system is phenomenal, and still holds up today.

The water effects in the swimming pool in Konami's version of Track & Field on the PS1 were pretty beautiful at the time.

The water effects in GT3 were also revolutionary for their time. And Splashdown was an underrated game. Better in every way than anything Nintendo put out and a legendary soundtrack.

When viewed daily, this video can replace 16 oz of daily intake

I will never forget the feeling I had as a child when I saw the representation of water in Mario Sunshine. It was the moment when I became more interested in the field of real-time rendering computer graphics than in games themselves.
I am now working as an environment artist, although I did not major in computer graphics and only write code in GLSL as a hobby.

The Gamecube is the king of water rendering

I loved these the first time around! Thank you for making it one video! Is there a part 3 coming?

Pikmin 3 is a standout as well

I always thought that the true measure of any open world game was how it renders bodies of water and their surfaces.
Most of the time, water simulation and rendering does nothing for gameplay and just puts unnecessary stress on the gpu and cpu.
So if a developer actually puts effort into designing and implementing it properly, it shows their attention to detail and their skills in programming and optimization. It’s a good indication that the devs know what they are doing,

I would love to learn more about how the ocean and waves in Sea of Thieves work!

Gamecube is so much better than the others it's ridiculous

Gamecube's TEV really is a pixel shader. In some ways it's more capable than GeForce 3's pixel shader engine.

No Chrono Cross water love? The first few hours of that game makes me feel warm and fuzzy, and I only just played it for the first time this last year.

This topic stands really close to my heart because I worked on water simulation as my bachelor's thesis. Initially I wanted to use fast fourier transform, but stuck to gerstner waves in the end. For coloring, I used only fragment shaders which I wasn't entirely satisfied with. Maybe I will make time in the future to study this topic further.

Just like in the original release, the error remains where you wrongly state that jetskis in Wave Race 64 do not generate wake disturbances in the water. But they do! You just haven't paid enoug attention.
Go to theDrake Lake track, do the first lap so that the fog goes away, and then move to the side and wait for the CPU players to come around. The calm water of that track will let you clearly see the wakes they generate. They will even move your jetski when they hit you. Also, the different weights of the pilots will produce in more or less intense wakes.

The golden era of non screen space reflection

wave race 64 is still impressive today, mostly because of how dynamic and interactive it is. graphically yes, it's not that great ... but it really FEELS like you're crashing into the waves with every movement. a true marvel of game design, something nintendo were masters at during the 90s. there's a reason so many of their games during that time are still fondly remembered today.

I'd love a prt 3.

I judge every new console generation by how they have improved water graphics. This is my dream DF video

man this is what journalism should be

what a puntastic video DF

Absolutely genius video, thanks for sharing.
Wave Race Bluestorm had to be the most dissapointing sequel of all time. They seemed to suck both the magic and excitment out of Wave Race 64 's superior wave patterns. Bluestorm was quite dull.
Any chance of one of these videos based on the concepts of Ai throughout gamings history, or otherwise the implementation of Fort construction ? Focusing on intelligent defensive capabilites.

Far Cry 1 blew my mind. I couldn't believe how real the transitions from underwater to the surface felt.

Starfox Adventures had the best water ever.

Remember Overboard on PS1 having great water effects.

Water sucks. Gatorade is better

Where’s MGS2?

Keep your FF7 remakes. Where is my Wave Race 64 remake 😩

Why did i miss this gem of a video, i love to see more videos focusing on specific effect and area of graphics throughout gaming history

I've been waiting all my life for this video. Since the early 2000s been obsessed with water in games

man, I do love a game with some great water effects. Doesn't matter what year it is from either.