So I'm figuring out the visual style for my newly-added dynamic water.

[lisyarus@mastodon.gamedev.place]

So I'm figuring out the visual style for my newly-added dynamic water. Made alpha & color depth-dependent, which should be more physically accurate (left) but seems to look worse than a flat color (right) when placed into my stylized game. Wdyt?

#indiedev #gamedev #indiegames

[ronflaix@mastodon.gamedev.place]

@lisyarus I like the depth-based coloring better

[thomastc@mastodon.gamedev.place]

@lisyarus Left looks better imo.

[karaksindru@kind.social]

@lisyarus I agree with the others. I like the depth styling. It reads more clearly that this lake is deeper than this other, etc. I don't know if that's a factor in the game mechanics like if certain resources can only be found in deeper water or whatever.
Ultimately it's your game and your style, so if you think the flat color looks better go for it.

[buschnick@mastodon.gamedev.place]

@lisyarus I prefer left. Has more interesting visual structure. The right version looks washed out to me

[aeva@mastodon.gamedev.place]

@lisyarus I like the depth dependent water better. I think it wants to be fancier though, like maybe fake caustics in the shallows, blur the depths, something on the shore line, some surface wiggle + some specular highlights.

I think the reason the plain version doesn't feel like it is missing anything is because it doesn't really look like water beyond being symbolically recognizable as semantic water. The plain version would actually be better if it was opaque imo.

[aeva@mastodon.gamedev.place]

@lisyarus to put it another way, the version on the left looks like it is like 20% of the way to being really slick diorama water, and the version on the right looks like it is 80% of the way to being windwaker water.

[adaliabooks@ohai.social]

@lisyarus

I prefer the depth version too, though it would be handy to see it next to some other elements rather than just the sandy/rocky slopes to tell if it fits