Add Water

20 Jan
Ethan

I understand it is difficult to implement water in a voxel-based game, but a successful implementation would greatly improve the creativity of players when building! Were it to be done, the most important aspect should be flow. Water should not only exist in stagnant ponds/lakes, but should be able to flow around the terrain, changing paths based on the surrounding area. The three main things I would like to be able to use water for in building are: waterfalls, aqueducts, and water wheels. The first two suggestions I think would be much easier to accomplish than water Wheels, however the water wheels would be an incredible addition, and would tie directly into my other suggestion of implementing magic circuitry (which I will make another suggestion post for)

100+

20 Jan
anerys

If its not possible to implement a big ocean or flowing river or waterfall where we can dive or swim, I would be satisfied to have a fountain or a pond or something like that for decoration a garden or so. Maybe this is not so difficult.

100+

20 Jan
anerys

You are concerned that the water element will not be perfect.... but better water of worse quality than none at all.

48

21 Jan
Briar

with development in my community for lots of different buildings, water would play a huge role for improvement, even if its static like lava its still SOMETHING to work with. Just a few examples: Fishing, Boats, harbors, Docks, water wheels, farms, bridges, questing involving the water, clothing to affect the water. Please consider adding this in a EA Update... Thank you

51

22 Jan
RipperRoo

I disagree. it' s not easy to implement water for a voxel based game. Techtonica did it, but that meant the water is in fixed areas which cannot be changed.. so you would always have this river in your way.

Enshrouded is a lot about your freedom (in creativity, gamestyle etc.) and adding water would have to bring restrictions. Feel like it goes against the nature of the game... even though i really like to build my bases near rivers / waterfalls.

It is really not that simple, even if you can write it :D

35

23 Jan
ADG

@RipperRoo, 7dtd done a good VoxelWater which can flow and Fill empty blocks ;)

14

23 Jan
xitooner

Given the potential complexity of water in a voxel world (handling flow, etc), I'd be happy with it as more of a decoration/placeable object that you can earn/add to your home base; ie a small pond, etc.

43

23 Jan
Feliar

I have an idea of how it could be done/fit into the game world over time (and be an easy technical solution - maybe, not a coder): Water has disappeared from the world/is rare, but some water has been saved in the form of magical artifacts (water sources/cool looking cubes/end-game item). When a player finds such an artifact, they can place it somewhere (by some ditch, some dug-out water path) to make flowing river/pond/ditch/water feature (on a small scale) that is closed (if the area is too big/open, the artifact won't open because it wants to save the water it protects). When the artifact deems the chosen location suitable, it fills with water and the surrounding voxels magically "lock" (they are indestructible) and can be unlocked again by activating the artifact/disabling water. Technically, you don't have to deal with the physics of water (as much). maybe also add a bonuses for crafters when water feature is around (blacksmith cannot do much without water) or better resting bonus

24

24 Jan
BahBo

Valhiem did it well... Water is a big deal, its worth the effort.
I'm no coder but I can imagine a set of rules that would allow water to exist in a controlled way:
1 - Create hand crafted water bodies with an XYZ area of limitation where water from that body cannot exist outside of.
2 - Set a rule that a voxel becomes indestructible if it is adjacent to a voxel that is touching water. You can still destroy a wet voxel to spread water, but you cannot puncture through from the other side. This reinforces step 1 and prevents mistakes if digging underground near water.
3 - Water bodies have their own water level dictated by step 1, water is not a set volume that flows or drains.
4 - Waterfalls could exist as a visual effect when wet voxels of a body of water exists in proximity to those of another at differing heights. Steps 1 & 2 would maintain a barrier and could spread the waterfall effect depending on player action.

29

24 Jan
JJ

Back in 2015 this guy figured it out and it looked good.
https://youtu.be/m8g9LwDYq04?t=297

42

24 Jan
Mud

This is what I'm most interested in as adding water means a potential swamp biome in the future which I love in these types of games

9

24 Jan
eobet

Weird, I'm not allowed to upvote this. Anyway, water is essential. Water is life.

12

25 Jan
Lolli

Oh this isn't already a thing? Definitely number one priority! I need water!

1

25 Jan
MeGa

Yeah, even if its "fake water" like new worlds, that has no physics etc, or shallow water rivers. But having a river, lake or a pond are very valuable in a building survival game

4

25 Jan
Morn

I'd like water but I'm honestly not sure how you would implement it in a way that doesn't seriously impact people's ability to play the game.
Voxel-based water can work fine in an isolated environment or in games that use fewer voxels and it's interesting for research purposes (which Voxel Quest is, it's not intended to be playable), but the amount of resources that would be used up by it in Enshrouded is probably not worth the effort in a game that is not focused on water.

As for Valheim, they kinda cheated with water in a way that would not feel great in Enshrouded. Val's world is generally voxel-based, but the water *isn't*. It doesn't flow, it just exists at a certain depth.
In Enshrouded you can dig much deeper than you can in Valheim and for them it's fine because it's intended for you to spent a lot of time *on* the water.

Here it wouldn't work that way because the map is much more vertical than Valheim's. The bottom would have water, but the mountains would still be dry.

12

25 Jan
V

Lakes, rivers, streams, waterfalls! I want it all

5

25 Jan
Cole Younger

Someone on discord commented on using physics water instead of voxel water but that comes with its own issues. My compromise idea is similar to something above.

Water in the world has been warped by the shroud and now instead of condensing and evaporating like it used to there are plants/strange rocks that seem to absorb/expel water and they have basically magically taken control of all the water in the world.

Each of these objects (whatever is chosen lorewise) generates water in a fixed volume around them. The water will flow as it normally would but beyond a certain distance it seems to evaporate rapidly. If you pick up one of these objects or the water itself in a container you can seal it and move it elsewhere, and it persists, which is why we can get water out of wells in waterskins.

This would take a bit of physics calculation but would allow the game to have flowing water that would not just all end up in the deepest hole someone dug in the world unless they put it there.

7

25 Jan
Zalek

water in voxel worlds can be incredible, there is a really great example here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1R5WFZk86kE

12

26 Jan
Matias Merged

I would like some ships and boats

11

26 Jan
Blight

Bodies of water. Big, small, or moving it doesn't matter and a fishing mini game ! Thank you in advance.

1

26 Jan
Hawx

Water in voxel based games has been a thing since minecraft. Here the voxels are just on a smaller scale than that of minecraft. Pretty sure EQ: Landmark had water in it as well, though it just did a water volume and built the world up above the sea level, pretty sure valheim does this as well. Theres no reason the game can't have water other than the engine as it currently sits can't handle it and needs more time to develop it.

7

26 Jan
Damien

I thought that since the shroud corrupted everything those red looking ponds could be what's left of rivers and lakes in that world but maybe if they do implement rain make something like rain collectors to use water in a "blocky" way for decoration or survival purposes

12

27 Jan
Joe Greathouse

yeah if it's possible would be a huge addon to the game imo, and then it definitely needs fishing, a whole new lineup of food items haha

27 Jan
Daniel

No water is a deal breaker for me but I think I am in the minority. I need some lakes here and there for immersion and discovery at least.

I'll probably check on the game in six months or so.

4

27 Jan
James

I've never played Valheim, but I did see the ships from that game in a video. I'd really love to see some kind of ship in Enshrouded. Even some on the water construction would be really fun too! Sometimes its nice just to be out in the middle of a lake.

1

27 Jan
Tigerlilium Admin

"Boat" (suggested by <Hidden> on 2024-01-26), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.

4

27 Jan
David

I know that, probably, it's dificult of impossible, but i have always liked the waterfalls of minecraft.

2

27 Jan
HiLL

Yeah, good one! I have just realized that the whole map of Embervale is without any water such as lakes, sea, waterfalls, etc...

1

27 Jan
Shi

FISHING :'(

5

27 Jan
epilekt

I think the best way to add WATER is to add several types of WELLS to the carpenter's crafting recipes... they are already found in the game itself. No need to worry about the texture and physics of water. We only need bottles for water, for crafting various things.

5

28 Jan
Sean

I feel like as a tech upgrade barrier you could use a massive ocean to funnel players into a boat building tutorial that then gives access to the 2-3 new biomes either as a seamless way to add an expansion, or as a way to save a few biomes for a specific portion of progression mid - endgame.

2

28 Jan
jeff

In portal knight you did it before i trust you

28 Jan
Kyoshiroyang

Really hope that there is water, just find out that there is no water when going to make a small pond around alter

28 Jan
Kai

The shroud consumed all the water, that's how they grew and expanded so rapidly, but it was weird to have notes in the capital say that a 'flood' happened or whatnot when there's no water... Unless the shroud absorbed it all up.

9

28 Jan
Bas

If flow mechanics are too hard to implement, I'd be more than pleased with water blocks. Maybe we won't be able to make waterfalls but at least we could make ponds and lakes.

6

29 Jan
Kaikai

And with wather the ability to catch fish ! Great addition to the survival / cooking side of the game

1

29 Jan
ultimategrungo

Even if rivers and lakes end up fairly static, and we can only really swim on the surface (using stamina, say), I’m all for this. I think it would add a ton more character to the landscape, not to mention nice landmarks.

1

29 Jan
AJ

I'd love to see water implemented similar to how Minecraft does it. I'm much less a fan of Valheim's "water appears below this level" method, especially since Enshrouded allows for such creative tunnel/cave building, and I can see this really limiting those types of builds.

1

29 Jan
Bj4rni

In my understanding of the game, the shroud is water. The deadly red one "flows" in places where you would expect water. Just as a theory

10

30 Jan
odinmask

What we need is a device that can quickly obtain a large amount of water, such as a water tower. Or a water supply device, like the automated irrigation pipelines in ARK. In short, something that allows players to collect water efficiently without spending time on it one by one.

2

30 Jan
Scar

Boats would have been great

3

30 Jan
Hisuinoi

There MUST also be water, otherwise it makes no sense and somehow ruins the very good construction system!

I would also like to build one or two things such as
- wells
- Dig around a house, with a bridge and water in the trench

4

30 Jan
Dean

Defnitely love to see water, I actually think it was pretty well done in Portal Knights.

30 Jan
dmitry

Interesting idea about water. And as has been written here more than once in the comments, the question is how to implement this, because This is not easy to do in voxel games. You can do it like in Valheim by placing water at a certain height level, but this is not a good idea because... the developers have already made the landscape (redo it after so much work done?). It is possible to prohibit changing the landscape near water sources, but this is also questionable because significantly reduces creative freedom. There is an idea and I found it very exciting, which was voiced above by Cole Younger. Those. yes, we have a certain object that will generate water in all directions, but on a limited scale. If such an object sticks out from the ground with its horizontal side, it will create the effect of a waterfall. Such special items (there will be several of them, of different power, i.e., coverage area), or the item can be improved, like an altar.

3

31 Jan
Saraabi Merged

I think a great way to add water for decorative purposes without it being a pain physics-wise would be to add a terrain type that's a water block. We could make rivers and ponds within our build-able area without it affecting the overall environment. The water animation could either be stagnant or look like its flowing in a direction. Have it blend into existing terrain as a shoreline and vertical pieces could be animated to look like waterfalls.

31 Jan
Lenpup

Difficult, but it’s been done
https://youtu.be/vJLU2CLuyNg?si=VdFqoFzUskCMShPN

3

31 Jan
guss

I'd be content with ponds, visually moving bodies of water being restricted by some kind of indestructable "bedrock"... I personally would be fine withtout a fluid simulation.

2

31 Jan
Bear

I like the idea of water in the game eventually, but I can't see them adding it in the currently playable area. I would love to see some basic raft mechanics eventually added though. From what I understand, the lack of water in the current world is baked into the lore and probably has something to do with the shroud. Which seems to occupy the spaces you'd expect to find water. As I was reading the books through out the game. I found a few that referenced water once existing in the world. So I'm making the assumption that it's an intended design choice to have not included water in the first play.

5

31 Jan
DJKon

Lava should not be missing for example for the blacksmith's home-made decoration

01 Feb
Zara

I agree with those who said decorative water

2

Comments: 147