Water just disappearing in the Insomnia demo?

I've been watching the i49 Starbound videos again and I couldn't help notice that the water physics are still kind of...well, unpolished. In the demo panel video starting at 20:27, you'll see the player removes some blocks that were retaining water, causing the water (which is still very, very blocky) to pour downhill and then just disappear not even halfway down, never even reaching the ground below when it should have filled the small hole below. I really thought that after touting that they'd have great water physics, this small thing would have been sorted out. Is this just a one-time thing, does anyone have a better example that shows that the physics are improved? I'm personally kinda concerned that the water physics might stay this way, which won't be good.

Here's the video:



I'm not overly worried, mind you. But I wanted to discuss this. What does everyone else think?

 

The water is flowing into the background. If it has no wall stopping it, it will flow there.

 

I can't watch the video, but I assume that this is because the water is pouring out into the background. Unless you create a surface on the background water will flow out the back. (I always wondered if you could mine a tiny hole at the bottom of an ocean and drain the whole thing)

 

I'm curious if it actually flows into the back layer or just goes away, like if I have empty space below that point will I see it falling...

Something was said about special ocean blocks that generate unlimited water. I don't think this will be possible. (I had wondered if perhaps water would flow INTO a world from the back wall on an ocean planet, above the ocean floor depth anyway.)

 

I wonder if I could make traps with that. Like put lava behind a wall, then an explosive somewhere. Random guy walks in and suddenly LAVA EVERYWHERE!

*maniacal laugh*

 

Water flows into the background if there is no background. With this example can kind of look at it and imagine the soil soaking up the water. But yeah no background = water flows into it downwards or disappears.

 

I saw that in various videos. How water just kind of soaks into the ground. I am curious if Starbound's water passes through certain blocks like dirt, but is stopped by others, like rock.

 

Ah derp, Nate. I should have realized that, I remember that being mentioned a long time ago and I just forgot that water drains if there is no background. Thanks. But still, the water is so blocky still. I was hoping it would look better by now.

Ha I'm trying to imagine how that would work, but if I can do it...that would be awesome. Honestly, making traps is one of the most exciting things to me.

 

IRL, you have to dig a channel to direct the water into a new area. This process is called irrigation.

Without a channel, the water spills out in all directions and absorbs into the earth.

If he wanted to fill the hole below to create a new pond, he should have made a channel by placing background walls 1block high along the ground to stop it from flowing into the background. This mechanic allows players to build really cool aqueducts with drains and such and water-themed dungeons will be totally awesome. Imagine active/inactive background blocks so that you can easily drain water out of an airlock.

I'm pretty sure it just goes away, but I hope it has to be touching the ground first.

I have no idea how they will do it. I can't wait to find out.

 

Oh yeah, I totally understand the concept and reasoning behind it, but I'm still thinking the way that Terraria did things is all.

 

It really depends on how they do it. If flowing into the background just "deletes" the liquid, then not much chance. I suppose ideally they'd do it so you could have liquids stored in the foreground and background.

 

I'm really excited to see how much different Starbound will feel.

From the tier 1 Yogscast stream it looks like it will feel similar, but I'm hoping that at higher tiers it will feel more and more like a totally new and unique game. Little details like how water physics work, the inclusion of shields, dungeon generation room-by-room, pets that help fight, vehicles, etc... Those will all add up to a radically different experience.

 

One thing for sure is the art looks so much more beautiful than terraria. (yeah I know the art director worked on terraria)
I feel like it will out league terraria by ten folds.

 

Agreed. I think a big aspect of the improved art is that the player graphic is four blocks tall instead of three.

The incredible variety of blocks, plants, trees, backdrops, etc... all of that contributes to the beauty, too.

That's just part of the water physics code. The ground is also blocky, but nobody seems to mind.

 

Oh! I see, I was curious about that too. That makes perfect sense.

 

Well from what I know in real when I do such things the water seems to get eaten by the ground too, weird huh?

 

My god that echo of the commentary is so annoying. Every time I watch this demo I need to pause it several times to let the irritation die down a bit.

 

I just mute videos 9 times out of 10. I don't like commentary in general. It seems more enjoyable that way too, since I don't have to hear if anyone is saying something stupid. (Yogscast is a good example)

 

Remember that they had to downgrade the game to an early alpha build for the festival. The actual game might be leagues ahead of the demo.

 

Anyone know if rain would fill/refill areas which could hold water?