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[CREMSteve]

http://www.gamesradar.com/the-evolution-of-rain/

When it rains, it isn't white lines falling from the sky. Puddles look awesome now, but the falling rain still looks stupid.

Any examples of falling rain done right?

 

[MattKeil]

Done right you wouldn't be able to see it. Often in movies the filmmakers will add milk to the rainwater so it shows up on camera, which is probably where the "white lines" depiction of rain in games comes from in the first place.

 

[btags]

I don't think it is physically/optically correct or whatever, but the rain in KI 2013 on Thunder's stage looks really cool. I am sure someone can find a good video, gif, or webm showcasing it as I am terrible with that stuff.

 

[godofcookery]

I would love to play a game where rain is handled properly. I guess it is too resource intensive to do convincing rain, with all the water particles falling in 3D space.

In the 16 bit era I liked A Link to the Past's depiction of rain.

 

[Karak]

Agreed.
Forza Horizon 2, and for that fact racing games seem to be doing it rather well. But I agree wholeheartedly.

 

[enzo_gt]

Really hard to simulate, that's a lot of particles we're talking about, even before we get to them interacting with stuff in the environment. And like someone mentioned above, the effect is exaggerated from what your average rainfall looks like IRL.

Same reason we still see a lot of pre-baked paint scratching on cars and texture/maps of droplets on cars in racing games.

 

[fluffydelusions]

I liked the rain in Infamous ss

 

[TatteredHat]

As already mentioned, rain isn't really visible unless it's a real downpour. Trying to mimic realistic rain would probably be too resource intensive for the value that it adds as well.

 

[Burt]

Best part of the Arkham Knight reveal was definitely how crazy the rain looked. Improvements are coming.

 

[DOWN]

When it rains, it isn't white lines falling from the sky. Puddles look awesome now, but the falling rain still looks stupid.

Any examples of falling rain done right?

GROUND ZEROES

Very visible droplets when slow motion kicks in. No real problems with it during full speed either.

DRIVECLUB does it great. Watch Dogs has a good slow motion rain.

 

[Piers]

To me, falling rain done right would be rain that adds to the atmosphere a lot - though I do agree it can look goofy and out of place in some games.

Heavy Rain did a good job, imo.

 

[Abelian75]

It's an interesting point, but I think this is more just an issue of stylizing something. Like mentioned above, isn't it actually rather hard to see rain most of the time?

Shit, I started typing all confident that you can't see rain very easily, but man, I'm so conditioned by photos that now I'm thinking "of course you can!" I have to wait for it to rain again to confirm.

Certainly it's not that easy in a light rain, because I've had numerous debates with people about whether or not it is raining when looking out a window (particularly when you can't see the ground from the window).

 

[Commanche Raisin Toast]

I liked the rain in Infamous ss

Me too. Also that new Driveclub demo from the GC presentation.

 

[SerTapTap]

Driveclub, Ground Zeros and Infamous Second Son have pretty good rain if memory serves.

 

[toythatkills]

As already mentioned, rain isn't really visible unless it's a real downpour.

It's more dependent on the light conditions than the amount of rain.

 

[Krejlooc]

Really hard to simulate, that's a lot of particles we're talking about, even before we get to them interacting with stuff in the environment. And like someone mentioned above, the effect is exaggerated from what your average rainfall looks like IRL.

Same reason we still see a lot of pre-baked paint scratching on cars and texture/maps of droplets on cars in racing games.

This is the correct answer.

 

[CREMSteve]

Example of horrible rain

 

[Compbros]

Driveclub maybe?

 

[RK9039]

Example of horrible rain

Yeah that was so disappointing.

 

[Amentallica]

Example of horrible rain

That's obviously cum. The joke's on the players for not understanding this.

 

[UncleSporky]

Example of horrible rain

Maybe it's SPACE RAIN made up of compounds we can only dream of.

 

[Freedom = $1.05]

you'd be a big fan of crysis 3, then

 

[PreyingShark]

Example of horrible rain

What game is that?

And why am I laughing so hard?

 

[EnVy_CaLiBeR]

Example of horrible rain

Lol wow.

inFAMOUS Second Son did it nicely.

 

[Blearth]

FREEBASE!

 

[whatsinaname]

My favourite implementation was in Sleeping Dogs. Yes, it was white lines but the environment looked amazing during rain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4i_UVijwdg

 

[lt519]

Super Mario 3D Land. Wrong.

Super Mario 3D World. Better?

 

[Het_Nkik]

I always liked the rain in TimeSplitters 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVz5IqzeyMs&t=1m17s

But now that I'm looking at it... it's still white lines. They just blow around in awesome directions and hit the screen.

 

[SJRB]

I hate poor rain effects. Take Black Flag for example. The wet texturing looks good, but the rain itself looks like a two-dimensional overlay; there's no depth whatsoever. Watchdogs absolutely nails rain effects. I have a billion screenshots but the irony is that in screenshots the rain does look like white lines. In motion however it looks aces, you can see gusts of wind moving through the rain, lighting reflects on the raindrops. The rain gives off the illusion of being three-dimensional. They're particles, and using focus perfectly shows each individual raindrop.


The game has several intensities of rain too, I really love the heavy rain/storm, city gets all foggy because of how dense the rain is. Super cool.

 

[Ricky_R]

Shadow Fall THE THREAD!

 

[TatteredHat]

Example of horrible rain

Geez, I'd heard that the rain was bad in Shadowfall but that sure is something. Although to be fair, it probably doesn't look quite as bad when seen in motion.

 

[Rushersauce]

Watch_Dogs first reveal rain was amazing. Too bad it got downgraded beyond recognition.

 

[Sn4ke_911]

GROUND ZEROES

Very visible droplets when slow motion kicks in. No real problems with it during full speed either.

Came to post this.

 

[CREMSteve]

you'd be a big fan of crysis 3, then

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_e8NJ1l58lg

Unfortunately, the water isn't affecting anything, nothing has water pouring off of it, this is a torrential downpour and nothing in the environment appears to be wet other than the ground.

It does add mist and wind, kind of like MGS2, so that makes it better.

DriveClub does appear to offer some pretty strong effects.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7f3Tl5T5XY

 

[Iksenpets]

The Witcher 2 had a pretty decent refraction effect on falling rain, if memory serves.

 

[CREMSteve]

Geez, I'd heard that the rain was bad in Shadowfall but that sure is something. Although to be fair, it probably doesn't look quite as bad when seen in motion.

 

[MaximusPayne]

I think most games are actually nailing it pretty well. This generation has gotten water almost perfect as far as puddles and large bodies go. But yeah, that Shadow Fail...lol

"No...look at my face!"

 

[Psycho_Mantis]

I think it looks great in some games

 

[CREMSteve]

I think it looks great in some games

<3 Rime

 

[Timeaisis]

Still the best after all these years.

 

[Toxi]

Guys, be happy your rain effects are better than Demon's Souls'. The Valley of Defilement has one of the shittiest rain effects I've seen in a video game.

 

[Het_Nkik]

I think it looks great in some games

What game is this?

EDIT, nvm, answered while I was trying to search myself.

 

[SerTapTap]

I think it looks great in some games

That's stylized though, so it fits in just fine. Like the rain in Harvest Moon.

 

[nullset2]

Super Mario 3D World has some amazing Rain.

 

[TatteredHat]

I stand corrected.

 

[Amentallica]

<3 Rime

I never played that game but I don't particularly like that gif. It looks like there are boxes of rain. Sorta makes me think of old N64 games where you could walk a few feet out of the box of rain and have nothing falling, and a few feet further and you're in the rain again. Also, whoever posted those Watch Dog pictures, the falling rain does not look like it has any depth whatsoever. It looks very flat. The puddles on the other hand look great.

 

[thatmariolover]

I think AC4 had pretty good rain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGoq4zCkw2Q

Rain starts about 40 seconds in.

 

[Stairouais]

Metal Gear solid 2 had fantastic rain.

 

[King Tubby]

Example of horrible rain

It's like there's a massive welding project going on above them throwing a crazy amount of sparks.

 

[PodcastFips]

In the end it's just a matter of taste, no?