How do I create dynamic water for top down game?

Hello all!

I really love the aesthetics of a game called A Short Hike. Especially the dynamic water effects on that game. I have been tinkering around to create something similar but haven`t really come even close to a feasible solution.

I think the best approach would be to use sprite mesh with some sort of edge recognition but I really can`t figure out how to set mesh points this way. I also realize A Short Hike is an 3d game and what I am trying to achieve is just a poor man`s version of it.

Project file contains a video of an effect I am after.

dropbox.com/scl/fi/xlf439jrxpinr6kry007h/Dynamic-water.c3p

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thank you for your reply.

Movement pattern with alpha clamp seems quite close. Is there a way to use other colors than white? I could not find a way to change it. Other than that I think you could spawn sprites so that alpha clamp would do the trick.

I need to look in to the possibilities of this solution.

Thanks again!

You can remove the Brightness effect, try different colors in the mask sprite.. With effects it's all about experimenting.

Ok thanks! I`ll run some experiments