Make rings spread on water where something falls in, and fade as they travel

Ripples are a small effect with a big feel, but a ring that is simply a growing circle does not look like water. The wave must travel outward, weaken with distance and time, wobble inside the ring and vanish after a while. Here is a formula that gives the height at any point, with many ripples at once.

Why this works

A ring on water is energy moving outward: it is only a narrow band at the front, it gets thinner as the circle grows, and it dies out over time. Describing just that band, and adding up all the rings, gives believable water without storing a surface.

When not to use it

Wrong when water must flow, splash or push things in a lifelike way, like rapids or a flood that carries objects, or when a decorative sparkle is enough. Rings cannot bounce off walls either, so use a real water simulation for that.

In the full entry

• What to build, step by step
• Starting values and the reason for each
• 4 common mistakes and the fix
• 42 lines of example code with 4 checks that pass
• How your AI shows you that it works

Say this to your AI

Use the Spielerando entry "Make rings spread on water where something falls in, and fade as they travel" (read_entry water-ripples-that-travel-and-fade) in my game. Build it step by step, and show me how you checked that it works.

Or skip this and connect the MCP: your AI then finds all of this by itself.Connect the MCP