The water already knew the way

The first water was a surface. A river has to be a route. I wanted channels sitting in the drainage the terrain had already been worn into, not a painted ribbon across a heightmap, so you can actually follow water from high country down to the sea.

What's in the world now is that network: long water cutting with the land, falling where the ground steps down, and meeting the ocean instead of stopping inland. Rivers show on the world map too, so finding one is a navigation problem rather than a lucky walk.

The water itself moves. Step in and you drift downstream with the current. Loose objects are meant to take that same ride: a log should be able to find the sea on its own. That's the groundwork for rafts and boats, not a feature that exists yet.

The waterfalls are already real as geometry. They still look like stacked cubes, though. The falling-water shader isn't doing its job yet, and that's the next question rather than a finished look.