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Pseudowater

My attempt to create a moving water effect with particles and a shiny surface, looks especially convincing if you fly low above the "water" surface, looks less convincing with too much reflections and if you stand still.

this is just a map to show off particles, i've added modes so you can check it without having to enter the editor.

(re-creating) the effect & the editor:

The effect basically consists of a shiny base surface with a little bit of reflection, and 4 noisy particle systems with a different particle life time and scale.

The moving particles "mask" the specular reflection of the sun, and mix in some colors to fake the appearence of shiny crests and shaded throughs on a sea.
Particle distances are set to make wave scale and motion appear big from far away, and detailed from close by(4 particle systems = 4 levels of detail), a 5th system adds foamy splashes once in a while.

The wave shading illusion relies on subtle color contrast, it falls apart if you attempt to modify ambient lighting colors and sunlight direction, and you'll have to adjust the particle colors accordingly if you want to directly copy and paste this.