> current sandbox games (minecraft, dwarf fortress, terraria) implement wate...

> current sandbox games (minecraft, dwarf fortress, terraria) implement water flows as cellular state machines. this is clearly wrong, because pressure is non-local

Dwarf Fortress's algorithm actually supports global pressure propagation, albeit in an ad-hoc fashion:

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3549/interview_the_mak...