by Orpheus » Fri Jun 25, 2010 9:56 am Now, my idea is the following:
- Weather phenomena should be localized, in other words, it should cover only a certain area. So if it rains in a certain part, it won't rain in another.
- If it should be static or not depends on how complex the devs want to make it. Rain clouds could move away and cover another zone before vanishing, for example.
- Obviously, every change in weather should be accompanied by an animation or graphic effect that is noticeable to players.
- Should weather affect the player directly (acting on HP, Stamina, Hunger) or not? This is tricky. The most realistic path would be for it to affect the player, but it could become an unnecessary burden. On this thread I will focus only on indirect effects. Feel free to discuss either effects, though.
- How to balance the effects of weather so that it becomes a positive feature? After all, there's no point in adding a feature that simply translates into frustration. For example, should a certain weather accelerate the decay rate of houses or objects left outside? I'm not sure about this, so I would appreciate your comments.
Now, what weather changes could be important and what could be their possible effects? The following list is just a draft, so I hope you guys can share your opinion, be it changing what I have posted or adding more.
- Rain
- Duration: Should be in the range of 1 - 2 real hours.
- Visual effect: Water falling from above. Area affected by rain should also become darker (but not like night time).
- Frequency: Often in lakes. Commonly in forests, grasslands and heathland. Uncommonly in mountain. Rarely in moorland and mudflats.
- Effects:- - If rain happens in a region with water bodies, there's a chance of fish being replenished.
- If rain happens in a region with trees, there's a chance of resources being replenished (branches, bough, fruit).
- Increases growth rate of both crops and planted trees.
- Decreases drying speed in both drying racks and herbalist tables (could even put the process to a halt until the rain is over).
- High probability of unused plowed land turning into grass. - Drought
- Duration: Should be in the range of 8 - 16 real hours (that is, 2 in-game days)
- Visual effect: Kinda tricky. Something noticeable would be random animations of dust being blown by the wind, or an increase in brightness, perhaps changing the hue of the game to orange-ish.
- Frequency: Commonly in mudflats. Uncommonly in moorland. Rarely in forests, grasslands and heathland. Never in places close to lakes.
- Effects:- - Decreases growth rate of both crops and planted trees.
- Higher chance of trees dying while on the herbalist table.
- Increases drying speed in both drying racks and herbalist tables.
- Increases the chance of finding rustroot.
- Low probability of wild life simply dropping dead. - Fog
- Duration: Should be in the range of 0.5 - 1 real hours.
- Visual effect: Fog! It should however have a certain transparency.
- Frequency: Often in swamps. Uncommonly in areas near lakes and rivers. Rarely in forests, grasslands and heathlands. Never in moorland and mudflats.
- Effects:- - Decreases visibility considerably. A light source dispels a small radius of fog.
- Fog during night time will have almost no transparency. In other words, don't go exploring during a foggy night or there's a high chance of getting lost.
- Minimap stops functioning as long as the character is inside fog, it is instead replaced by the picture of a cloud.
I have not included other weather events like snow, storms, hail, etc. because I'm not exactly sure how they could translate into in-game effects. Feel free to share your ideas about them as well.
