Seasons

[Agarrett]

Such as spring, summer, fall, and winter. There could be different climates such as snow and during winter.

Fruits don't grow on trees in the winter, but branches are higher quality.

I think that this would make game play much more interesting, especially for farming.

[CG62]

I believe this has been suggested before.

But good suggestions need to be suggested several times.

Why?

'cus.

[Agarrett]

I believe this has been suggested before.

But good suggestions need to be suggested several times.

Why?

'cus.

'Cus we need to get the point through to the developers that everyone wants it, so they implement it.

[sabinati]

the problem is that there is currently not a good way to store up harvests for winter.

[CG62]

I believe someone suggested Grain silos of some sort earlier.

perhaps a granary? Buildable with stone and straw, halves food decay?

And then we could salt our meats.

[Frelock]

Well, what about the poor newbie who joins just as winter sets in? He comes into a game who's learning curve is already difficult, and he can't even find fruit on the trees to eat? I think that very few new players will survive their first winter if this gets implemented.


Of course, if we start them out in a tropical climate or something, then this problem goes away, mostly.

[Agarrett]

Simple, there are different seasons on different parts of the map, much like hemispheres. Any new player that starts during winter in the northern part of the map will be spawned on the southern part of the map, and vice versa. If it is fall in the northern part of the map, new players start in the southern part of the map or spring and again, vice versa.

[MasterCatfish]

I think this is a fine idea, but probably something that should happen after food decay is implemented? Seems to me like this would demand a lot of time though, since you'd need new art for most things (snow, dry summer, autumn leaves). I think if this does get implemented, that it's important not to just make some seasons a hassle. Perhaps in autumn apples would give some kind of FEP, or in winter you could sneak up on a hibernating bear.

[Peter]

...
And then we could salt our meats.

Alllll niiiiight looong...

Yeah, I'm all for seasons. They'd be really tough to implement, but they'd add a lot. At very least, it would make the game world non-static.

During rain, things decay more. During droughts, shallow water becomes mud and deep water adjacent to shallows becomes shallow. Hearthlings leave footprints in snow, and can get "freezing" status effects without enough clothing. Spring Showers speed plant growth and increase quality, and in fall harvests are slightly larger.

How long should seasons last? I'd suggest having a full in-game year in one month, possibly slightly longer. That would make it about a season a week.
You could replace the worthless "happiness" bar with a "temperature" bar, even.

Of course, nobody should expect to see a "We've been developing tonight, and here's what's new: Seasons." thing. To really be done well, it would take a huge amount of effort- I mean, you'd at least need new tile types and tile transitions for each of the current terrains (snowy heath, muddy heath, summer heath, spring heath... it'd be madness) Plus you'd expect you'd need new graphics for a snow-covered pine, oak, chest, boat, tea plant, hearthling corpse...

Now, some people don't like the idea of adding new challenges to the game, but I for on would embrace collecting wood and food for winter, or having to endure summer heat in a cellar, or dealing with leaves...

Hm... For heat and cold: If you are too hot for too long, you gain a "Harsh Heat" Penalty that puts a cap on the level your stamina will automatically charge to from food; however, you can restore it fully with water or (presumably iced) tea. So, in the summer heat, you tend to see people hunting for water or else struggling in exaustion. For cold, you get "Cutting Cold" that first saps your stamina, and if that reaches 0, starts to eat HP. Beer, as is traditional, temporarily relieves this effect.

[CG62]

I'd look forward to winter.

To be brutally honest, the game gets a tad boring once you establish a village. You run out of goals. It's so much more fun to think to yourself, "Well, once I finish this harvest I'll have enough linen to trade for enough metal for a stone mansion!". I imagine seasons would add more goals.


But I'd suggest making the seasons last at least the greater part of a month, so they're substantially difficult.