Day/Night cycle

[Javewa]

How do you think the Night/Day cycle should work in HJ, if there is one?

Odd - One ingame day is 3 1/2, 5, 7, etc. hours realtime, followed by a night the same lenght, meaning that when you log in at 1pm you don't always have the light ingame.

Even - One ingame day is 2, 3, 4, 6, etc. hours long so when you log in at 1pm you know if it's day or night ingame.

Realtime - 1 ingame day = 1 realtime day. Meaning that when you log in at 1 pm, it daylight, at 1 am it's night, always.


What do you think?

I'd prefer odd day/night cycles.

 

[z80]

Realtime. I don't know how anyone can play any other way and not be annoyed.

 

[PrestoAdam]

Well, I'm not sure about the odd or even stuff, but I do like the concept of randomly seeing night or day in the game, regardless of when in realtime I logged in.

 

[Jaraeth]

Even or Odd, doesn't matter. Realtime annoys me though... Like, WoW I think? when I can only play at night, and I only ever get to see night time in game? Dang it, I see enough nite time, I want some day time.

Any varying amount of time per realtime unit, just not realtime.

~ Jaraeth

 

[Eve_CinVin]

Phooey, if it was real time, some people would always have to play in the dark.

 

[deathmetal]

I prefer real time but I know alot of people like to have some variety, and not just play at night all the time. So I think 1 game day = 12 hours realtime, instead of 24would be ideal. It's not too fast to be annoying to people who want real time, and for the others you would have variation if you log in the same time every day.

 

[frostydf2]

I really enjoy real time. If I'm playing at 3pm, I don't want it to be dark in-game for some reason. I guess someone above said you would get annoyed, well, I get annoyed.

 

[Eve_CinVin]

Real time is the time of day wherever you are at presently. If you play during the night (dark) hours in real time, then that's the time you would play in the game, night time, dark all the time.

 

[Duraenos]

I am all for day/night cycles as long as the cycles dont last only like 5 minutes for day or night. It isnt immersive if the cycles go by so fast to me like alot of games do.

 

[Jaraeth]

I could be wrong, but I like DAoC's day/night cycles, which I think is one hour = 12 in game hours, and I believe EQ2's is one day cycle = 72 minutes. I could deal with every 1 real hour being 6 hours in game, but any more than that and I'd get itchy. I don't get to play often, usually for an hour or two here and there. WIth my luck, I'd get to play 2am to 4am, and it'd always be dark in game, and that'd seriously cause me some grief.

All I ask is, not too long, not to short, and take into consideration those that may only get to play in short bursts between certain times, and those that can only play at specific times.

~ Jaraeth

 

[cordy_CinVin]

odd, even doesn't really matter to me. I really don't like real time since i would always be playing during the same time of the day.

Also whats the point of having time in game if it doesn't matter except for looks? Shops don't close people don't go to bed, so its really only for a different look.

But after reading I guess we won't have to worry about it in hj

Originally posted by Melissa Meyer
While the world and environments of Hero’s Journey are very dynamic and provide numerous opportunities for interaction, the lighting of Hero’s Journey is quite static. This was a compromise that we had to reach for the sake of the beauty and detail we like to add into our areas.

There are elements of weather in various areas of the world: some areas are rainy, some are foggy, etc. But this weather doesn’t change a great deal.

The world’s history accounts for the lack of change to time and weather. In the past the world was broken in every way: the planet is shattered, the prior god is destroyed, the harmony of body/mind/spirit is no longer in place. This broken state extends all the way to the natural life cycles of the planet: time, weather, food chains, etc.

 

[fips]

sylvado stated once before what dragonrealms time ratio was. it works for me, because when i log in i never know what time its going to be in there.

also, shops in some places do close when its night time. which i didn't have a problem with, it made it more realistic and fun. sure it was annoying to miss it sometimes, just like barely missing a barge or gondola or something. but it still made it interesting.

 

[z80]

I see a lot of people don't like realtime and will probably end up getting their way. blech. I hope they put up a realtime server because faketime sucks.

 

[Sisca]

Originally posted by z80@Jun 29 2006, 09:36 AM
I see a lot of people don't like realtime and will probably end up getting their way. blech. I hope they put up a realtime server because faketime sucks.

I find this amusing since one of the biggest complaints in the WoW beta was the fact that the servers were real time with no day/night cycle.

Of course to counter the fact that most of their players would be playing in the dark all the time they made night time not that much darker than day time so you really can't tell.

The problem I have with real time is it means you can't have any sort of natural schedule. The shops have to be open 24x7, animals that are normally only active during daylight hours have to be active at all times etc. Imagine if you were running real time servers and the shops all closed at 7:00 PM server time. If the servers are hosted at Simu this would mean 7:00 PM CST which would mean that most west coast players would never be able to shop.

It also limits the quest teams ability to build time related quests. You can't very well make a "Meet me at the crossroads at midnight" quest if most of your players will never get a chance to be on at midnight.

 

[Duraenos]

I disagree, they arent going to cater to one particular view, this isnt SOE we are talking about, lol. I am sure they will find a good medium or one that works good for the engine. As long as the cycles arent annoyingly short, I wouldnt mind if there isnt a cycle at all.

 

[Seeria]

Odd or even doesn't matter. From a gamer stance, I like time in game to run faster than real time and the dark of night to be shorter than daylight. Buuuttt from a roleplay stance, make it slower, longer than real time.

 

[z80]

Originally posted by HJ-Sisca+Jun 29 2006, 01:57 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (HJ-Sisca @ Jun 29 2006, 01:57 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteBegin-z80@Jun 29 2006, 09:36 AM
I see a lot of people don't like realtime and will probably end up getting their way. blech. I hope they put up a realtime server because faketime sucks.

I find this amusing since one of the biggest complaints in the WoW beta was the fact that the servers were real time with no day/night cycle.
Seperate servers would remedy that. The cool part is you'd then only need one realtime server per timezone since so many people like faketime. Those of us who like realtime are more than happy to live with the trappings and nuances of a realtime world.

Of course to counter the fact that most of their players would be playing in the dark all the time they made night time not that much darker than day time so you really can't tell.
Which sucked.

The problem I have with real time is it means you can't have any sort of natural schedule. The shops have to be open 24x7, animals that are normally only active during daylight hours have to be active at all times etc.Shops don't "have" to be open 24 hours, that's purely arbitrary. You have a valid point on the animals. But I would love that. Maybe I just have a taste for exotic gaming. Again I find the nuances of realtime night and day exciting.
Imagine if you were running real time servers and the shops all closed at 7:00 PM server time.which would be kind of arbitrary since stores tend to not all close at the exact same hour even within the same neighborhood. If the servers are hosted at Simu this would mean 7:00 PM CST which would mean that most west coast players would never be able to shop.This is the only real obstacle. There would have to be a server in every timezone (in america the only nation that matters).

It also limits the quest teams ability to build time related quests. You can't very well make a "Meet me at the crossroads at midnight" quest if most of your players will never get a chance to be on at midnight.Do we really know whether "most" players will "never" get a chance to play at midnight? The beauty of the flexible quest system in HJ is that it can have quests for night people and day people. There will be people with work schedules that only allow them to play near or past midnight. They could be assed out of the "meet me at noon" quests. But those are dilemmas I, as a gamer, would love to be faced with.[/b][/quote]
Bam! I know this debate is useless since the lore supports faketime. Oddly enough, if lore supports it I can accept it (even though I don't like it).

 

[Karetyr]

Personally, I'm open to anything. What would be freaky is if days were like 27 hours long in-game, thus throwing off "real-time" day/night cycles but not going ultra-fast....

 

[Pietoro]

I like being able to enjoy both day and night ambience. I don't mind if its a RL cycle, perhaps off-set it so nighttime ingame starts earlier than RL, but its still overall set on 24 hours.

 

[Eve_CinVin]

You have to remember, people are playing in many different time zones, including overseas. Also, people play at different hours. Why would anyone want to handicap other players just for their own whims? Seems they do and it shows selfishness to me.

Although I do like day/night cycles, I don't like long night hours if it's too dark, especially if I'm traveling through an area where I would like to see the beauty of the landscape.

Here is a comment I read in another article, that I thought was interesting:

The time cycle stores as well are great in idea form but horrid in gameplay. Who remembers having to reset or change their system time for Animal Crossing so that they could complete a quest or even shop at a store?