Day/Night system

[Richie_SE]

Hello everyone!

 

What do you think about a day/night system in which the monsters, loot and quests are different depending on the hour of the day? Don't you think it would bring some kind of extended gameplay and deepness to the world?

 

Please share your opinion.

[AgentOrange]

Day/Night cycle will probably be in. I don't think quests should be exclusive to the time however, as that will inevitably lead to fast-forwarding (resting) in order to get or turn in a quest. Slight alternations to monster spawns would be fine.

[Kane_Severance]

I don't have an issue with shops and homes being closed at night. I also like when some things are only available at night. Things like gambling halls and taverns should have more people at night and every RPG with a night cycle must have a ghost that appears at night is seems.

[Halric]

Day/Night cycles really help the world seem real, and offer some intresting quest possibilities. If there are quests that required a certain time of day then there must be a mechanic to allow the player to easily fast forward to a desired time. Of course there will also have to be some design put into the quests so the player can't stall or muck up a quest because of the time of day.

[Wulfic]

I would love to see some characters only active night and some only at day it would make the game so much better !. If I remember correctly the shops in BG were closed at night right ?

[Shadenuat]

Yeah, some were - like smithy in Beregost (or rather, there were't anyone around at night... so you could rob some stuff from there without being noticed).

In Arcanum, some were actually opened - like Necromancy shop hidden around the corner of a regular "day" shop.

It's all cool.

Edited October 29, 2012 by Shadenuat

[GhostofAnakin]

I don't necessarily want to see quests tied to the day/night cycle, but I wouldn't mind seeing the random enemies you come across differ between the two.

 

For instance, muggers and cutthroats are out at night and your party has a greater chance of being accosted by them then. During the day, more guards patrol the city and thus the chances of you running into any nefarious individuals is slim.

[wanderon]

It may be interesting to see what sort of day/night cyle the world has - how many suns or moons - what sort of sky coloring & clouds and general weather.

[Leird]

I'd like to see the towns be different at night, and also have some different encounters at that time. But i don't want to quest that's dependen on day/night cycle. I also like the idea with muggers and thiefs at night, it would make sense.

 

But of my biggest problems with BG2 was the attacks by muggers and slavers after i'd become high level. Which didn't make alot of sense as they normally died in almost no time at all.

[Frisk]

Will there be a day/night cycle at all? If the player stands in the same area long enough, will the lighting change? Have the devs said anything about this?

 

Personally I don't expect to see the sun/moon move across the sky, for a simple reason - pre-rendered background implies pre-rendered shadows - it would look silly if the sun moved in the sky and the shadows did not change - and might end up pointing towards the sun.

 

What I kind-of expect would be to see day/night versions of some areas - if you camp in a wilderness area in the evening, you might get ambushed during the night. Also, in towns, some facilities might only be open at night, and some quests might only be doable under the cover of darkness. This can be achieved either by rendering two different (day/night) versions of the area background, or by applying a "night mask" to the area.

 

I would not expect to see regular sunsets/sunrises and so on.

[Hormalakh]

Dynamic lighting has been confirmed. In older games, (BG/BG2) as the day turned into night, an animation would play right before the map changed. I don't see why this wouldn't be possible.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bssuD7HE198

[rjshae]

I only hope I don't see vendors standing around their stalls at midnight waiting to sell you some fruit (or whatever). I distinctly remember that from the BG series games.

Edited October 29, 2012 by rjshae

[Frisk]

Dynamic lighting has been confirmed. In older games, (BG/BG2) as the day turned into night, an animation would play right before the map changed. I don't see why this wouldn't be possible.

 

Right, but that's only two different light levels for (some of) the areas. You didn't get the sun moving across the sky or the shadows dhanging as time passed - it just went from day to night and back - which is the same as I expect to see in PE.

[rjshae]

Some weather-related lighting might be a nice touch: sunny day = sharper shadows and brighter colors; cloudy or rainy = faint shadows and more subdued colors. A sunny dusk or dawn could emphasize warmer tones with lower lighting levels. Moonlit and moonless nights would be another effect that could emphasize the flow of time.

[GhostofAnakin]

But of my biggest problems with BG2 was the attacks by muggers and slavers after i'd become high level. Which didn't make alot of sense as they normally died in almost no time at all.

 

No one ever accused them of being very bright. If they were smarter, they'd be trying to take over a guild.

[Wolfentir]

Dragon's Dogma had much harder enemies at night. Also, you actually could not see pass few metres around you so you didn't want to get caught in the wild at night. Nightime was actually dark, unlike in other games.

 

There was this feeling of dred when you have just completed a mission in a place far away from a town or castle and it was getting dark. You knew it will be very hard to see in dark (even with lamps) and around every corner there might be a nasty enemy waiting.

 

And then there was a feeling of joy and relief when you would walk over a hill and see the castle and its lights cause you knew safety is near.

[Archmage Silver]

I don't see PE being released without a day/night cycle, it just adds so much more immersion to the game.

 

But of my biggest problems with BG2 was the attacks by muggers and slavers after i'd become high level. Which didn't make alot of sense as they normally died in almost no time at all.

 

No one ever accused them of being very bright. If they were smarter, they'd be trying to take over a guild.

 

Yeah, and then there was Habib throwing scimitars at you. That guy was worse off than the muggers.

[mokona]

If the gameplay will be different between day and night, can I just choose the time of day? Resting is one way of choosing the time of day but a rather clumsy one.

[Nidrolok]

Don't you think it would bring some kind of extended gameplay and deepness to the world?

Yes, it would surely do so. Connecting things to weather and date could also be done with very interesting results, it's almost certainly beyond the scope of Project Eternity but it is something that's not utilized often enough in modern CRPGs. The more the gameworld affects the gameplay the better.

[Carmelle]

I would love a day/night cycle, but having quests tied to specific times can be annoying sometimes. For example, in Skyrim and Witcher, every time you wanted to advance the day/night cycle, it'd take a while and you'd have to wait for really no reason except that the game engine had to load all the new lighting settings and such. But having the world react to the day/night cycle as it progresses is definitely something I would like to see.

 

Dynamic lighting has been confirmed. In older games, (BG/BG2) as the day turned into night, an animation would play right before the map changed. I don't see why this wouldn't be possible.

 

Right, but that's only two different light levels for (some of) the areas. You didn't get the sun moving across the sky or the shadows dhanging as time passed - it just went from day to night and back - which is the same as I expect to see in PE.

 

Although backgrounds are "prerenderered", the game is still 3d itself. It's not 2d/sprite based. So objects like trees, buildings, characters, etc... can actually be their own 3d model (and I think they said they would be) and thus still cast shadows/react to light dynamically. I think the pre-rendered dealy means more along the lines that the 3d elements will be limited to a single orthographic-like view and will have a focus on more detailed texturing work rather than trying to create complex models, and then the ground itself would be static? I dunno. But there's a lot of tricks that can be done these days to make games look as good and far better than the old school 2d games, while still keeping the same feel, and allowing for newer effects like the day cycle and other dynamic lighting, dynamic or destructible environments, etc...

[Hormalakh]

You can just tint the image as it approaches nighttime, shifting from a white to more orange to dark blue image before moving over to the new map for nighttime. Problem solved.

[Hassat Hunter]

Of course there will be day and night.

Of course most people will sleep at night, and outdoors will be more dangerous.

And of course there will be quests and events that require it to be night or day...

[Tamerlane]

Eh. I guess I'm in the "I really don't care for it" minority.

[Jojobobo]

A day and night cycle just like Pokémon. In fact the more features from Pokémon that can be used the better, imagine capturing Orlans in P:E balls and then making them fight to the death - that would be awesome.

[Nanakamado]

I would really be glad to have day/night cycle with quest and gameplay differences. As for me graphics in this element is not as important. But of course it would be nice to have some effects.