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Game Ideas: Weather, Night, and Day

AuthorMessage
Survivor
Jul 31, 2010
26
So I've been thinking about stuff like this since I started playing Wizard101 8 years ago, but I never put any real thought into it until very recently. See, I play another game that has daytime and nighttime, which is really cool. They also have summer and winter. During the winter, they have snow all over the regular areas and now they have a special winter area that stays through Christmas and New Year's. They've also hinted at making rain and storms in the game. I thought it would be really cool to see this in Wizard101, too. I've always imagined what Wizard City would look like at night or covered in snow, like Colossus Boulevard. What do you guys think? Would you like to see times of day and weather in the game?
Grace, Level 75

Survivor
Oct 23, 2010
42
I'd love to see this idea used in the game, but only as an aesthetic change (ex. rain doesn't increase storm damage or anything). It would really add some nice changes to various areas throughout the spiral.

One thing I can say though is that some areas shouldn't have any weather.
For example, Krokotopia. Most of the world is indoors, and the areas that aren't are desert.

Defender
Dec 26, 2016
132
I feel like adding in weather and day/night cycles would ruin the mood in some worlds and may cause plot holes in others.

For example, Polaris is a world based on Russia during the Russian Revolution, the Arctic, and Antarctica. One of the plot points is that there's an after dark curfew when it's going to be night for the next few months. This curfew helped show in one line how bad the pingouins have it and one of the reasons why they want change.

It would be kind of awkward if the inspector who greets you at the spiral door says that there's an after dark curfew and the sun is high in the sky. There's no real reason for him to have said that and it would bring the question, why are the pingouins complaining because the curfew isn't in effect. The curfew is supposed to tell you how corrupt Walruskberg is as soon as you get there and kickstarts the subplot of Polaris.

Similar with Dragonspyre as well, there's actually a reason for the dark sky. It's ash and soot that got trapped in the atmosphere after the Dragon Titan destroyed it. I was a little weirded out in the quest where you had to go back in time to just before the Dragon Titan attacked to get a key to a locked vault. The fact that there was water and sunlight in Dragonspyre at one point was just baffling, since the dark sky was ingrained into my head.

But that being said, if there was a world I would like to see in the night time, it would be Mooshu. The day looks good in Wizard101 and it's dusk in Pirate101. I'm just curious what it looks like at night.

Explorer
Sep 25, 2012
60
Truthfully, I wish they would implement this.

It's way too sunny at my Winter Wind Tower, which would definitely look better at night. At the very least add castle magic for it.

Defender
Apr 10, 2012
114
I like this idea for certain area like some have mentioned. Would love it for some of the houses too. I really enjoy decorating my houses for the seasons and holidays. I would so enjoy being able to have my houses have daytime and nighttime. That would be so cool.

Explorer
Jun 29, 2009
61
I have always though about something like this! They slightly implemented it in Empyrea, in Aeriel Shore where the rain comes and goes!

Survivor
May 11, 2015
37
I would actually love this! I was thinking having it through The Commons, Shopping District, and Olde Town without affecting any gameplay areas that already have weather aesthetics like Marleybone which is night.
92 Grace MoonBlossom
61 Madison FirePyre

Survivor
Jul 31, 2010
26
thatgrumpypanda on Dec 1, 2017 wrote:
I feel like adding in weather and day/night cycles would ruin the mood in some worlds and may cause plot holes in others.

For example, Polaris is a world based on Russia during the Russian Revolution, the Arctic, and Antarctica. One of the plot points is that there's an after dark curfew when it's going to be night for the next few months. This curfew helped show in one line how bad the pingouins have it and one of the reasons why they want change.

It would be kind of awkward if the inspector who greets you at the spiral door says that there's an after dark curfew and the sun is high in the sky. There's no real reason for him to have said that and it would bring the question, why are the pingouins complaining because the curfew isn't in effect. The curfew is supposed to tell you how corrupt Walruskberg is as soon as you get there and kickstarts the subplot of Polaris.

Similar with Dragonspyre as well, there's actually a reason for the dark sky. It's ash and soot that got trapped in the atmosphere after the Dragon Titan destroyed it. I was a little weirded out in the quest where you had to go back in time to just before the Dragon Titan attacked to get a key to a locked vault. The fact that there was water and sunlight in Dragonspyre at one point was just baffling, since the dark sky was ingrained into my head.

But that being said, if there was a world I would like to see in the night time, it would be Mooshu. The day looks good in Wizard101 and it's dusk in Pirate101. I'm just curious what it looks like at night.
It can always be narrowed down to just Wizard City. Everything there just kind of stays the same, really, which makes it kind of boring to be in at times. I often avoid being in Wizard City because the sameness of everything gets to be too much at times. I highly doubt day and night cycles would affect the quest line there because it's mostly kind of basic there. Most of the quests there are leveled through Novice to as high as maybe Journeyman, with the exception of having to go see Ambrose from time to time as you level up. The only areas that could possibly be affected by weather would be Colossus Boulevard because it already has its own weather there, and Firecat Alley because rain would defeat the purpose of the area there. As far as weather goes, it can always be street specific if it's not just in the commons. For example, Triton Avenue could have rain, just like Colossus has snow.

Another idea could be just having it affect the commons and/or Ravenwood rather than all of Wizard City or all of the worlds in general. The only quests you really get in the commons are low level school specific quests, seeing Ambrose, and fishing. The only quests you get in Ravenwood are school specific quests and Monstrology. Most, if not all of those quests, would not be affected by day or night or any kind of weather.

The only other areas that I can think of in Wizard City that wouldn't be affected at all by day or night or weather besides the commons and Ravenwood are the Shopping District and Olde Town because nothing really goes on there besides... well, just shopping.

Survivor
Jul 31, 2010
26
Ryan Thunderhead on Dec 1, 2017 wrote:
I'd love to see this idea used in the game, but only as an aesthetic change (ex. rain doesn't increase storm damage or anything). It would really add some nice changes to various areas throughout the spiral.

One thing I can say though is that some areas shouldn't have any weather.
For example, Krokotopia. Most of the world is indoors, and the areas that aren't are desert.
I agree on that. It would be really cool to see different times of day and weather in basic areas where nothing really goes on in Wizard City like Ravenwood, the commons, the Shopping District, and Olde Town because nothing really goes on there besides people just sitting around because that's basically what the commons are for. The only quests that go on in places like the commons are low level school specific quests, some side quests like fishing and the Zeke quest, and seeing Ambrose once in a blue moon. I highly doubt that weather or day/night cycles would affect much in Wizard City's main areas. Of course, the streets should be left alone as far as weather goes because they kind of already have their own atmosphere (for example, the snow on Colossus Boulevard or the cloudy sky on Triton Avenue), but it would be cool to see those streets at nighttime. There could also be holiday specific weather in the areas you don't really do anything in, too, like having snow during Christmas and fall during October and November. I live in a state that doesn't have seasons, so it would be cool to see that in a game as a substitute for not being able to experience it where I live without having to spend hundreds of dollars to travel north.

Survivor
Jul 31, 2010
26
AquaPhoenix223 on Dec 4, 2017 wrote:
I would actually love this! I was thinking having it through The Commons, Shopping District, and Olde Town without affecting any gameplay areas that already have weather aesthetics like Marleybone which is night.
92 Grace MoonBlossom
61 Madison FirePyre
Yeah, that's what I was thinking!

Defender
Mar 18, 2012
106
I think this is a most excellent idea. It would make the game seem much more realistic.

Armiger
Jan 11, 2012
2497
Justin Firethief on Dec 1, 2017 wrote:
I have always though about something like this! They slightly implemented it in Empyrea, in Aeriel Shore where the rain comes and goes!
If you think about it, they did it in Azteca as well. Once you finish the world, there's a graphic not there previously, and stays there ever after. It's not time of day, or season, but it's a different effect; the comet pieces raining down

Survivor
Jul 31, 2010
26
BlazeMaster688 on Dec 6, 2017 wrote:
I think this is a most excellent idea. It would make the game seem much more realistic.
It would also be cool to look at if you have nothing better to do than just stand there in the commons.

Survivor
Jul 31, 2010
26
dayerider on Dec 6, 2017 wrote:
If you think about it, they did it in Azteca as well. Once you finish the world, there's a graphic not there previously, and stays there ever after. It's not time of day, or season, but it's a different effect; the comet pieces raining down
I'm almost to Azteca I think, so I'm eager to check that out now. Thanks for telling me about it!

Explorer
Jun 29, 2009
61
dayerider on Dec 6, 2017 wrote:
If you think about it, they did it in Azteca as well. Once you finish the world, there's a graphic not there previously, and stays there ever after. It's not time of day, or season, but it's a different effect; the comet pieces raining down
Yea, the change in the sky with the meteors dropping, but the difference is that they are constantly there, whilst in Aeriel Shores the rain comes and goes and does change even after we complete the world.

Illuminator
Aug 03, 2016
1475
The comets and destroyed landscape in Azteca (once you finish) bother me and I wish I could turn those off or back to 'normal.' I totally get why it's like that, story wise, but visually and aurally I dislike it.

Astrologist
Aug 23, 2016
1059
Although I am in favor of some areas having the ability to change ascetics (day, night, seasons, etc), there are some places the should not be changed like Marleybone or Grizzelhiem.

Also if say Wizard City suddenly developed a Day/Night cycle what time zone would be the default? There are wizards who play outside of North America. Even the difference between East and West coast could be disconcerting.

I guess I'm arguing in favor of a season change to the Commons areas (Commons, Ravenwood, Shopping, and Olde Town) but not in favor of seeing changing Day/Night cycle nor do I really want to see Marleybone in Daylight or Grizzlehiem in the "Summer" (unless we are doing a revisit to a different portion of that World's "Skyway" Like Mooshu in Pirates or something along those lines.)

Steven Ghoststalker
83

Illuminator
Aug 03, 2016
1475
Area51Alien on Dec 8, 2017 wrote:
Although I am in favor of some areas having the ability to change ascetics (day, night, seasons, etc), there are some places the should not be changed like Marleybone or Grizzelhiem.

Also if say Wizard City suddenly developed a Day/Night cycle what time zone would be the default? There are wizards who play outside of North America. Even the difference between East and West coast could be disconcerting.

I guess I'm arguing in favor of a season change to the Commons areas (Commons, Ravenwood, Shopping, and Olde Town) but not in favor of seeing changing Day/Night cycle nor do I really want to see Marleybone in Daylight or Grizzlehiem in the "Summer" (unless we are doing a revisit to a different portion of that World's "Skyway" Like Mooshu in Pirates or something along those lines.)

Steven Ghoststalker
83
"Also if say Wizard City suddenly developed a Day/Night cycle what time zone would be the default?"

Good point. Perhaps it could be according to each person's time zone, whether they see day, or the sky is dark.

I can see why that would be complicated though, and as it stands, everyone sees the same things at the same times. (Unless I guess they've completed part of a quest, then a building etc. might appear different, to them.)

Day/night could be toggled off and on, if that change were wanted enough to rewrite all that code, I guess.

It might be simpler to just have 'weather' but then (if seasonal weather is meant) a similar problem occurs: Different parts of planet Earth have different seasons on the same days, just as different parts of planet Earth have different time zones i.e. times of day or night at the same moment in time.

When it's winter in one part of the world, another part has summer and vice versa.

We do have permanent weather in some places. Empyrea is drizzly. Most of the spiral appears to be sunny.

Armiger
Jan 11, 2012
2497
Justin Firethief on Dec 7, 2017 wrote:
Yea, the change in the sky with the meteors dropping, but the difference is that they are constantly there, whilst in Aeriel Shores the rain comes and goes and does change even after we complete the world.
Yes, they are always thre, but my point was to show that it can be done conditionally so that some people see it and others dont. This was a big concern when posting about this earlier, and indeed, on this thread too. What would people see if somebody from the US plays with somebody from Oz, for example. My take is that everything would be the player's LOCAL time. It should also be able to be turned on/off as we want to. In the case of Azteca, it's not TIME based, but COMPLETION based, but since not every player has completed it yet, it shows 2 variations at the same time

Survivor
Jul 31, 2010
26
SparkleTude on Dec 9, 2017 wrote:
"Also if say Wizard City suddenly developed a Day/Night cycle what time zone would be the default?"

Good point. Perhaps it could be according to each person's time zone, whether they see day, or the sky is dark.

I can see why that would be complicated though, and as it stands, everyone sees the same things at the same times. (Unless I guess they've completed part of a quest, then a building etc. might appear different, to them.)

Day/night could be toggled off and on, if that change were wanted enough to rewrite all that code, I guess.

It might be simpler to just have 'weather' but then (if seasonal weather is meant) a similar problem occurs: Different parts of planet Earth have different seasons on the same days, just as different parts of planet Earth have different time zones i.e. times of day or night at the same moment in time.

When it's winter in one part of the world, another part has summer and vice versa.

We do have permanent weather in some places. Empyrea is drizzly. Most of the spiral appears to be sunny.
Another game I play has day/night cycles based on the estimated time of day for each time zone in the US. I made an estimated schedule and it works a little like this:
Sunrise:
4-5am
Morning-Late afternoon:
5am-7pm
Sundown:
7pm-12am
Night: 12am-4am
When it reaches this time for each time zone, the cycle will begin to change. They've had seasonal weather in the past and it works like this: The Wednesday before Christmas Eve, it will start to snow. The snow lasts until January 10th and it's back to generic summer weather. The snow only lasts through Christmas and New Years' Eve, so it technically is Holiday specific. It does not last as an entire season. I was thinking that it would be fun to have snow for maybe a week or two during the winter holidays and then go back to having no snow.

Illuminator
Aug 03, 2016
1475
mythgal45 on Dec 12, 2017 wrote:
Another game I play has day/night cycles based on the estimated time of day for each time zone in the US. I made an estimated schedule and it works a little like this:
Sunrise:
4-5am
Morning-Late afternoon:
5am-7pm
Sundown:
7pm-12am
Night: 12am-4am
When it reaches this time for each time zone, the cycle will begin to change. They've had seasonal weather in the past and it works like this: The Wednesday before Christmas Eve, it will start to snow. The snow lasts until January 10th and it's back to generic summer weather. The snow only lasts through Christmas and New Years' Eve, so it technically is Holiday specific. It does not last as an entire season. I was thinking that it would be fun to have snow for maybe a week or two during the winter holidays and then go back to having no snow.
That sounds great MythGal45.

I saw your avatar and thought it was Dr Von at first then realized it wasn't then remembered he isn't on forums any more. (His membership expired I think.)

Just as pleased to meet a 'new friend' -- just having a wistful moment.

Armiger
Jan 18, 2010
2280
mythgal45 on Dec 12, 2017 wrote:
Another game I play has day/night cycles based on the estimated time of day for each time zone in the US. I made an estimated schedule and it works a little like this:
Sunrise:
4-5am
Morning-Late afternoon:
5am-7pm
Sundown:
7pm-12am
Night: 12am-4am
When it reaches this time for each time zone, the cycle will begin to change. They've had seasonal weather in the past and it works like this: The Wednesday before Christmas Eve, it will start to snow. The snow lasts until January 10th and it's back to generic summer weather. The snow only lasts through Christmas and New Years' Eve, so it technically is Holiday specific. It does not last as an entire season. I was thinking that it would be fun to have snow for maybe a week or two during the winter holidays and then go back to having no snow.
Have to admit, this is actually pretty cool. Brings life to the game to see the environment around you actually reacting rather than just staying still.


Armiger
Jan 18, 2010
2280
SparkleTude on Dec 15, 2017 wrote:
That sounds great MythGal45.

I saw your avatar and thought it was Dr Von at first then realized it wasn't then remembered he isn't on forums any more. (His membership expired I think.)

Just as pleased to meet a 'new friend' -- just having a wistful moment.
Sparkle, I believe Von is a female, not a male.

Dr. V, please clarify this once you're back on the boards :D


Armiger
Jan 18, 2010
2280
Lake Shore for example had rain in a couple of the areas surrounding it and I thought this was pretty cool. Dueling in it was cool too. So, I thought KI was going to expand on this idea in upcoming updates.
While I agree that some areas such as Marleybone are fine as night, areas such as Wizard City, Avalon etc could at least make steps into implementing such a system.

KI, if you're nervous about this idea, remember, you tried it in Lake Shore! And guess what? It worked!

Also, remember about the Test Realm, we don't have to test new content, we could test updates such as these too.

Many games have started to implement a day/night weather based system. Why not bring it here?
As the years roll on, I believe the little, small detail things like these should be given a chance to be highlighted within the game too.