[insightmike]

I was just thinking to myself...would it be possible for developers to create single player games with accurate night/day sequences and accurate seasons based on the user playing the game time/location?

ie. I'm playing "Max Payne 3" at 1:30am in the middle of winter. So in the game it's night time (no matter what level I'm on) because it is 1:30am where I am playing the game at, and it's snowing and all the in game characters are wearing "winter" time clothing because I am playing the game in December...make sense?

I understand that would be pretty hard for developers to do but is it possible with todays technology?

[Tarrccrys]

of course this would be possible.. i think there is even a mod for a gta game where the real time is the game time.

[Lidawka]

animal crossing!
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Diplomat

[M_Marked]

animal crossing!

Very possible. but if i was a developer that would take waaaay too much time to implement.

[fuesquemill]

Microsoft Flight Simulator!

It has a local weather option.

[Lidawka]

Very possible. but if i was a developer that would take waaaay too much time to implement.

well they kinda do this with animal crossing on DS unless its been to long sense ive played it.
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Honda VF500F specifications

[Buincchotourb]

Microsoft Flight Simulator!

It has a local weather option.

yeh it does, and it works best with a game like that.

some games like max payne might benefit more from having predefined weather.

[EbrsaRynleot]

It's a neat thing for about 50 seconds, then you couldn't care less.

[gunhijala]

Pokemon on the gameboy even had this feature

[M_Marked]

You could do time fine and maybe weather. But seasons, youd have to have different textures for fall, winter, spring, summer. Different character models, different sounds etc for EVERY level.

[SinncmxM]

MSR on Dreamcast did it a long time ago, not sure if it was even the first by a long shot.

bleugh - didnt see seasonal bit, no idea about it.

[NKUDirectory]

Aren't Nintendo doing somthing like this with the Wii's Weather channel thing.

[urbalatte]

Black and White had it, when you set it up correctly if outside was raining in-game was raining too.

[iDzcs7TU]

I was just thinking to myself...would it be possible for developers to create single player games with accurate night/day sequences and accurate seasons based on the user playing the game time/location?

ie. I'm playing "Max Payne 3" at 1:30am in the middle of winter. So in the game it's night time (no matter what level I'm on) because it is 1:30am where I am playing the game at, and it's snowing and all the in game characters are wearing "winter" time clothing because I am playing the game in December...make sense?

I understand that would be pretty hard for developers to do but is it possible with todays technology?

Err.....Oblivion....Titan Quest....

[JeremyIV]

I was just thinking to myself...would it be possible for developers to create single player games with accurate night/day sequences and accurate seasons based on the user playing the game time/location?

ie. I'm playing "Max Payne 3" at 1:30am in the middle of winter. So in the game it's night time (no matter what level I'm on) because it is 1:30am where I am playing the game at, and it's snowing and all the in game characters are wearing "winter" time clothing because I am playing the game in December...make sense?

I understand that would be pretty hard for developers to do but is it possible with todays technology?

It'd be possible, but the more important question would be weather or not (ha, pun!) you actually want to have this in your game design. For instance, Max Payne's atmosphere is largely dependant on the blizzard that's present throughout the entire game. It's an integral part of the game design. Same with Far Cry: a lot of its appeal lies in the sunswept island vistas. You don't want what's essentially a pretty random weather pattern ruining a game that's designed with a particular atmosphere and feel in mind.

Some games could be suited towards weather effects that accurately mirror the real world, but even then it's doubtful it'd be a very meaningful feature. Whether or not the in-game weather is dependant of in-game random weather, or real-life random weather doesn't matter much: so long as the game world is believable.

Grand Theft Auto comes to mind as a game suited for "real" weather, as the games emulate a world we could be living in right now (GTA3 in particular). However, you'd have to wonder, if it's winter... Do you really want a GTA3 stuck in winter just as long as real life, or would you prefer an artificial pattern, possibly an evolved version of the random patterns that are done now? And if you'd apply a "switch" to choose between random, pre-set or real weather in practice it'd come down to most people using one particular mode with the other two becoming useless "fluff" features.


Technically it's possible, perhaps even in the advanced state you portray (in-game character behaviour, world physics, aesthetics adapt to local weather changes), but the more important question is: does it fit with the game design and, considering it's a game, is it desirable?

[xLQLRcXh]

I can't believe nobody has mentioned Operation Flashpoint of several years ago, which did some of this very well.

With the editor missions could technically go on forever. It had full realtime day/night cycles, sunrise/sunset according to time of year, accurate ocean tide levels according to time of day (you could actually watch the tide come in and out if you sat on the beach and used time acceleration. Accurate star constellations at night according to time of day/year for navigation. Accurate sun and moon positioning. Along with the plethora of random realtime weather effects, it really made for a convincing game world. The only thing it didn't do was change the texturing (like adding snow in winter), I presume because of limitations to the engine. Amazing game anyway

[Ladbarbastirm]

they'd have to develeop not only all the different possible scenarios 4 times each, but also think of different countries.

my winter doesnt have snow, other peoples winter does, etc.

[Hammaduersnes]

there already has been, black and white ring a bell?
iirc the game can even mimic the same weather you have (not just the time)

[Liaptoono]

This feature, while cool, wouldn't really have any place in a game where the setting was an integral part of the game's story/image. I totally agree with what twonha said.

[BaselBimbooooo]

I think WOW has this feature