day-night-cycle
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Pantheon adds two pledge tiers and shows off its day/night cycle
A couple of small updates to the Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen crowdfunding campaign were pushed out today. First up is the addition of two new pledge tiers: the cartographer tier for $125 (which includes alpha and beta access, name reservation, a limited-edition cloth map, and other goodies) and a journeyman's pledge tier for $375 (which is geared toward folks looking to do serious testing of the game). Visionary Realms also released a pair of screenshots to show the difference between its day and night cycle. As of the writing of this article, Pantheon has reached 23% of its $800,000 goal with 31 days remaining in the campaign.
The Daily Grind: Should MMO nights be darker and different?
While some MMOs don't even bother with a proper day/night cycle these days, the ones that do have pretty well-lit nights. It's basically day with a blue filter overlaid for thematic purposes, but if you stub your toe, it's usually because you're not paying attention, not because you simply can't see the root in front of you. But there are those who would very much like a more immersive night: darker, different, and even more challenging. These nights might require a torch or flashlight to see what's in front of you, and they may also feature a different set of nocturnal beasts that emerge when the sun goes down. What if nights required warmer clothes to enable us to brave the colder environments? If you had your druthers, would you like your MMO nights to be darker and different? How so? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
EverQuest Next will feature a longer day/night cycle
If you're one of the few people who have ever given serious and lengthy thought and consideration as to the day/night cycle in MMOs, you might be a developer (real or armchair). In the latest EverQuest Next round table, the SOE team discusses how the day/night cycle will impact players and whether it should change from the EverQuest standard. The EverQuest standard day/night cycle is 72 minutes (36 minutes for each half). In the poll, the most players said they were open to lengthening this cycle due to how the emergent AI will act depending on the time of day. So what did the developers decide to do with this polling data? According to the round table, they're going to make the day/night cycle an even two hours long. Just as in real life. You can watch the discussion after the break.
The Daily Grind: Should weather systems impact gameplay?
We've talked about weather systems and day/night cycles before, although generally MMOs and gamers seem to think of them mostly as cosmetic features that are fine to have as long as they don't get in the way. But what if they do get in the way? What if weather actually has an impact on your character and the game world? What if a pass got snowed in so that you couldn't reach a certain area? What if whiteout conditions kept you from seeing that face-eating monster 10 feet away? What if wind gave your character an extra bounce in his or her step if it came from behind or actually slowed you down if you were facing into it? What if lakes dried up in drought or lightning could strike metal objects (like, um, your plate mail)? Would it be more immersive for you or just more annoying? Seeing as most of the potential ways that weather could interact with us are negative, this might be a silly question. Still, I'm putting it out there: Should weather systems impact gameplay, and if so, how? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
