Zenya said: 'Dynamic weather' with snow building up -- oh, so much yes! I wonder how complicated it would be to create something similar for rain: emerging puddles, gleaming rocks and such, which dry up after a bit of sun.
I don't think it would be that hard.
They would just say between these specific times are raining for example 2000-0400 its raining, from 0400 to 1600 it clear and sunny.
They then would set a Min/max parameters for when its "raining". for example. -RNG- min 0inch's/meters, Max 10+inches/meters (Depends on area)- RNG obviously happens in those area's to determine how much water then pools up in the area so it's not the same every time.
Then the drying part could be -if not raining for said this long, this much water will dissapear-
LeonSanborn said:Zenya said: 'Dynamic weather' with snow building up -- oh, so much yes! I wonder how complicated it would be to create something similar for rain: emerging puddles, gleaming rocks and such, which dry up after a bit of sun.I don't think it would be that hard.
They would just say between these specific times are raining for example 2000-0400 its raining, from 0400 to 1600 it clear and sunny.
They then would set a Min/max parameters for when its "raining". for example. -RNG- min 0inch's/meters, Max 10+inches/meters (Depends on area)- RNG obviously happens in those area's to determine how much water then pools up in the area so it's not the same every time.
Then the drying part could be -if not raining for said this long, this much water will dissapear-
True that. Personally, I'd love to see it, since I'm very visual. I'm just wondering whether (oh, how I wanted to misspell that for the sake of a pun :D ) it's worth the coding effort. A girl can hope!
@Zenya
It comes down to what you feel you (as Developer) may use as part of the 'dynamic weather system'. You would only need to code it once for it to be available to affect any zone. Of course it means the zone-designer needs to have this in mind when they designed the zone. They will have to define such variables as 'min-temp', 'max-temp', 'season-variance', '%_chance_rainfall', 'water_table_Min', 'Water_table_max' etc.
In practice what this means is that you need to have your 'Dynamic weather system' have a set number of variables that the poor zone-builder has to calculate and fill in. For example - if there were a large river or lake, he would certainly need to put in values for 'water_table_Min' and 'Water_table_max' so the wether system can use the 'Min' value for low tide or hottest day, and the 'Max' value if it has been raining for 3 days straight!
Doable, yes?
Cost effective in terms of 'bang for your buck' against the 'Go-Live' deadline ... ah! Thats another matter hehe
Evoras said:@Zenya
It comes down to what you feel you (as Developer) may use as part of the 'dynamic weather system'. You would only need to code it once for it to be available to affect any zone. Of course it means the zone-designer needs to have this in mind when they designed the zone. They will have to define such variables as 'min-temp', 'max-temp', 'season-variance', '%_chance_rainfall', 'water_table_Min', 'Water_table_max' etc.
In practice what this means is that you need to have your 'Dynamic weather system' have a set number of variables that the poor zone-builder has to calculate and fill in. For example - if there were a large river or lake, he would certainly need to put in values for 'water_table_Min' and 'Water_table_max' so the wether system can use the 'Min' value for low tide or hottest day, and the 'Max' value if it has been raining for 3 days straight!
Doable, yes?
Cost effective in terms of 'bang for your buck' against the 'Go-Live' deadline ... ah! Thats another matter hehe
Oh, how cool! I learned something new. Thank you for this!
I should worry about the poor zone builder, then. And the release date. I vote no for a delay for the sake of my puddles if I must... but I'm hoping to one day read in the patch notes "caution, rain is now wet".
I have always imagined that weather AI can be implemented as follows:
Weather_AI is based on an invisible, untargetable 'mob' called zone_Weather:
It provides a zone-wide status 'buff' that affects all players and spells (perhaps, dependent on severity)
It changes with time and is influenced by other weather and player-based 'weather' spells.
Zone_Weather()
Own settings:
Provide Temperature T (Range -30 to +50)
T = -10 below freezing ... up to ... T = +40 very hot day
Provide weather of 'type' W (Range 00 to 100)
Y = 00-49, weather is clear ... Y = 50-74, weather is overcast
Y = 75-89, weather is cloudy ... Y = 90-96, weather is stormy
Y = 97-99, weather is devastating ... Y = 100, weather is lethal
Provides weather of 'strength' X (Range 0 to 48)
Comunicate with 'next' zones weather
IF other zone Weather's X value higher, then
X diminishes slowly over time
Y and T moves towards Y and T value of other zone
IF other zone Weather's X value lower, then
X diminishes slowly over time
other zone Y and T move towards this zone Y and T value
Communicate with this zone:
'Listens' to Player weather spells (i.e. targettable as they are zone-AE)
Spell_Strength x Player_Strength = how much effect on weather
Status Effects:
Zone-Wide status (de-)buff = calculated from W, T and X
End()
This means:
Zones have their own weather - but affect/affected-by connected zones' weather
Weather can affect player spells...
Player spells can affect Weather (but only 'weather' spells)...
Doubt I am sayng anything 'new' in this simplistic model, but amazingly almost no games have 'dynamic weather' which moves about. That rainstorm/hurricane that moves along from zone to zone... the heat-wave that stays for 3 days until the low front from the south reduces it to a lovely summer day. The snowstorm that spreads slowly to cover the whole south...
Even EQ in its early days had a (druid?) spell that allowed you to affect the weather! Have all games since 'given up' on this?
-Evoras
Idiocy: The act of standing in open field during a massive thunderstorm while holding your copper sword aloft and swearing at the local Thunder God!
This opens up for the new skill - weather forecast!
If the weather affects your fight against some mob in an hour or thirty minutes, you would want to know.
Evoras said:I have always imagined that weather AI can be implemented as follows:
Weather_AI is based on an invisible, untargetable 'mob' called zone_Weather:
It provides a zone-wide status 'buff' that affects all players and spells (perhaps, dependent on severity)
It changes with time and is influenced by other weather and player-based 'weather' spells.
Zone_Weather()
Own settings:
Provide Temperature T (Range -30 to +50)
T = -10 below freezing ... up to ... T = +40 very hot day
Provide weather of 'type' W (Range 00 to 100)
Y = 00-49, weather is clear ... Y = 50-74, weather is overcast
Y = 75-89, weather is cloudy ... Y = 90-96, weather is stormy
Y = 97-99, weather is devastating ... Y = 100, weather is lethal
Provides weather of 'strength' X (Range 0 to 48)
Comunicate with 'next' zones weather
IF other zone Weather's X value higher, then
X diminishes slowly over time
Y and T moves towards Y and T value of other zone
IF other zone Weather's X value lower, then
X diminishes slowly over time
other zone Y and T move towards this zone Y and T value
Communicate with this zone:
'Listens' to Player weather spells (i.e. targettable as they are zone-AE)
Spell_Strength x Player_Strength = how much effect on weather
Status Effects:
Zone-Wide status (de-)buff = calculated from W, T and X
End()
This means:
Zones have their own weather - but affect/affected-by connected zones' weather
Weather can affect player spells...
Player spells can affect Weather (but only 'weather' spells)...
Doubt I am sayng anything 'new' in this simplistic model, but amazingly almost no games have 'dynamic weather' which moves about. That rainstorm/hurricane that moves along from zone to zone... the heat-wave that stays for 3 days until the low front from the south reduces it to a lovely summer day. The snowstorm that spreads slowly to cover the whole south...
Even EQ in its early days had a (druid?) spell that allowed you to affect the weather! Have all games since 'given up' on this?
-Evoras
Idiocy: The act of standing in open field during a massive thunderstorm while holding your copper sword aloft and swearing at the local Thunder God!
Vaultarn said:I wonder if mounts will have to have special gear to survive the harsh environments?
Kilsin, I finally made it in here! :-P (Kaladan from The Older Gamers)
That would be a pretty cool idea, I would love to see mounts needing to be cared for or risk losing them to injury or neglect (need to feed them, provide equipment like saddle, horseshoes, reigns, armour).
Great to see you mate! :)
Evoras said:I have always imagined that weather AI can be implemented as follows:
Weather_AI is based on an invisible, untargetable 'mob' called zone_Weather:
It provides a zone-wide status 'buff' that affects all players and spells (perhaps, dependent on severity)
It changes with time and is influenced by other weather and player-based 'weather' spells.
Zone_Weather()
Own settings:
Provide Temperature T (Range -30 to +50)
T = -10 below freezing ... up to ... T = +40 very hot day
Provide weather of 'type' W (Range 00 to 100)
Y = 00-49, weather is clear ... Y = 50-74, weather is overcast
Y = 75-89, weather is cloudy ... Y = 90-96, weather is stormy
Y = 97-99, weather is devastating ... Y = 100, weather is lethal
Provides weather of 'strength' X (Range 0 to 48)
Comunicate with 'next' zones weather
IF other zone Weather's X value higher, then
X diminishes slowly over time
Y and T moves towards Y and T value of other zone
IF other zone Weather's X value lower, then
X diminishes slowly over time
other zone Y and T move towards this zone Y and T value
Communicate with this zone:
'Listens' to Player weather spells (i.e. targettable as they are zone-AE)
Spell_Strength x Player_Strength = how much effect on weather
Status Effects:
Zone-Wide status (de-)buff = calculated from W, T and X
End()
This means:
Zones have their own weather - but affect/affected-by connected zones' weather
Weather can affect player spells...
Player spells can affect Weather (but only 'weather' spells)...
Doubt I am sayng anything 'new' in this simplistic model, but amazingly almost no games have 'dynamic weather' which moves about. That rainstorm/hurricane that moves along from zone to zone... the heat-wave that stays for 3 days until the low front from the south reduces it to a lovely summer day. The snowstorm that spreads slowly to cover the whole south...
Even EQ in its early days had a (druid?) spell that allowed you to affect the weather! Have all games since 'given up' on this?
I LOVE the concept of dynamic weather...
"Some pretty severe conditions are developing here... How's the weather over there?"
"Maybe we should go indoors?"
Hopefully, the weather would affect not just players, but NPC behaviour as well. It was always kind of odd to see vendors peddling their wares out in the open in the middle of a thunderstorm.
The concept of being effected by weather is amazing. If anyone played Far Cry Primal you have seen an example of this. The northern lands are very very cold. When you enter the region, a cold bar appeared. Think of it like a breath bar. It slowly depleated. you had to light a fire every so often to survive. OR... you could craft winter clothing. There were 2 levels of this. Level 1 made it so you could go longer between making a fire to warm up. Level 2 winter clothing gave you perma warmth.
In pantheon, we could give every main piece of armor (chest, legs, feet, gloves, & head) a "lining" slot similar to gem slots in other games. This lining would come in many degrees of effectiveness. Store bought lining would be the least effective while high end crafted lining would be the best. There could be a frostbite meter that once filled, you would lose health over time until you found shelter or built a campfire.