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semi-realistic weather sim in an MMO
l2avism
Member UncommonPosts: 386
TL:DR; have a weather sim that affects the game world. Storms that form up and affect gameplay. Clouds you can fly through.
For those of you who haven't read my spam before, I dabble around with my compiler in my off-time and for the last couple years I've worked on a game.
It's a sandbox MMO which requires less content but more planning and is less likely to suceed but thats OK.
Anyways, since the player has the ability to control a dragon and fly around, wouldn't it be cool if the clouds were actual 3d objects you could fly around and through rather than just blobs painted onto the skybox?
Also, large battles could be affected by the weather. Players could use fog for ambushes or use heavy wind to blow seige projectiles off track.
The weather sim would be a very bad approximation of the real world.
In the real world the weather is a result of air masses moving pass and into one another. Clouds are formed when warm moist air rises due to convection from the sun heating the ground. Massive storms happen when a low pressure area sucks in cold air and slams it into warm moist air when the winds swirl around the center (because of corealis effect).
In the simplistic sim, areas that are closer to water will occasionally form storms which will dissipate when they go inland over drier areas.
The wind patterns and therfor the storms will follow tracks around large mountains etc.
For those of you who haven't read my spam before, I dabble around with my compiler in my off-time and for the last couple years I've worked on a game.
It's a sandbox MMO which requires less content but more planning and is less likely to suceed but thats OK.
Anyways, since the player has the ability to control a dragon and fly around, wouldn't it be cool if the clouds were actual 3d objects you could fly around and through rather than just blobs painted onto the skybox?
Also, large battles could be affected by the weather. Players could use fog for ambushes or use heavy wind to blow seige projectiles off track.
The weather sim would be a very bad approximation of the real world.
In the real world the weather is a result of air masses moving pass and into one another. Clouds are formed when warm moist air rises due to convection from the sun heating the ground. Massive storms happen when a low pressure area sucks in cold air and slams it into warm moist air when the winds swirl around the center (because of corealis effect).
In the simplistic sim, areas that are closer to water will occasionally form storms which will dissipate when they go inland over drier areas.
The wind patterns and therfor the storms will follow tracks around large mountains etc.
Comments
It doesn't have the ability to fly through the clouds as you've said, so that's a step ahead of them there. Though you can sail into Hurricanes and monsoons in the ocean while in a boat as they form or head towards you in the weather radar map. Even go into the eye of such and watch the waves become dangerous.
Weather effects do offer some nice added visuals /realism to a game but imo is not needed.
I prefer to see elemental properties brought on by weather,example hot/sunny affects Fire spells dmg/accy as does it affect Ice or Cold spells.I also prefer to see elemental properties on everything affected by weather such as your armor or weapons and resistances for both players and npc's.
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In my game you are the dark enemy of lore. (though you can chose a lighter color of scales at creation)
Though the point of the game isn't to fly around and do dragon things and burninate (but you can). The world is controlled by dragons who have enslaved human society to acquire wealth for their reptilian overlords.
Dragons being a technologically advanced species with superior intellect have found a way to mind control humans. This means who can swap control from your dragon main to any of your human slaves and use them as disposable character slots in PvP or whatever.
Anyways being a game that allows you to fly around as a dragon, I thought it would be cool to fly though clouds.
The weather could even affect combat. Fog would make massive battles harder to control (like Lutzen in 1632, it was total chaos), it could make gunpowder ranged weapons mostly useless, affect the range of bows (a wet bowstring suck) and similar as well but that would only work in certain types of game like a musketeer game for example.
Weather is pretty hard to get right without completelly unbalancing the game, you can't have classes that only works in specific weather but you could make a really fun game if you know what you are doing.
Because in the end, every "cool" feature you put in costs some other feature.
Having complex weather patterns is generally not a feature that will pay for itself with hype&marketing value unless you go all in, target a specific niche and design gameplay around the feature and make it central & important. (in which case you could eventually use it as USP and try to hype it up)
If the whole point is just flying around clouds .. you don't need a full sim to achieve that effect. In addition, flying around interesting objects or terrain ... yes .. but flying above or in clouds are pretty boring (to me).
On top of that, Ryzom has actual weather, like rain. And a day and night cycle too. So certain mats might only be available in the spring, at night, in the rain.
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And in this game, it is very important, because the game isn't gear-centric (no uber armor that all the best people wear). Your clothing in X-Shift serves the same purpose it does in real life; it protects you from the elements and shows off your particular style.
So, "warm" clothes extend how long you can stand in a blizzard before getting the "Cold" status effect. Cool clothes protect you from "Exhaustion" when it's particularly hot. Umbrellas guard against the "Soaked" status effect in the rain, etc.
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https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos?&sort=-downloads&page=1
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you playing an MMORPG?"
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I think the fault is in that they don't focus on the core of the game. Pick one sentence, "What is this game about". Then, with each feature, you ask "Does this add or detract from that sentence".
In my case, our game is about immersion in an alternate, cyberpunk world. There are no heroes in X-Shift because the city is the main character; you just happen to live there.
So in my case, things like weather effects, lighting and ambiance are very important. But yeah, in other games, something like this being tacked on just "cuz it's cool" would be silly.
Immersion is a choice.
Epic Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAigCvelkhQ&list=PLo9FRw1AkDuQLEz7Gvvaz3ideB2NpFtT1
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos?&sort=-downloads&page=1
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you playing an MMORPG?"
But the real effect on gameplay tends to be rather minor. It's fluff.
Take those coders and put their hours on other systems.
Now if your mmo involves covered wagons, survival, and mountain passes; horse of a different color. The fluff becomes rather important.
Key question: In your game, can the elements kill you? No? Don't bother then, at least not until you're a mature game with lots of junior coders to throw at it.
The upshot, I guess, is Full On or don't bother half-assing it.
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http://baronsofthegalaxy.com/ An MMO game I created, solo. It's live now and absolutely free to play!