"Realistic" weather adjustment...

[n2j3]

Been playing Animal Crossing on and off on the DS and NGC and when i saw a snow-covered  ctf_b2b in the middle of the bloody summer i thought to myself: "Wouldn't soldat be great if by checking the winblowz time/date thing it could adjust its weather effects?" . Ergo, snow when the date's between late november to late feb, some lighting effects for summer , falling leaves (?) or whatever for autumn and so on...
What do you think?  (I also thought of day/night variables but seeing it's an online game and timezones suck i wont bother with the details.)

[RabidTreeFrog]

Hey, not a bad idea. But our Aussie friends would have the exact opposite, since, it's winter weather there when it's summer here.

[jrgp]

I dont like the idea because maps are supposed to have the theme that the mapist created when s/he made the map.
If the weather was controlled by windows clock that will destroy the map's theme that the mapist spent so long to create.
So no.

[Twistkill]

Even worse than our Australian friends, our Antarctica friends wouldn't be happy any time of the year.

I'm undecided. It has potential, I'm just not sure on weather* or not it's a good one.

* spelling pun.

[Eagles_Arrows]

This idea is silly.

[Rai-Dei]

Yeah its be to confusing and LAGFEST!

[BondJamesBond]

LAGFEST!

Righty-o

[Scrooge]

i was thinking of something similar to this but instead while making the map you can choose to have the map change weather after a set amount of time or the colours all change from grey to night etc....

[n2j3]

LAGFEST!

Righty-o

erm.. how would a client-side weather engine affect lag is beyond me... please explain

[Meep.]

Does he mean fps dropage?

[Mr. Domino]

I wouldn't mind seeing dynamic weather conditions on a map, or even seasonal and time map variations of the same map, but having it align to every player is just impossible given the worldwide nature of Soldat. I'm all for more winter themed maps myself.

[echo_trail]

I actually liked the idea at first sight, but I don't think it's reliable in the long run. people will get tired of it very quick, I think, and It also leaves us with the issue of not everyone having the same weather all the time. Besides:

I dont like the idea because maps are supposed to have the theme that the mapist created when s/he made the map.

I agree 100%. In fact I think it's beautiful *whipes away a tear*

[Kaine]

how bout instead of havin the weather/time keyed into the windows clock, we have set weather for each map.  Basically the idea would be randomly shifting weather, in a certain theme, and it would affect the game somewhat.  Like on Mr. Snowman, it would be snowing in several different levels.  First level would be just clear skies and snow on the ground, while second level would be light snow, and it would go all the way to like 5th level, an all out blizzard.  The different levels above 1 would also come with varying degrees of wind as well.  the wind would affect bullets by slowing them down slightly, forcing the players to change their tactics with their weaponry, and the heavier the snow is, it would affect the sight of the players.  of course, this is all just a basic idea.

[Pyroguy]

Meh, could be cool, but like most people say maps are made for just one theme. I think the best way to incorporate this is a 3rd party app that changes map textures + color + weather effects on maps automatically. It could even check the specific weather for your area with a talented programmer.

[Darth]

I don't like your dynamic weather idea because (like other people said) it would vary in different places.
But I do like the idea of weather taking more part in maps (The mapper would decide the weather - or no weather), like what Kaine said!

[Mr. Domino]

Well, I think the best use would be something such as Ninja Gaiden 2's stage 2, where the wind driven snow would push to the left, calm for a bit, then push to the right. I think that would make for some interesting CTF play since the weather would largely dictate the action, whether the team should be using the wind boost to steal or defend against them.

[Rai-Dei]

Well I don't mean it will lag others I just mean SLOW, so ya MASSIVE fps dropage! Or just for people with crap comps like me.

[Kaine]

well, maybe there could be an option so u can vote to have the weather effects turned off, so the people with lesser PC's dont have to suffer.  This would be a completly optional thing.

[H31MU7]

Hey, not a bad idea. But our Aussie friends would have the exact opposite, since, it's winter weather there when it's summer here.

That made me think, The weather of the server would be because of the actaul server location. etc night day, rain, clear get my point?
So if you joined an australian server it would be rainy, or maybe snowing and night or day depending of the time of where the server host is.
I like the idea, But it would effect the game speed, and for people with lower connection speeds maybe because of weather update buffering.

[sssssSquad Up]

If it was the weather of the server location maybe it wouldnt lag so much.
I still see it affecting game play too much tho.