I know there are various topics on how too much realism can be bad so I got to wondering about weather. Is it too bothersome to change clothing depending on climate? Say you''re in the far north during winter and wearing a shirt and short pants. Should the character be punished somehow for not being warmly dressed? Now the character wouldn''t die immediately but maybe stamina is slowly drained and when that reaches zero health starts to drop slowly. Same would apply to wearing too much in the south during summer (plate armour in really hot weather can''t be good). There would be different player races available. Those native to the south would require much more clothing up north but could wear a bit more in the south and vice versa. Does this fit into the category of useless realism or enhanced player strategy? =) Speaking of weather, what if rain actually caused dirt to turn to mud and helped plants grow. You may find a wagon hopelessly stuck in several feet of mud during a large downpour. A stone road may be taken next time or stronger horses/ox bought. Snow could also pile up to create drifts which would be just a dangerous as mud. Rivers would freeze and flood according to the seasons.. Well, what I''m describing is a world that dynamically changes with the seasons. Do you think this realism is pointless or would it actually add to the gameplay?

Rivers freezing and flooding, mud problems, sounds like fun. Makes the world more immersive, introduces some problems to solve, gives the player more of a sense of wonderment and adventure.

Changing clothes is probably a bit much though. Maybe the character could just change clothes automatically depending on the weather. Or maybe you would have to buy the clothes, but if you had them you would automatically wear them.

The problem I would have would be going into your inventory and having to actually click around to change clothes. Just too much tedium, especially if you travel a lot.

quote:Original post by mumboi
I know there are various topics on how too much realism can be bad so I got to wondering about weather.
Is it too bothersome to change clothing depending on climate? Say you''re in the far north during winter and wearing a shirt and short pants. Should the character be punished somehow for not being warmly dressed? Now the character wouldn''t die immediately but maybe stamina is slowly drained and when that reaches zero health starts to drop slowly. Same would apply to wearing too much in the south during summer (plate armour in really hot weather can''t be good).
There would be different player races available. Those native to the south would require much more clothing up north but could wear a bit more in the south and vice versa.

Does this fit into the category of useless realism or enhanced player strategy? =)

Speaking of weather, what if rain actually caused dirt to turn to mud and helped plants grow. You may find a wagon hopelessly stuck in several feet of mud during a large downpour. A stone road may be taken next time or stronger horses/ox bought.
Snow could also pile up to create drifts which would be just a dangerous as mud. Rivers would freeze and flood according to the seasons..
Well, what I''m describing is a world that dynamically changes with the seasons.

Do you think this realism is pointless or would it actually add to the gameplay?

I agree with anon, the effects of weather can be good if they change the atmosphere and affect things around the player, since it will give him something new to do or to see. Clothing may be a bit much. You could do it, but just make sure you use some sort of method that would add to the gameplay and not just make it pointless. I think automatic clothes-changing would be the best choice, unless the player is responsible for buying and choosing his own clothes in which you''d have to figure something out. Maybe you could have the character do an animation when he''s too cold or too hot, but it wouldn''t affect anything. That would be fun to watch for the player, but it wouldn''t affect game play. But even that might be more trouble than it''s worth. So long as it''s fun, and the game would be less fun without it, then throw it in. Otherwise, don''t unless you absolutely need to.

Should you choose to include the clothing feature, the player should be given ample warning of impending climate changes ("It''s mighty cold up north; you might wanna stock up on some furs" [with apologies to PETA]). The weather feature, though, is great for RTS/RPG/deep simulation games. Another thread discussed the real impact of alien civilizations and interplanetary travel as far as not being able to manipulate mechanical devices because they were designed for different physical forms, being subject to environmental factors like lower gravity or higher radiation, or being unable to see because the atmosphere only permits infrared frequencies through. Of course, the game would need to have a massive scope for this to be a worthwhile feature, otherwise it becomes and burdensome chore.

Okay, yeah changing clothes constantly would be damn annoying but this world is HUGE. It would take probably a day or more of walking to go across it in a straight line so frequency of changing clothes isn''t really a problem. I mean, if you go to the south chances are you won''t have the need to change for a few weeks at least.
The main problems I see are how do you determine which clothes are appropriate and how does the player figure this out?

Well, if the idea of changing in general sucks that''s fair too. I came to find opinions, not force them on people =)