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Weather & Atmosphere
Arkethos
Member
Recently I’ve been playing (and thoroughly enjoying) an early access game that has some of the best feeling atmosphere and weather in any recent game I’ve played.
Because of the nature of how the weather impacts the environment and your character, you end up having conditions that are unfavorable for sailing, thick fog that makes it difficult to see more than 15 feet around you (both on land and water), heavy darkness at night that promotes the use of light sources (torches, fires, etc.) and status effects such as “wet” and “cold” that reduce stamina regen (or even health loss over time when “freezing” in certain regions).
I’d love to see this sort of gameplay in an MMO setting, with region-wide seasons and localized weather events. This truly changes the approach of the player and disrupts the monotony of certain actions... but it also poses an obstacle that is a pleasure to overcome.
I believe I saw mention of Weather and Seasons for AOC, but how impactful it is for the players is something I’ve not seen clarified. Does anyone have info on this? I know some members of the dev team do streams and social media that I’ve likely missed.
PS - the game referenced in the beginning is Valheim (steam early access). Well worth the $20 as it has broadened my appreciation for environmental effects, weather systems and “fun” gameplay in general. Made by a team of 4 people and it feels better than some AAA releases lately.
Because of the nature of how the weather impacts the environment and your character, you end up having conditions that are unfavorable for sailing, thick fog that makes it difficult to see more than 15 feet around you (both on land and water), heavy darkness at night that promotes the use of light sources (torches, fires, etc.) and status effects such as “wet” and “cold” that reduce stamina regen (or even health loss over time when “freezing” in certain regions).
I’d love to see this sort of gameplay in an MMO setting, with region-wide seasons and localized weather events. This truly changes the approach of the player and disrupts the monotony of certain actions... but it also poses an obstacle that is a pleasure to overcome.
I believe I saw mention of Weather and Seasons for AOC, but how impactful it is for the players is something I’ve not seen clarified. Does anyone have info on this? I know some members of the dev team do streams and social media that I’ve likely missed.
PS - the game referenced in the beginning is Valheim (steam early access). Well worth the $20 as it has broadened my appreciation for environmental effects, weather systems and “fun” gameplay in general. Made by a team of 4 people and it feels better than some AAA releases lately.
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https://ashesofcreation.wiki/Environments
https://ashesofcreation.wiki/Seasons
https://ashesofcreation.wiki/Climate
I think there has been other mentions during live streams or interviews that might have been catalogued in these, but I can't quote them so I'll refrain from providing possibly wrong information
Edit: Aha, just saw it at the end. I never read past the first few paragraphs.....
But yeah, Valheim just feels great. Can’t believe it’s just early access either the amount of content it has and how fun it is.
Tame a wolf.. so much fun getting one shotted just to get a pupper
Need more than one boar and keep feeding them I have a piggy farm found out you don't necessarily need carrots for them to reproduce just takes less food
Two tamed boar in a pen together. Throw in some food for each (mushroom, raspberry, carrot), then give them a pet each to get the love hearts flowing!
But yeah, regarding weather & atmosphere... it’s done exceptionally well in Valheim and should be an excellent resource for devs to reference.
Sailing through the fog and having land slowly appear is breathtaking at times.
I have also played some other games where the weather completely ruins the game. Escape from tarkov for example. Fog is too bright, rain somehow causes lag, daytime is too bright. Certain maps are made brighter outside so when you go into the mall, it isn't too dark. This causes daylight outside to be blinding. Just don't make AOC with anything Battlestate Games is doing for Tarkov and we are golden lol.
Yes but there is already a need for that in Ashes from the node system and gear degrading through use. Do we really need more arbitrary things just to survive in the cold mountains?
I'm sure there will be cold/fire/type resistance that could go on armors which would benefit these various climates (like cold resistance to reduce damage from ice attacks more common in a snowy area) but I wouldn't want that to escalate to the point of it being a requirement to experience an area.
I think Wandering Mist put it well in saying that mechanics in Survival type games don't always translate over to MMO type games super well.
Negative status effects are a good idea for a survival type game. Too many things like that in an MMO just gets tedious and annoying.
Pantheon has gone down the rabbit hole. I wonder whether Pantheon will succeed. It is a rather niche modus operandi but so is Ashes to be fair.
I agree that it can be somewhat of a chore to have to deal with weather effects in an MMO, but with the concept of cycling seasons and random weather events I think AOC is in a good position to make it work.
Are players going to be less inclined to sail during hurricane season? Knowing there is a good chance of a blizzard, do they risk the transport of goods along the mountain pass? Stuff like that keeps the game dynamic, and it opens the door for PvP opportunities if there is a specific route that is safer during different seasons... it keeps players adapting and playing more creatively rather than the monotony of repetition-without-consequence.
For the cold, I’m thinking more along the lines of it being a minor inconvenience to be “cold” in an area and a simple cloak or presence of fire might be enough to overcome the debuff. Maybe it is a movement speed debuff or a Max health/stamina reduction.
In the harsh “freezing” areas (more wilderness or storm related) players would need potions or specific threshold of cold resist equipment to be able to manage in environment without taking damage over time for exposure.
I grew up in San Diego but have lived in the Midwest for the past 25 years... so the contrast of sunny and 70’s vs the 4-seasons is not lost on me. There is something more “interesting” about a dynamic environment & weather that can turn a routine (i.e. boring) activity such as getting from A to B into an adventure in itself. But being unprepared and caught out in the elements should impose a hardship on the person for their hubris. I really don’t want to see a bunch of scantily clad alts running around gathering resources in the middle of a snowy winter area in AOC.
Also I still remember the very first time I entered a Raid and that was ZG and it was heavily raining.
Sandstorms in Tanaris and Dark Nights in Duskwood.
Now that game doesn't even have a day/night circle and doesn't even have weather effects. Or if it does is not easily spotted .Ye it can rain a bit but not monsoons.
Weather effects for me play a pivotal role in immersion and so does Day/Night circle.
I don't like the idea of standing in a town with lights on , skybox that clearly shows its night and having so much sun like a Greek Island in summer.
Hopefully Ashes will have more atmosphere than current mmorpgs.
I want to feel like every zone has its unique touch.
Edit:
I know that some people play during the nights only(I am one of those people),but the day and night circle can easily not follow the real life circle.
They can rotate lets say every 6 hours.
Perhaps adding a fur lining for cold resist or perforations to combat heat. This could be done at the crafting stage of the item or an enhancement after, giving players a way to modify “favored” items to suit the environment they are heading into.
Again, this kind of thing sounds really immersive and fun on paper, less so in practice. Imagine if you needed a different item for every single different biome, in a game where you have limited bag space.
Think of it more like an augment “slot” that you could equip to modify the item, but consider the infrequency of biome switching that may occur.
As he says, if this system is adopted, there will be more variety in the various items to accommodate climates like cold and scorching heat.
If the appearance of the clothing is also adapted to the climate, it will be more immersive to the world of Verra.
I want to be a crafting master in the future, having diversity in crafting items will motivate me 😉
I also think that the more challenges you face in exploring the world's biome, the greater the sense of accomplishment you will get.
It seems that the possibility of climatic conditions affecting abilities has already been mentioned, so I don't think it goes against the design philosophy of Ashes.
Of course, if the production team gets that system balance wrong, it could lead to a tedious experience with complicated parameter management.
I definitely don't want to see players getting hypothermia the moment they step into a cold zone. lol
However, I would like to see this system implemented in order to experience the diversity of the world 😆
I'm all for dynamic environments, but if I have to find and change my armor every real life week it's going to become more than just a simple chore. I think the weather events could be used to implement some sort of system like you're suggesting, but I'd hate to have to deal with it on a daily basis.
Many people aren't going to be playing every single day for a ton of hours, maybe they only play 1-2 a week. If they log on and have to spend their time dealing with weather affects every week they're going to be spending less time doing what they want in order to just play the game.
Like I said, I'm not against a world that seems real, but it doesn't need to be real. If I wanted to play a survival style game there are plenty of MMO survival games already on the market. Adding in too many systems for people to juggle just makes the overall experience less enjoyable and sets the bar for entry even higher.
And with costume slots, it doesn't matter if the person is wearing the "appropriate" armor for the weather because it's going to look like whatever costume is equipped anyways.