Hl2 time

[galoot3000]

While watching the Hl2 movies over and over again, i have realized that the different times of the day play a part in the overall game. In one scene we have either a sunrise or sunset (docks) in others is daytime (striders, barricade) and one at night (traptown). Without having cutscenes, how will valve transition into the different parts of the day? And, will time have a specific part in the game? (the games to take 36 hours to complete so say 24 hours of day and 12 hours of night, or vise virsa) Or will this all tie into part of the Source engine?????

 

[Spiffae]

HL1 had times of day as well. You'd spend a large period of time indoors, and you'd come out to find night, day, or evening. It just happened, and it always seemed fine.

if it ain't broke, why fix it?

but good question.

 

[Cutey_Kaite]

Wait, wasnt hl at day time the whole time, since the whole thing took place in one day?? Even in the addons its always day.

 

[manny_c44]

It could have a day/night cycle, but that would make much sense considering each scene has alot of mood and relies on shadow's/lights. Plus, most of the building shadows are mapped onto the textures, as Gabe has said, so that isn't going to happen.

I bet it will be similar to Half-Life 1, it will just use it when appropriate and not have it as a large focus.

 

[Mechagodzilla]

Valve has stated that real-time movement of the sun was possible, but they decided against it, for dramatic purposes. It'll almost certainly work the way spiffae said.

Edit: Whoops. too slow.

 

[galoot3000]

ya, i wasnt too sure about the day/night cycle although it would be cool, i just wanted to have another possibility......... i do think that HL1 took place in all daytime though.......... anyway.......

 

[Apos]

Nope: remember launching the rocket? That took place at nighttime. It's day when the game begins, and then after spending a long, long time underground, you come up and it's nighttime. You launch the rocket, and then you go back down again, and when you come out, it's day again (Surface Tension happens during this period I think). I think the demo of the first third of the game was actually called "Half Life, Day One" There's definately more than one day involved.

 

[manny_c44]

Right you are.

 

[galoot3000]

Thanx, now its all clear, Ok i know that the E3 movie isnt everything, BUT isnt it all outside except for a couple of parts, but in those parts you still see out a window, or door (door from kleiners, and window from the bugbait one)

 

[manny_c44]

Yes, most of what I have seen in the game has you above ground or only temporarily underground.

 

[Death.Trap]

Real time movement of the sun....that's awesome! I hope someone implements that in a mod...don't know what purpose it would serve...but it would be neat.

 

[eediot]

i guess if you got huge long lasting battles outside it could be kind of cool... seems like a huge waste, and would have to be tweaked heaps so its relevent to the combat and speed of the game. thus waste

 

[Lucifer Crass]

i guess if you got huge long lasting battles outside it could be kind of cool... seems like a huge waste, and would have to be tweaked heaps so its relevent to the combat and speed of the game. thus waste

Tottaly agree there, you could do the same thing by just changing the skybox and not wasteing extra memory and processing power.

 

[Spiffae]

also, in source it would cause a lot of problems, because their engine is fast thanks to lightmaps, which are baked into the map for shadows and light. they are static, and therefore could not change with the motion of the sun. A game like DOOM 3 would be better suited to a fully moving dynamic sun.

Uru: Ages Beyond Myst had some maps with fully dynamic day/night cycles. Operation Flashpoint also has day/night cycles, in Real time, no less (i.e. 24 hour days). most MMORPGs have day/night cycles. STALKER has an impressive day night simulation as well.

It doesn't really fit in a game where you need to control the story like a filmmaker. Imagine, for a moment, that your mission is to enter a dark building in the middle of a rainiy night. with moving sun, you just wait till the sun comes up, and then it's not scary any more. kinda ruins the fun.

 

[Triggerhappy41]

It doesn't really fit in a game where you need to control the story like a filmmaker. Imagine, for a moment, that your mission is to enter a dark building in the middle of a rainiy night. with moving sun, you just wait till the sun comes up, and then it's not scary any more. kinda ruins the fun.

Well said. I like how it was in halflife, and sometimes it would be night or evening when you come up. It helps it to be more movielike.

 

[Top Secret]

Heh, I bet if you are stressed and getting shot at by United States Marines, and aliens, I believe it would be very possible to stay awake 3 days and be running around the whole time. I know running around for two days is easily possible.

 

[Rupertvdb]

hev suit pumps you full of amphetamines probably, the sun doesn't bother me but i would love to see some really cool weather effects, maybe stormy hurricane style.

 

[Falcon(Nate)]

World of Warcraft currently has a 24-hour (realtime) cycle for day/night in beta. It's the first MMORPG I know of to do so.

 

[mrchimp]

LOL I can think of an MMORPG that is over 6 years old that has day night cycles.

Also Morrowind and lineage II have day night cycles, I think BG had them as well.

 

[Flamin-h]

I dont think BG and Morrowind class as MMORPG's, I havnt played Lineage II before. But a MMORPG is a multiplayer rpg with alot of people playing at once 200 - 5000 plus or minus... so I dont think Morrowind comes into that.

 

[Brian Damage]

I don't think MrChimp was saying Morrowind was an MMORPG... he was saying he knew of a 6 year old MMORPG that had day-night cycles.

 

[Kotik]

Ultima Online and Everquest had a day/night cycle, too.

 

[Rossell]

Black & White had a weather system that tied in with the weather your area was having at the time.

It worked well too. Shame about the game.

 

[Lobster]

btw in Half-Life 1 when you left the underground train network to launch the sattelite delivery rocket, it had mysteriously changed to night, and about 10 mins later was daytime again when you met the assasins, I always felt it was a continuity error, it would have been better to have the assasin scene at night time, so the time u spend unconsious would bring you into the day. lol just nitpicking

 

[ferd]

Thanx, now its all clear, Ok i know that the E3 movie isnt everything, BUT isnt it all outside except for a couple of parts, but in those parts you still see out a window, or door (door from kleiners, and window from the bugbait one)

yea, that surprides me to

I like indoor fighting

 

[ferd]

btw in Half-Life 1 when you left the underground train network to launch the sattelite delivery rocket, it had mysteriously changed to night, and about 10 mins later was daytime again when you met the assasins, I always felt it was a continuity error, it would have been better to have the assasin scene at night time, so the time u spend unconsious would bring you into the day. lol just nitpicking

If i remember well, the sky looked kinda purple (almost sunrise) when launching the rocket.

 

[galoot3000]

well, indoor fighting is awesome and it would be my choice to have more indoor, but i think fighing striders inside wouldn't work too well, i just hope there is alot of indoor and outdoor scenes. Most of the game will probably be outside because your fighting in a city. I trust VALVe to give us an awesome game either way.

 

[manny_c44]

Black & White had a weather system that tied in with the weather your area was having at the time.

It worked well too. Shame about the game.

Yeah you're not kidding, that game was a big piece of suck. But I never did notice the weather thing...

 

[Varsity]

But I never did notice the weather thing...

Is that even possible? :dozey: BW was a great tech demo but not really that good a game. The first island was by far the best because it was actually interesting, and you could muck around with the physics all you wanted.

 

[SMT]

realMYST had day/night cycles.

...anyone else wanna own up to playing realMYST? ;-)

 

[manny_c44]

Yeah I played that once, the day/night cycle was ridiculously fast though, wasn't it? Like every 5 minutes it would get dark and start raining torrentially...

 

[Falcon(Nate)]

Yea, that's what i was meaning by WoW. It's the first to implement a 24 hour day/night cycle, not the first to implement one period.

 

[Vegeta897]

Day and night cycles aren't really whats being discussed, aren't we talking about day and night cycles with dynamic lighting on the map?
Day and Night cycles would be a horrible idea for HL2, totally unnecesary, and people could wait for day like someone said earlier.

And don't forget Zelda for N64.

 

[galoot3000]

Day/Night cycles can fit really well in alot of games, but i dont think Hl2 is one of those. It would definitly kill the mood of some of the creepier parts

 

[Lobster]

if ur opting for open ended rpg style gameplay, like stalker, Day and Night stuff is a must to maintain a self operating persistant game world, but for a linear cinematic story telling enviroment the maps are simply interactive stages for the action to take place.

 

[kaf11]

exactly. its a design decision to have certain parts of the game at certain times of the day. itll work nicely for HL2.

 

[Strifer]

Spoiler

Imagine that cemetery during daylight.

Absolute mood killer...

BTW, not that much of a spoiler, but still... if you saw the scans you can safely look.

 

[Rupertvdb]

aren't they using pre rendered lightmaps or something (not the most technical person, soz) so the shadows couldn't move with the light...or has that been said already?
Anyways I trust the story tellers to know whats best for the mood and not some internal clock.

 

[Wesisapie]

what about different time zones for MMORPGs? i dont want to be playing in eternal darkness if i live in the wrong timezone, or be forced to play at midnight and beyond.

 

[galoot3000]

ya strifer, that would be terrible, the mood would be almost, well, happy........... thats not good