Request: Seasonal Effects & Environemental Growth

[Matsume]

Just out of curiosity, would it be too difficult from a technical standpoint to implement seasonal effects and environmental growth characteristics to give the world more of a live feel over time?

Seasonal Effects: Four seasons a year with a transitory period from one to the other. Obviously Winter snow melts, Spring showers and flowers, Summer growth and abundance, Autumns brings about changing colors and colder temperatures which lead back to winter...

How hard would it be to create 4 versions of Eorzea corresponding to these seasons with a transition from one to the other on a yearly cycle? which leads me to my next point...

Environmental growth: This cycle would repeat over a 10 or 100 year (in game) period, but the concept stays the same. Let's use a tree for example: Seedling Sprouts, grows into a shrub or small tree, attains maturity at which point it can be harvested, and finally falls over in the wind due to it's large stature and a weakening root system to finish as a fallen log which harbors the growth of various forms of flora that can then be harvested such has mushrooms etc.

You can see I have tied in Botanist into the above example, in this case a tree only becomes available to logging at it's mature state and eventually the same point becomes unavailable to main hand logging but available to offhand harvesting in the form of a rotting log. In this case each tree would have a 10 or 100 year cycle, and if each tree was implemented at a different period in the cycle you could create a living forest of sorts.

Any ideas? I am no game designer or programmer so I have no idea what the feasability or complexity involved would be but I am informed that other MMOs have seasonal effects to a degree or another.

Please, Discuss.

Edit: Like if you would like to see this implemented.

[Mushy]

i'm for growth/destruction of gathering nodes.

[Matsume]

i'm for growth/destruction of gathering nodes.

It would make gathering achievements more fun if it didn't always feel like we were logging in the same time and place. I can't stress enough the temporal factor. Also if the yields of the gathering points or even monster drops changed over the course of the seasons this would be over the top.

[Rokien]

Hmmmm going to put this here http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...dventure-Time!

Also this because it has to do with weather http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t....Or-am-I-blind

[Hulan]

This suggestion is cool, and something I would be all for if this was a game still in development (for the first time). But what you are hoping for is a massive time and money investment for - from the company's point of view - a minimal return. Each season would constitute another 40-60% time per zone (rough estimates, since to be honest, while I've done some 3D modeling, I'm pretty much just an amateur) to re-skin and mutate the various models. For four seasons, that would be nearly triple the amount of time it would take to make one zone.

Organic growth is a cool idea. Though to do it right, SE would have to abandon their age old modus opperendi, which is to individually model every part of their game. The easiest way to accomplish this would be to write an algorithm (probably based on SpeedTree) that would slowly randomly mutate the various organic environmental elements over time. SE doesn't seem to like giving up that kind of control though.

Unfortunately, it comes down to a return on investment. All of these ideas are possible, but are they worth the amount of time it would take to create them? Most developers seem to think not. Personally, I think if they spent the first year of the game working on extra terrain models for each zone per season, rather than working on the first expansion right off the bat, I don't think the backlash would be too bad and it would make the environments really interesting. The problem for us though, is that FFXIV has already been delayed years, they can't afford any more.

[Matsume]

Hmmmm going to put this here http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...dventure-Time!

Also this because it has to do with weather http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t....Or-am-I-blind

Thanks Rokien, I'll be sure to look into those threads.

This suggestion is cool, and something I would be all for if this was a game still in development (for the first time). But what you are hoping for is a massive time and money investment for - from the company's point of view - a minimal return. Each season would constitute another 40-60% time per zone (rough estimates, since to be honest, while I've done some 3D modeling, I'm pretty much just an amateur) to re-skin and mutate the various models. For four seasons, that would be nearly triple the amount of time it would take to make one zone.

Organic growth is a cool idea. Though to do it right, SE would have to abandon their age old modus opperendi, which is to individually model every part of their game. The easiest way to accomplish this would be to write an algorithm (probably based on SpeedTree) that would slowly randomly mutate the various organic environmental elements over time. SE doesn't seem to like giving up that kind of control though.

Unfortunately, it comes down to a return on investment. All of these ideas are possible, but are they worth the amount of time it would take to create them? Most developers seem to think not. Personally, I think if they spent the first year of the game working on extra terrain models for each zone per season, rather than working on the first expansion right off the bat, I don't think the backlash would be too bad and it would make the environments really interesting. The problem for us though, is that FFXIV has already been delayed years, they can't afford any more.

Well i figured having the first model to work with as one of the fourth season would cut some time from the process since they could (tin my mind) copy the script or models and add the appropriate seasonal effects to the regions concerned.

As for organic growth if they do indeed work on every detail of the game, such as the trees for example, i imagine it wouldn't be so hard to yet again copy the models but change the colors as necessary (for fall) or add snow onto them etc and use them in their appropriate season.

Of course the hundred million dollar question comes down to time and money. I don't know if they have either to effect such a drastic overhaul of the world considering they already are planning on redoing the maps for 2.0

[Nanamix]

Just out of curiosity, would it be too difficult from a technical standpoint to implement seasonal effects and environmental growth characteristics to give the world more of a live feel over time?

Seasonal Effects: Four seasons a year with a transitory period from one to the other. Obviously Winter snow melts, Spring showers and flowers, Summer growth and abundance, Autumns brings about changing colors and colder temperatures which lead back to winter...

How hard would it be to create 4 versions of Eorzea corresponding to these seasons with a transition from one to the other on a yearly cycle? which leads me to my next point...

The Saga of Ryzom did it perfectly with the seasonal changes. Snow, and the entire ground of flowers became a snowfield. A great example.

[Roj]

Great post Matsume.

[Matsume]

Great post Matsume.

Thanks Frank, you too by the way.

[Matsume]

Hmmmm going to put this here http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...dventure-Time!

Also this because it has to do with weather http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t....Or-am-I-blind

I want dem thunderbolts n' lightnin' effects Rokie ;_;