Actual cycle of daily life in-game? Read first post

[Almonds]

I don't think this was done before, but ever since the "clock" was introduced, we had time-based effects based on the time of the day.

For instance, you can ride the Royal Unova in the evenings, and some pokemon only appear in the morning/afternoon/evening/night.

The most prominent effect was the evolution of Eevee into Espeon and Umbreon.

In HGSS, gym leader telephone conversations or photo taking was also available based on the date and time.


But pokemons aside - what about real-time effects?

For example, many shops are open until the evening, and are closed at night - just like the Valor Lake Restaurant.

Likewise, we can have citizen homes locked during the night so you can't visit them in the middle of the night. They'll re-open during the day.

Also, the number of people inside the house will change during the day - the kid would be gone during the afternoon to play outside and return in the evening. The family would be gathered around a table having dinner.

Same goes to work-places. While you might be enter the buildings, many of the clerks will be gone during the night, and return in the morning.

And in pokemon centers, there will be one or two people dozing on the first floor chairs at night. They'll move around in the afternoon.


What do you think? Will there be more real-time effects in-game for buildings/NPCs/shops/anything??



Edit: Pokemon Center/Pokemarts, Gyms, Villain HQ, anything directly related to the main storyline playthrough will operate 24/7.

 

[GliscorMan]

Re: Actual cycle of daily life in-game?

Now there's an idea. It's always had me wondering why the people in Lacunosa don't actually have their doors locked at night, like they say.

I suspect that it wouldn't apply to NPCs, but it might apply to shops. A lot of places, especially the small-town privately owned shops, that'd make sense.

 

[Ninja-Mage]

Re: Actual cycle of daily life in-game?

I don't think this was done before, but ever since the "clock" was introduced, we had time-based effects based on the time of the day.

For instance, you can ride the Royal Unova in the evenings, and some pokemon only appear in the morning/afternoon/evening/night.

The most prominent effect was the evolution of Eevee into Espeon and Umbreon.

In HGSS, gym leader telephone conversations or photo taking was also available based on the date and time.


But pokemons aside - what about real-time effects?

For example, many shops are open until the evening, and are closed at night - just like the Valor Lake Restaurant.

Likewise, we can have citizen homes locked during the night so you can't visit them in the middle of the night. They'll re-open during the day.

Also, the number of people inside the house will change during the day - the kid would be gone during the afternoon to play outside and return in the evening. The family would be gathered around a table having dinner.

Same goes to work-places. While you might be enter the buildings, many of the clerks will be gone during the night, and return in the morning.

And in pokemon centers, there will be one or two people dozing on the first floor chairs at night. They'll move around in the afternoon.


What do you think? Will there be more real-time effects in-game for buildings/NPCs/shops/anything??

I dig the idea. Make the world a bit more lively. I'm curious how this will work with gyms though. Maybe certain gym leaders will only be available to battle at certain times. Like a dark or ghost gym only open after 6 pm

 

[Brisk Sunrise]

Re: Actual cycle of daily life in-game?

Assuming that Pokecenter and Pokemart are separated from each other once more in Gen VI. If they're still combined (Which I hope, since it's so convenient), then I don't see Pokemarts closing.

 

[Almonds]

Re: Actual cycle of daily life in-game?

Pokemon Centers are kinda like hospitals in real life, so they probably will be open 24/7. If the Pokemart is still in there, you'd still have access to it 24/7 as well.

But maybe some other shops - like markets you see in Slateport, Driftveil, or underground Goldenrod will close at night or so. That would be more realistic in the new games imo.

 

[Lufenium]

Re: Actual cycle of daily life in-game?

It'd be brilliant if there was - it'd make playing the games so much more interesting.

This seems to be a trend with some JRPGs recently, so it's a possibility we could have something like that.

I want to see more features like the Week Siblings. They're a great example of real-time being used the right way in-game.

 

[Solacen]

Re: Actual cycle of daily life in-game?

I really like this idea. It would definately add a touch to the immersion. Some cities would have different schedules to others. I imagine a huge city like Castelia would be busy pretty much throughout the day and night but smaller villages would close up early.

 

[Zeta]

Re: Actual cycle of daily life in-game?

There's a reason why Animal Crossing 3DS has a function to set the entire world to stay up late at night - this feature is kind of cute but really only serves to inhibit players who don't wake up early/don't have time to play during the day without screwing around with their console's internal clock. I remember being pretty angry back in the day that the only way to catch a Ledian was to get up really, really early in the morning. As far as I'm concerned, we can keep this acceptable break from reality. Daily cycles do work in games that aren't tied to real-life clocks like Skyrim or what have you. But tying it into real-life is just an unnecessary inconvenience to people who play at night - especially since usually the game inhibits a lot of the functions for late-night play with no real benefits.

 

[Shadow Red]

Re: Actual cycle of daily life in-game?

I'd love this! I also would like it to be darker at night, it feels weird walking around at night and having it almost, if not the same brightness as the daytime.

 

[Almonds]

Re: Actual cycle of daily life in-game?

There's a reason why Animal Crossing 3DS has a function to set the entire world to stay up late at night - this feature is kind of cute but really only serves to inhibit players who don't wake up early/don't have time to play during the day without screwing around with their console's internal clock. I remember being pretty angry back in the day that the only way to catch a Ledian was to get up really, really early in the morning. As far as I'm concerned, we can keep this acceptable break from reality. Daily cycles do work in games that aren't tied to real-life clocks like Skyrim or what have you. But tying it into real-life is just an unnecessary inconvenience to people who play at night - especially since usually the game inhibits a lot of the functions for late-night play with no real benefits.

Admittedly, I am mostly a night player as well. I had a really hard time getting some of the gym leaders phone number in HGSS because they were only available early in the morning. It was probably the first time I ever adjusted the internal clock. But likewise, they could create more late-night events that would never happen during the day and also special pokemon only obtainable during the night - certain legendaries like Cresselia or Darkrai being available only at night makes much more sense. The Moon Stone evolving families as well, and also the majority of Dark and Ghost types. Staryu are stars, so you'd have to surf at night. Incense shops would open only at night at mysterious fortune telling tents or stuff. Many kids probably can't stay up that late, so they'd miss out a lot of things as well.

Also, since many people are busy in the morning, they could also reduce in-game events that occur in the morning and make the majority happen in the evening, when people are most likely able to touch their games.

 

[Infinity Mk-II]

Re: Actual cycle of daily life in-game?

For example, many shops are open until the evening, and are closed at night - just like the Valor Lake Restaurant.

The normal shop is now integrated within Pokémon Centers, and it isn't that hard to think the giant everything store is open 24/7.

So that only leaves the small "gimmickier" stores which... do make sense from a gameplay standpoint to have time restrictions. (In fact, most of them already do since their introduction. Goldenrod's undergrond is this.)


That said, that'd be hard to balance out. You need to not outright demand people to play at a time, so while different, there should be plenty of things to do at any time.

So having literally everything locked doesn't really help. Have different NPCs outside, have perhaps houses stuck in "sometime right after dinner" outside of time (if not outside of time entirely) etc.
The basic key is giving everyone an enjoyable experience through clever design, not focus on realism.

Still, because of the nature of the games, different things happening to different players would in theory work.

 

[FreeXax]

Re: Actual cycle of daily life in-game?

I don't think this was done before, but ever since the "clock" was introduced, we had time-based effects based on the time of the day.

For instance, you can ride the Royal Unova in the evenings, and some pokemon only appear in the morning/afternoon/evening/night.

The most prominent effect was the evolution of Eevee into Espeon and Umbreon.

In HGSS, gym leader telephone conversations or photo taking was also available based on the date and time.


But pokemons aside - what about real-time effects?

For example, many shops are open until the evening, and are closed at night - just like the Valor Lake Restaurant.

Likewise, we can have citizen homes locked during the night so you can't visit them in the middle of the night. They'll re-open during the day.

Also, the number of people inside the house will change during the day - the kid would be gone during the afternoon to play outside and return in the evening. The family would be gathered around a table having dinner.

Same goes to work-places. While you might be enter the buildings, many of the clerks will be gone during the night, and return in the morning.

And in pokemon centers, there will be one or two people dozing on the first floor chairs at night. They'll move around in the afternoon.


What do you think? Will there be more real-time effects in-game for buildings/NPCs/shops/anything??

I dig the idea. Make the world a bit more lively. I'm curious how this will work with gyms though. Maybe certain gym leaders will only be available to battle at certain times. Like a dark or ghost gym only open after 6 pm

I love that idea! It would be a real inconvience to us though. Imagine, you're blazing through then you have to wait a few hours to win your next gym badge.

 

[Rainbow]

Re: Actual cycle of daily life in-game?

I like it, but as others mentioned it's not the best if you play late (like I do). The games are based on real world time, so unlike Harvest Moon, time doesn't pass quickly, nor can you sleep to pass the time.

That's mainly for things like shops and such though. It wouldn't matter too much for people's houses and daily lives.

 

[Lofty]

Re: Actual cycle of daily life in-game?

I love the idea, but it could become inconvienient/annoying. I think it should be integrated a bit more, but no so much that there's no NPCs outside or something like that. Having more splits between day and night Pokemon would be fine, as well as gimmick shops and contest halls only open at certain times of day. And, as someone mentioned earlier, it should be much darker than it is currently at night. It's more like a cloudy day than nighttime.

 

[supermanda]

Re: Actual cycle of daily life in-game?

The idea is nice, but the reality would probably be a huge pain in the ass. Someone above mentioned Dark/Ghost gyms being open only after 6pm. It sounds nice and cool to the theme of the gym, but how fun would it be if you had to wait? Especially if you're already prepared to win that badge. You can't continue on ahead without winning a battle against gym leaders. It just wouldn't work well.

 

[Almonds]

Re: Actual cycle of daily life in-game?

The idea is nice, but the reality would probably be a huge pain in the ass. Someone above mentioned Dark/Ghost gyms being open only after 6pm. It sounds nice and cool to the theme of the gym, but how fun would it be if you had to wait? Especially if you're already prepared to win that badge. You can't continue on ahead without winning a battle against gym leaders. It just wouldn't work well.

Not the gyms, of course - nothing directly related to the main storyline playthrough would be affected by real-time effects. Just some markets or private homes, workplaces, NPC movements - maybe some side-quests or mini-games as well.

 

[Owain]

I agree with this feature being cool, but not if it inhibits a gamer's experience, so, gyms can't have limitations, obviously, and by which case, how would you explain the gym staying open 24/7 when other businesses aren't? Does the gym leader need no sleep because they're the epitome of awesome?

 

[Akromatic]

I agree with this feature being cool, but not if it inhibits a gamer's experience, so, gyms can't have limitations, obviously, and by which case, how would you explain the gym staying open 24/7 when other businesses aren't? Does the gym leader need no sleep because they're the epitome of awesome?

Yes. Either that or when you come in, the door sets off an alarm in the gym leader's bedroom, and while you're doing the puzzle, the gym leader is getting dressed and preparing for the battle. Oh, and the gym leader's room is in the gym, somewhere around where they're supposed to stand. Or they could just sleep in the open and you have to wake them up, like Caitlin (Unova Elite 4).
In the nighttime the puzzles might be more complicated, because it takes longer for them to get up, but that might be stretching it.
Really stubborn gym leaders who like their beauty sleep would have more complicated puzzles, as they're not that easy to wake up.

 

[GreatLiver]

I would hate it. I'm not going to dictate my real life just to play a pokemon game, so I'd only ever be doing things at night for the most part. It works for games like Animal Crossing were there isn't a story and it's just a sim. Not for something like pokemon.

 

[Mitchman]

I would like it along with a super hard mode. Maybe even limit the gyms to operate at certain times of the day or night. Like have a dark type that's only open after 10pm, or have a grass gym only open during the afternoon, for those peak times when the sun's the birghtest.