Implementing a Dynamic time system.

[Draco]

After looking at the seemingly day/night system implemented in the game, I got a sudden inspiration for this.

How about separating the brightness of the world into sections?

In xen, there's sections that are like 50x50 tiles or so.

The brightness of each "sector" could be dependant on the "server time" with the adjustment depending on which the sectors independently...

The time would all be the same for sectors vertically, but it'd be changed by sector horizontally, kind of like the real world.

Near the center of the map, there can be the "sundial clock" that actually shows which time it is, by a shadow or something...

If the "server time" is dependant on a 255 number, and there's 20 sectors from left to right... then 255 / 20 = 12.75.

This figure is based on time cycling from west to east.

If the 10th sector's time is currently 100, then sector 9's time would be 87.25.

128 = Noon
255 = Right before midnight
0 = Midnight

(Times)
20th Sector: 127.50
-
12th Sector: 125.50
11th Sector: 112.75
10th Sector: 100.00
9th Sector: 87.25
8th Sector: 74.50
-
2nd Sector: 253.00
1st Sector: 240.25

With how this can be handled, it doesn't seem too hard to implement... considering there can be the "server time" and each sector horizontally would adjustment...

[Cagen]

It is a cool idea however I think it would only work well with a large enough map (read: very large). As the current map is now (albeit only a small alpha map) you can traverse the whole thing in a matter of minutes in gas form or "transing" and traveling through several different time zones and seeing the different lighting would seem a little weird as you would be traveling so quick in relation to the time. Also, If you had time based events in the game, this could make it harder for the players to work out when that was as they would have to check the time with the clock and then work out what the time is in which ever time zone they are in.

[Draco]

Yeah we were talking about it in game before I posted...

I agree, the world would have to be pretty damned big so players couldn't instantly cover the world that fast.

Unless however... the world isn't actually complete, having the borders of the overworld surrounded by mountains... pretty much like the current world being a huge crater, that there's much more to the world than we've been able to see yet.