Side Note: I made a general post in the V2.0 Storms Brewing Dev Diary about my excitement for 2.0 and the various things my imagination came up with. Then I was reminded that the Pimp Dreams sub forums is a thing! So I'll try to break up each idea into its own thread to keep the conversations focused and the likes/dislikes meaningful.
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These seasons ideas are intended to build on top of weather and biome improvements that are already happening. Since my original post, I've had some time to think (dangerous for me), so I will modify a few things here.
[*]What do seasons mean for each biome? Maybe...
[*]Burned Forest: Same as the forest, might be tricky making sense of snow. Regrowing shrubs / leaves are regularly burned by firestorms.
[*]Desert:
[*]Snow:
[*]Wastelands: ???
[*]Mostly a cosmetic update for the forest and prep work for expanding on season mechanics. Leverage existing weather features in more ways.
[*]Snow zombies can appear Forest (rare/if the game stage makes sense) and Wasteland (normal frequency) biomes in the winter
[*]V?.0 Seasons 2 (Mechanics)
[*]Autumn Leaves
[*]Winter Snow accumulation
[*]V?.0 Seasons 3 (Excessive)
[*]Slippery surfaces
[*]Change daylight/night length based on season?
[*]Reversible (UI only changes) (for southern hemisphere players?)
[*]Blocks that allow players to manage tedious parts of this feature for late game base building convenience (heated driveway to manage ice? Something to prevent accumulation from being an annoyance for entry / exit / horde base design. To be determined.
Goals: It should be immersive, but fun. Challenging, not annoying. Manageable, but not exploitable. It should not take away from the fact that this is a zombie game.
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These seasons ideas are intended to build on top of weather and biome improvements that are already happening. Since my original post, I've had some time to think (dangerous for me), so I will modify a few things here.
- V?.0 Seasons (Cosmetics)
Seasons
configurable
Off | Rotating seasons | Fixed/constant season
- Rotating season duration (in game days) - how long does each season last before a transition to a new season
- Season transition duration - how many game days does it take to completely move from one season to another?
- Seasons don't require Biome Progression / Elemental Survival, but will integrate with them if they are enabled
- Seasons can be 1) purely cosmetic; 2) mostly cosmetic (mechanics that don't heavily influence difficulty are enabled); or 3) all season based mechanics enabled
[*]What do seasons mean for each biome? Maybe...
All: Change in wind, rain, snow, or severe storm frequency. Tree leaves may have snow (ash?) on them regardless of leaf color/flower/fruit/biome.
- Forest:
Trees support leaves changing colors or falling off, sprouting fruit, sprouting flowers. (No ground accumulation yet).
[*]Burned Forest: Same as the forest, might be tricky making sense of snow. Regrowing shrubs / leaves are regularly burned by firestorms.
Watch the weather in California for any given year. It is tragic, but "fire" is a regular weather condition in that state.
- Maybe this biome is sensitive to lightning that start fires? / rainless thunder storms
- Maybe zombies can be hit by lightning and turned into burn victims kind of like charged creepers in Minecraft?
[*]Desert:
Heat waves not as severe in the winter.
- Severe heatwaves increase in frequency in the summer.
[*]Snow:
Semi-thawed state in the summer. Can't really go green here without messing with the biome identity.
- Freezing weather is not as dangerous in the summer.
[*]Wastelands: ???
[*]Mostly a cosmetic update for the forest and prep work for expanding on season mechanics. Leverage existing weather features in more ways.
[*]Snow zombies can appear Forest (rare/if the game stage makes sense) and Wasteland (normal frequency) biomes in the winter
[*]V?.0 Seasons 2 (Mechanics)
Spring Sticks
Dull leaves and sticks fallen from trees. Behaves the same as Autumn
[*]Autumn Leaves
Vibrant/Thin Cosmetic Layer. Terrain and building blocks. (Not sure is props are viable)
- Deep layer / increases noise when walked over. Unique sound effects. Affected by perks/books that avoid making noise when walking over debris.
[*]Winter Snow accumulation
Thin/Deep layers on terrain blocks and building blocks (maybe props/objects?).
- Deep snow slows movement / not sure if it would affect zombie and bandit pathing. Visually obvious compared to light/thin snow.
- Light snow is cosmetic
- Walking in snow sounds regardless of biome
- Snow can be harvested
[*]V?.0 Seasons 3 (Excessive)
Snow/leaf accumulation is always in the direction of the sky, regardless of the block/prop/object rotation. Accumulation doesn't occur on blocks that don't have a clear path to the sky. Maybe it can reuse what ever rain uses to determine whether or not you are wet (inside near a window/hole or outside)
- Snow/Sand drifts?
- Animal Migration: Animals that normally appear in a specific biome may have a chance to appear in another biome if the seasonal weather (and game stage) makes sense.
- Wasteland: It is mostly rock, concrete, and stone. There isn't many places for water to be absorbed into the ground, so maybe cosmetic standing water in some places?
- Frozen over bodies of water
moved this to its own thread: Expanded Water
[*]Slippery surfaces
[*]Change daylight/night length based on season?
[*]Reversible (UI only changes) (for southern hemisphere players?)
[*]Blocks that allow players to manage tedious parts of this feature for late game base building convenience (heated driveway to manage ice? Something to prevent accumulation from being an annoyance for entry / exit / horde base design. To be determined.
Goals: It should be immersive, but fun. Challenging, not annoying. Manageable, but not exploitable. It should not take away from the fact that this is a zombie game.
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