Darkness....

[Xsyon]

For those who thought the night was too dark, I would like your opinion on the current darkness level in the game (as of today May 16).

I turned up the ambient lighting a notch with this build. If this looks ok I plan to add an adjustable ambient light setting. Not so much to give players an advantage over others but enough so that all players can adjust night darkness to a decent level.

[pid73]

Xsyon wrote:

If this looks ok I plan to add an adjustable ambient light setting.

I know for sure that in a often cited MMO that launches soon night was exaggeratedly dark, up to the point you couldn't see anything at all at night.

To be honest, I liked it... but then I read that some ppl hacked it, so it became a handicap. I don't know what they did after this, but gameplay elements like these need to be hack-proof (completely switch off rendering, not just the light source) or prevent the need to hack it...

The idea of adjustable light might be okay (on low luminosity many monitors behave odd and differently, so this is very difficult to calibrate).

But, on the other hand, I might suggest that "night" still has a huge impact on gameplay (it simply "feels" right that day and night change things).

Some skills could be handicapped (much like in WoW or DDO you can be "blinded" or "drunk"). A status like "Nighttime: vision dependent skills have a -6 malus" or so. And when the moon is high "Moonlight: vision dependent skills have a -3 malus".

tl;dr: night influence on gameplay is important, keep it in, but avoid blackening out everything.

[Ciik]

tredo wrote:

I suggest that with a few sticks / twigs / grass stuff that can be gathered by anyone no matter what the profession you should be able to craft a torch or small fire pit.

I was thinking of this too. I would think that there are some really rudimentary abilities that everyone should have, and would think that lighting a stick with a cloth on, would be one.

[Saorlan]

pid73 wrote:

Xsyon wrote:

If this looks ok I plan to add an adjustable ambient light setting.

I know for sure that in a often cited MMO that launches soon night was exaggeratedly dark, up to the point you couldn't see anything at all at night.

To be honest, I liked it... but then I read that some ppl hacked it, so it became a handicap. I don't know what they did after this, but gameplay elements like these need to be hack-proof (completely switch off rendering, not just the light source) or prevent the need to hack it...

The idea of adjustable light might be okay (on low luminosity many monitors behave odd and differently, so this is very difficult to calibrate).

But, on the other hand, I might suggest that "night" still has a huge impact on gameplay (it simply "feels" right that day and night change things).

Some skills could be handicapped (much like in WoW or DDO you can be "blinded" or "drunk"). A status like "Nighttime: vision dependent skills have a -6 malus" or so. And when the moon is high "Moonlight: vision dependent skills have a -3 malus".

tl;dr: night influence on gameplay is important, keep it in, but avoid blackening out everything.

I agree. Night was one of the things SV did right in Mortal Online. I was very disappointed that night is hardly evidenced in this game.

Running around at night with torches out is an amazing atmospheric thing. I was great in Roma Victor and is essential that it gets done right in this game.

People are always going to cheat - let em. They will always find a way to cheat in games. But let not a few cheaters ruin a very good feature.

Please make night time dark !!!

[kiwibird]

The biggest problem really comes from how graphic cards interpret the information being sent. Since I'm not in anyway tech savy, I don't get all the ins and outs, but I do know that when it was very light in game for me, it was pitch black for another user.

This is the biggest problems for the devs, getting the balance right isn't just something they can fix on just their end as they cater a game to many users with different configurations.

Because of this features like darkness can only be enhanced if the player so wishes it. Perhaps that is an aspect that can be looked into.

[Deacon]

The problem with a dark, dark night in games is...people will adjust their gamma settings so they can see. I ended up having to do it in RV because I was evidently, the only one who couldnt see. So to eliminate the handicap, I adjusted gamma as everyone had.

The people who game the system for every conceivable advantage...will do it, forcing those who want to contend on an even chance to do it as well.

[kiwibird]

And that's not a problem people can do that if they so wish it.

The problem is, if you make it to dark in game, and turn gamma up to high, doesn't that create problems of its own too? The higher it is, the less graphic quality comes thru.