Weather Effects in Games...

[JimmieDoogan]

Why do games have such a hard time emulating such things? The clouds in games never move, when it rains, you can't see the water hitting the ground. The snow doesn't fall then pile up on the ground, nor does ice form anywhere. When will they get this right? It seems as though the Xbox could be capable of showing us these things, but will a developer ever bring them to light?

I am sure there could be a way to allow the weather to even play an integral part in the gameplay (how you play). Morrowind does LOOK cool though. I'd gotten lost on top of a mountain for a while due to a majorly messed up dust storm. MAN there was crap flying everywhere. I had to find a place to get out of the weather because I couldn't see where I was going, so I holed up in a cave. Something like this is what I speak of yet, even that doesn't truly convey the message.

I want my character to be walking around, and as it gets cold he has to make camp. In the morning it could be very icy around and I'd have to watch my step as I walked. Around cliffs and what not, where as the day before it was just windy. The rain could actually touch the ground instead of falling through it (like it does on MGS2). It could form puddles of water on a dirt road as you walk down it. Avalances, floods, tornado's volcano's, the WHOLE speal.

Mind you it seems such things would only really be a factor in RPG's and RTS games but I'm sure they could be applied accross the boards. What do yall think?

[Alec]

I think the Developers are just plain Lazy. I bet they could make the games a lot better then they are, yes even Halo,

[MOrgE]

i doubt it has to do with their laziness...
they DO want to make money... and if they were lazy, they would have become Librarians

to me, it seems like they are only discovering the "weather" possibilites in gaming... Morrowind being a good first "experiment"
for them...

In the future, i think we can look forward to seeing alot more games with weather incorporated into them... and playing a big role...

*cough*Project Ego*cough*

[Xbox Owner]

Dude..video games can only do soo much..

[OppiumNitrates]

Originally posted by XBox Owner
Dude..video games can only do soo much..

bite your tounge . . .

yeah and mother nature can only do soo much too . . .

good call though Jimmy , , , like if u walk around in the rain for too long u get sick . . . .

where u losing health in the wind storm . .like where the things blowing around hitting u or doing damage??

[JimmieDoogan]

YES GOOD EXAMPLE. Getting wet while walking around... hell, you could even stop in a pub to get dry, and sit next to the fire, soaking wet, dripping everywhere you walk and leaving a trail of water. Something so simple (in terms of our view of it) could be so impactual in a game.

[JJaX]

The coolest 'weather' effects ive seen that actual make the models look diferent is after a mud race in rali sport. How sweet is that

[E-Xbox]

Originally posted by XBox Owner
Dude..video games can only do soo much..

thats what people said when the NES came out..
now look..
xbox !
WOW!

peace

[faceoff508]

Originally posted by XBox Owner
Dude..video games can only do soo much..

Is that what you are going to say when they make a better system in the futre!

[Woocifer]

Do you know how much processing power it would take for weather to be that physical? It certainly is not contained in the Xbox. That's like saying why can't graphics in games be as good as the cutscenes...

Imagine having to keep track of every droplet of water that falls and then how it reacts to the certain texture it hits and THEN making it form into a puddle....having every inidividual polygon reacting to a blowing wind...and I don't just mean the ones on screen.

It would take A LOT of scripting and processing power to keep track of everything.

As for the environment effects on a character, sure that would be cool, maybe you should write some developers about a survival type game or something along those lines.

[Kraft]

Originally posted by JimmieDoogan
YES GOOD EXAMPLE. Getting wet while walking around... hell, you could even stop in a pub to get dry, and sit next to the fire, soaking wet, dripping everywhere you walk and leaving a trail of water. Something so simple (in terms of our view of it) could be so impactual in a game.

Yeah, I would love to have to stop playing my video game to sit by a fire for 20 minutes to dry off. That would be the most excitement I've had since I watched my water boil for lunch today...

[E-Xbox]

Originally posted by KraftSLU
Yeah, I would love to have to stop playing my video game to sit by a fire for 20 minutes to dry off. That would be the most excitement I've had since I watched my water boil for lunch today...

wat?!
did u misinterpret something?!

peace

[Rusted Gundam]

Yea, I know thou shalt not talk about the PS2,but In metal gear solid 2 when your on the boat at the start. If you stay outside for a long time you get a "cold" sneezing and chilling (brr type of chilling) cause its raining outside. Also when you step inside you leave footprints of water for some time (like 2 minutes of straight walking) same thing with blood. So they have done some stuff with weather.. Well in MGS2 they have.

[JimmieDoogan]

Here we go... You could make it into a save point or something, he sits by the fire, a screen pops up asking if you want to save, and after its done doing so, your dry and its twenty minutes later. Come on dood... where's your imagination? Destroyed by games and movies? After all, even Shenmue II has a time advancment feature. For the most part I just want the appearance, they don't have to create millions of lines of code that make it physically real (in a virtual world) but rather, they don't even have a simplistic version of this. I am sure with the way the vertex and pixel shaders work one could pull off the impression of these things.

[Kraft]

You do realize that they are making these things happen as fast as they can? I don't even understand how they can do some things. That dynamic snow in DOA3 practically blew my mind. You realize the computing power and variables needed to do things like this? Anyways, things like it are happening. Give the programmers a chance to figure out how to make it happen and im sure they will.

[E-Xbox]

Originally posted by KraftSLU
You do realize that they are making these things happen as fast as they can? I don't even understand how they can do some things. That dynamic snow in DOA3 practically blew my mind. You realize the computing power and variables needed to do things like this? Anyways, things like it are happening. Give the programmers a chance to figure out how to make it happen and im sure they will.

tru!
the snow in that doa 3 level was sooo sick!
that game had some madd levels!

peace

[Frostberg]

Someone needs to look at the weather in Morrowind

[E-Xbox]

Originally posted by Frostberg
Someone needs to look at the weather in Morrowind

i havent gotten a chance to go pick it up yet!
it better be good when i get it!

peace

[Frostberg]

You won't be disapointed!

[E-Xbox]

Originally posted by Frostberg
You won't be disapointed!

i know..
but i have this week of school..
then next week is exams..
and then im gettin it for sure!
cuz i really really need to do good on these exams cuz i slacked off all year!

peace