Time Progression in Games

In a game I'm currently making (mainly just writing the story at this point, the game itself only has graphics and cutscenes), I'm thinking of having a day/night cycle, but not the way you'd probably think of normally. I want the time of day to help affect the mood of the surroundings and give explanations for certain events, but I don't think I want the time to change based on actual playtime.

Essentially, I want the time to be progressed with certain plot elements. So after you've had a specific conversation about this one thing with this one guy, it's now nighttime outside. Now this is fine in a film or something that isn't player controlled, but it means that potentially there could be indefinite day or night if the player never progresses the story. Personally, I think this is fine and I don't think it would break the immersion too much if the player took a little longer to complete a certain section of the game and had a really long night.

What do you guys think though? Would that make your gaming experience worse?

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I think this is a great idea, and I don't think the fact that someone could hang around forever without doing the thing that causes the day to progress is really a problem

It is narrative time, not time-time

I actually never thought of doing a day/night cycle like that. Seems like it would be a really neat way of doing things. I can see it working really well from a narrative standpoint. As for gameplay, I don't think it would really disrupt things. I guess you could think of the different day/night parts of the game as "levels" of a sort (even though I really don't want to, as that breaks up the narrative) where if a player doesn't advance the plot, they'll stay on the same "level" for a while. Ugh, I hate that analogy, but it's the closest thing I could think of.

Yeah, so bottom line, I think it's a great idea, and no, I don't think it'll disrupt gameplay. I say go for it

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You kinda see this done in the original Far Cry. Of course, in a game like that, time progression is based more on moving from level to level, rather than from event to event. But there's a definite sense of time passage as you move through the game.

My game, The Adventures of Powerstick Man: Extended Edition, handles the problem you describe (of not actually progressing time or showing day/night cycles) by admitting that today (as in, the day the game takes place) is the longest Monday ever, and that not even sleeping is enough to get rid of it.

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That's actually really clever, I like that. It even opens up more plot devices if you choose to use it that way.



The narrative portion of the game is my main focus, so that's quite reassuring. Also, I was I thinking that in a narrative story not based on levels, you could utilize the concept of 'chapters' as you would in a novel, which might even help the story flow more clearly, rather than breaking up the narrative like levels, as you say. I believe Mother 3 employs this concept. Quite effectively if I remember correctly.

Thank you all for the input. I think it'll help me narrow the scope of my purpose in creating this game.

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My pronouns are they/them
Ps. I love my wife

I think it could be a neat way of doing presentation and using it to the ends of storytelling. Events happening chronologically is something that's in a lot of stories, but not a lot of video games.

Something to be cautious of, though: it might frustrate players if they engage a conversation with a character or perform some other action that advances the game's time and they miss other content that becomes available only for that specific time period.

i.e. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LostForever

The player would have to reload their latest save if they wanted to experience other content that they may have missed, all because they talked to someone that made game events progress forward even if they didn't want to do that yet. Or worse, they'd have to start the entire game over to see or do some things.

I'd suggest either making content available and unmissable (which could hurt storytelling elements), or barring that, use heavy subliminal cues or blatant fourth-wall-breaking to let the player know when they're about to progress the story past a point of no return. That way, they can decide if they're ready to do that yet or they feel like exploring some more first.

I think this is a nice touch, and actually isn't that uncommon. (One OHR game that did it was Viridia Chapter 2 in HotOHR 2010.) And really, it's no different than a story event that sends you to a new map, except that you have option to avoid the "lost forever" problem if you want.

@Foxley: I will certainly keep that in mind. I will remember to make everything available throughout the game once it is unlocked, even if it involves making the game more linear, removing chances for content to become unlocked.

However, I might do this intentionally to 1. give replay value to the game and 2. requiring the player to pay attention to the story and the opportunities provided. I might have character specific events that only activate if they are in your party, etc. Like Chrono Cross, if you've ever played that. I plan on having many party members that come in and out of play during the game.

@TMC: I haven't heard of that game. I will be sure to check it out, if not only to play another OHR game.

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My pronouns are they/them
Ps. I love my wife

How about dong it like in Skyward Sword (and I know that many people hate this game but at least I like it)? You go into any bed and it will change the current day time! But (yeah this is for my game) how can I do this with using a 2 minute long "day" and a 2 minute long "night"? Do I have to put the minutes in ticks?

You can also use the the minutes of play, hours of play, days of play commands to measure how long the player has been playing, but that continues to count while the player is in battles or menus.

Also, have a look the Time of Day script which will tint the palette to a specified time of day.