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I'd like to suggest an idea - for simplicity - let's us assume, Each Season last 1 month long for the purpose of this concept.
EDIT 7/17 - THIS POST ISNT ABOUT THE LENGTH OF SEASON - it just makes it easier to give examples to it. This idea can scale to any timeframe.
January = Spring
Feb = Summer
March = Fall
April = Winter
March 1st-28 is Fall
Fall - NPC Animals for the sake of this concept - spawns every 1 hour after being killed
Fall - Flower for gathering - spawns every hour
Those are the default numbers. Basically it has a potential to spawn 24 times in a single day.
Now for the potential interesting part
March 29th - It is still considered Fall - Winter is setting in but not officially winter. Just Snow fall particle is happening
Flower (or gatherables) and Animals (or NPC beasts/monsters) are beginning to hibernate, migrate, die off. Spawn-rate is now 1hr 30min, for a total of 16 spawns in a single day
Winter Animals & Gatherables are beginning to appear, very rarely - once every 6 hour after gathered or killed.
March 30th - It is still considered Fall - A little bit more snow - grass is starting to show very small snow buildup
Animals and Gatherables of that season is now spawning every 3 hours, for a total of 8 spawns
Winter Animals & Gatherables are beginning to appear, less frequently- once every 3 hour after gathered or killed.
March 31th - It is still considered Fall - A bit more snow is coming in now - grass has a bit more snow, tree are starting to show just a little bit of whiteness.
Animals and Gatherables are now spawning every 6 hours, for a total of 4 spawns. The last ones for the season.
Winter Animals & Gatherables are beginning to appear, a bit more common - once every 1hr 30min after gathered or killed.
April 1st - First Day of Winter - keep increasing until the 4th
Winter Animals & Gatherables are now spawning at default 1hr
April 2nd
April 3rd
April 4th - Everything should be covered in snow, as shown in the weather video
-------------------
Now we can do fun mechanics / quest as well.
On the last 3 days of each season, there is an interaction between both seasons.
Maybe there is a quest that requires killing a Fall Bird and a Winter Bird and the blood needs to be fresh. Killing a Fall bird on March 28th and a Winter Bird on April 1st wont be acceptable, since the blood dried up or became unusable.
Now you can add a cooldown timer to ingredients and open much the game with more fun time mechanics. And play with the transitioning of seasons.
Maybe a special brew can be created with a fresh harvest picked of a fall and winter flower. The only time this can ever be done is between March 29th to March 31st.
Maybe a rare NPC / Boss / Animal only appears in those 3 days.
-----------------------------------
Idea #2
Make Seasons also variable & Unpredictable.
This may affect the first idea and completely make it irrelevant perhaps. So view this as a seperate concept, not a compound to the above idea.
If we were to do a gradual introduction of season, like the one stated above, assuming we are doing season = 1 month time length - to keep things fresh, there should be variables of how it comes into play.
Example:
year 1:
March - Fall
April = Winter
Winter transition on March 28 but is still considered fall
Winter starts April first but its not fully winter yet until April 3rd. Exactly the same stated above.
Year 2
March = Fall
April - Winter
It's been a very hot summer, unsually hot. Climate Change one may say.
No Winter transition in March.
April 1st = Winter officially for game mechanics, spawns etc - but still looks like fall
April 2nd - Still no snow
April 3rd - BOOM Winter comes roaring in and FAST. Now the players who are logged in that day may see what we all saw in the weather video - a very fast transition - JAWDROPPING experience to see the changes take places within 6 hours? maybe 1hr? maybe even less!
3rd example:
March 28 - it is still considered fall for game mechanics purposes - but a major winter stormed kicked in, in a spawn of 12 hours - everything is covered in snow - however IT IS NOT considered winter until April 1st - for the purpose of winter spawns / mechanics.
So this keeps the world feel real, alive with variables - you can make it feel very deep and do unique stuff in Idea #1, but if that isnt feasible, Idea #2 is a nice touch to play around with season changes.
So Basically, each year, seasons ma change sooner or later. Winter may come in fast one year, slower the next, or normal, VISUALLY SPEAKING.
EDIT 7/17 - THIS POST ISNT ABOUT THE LENGTH OF SEASON - it just makes it easier to give examples to it. This idea can scale to any timeframe.
January = Spring
Feb = Summer
March = Fall
April = Winter
March 1st-28 is Fall
Fall - NPC Animals for the sake of this concept - spawns every 1 hour after being killed
Fall - Flower for gathering - spawns every hour
Those are the default numbers. Basically it has a potential to spawn 24 times in a single day.
Now for the potential interesting part
March 29th - It is still considered Fall - Winter is setting in but not officially winter. Just Snow fall particle is happening
Flower (or gatherables) and Animals (or NPC beasts/monsters) are beginning to hibernate, migrate, die off. Spawn-rate is now 1hr 30min, for a total of 16 spawns in a single day
Winter Animals & Gatherables are beginning to appear, very rarely - once every 6 hour after gathered or killed.
March 30th - It is still considered Fall - A little bit more snow - grass is starting to show very small snow buildup
Animals and Gatherables of that season is now spawning every 3 hours, for a total of 8 spawns
Winter Animals & Gatherables are beginning to appear, less frequently- once every 3 hour after gathered or killed.
March 31th - It is still considered Fall - A bit more snow is coming in now - grass has a bit more snow, tree are starting to show just a little bit of whiteness.
Animals and Gatherables are now spawning every 6 hours, for a total of 4 spawns. The last ones for the season.
Winter Animals & Gatherables are beginning to appear, a bit more common - once every 1hr 30min after gathered or killed.
April 1st - First Day of Winter - keep increasing until the 4th
Winter Animals & Gatherables are now spawning at default 1hr
April 2nd
April 3rd
April 4th - Everything should be covered in snow, as shown in the weather video
-------------------
Now we can do fun mechanics / quest as well.
On the last 3 days of each season, there is an interaction between both seasons.
Maybe there is a quest that requires killing a Fall Bird and a Winter Bird and the blood needs to be fresh. Killing a Fall bird on March 28th and a Winter Bird on April 1st wont be acceptable, since the blood dried up or became unusable.
Now you can add a cooldown timer to ingredients and open much the game with more fun time mechanics. And play with the transitioning of seasons.
Maybe a special brew can be created with a fresh harvest picked of a fall and winter flower. The only time this can ever be done is between March 29th to March 31st.
Maybe a rare NPC / Boss / Animal only appears in those 3 days.
-----------------------------------
Idea #2
Make Seasons also variable & Unpredictable.
This may affect the first idea and completely make it irrelevant perhaps. So view this as a seperate concept, not a compound to the above idea.
If we were to do a gradual introduction of season, like the one stated above, assuming we are doing season = 1 month time length - to keep things fresh, there should be variables of how it comes into play.
Example:
year 1:
March - Fall
April = Winter
Winter transition on March 28 but is still considered fall
Winter starts April first but its not fully winter yet until April 3rd. Exactly the same stated above.
Year 2
March = Fall
April - Winter
It's been a very hot summer, unsually hot. Climate Change one may say.
No Winter transition in March.
April 1st = Winter officially for game mechanics, spawns etc - but still looks like fall
April 2nd - Still no snow
April 3rd - BOOM Winter comes roaring in and FAST. Now the players who are logged in that day may see what we all saw in the weather video - a very fast transition - JAWDROPPING experience to see the changes take places within 6 hours? maybe 1hr? maybe even less!
3rd example:
March 28 - it is still considered fall for game mechanics purposes - but a major winter stormed kicked in, in a spawn of 12 hours - everything is covered in snow - however IT IS NOT considered winter until April 1st - for the purpose of winter spawns / mechanics.
So this keeps the world feel real, alive with variables - you can make it feel very deep and do unique stuff in Idea #1, but if that isnt feasible, Idea #2 is a nice touch to play around with season changes.
So Basically, each year, seasons ma change sooner or later. Winter may come in fast one year, slower the next, or normal, VISUALLY SPEAKING.