Dynamic Weather is the mark of a great game. It makes a huge difference in the feel of the game and the enjoyability. We have seen this in previous RCT titles and many other games. Cities skylines is a perfect example of how dynamic weather seriously improves the enjoyment of a game. With Planet Coaster it could even be more so if affects the citizens. I really really really hope we get this. I have seen many bring this up on other social media websites but I haven't heard any news from Devs about this to date.
Dynamic Weather
- Thread starter Electricity
- Start date
My suggestions for weather:
Light Rain - light rain would be a common occurrence happening around once or twice a year in game time, and lasting for a few weeks to a month. When light rain occurs the popularity of rides would go down unless they were covered. What I mean by that, is if you've built a ride that's underground, or has a roof over it(like a dark ride), it's popularity would remain unaffected.
Heavy Rain/Sandstorms/Snow - heavy rain (or sandstorms for the desert biome, snow for winter biomes) would be uncommon, only occurring about once every 1-2 years, and lasting about a month in game time. When this occurs the popularity of rides goes down even more than when light rain occurs, and guests will now actively seek covered areas. Covered rides would also now become more popular than they would otherwise.
Thunderstorms/Blizzards - thunderstorms (or blizzards for snow biomes) would be a rare occurrence, maybe happening only once every 2-3 years in game time, and lasting roughly 1-2 months. When thunderstorms occur, rides over a specified height would be forced to close down. But unlike ride breakdowns, guests would remain in line and would not be issued a refund. No new guests would allowed to buy tickets, and ride operations would simply just cease until the storm passed. Flat rides and tracked rides that don't exceed the height limit could still operate, but their popularity would drop significantly. In turn, rides that are covered/indoors would receive a significant boost in popularity.
Campaign - maps could be interesting, having some where rain and thunderstorms occur more frequently, increasing the difficulty.
Challenge an sandbox - each biome would have its own unique weather, including frequency and type. Tropical biomes might have have more frequent storms than an alpine one. Deserts would have sandstorms and snow biomes would have blizzards. These would both probably need to be much more infrequent to offer variety but also maintain realism
Options - Just like with all new gameplay elements, weather should have an option to turn off for those who don't want it.
Overall I think this would add a pretty interesting game mechanic. The frequency of the storms occurring would need to be spread out so you don't run into a year where it's constantly storming or raining to some extent.
Light Rain - light rain would be a common occurrence happening around once or twice a year in game time, and lasting for a few weeks to a month. When light rain occurs the popularity of rides would go down unless they were covered. What I mean by that, is if you've built a ride that's underground, or has a roof over it(like a dark ride), it's popularity would remain unaffected.
Heavy Rain/Sandstorms/Snow - heavy rain (or sandstorms for the desert biome, snow for winter biomes) would be uncommon, only occurring about once every 1-2 years, and lasting about a month in game time. When this occurs the popularity of rides goes down even more than when light rain occurs, and guests will now actively seek covered areas. Covered rides would also now become more popular than they would otherwise.
Thunderstorms/Blizzards - thunderstorms (or blizzards for snow biomes) would be a rare occurrence, maybe happening only once every 2-3 years in game time, and lasting roughly 1-2 months. When thunderstorms occur, rides over a specified height would be forced to close down. But unlike ride breakdowns, guests would remain in line and would not be issued a refund. No new guests would allowed to buy tickets, and ride operations would simply just cease until the storm passed. Flat rides and tracked rides that don't exceed the height limit could still operate, but their popularity would drop significantly. In turn, rides that are covered/indoors would receive a significant boost in popularity.
Campaign - maps could be interesting, having some where rain and thunderstorms occur more frequently, increasing the difficulty.
Challenge an sandbox - each biome would have its own unique weather, including frequency and type. Tropical biomes might have have more frequent storms than an alpine one. Deserts would have sandstorms and snow biomes would have blizzards. These would both probably need to be much more infrequent to offer variety but also maintain realism
Options - Just like with all new gameplay elements, weather should have an option to turn off for those who don't want it.
Overall I think this would add a pretty interesting game mechanic. The frequency of the storms occurring would need to be spread out so you don't run into a year where it's constantly storming or raining to some extent.
Nope. We need many many other things more than weather.
Spooky pack has rain, clouds, and lightning so use those. You'll notice your FPS takes a hit if you use a lot of them grouped together. Particle effects are expensive.
In real life, bad weather at theme parks is depressing. People want nice weather, otherwise they leave or don't show up. If you want that simulated, you're playing the wrong game.
Spooky pack has rain, clouds, and lightning so use those. You'll notice your FPS takes a hit if you use a lot of them grouped together. Particle effects are expensive.
In real life, bad weather at theme parks is depressing. People want nice weather, otherwise they leave or don't show up. If you want that simulated, you're playing the wrong game.
lol thats an uncommon opinion. I don't see why they can't do a 2D rain effect across the screen like RCT had, it doesnt have to be a particle that covers the entire map. It would add a little more depth to management and simulation which most people would be happy having an on/off switch for it (like most things)
I bet frontier will release a water park expansion next year and it will have weather like rain and heat, hopefully [up]
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Joël
Volunteer Moderator
The rainy clouds and rain effects that come with the Spooky Pack DLC are a nice addition for the game to simulate rain in specific areas of parks for theming purposes
I understand that it could take some time but it is worth putting resources in to improve the game. This keeps things from feeling boringly linear which was a problems cities skylines maker realized was a but issue with their game. Since then fans have been quite happy even with all their dlc. It brings a certain "chill" factor to the game that is also comforting and doesn't rely on direct entertainment to keep people happy. I mean imagine having the game but the water looked poor or the trees or the grass (much like rctw). These things heavily add to the feel of the game and the last thing missing is a weather system. Many times i've been to theme parks where there was a flash thunder storm or a short shower or its very windy etc. These things keep the day interesting. I can tell you if these things didn't exist in real life and it was only sunny all the time you'd be miserably bored and the game sometimes get boring because it's lacking this. All great games have weather systems, city builders, transportation games, rpgs. The ones that people don't like or don't last long as franchises are those that lack these fine details in nature and weather even if the graphics aren't topnotch. Imagine RCT 1-3 without weather. The only other suggestion I would make too is that they allow for peeps to roam in areas without rides rather than never crossing a path even to explore a garden because there are no rides. These details to me are more important than more dlc unless the dlc includes these things. In cities skylines their dlc always comes out with fine detailed fixes that take the game up another notch even when you don't buy the dlc they still include some fine detailed fixes.
I disagree. People want more simulation from PC and we haven't got it yet. Having to deal with adverse weather will add to the management side of things. Increasing the price of drinks during a heat wave or trying to sell raincoats during rainstorms (and of course rides breaking down more).
It changes the pace of things and adds a random element to the game world rather than it being about plonking down workshop items and waiting for your cash to fill up so you can build a coaster that meets the objective etc...
Exactly, we need more foundation and simulation in this game.
The rainy clouds and rain effects that come with the Spooky Pack DLC are a nice addition for the game to simulate rain in specific areas of parks for theming purposes
a few localized rain clouds on rides are far from the concept of dynamic weather
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That´s only particle effects, the easiest part of all of it to do. Dynamic weather should affect people´s behaviour for instance and shouldn´t clip through buildings and is much more complex to implement. From what I heard, even particles only are quite heavy and adding weather would probably make game even more laggy.Not sure why you queted my post in this regards, because I don´t think this addition in Spooky pack proofs engine can handle dynamic weather. It cannot.The rainy clouds and rain effects that come with the Spooky Pack DLC are a nice addition for the game to simulate rain in specific areas of parks for theming purposes
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I would be fine if rain was just a 2D overlay like it was in RCT3, seems like it would help with CPU usage, but getting rain to not clip with walls might be pretty difficult, Parkitect just recently added hat feature but with PC I would just be happy to see it not clip through terrain.
We already know they are having a difficult time getting the light to interact with buildings. Rain adds another dimension to this. I think most people rather have buildings blocking light than rain at this point (both would be great but we are not there yet technically and computer power wise I think). A 2D rain like the original RCT would work but my prediction is that it would just make a lot of people complain that they see rain "inside" buildings too which would be true.
If they can figure out how to block light and rain (and any other particle weather item) it would be great. This probably won't happen for some time though I am afraid of.
You might be right, but the way I see it is that using terrain to block light works just fine, the problem is the terrain tools suck. If we had the ability to raise square/cube chunks of land with 90 degree angles and flat sides (like in RCT) things would be a lot easier for creating dark rooms.
People would definitely complain. Personally, I wouldn't see an issue if terrain blocked rain (just like light) if people thought it was that bad they could probably disable rain. But I still think if terrain was easier/faster to build with, maybe less people would complain.
https://forums.planetcoaster.com/showthread.php/21790-Square-shapes-w-Snap-to-Angle-for-Terrain?
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Cities skylines weather doesn't lag me at all and it looks great, I don't see why planet coaster can't do the same. I mean it doesn't even get cloudy or windy or anythings. The game is great don't get me wrong but those things make it a little more laid back. Sometimes you just want to sit back and enjoy what you're seeing. Like cities skylines I can just sit back and enjoy what i'm seeing sometimes without even interacting with the game that much. The weather can be relaxing and draw attention etc, its a good element to the game that I'm really hoping they will implement. It adds much needed realism to the game which sometimes is lacking. Like in another post I posted about peep roaming in areas where there are no rides and enjoying scenery like all other previous RCT games, that is also a dimension of realism. You want to feel that peeps are actually affected by the environment, that the environment is real and/or enjoyable. That is what simulator games are supposed to do, simulate reality, especially the feel for reality.
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Cities Skyline is a much simpler and less complex game when it comes to object simulation than Planet Coaster. It is also much less graphics demanding unless you download a lot of mods and assets at which point it will lag pretty badly. Don't get me wrong, Cities is not a "simple" game. It is great, I have a lot of hours logged in it, got all (major) DLCs and still play it frequently. It is just a different kind, less CPU demanding than what Planet Coaster is.
As for the rain, it does look good in Cities but they don't have the indoor/outdoor or above/under ground issues Planet Coaster has. Rain there is basically just a 2D effect on the screen, not a 3D particle rain that bounces off buildings etc.
I *ALWAYS* associate going to Alton Towers with rain. And in a strange sort of way - it's a part of the fun.
Totally agree with OPs sentiments, weather does make the game more fun and more engrossing, on both a visual level (umbrella's out) and a simulation level (umbrella sales / ice cream + drinks sales).
+1 from me.
Totally agree with OPs sentiments, weather does make the game more fun and more engrossing, on both a visual level (umbrella's out) and a simulation level (umbrella sales / ice cream + drinks sales).
+1 from me.