How many real-life hours would be acceptable for 1 in-game year without being too long or too short?
2 hours? 5? how about 10? I think we can all agree anything over 12 is too much!
Planco Time = 8 Months 31 Days, Year X
At the end of October 31st, the calendar skips to March 1st without interrupting guests
1 year (8 months) = 1.5 - 2 hours
1 Sun/Night cycle = 12 - 15mins (the sun sets and rises once per month)
Guests can often stay in parks for many years, maybe even over a decade!
depending on how many hours per day the player chooses to set their park open hours, if the player sets park hours to be open 24hours per day then months will be slightly longer, more night hours costs more money but longer hours makes more profits. Personally, I dont think scenarios should allow players to change the park hours, it should only be allowed in sandbox, unless you want to disable night its better staying open 24hours
That ^ is how Planet Coaster operates
I'd like to suggest a different approach:
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Planet Zoo Time could be 1 month = 20 minutes
8 months = 2-3 hours
12 month = 3-4 hours
it might be easier to just count the weeks instead of days (so each month has 4 weeks, instead of 30/31 days)
I think it could be interesting to have 2 sun cycles per month (instead of 1 per month)
Sun/Night cycle = 8-12min for weekdays, 4-8min for weekend
(more specifically it should go 8mins sun, 4mins night, 4mins sun, 4mins night, per month)
Guests energy or admission should increase on weekend hours (the later half of each month)
Guests energy should decrease on weekdays especially in the early morning or late night
For park hours, it should be a choice of either full 24hours or 16hours without any night, reducing the length of each month from 20min to 14min
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Players should choose to have parks open however many months they want per year, with the option of skipping certain months. However, most guests will leave parks around November and no new guests will arrive until March. So players would be advised to shut down or reduce admission for their parks, and maybe even cut back on staff (staff would return with their original training), before players are allowed to skip past those months. All new guests should have to be acquired the following spring, and their should be the possibility of losing animals in the off season.
I think this would be better than having guests stay in parks for years, with Planco time guests could stay even longer than some of the animals. With guests staying a max of 8 months, it might allow guests a chance to return each year to see the animals growing. And it would give players more time to see each individual animals personality change over time.
3-4 hours might seem like a long time for 1 year to pass, but you have to remember that players can always choose to fastforward or speed up time. The point of slowing down time is to give the option of both fast and slow play. Many people will still end up with parks that are easily over 20 years old. In Planco a 20year old ride is considered "classic" and it should take a good while to reach that many years, especially with animals.
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We also have to talk about finances. Will guests pay a one time admission fee? Can we set a limit on the length a guest can stay? or sell monthly passes?
I realize increasing the length of each month might increase player profits (making the game easier) but maybe prices could be re-balanced ?
Hopefully I explained it clearly, but the numbers make sense in my head lol
2 hours? 5? how about 10? I think we can all agree anything over 12 is too much!
Planco Time = 8 Months 31 Days, Year X
At the end of October 31st, the calendar skips to March 1st without interrupting guests
1 year (8 months) = 1.5 - 2 hours
1 Sun/Night cycle = 12 - 15mins (the sun sets and rises once per month)
Guests can often stay in parks for many years, maybe even over a decade!
depending on how many hours per day the player chooses to set their park open hours, if the player sets park hours to be open 24hours per day then months will be slightly longer, more night hours costs more money but longer hours makes more profits. Personally, I dont think scenarios should allow players to change the park hours, it should only be allowed in sandbox, unless you want to disable night its better staying open 24hours
That ^ is how Planet Coaster operates
I'd like to suggest a different approach:
===============================================================
Planet Zoo Time could be 1 month = 20 minutes
8 months = 2-3 hours
12 month = 3-4 hours
it might be easier to just count the weeks instead of days (so each month has 4 weeks, instead of 30/31 days)
I think it could be interesting to have 2 sun cycles per month (instead of 1 per month)
Sun/Night cycle = 8-12min for weekdays, 4-8min for weekend
(more specifically it should go 8mins sun, 4mins night, 4mins sun, 4mins night, per month)
Guests energy or admission should increase on weekend hours (the later half of each month)
Guests energy should decrease on weekdays especially in the early morning or late night
For park hours, it should be a choice of either full 24hours or 16hours without any night, reducing the length of each month from 20min to 14min
===============================================================
Players should choose to have parks open however many months they want per year, with the option of skipping certain months. However, most guests will leave parks around November and no new guests will arrive until March. So players would be advised to shut down or reduce admission for their parks, and maybe even cut back on staff (staff would return with their original training), before players are allowed to skip past those months. All new guests should have to be acquired the following spring, and their should be the possibility of losing animals in the off season.
I think this would be better than having guests stay in parks for years, with Planco time guests could stay even longer than some of the animals. With guests staying a max of 8 months, it might allow guests a chance to return each year to see the animals growing. And it would give players more time to see each individual animals personality change over time.
3-4 hours might seem like a long time for 1 year to pass, but you have to remember that players can always choose to fastforward or speed up time. The point of slowing down time is to give the option of both fast and slow play. Many people will still end up with parks that are easily over 20 years old. In Planco a 20year old ride is considered "classic" and it should take a good while to reach that many years, especially with animals.
================================================================
We also have to talk about finances. Will guests pay a one time admission fee? Can we set a limit on the length a guest can stay? or sell monthly passes?
I realize increasing the length of each month might increase player profits (making the game easier) but maybe prices could be re-balanced ?
Hopefully I explained it clearly, but the numbers make sense in my head lol
