Weather overhaul as a game changer

[Ozian]

I think one of the biggest changes devs could make to improve things is weather impacting guests and rides. Rain and wind meaning water parks become less popular and some coasters can’t be open for periods of time. Snow meaning outdoor parks are less popular seasonally. Some biomes meaning you need to think about indoor attractions. Guest flow around the park and what’s popular depending upon the weather. More drinks being bought in hot weather, particular food (think comfort food) being more popular in cold weather.

This improvement in itself would be a clear visual improvement so a tangible change, make sandbox more interesting, bring really interesting unique scenarios which means players are playing something very different each time, create different parks within a franchise (think Universal Studios building a park in Florida vs. the UK), and dynamically impact economy. Having to get through low seasons or attract visitors with different attractions at different points in time if the weather is changeable.

Surely this has to have been thought about or in the pipeline. It’s a no brainier for a point of differentiation for the game.

The ultimate would be having storms and disasters that could affect your park that you need to rebuild from as an optional feature. I’d love to see more variation as well visually with proper dark skies and flashes of lightening. This is all worthwhile investement and development of the engine for future games too!

 

[_Tilly-Tony_]

I hope that now all of the most glaring and obvious issues have been addressed, we will start to see some actual game mechanic updates.

Bigger impact from weather.
More realistic times guest enter and leave the park.
Ways of making guests interact/react more with the things around them.
Staff trianing.
Security.
Gift shops.
Hotels.
Sign advertising.

I think upper managment pushed the game for the Christmas sales and Frontier are playing massive catch up!

 

[eznapor]

I'm super disappointed with weather in this game currently, especially as weather is so excellent in Planet Zoo. In Planet Zoo it looks excellent (rain dripping off roof edges etc.) and the temperature and weather condition affects everything so make for great management!

 

[rct-uwe1]

It's unbelievable that both (all three) games are made by Frontier (and especially the evolution of the Planet series)!

I don't know if they have to change/add reactions to weather circumstances in general or if it's just not working...

In PZ there are heaters and coolers to change the surrounding climate.
For the praised top feature 'water parks' it would make sense to have to adapt climate. Covererd pools in buildings and heated water for example.

In general park areas it would make sense to sell hot beverages and food at colder days and cold drinks (adding ice), ice cream and ligher snacks ar hot days.

I don't know if there really is a weather related ride priorising...

And I don't know if something like the need for suncream and shade is really working (or maybe at special biomes, only?).

 

[Valdo82]

This is the issue sometimes. you all talk a lot, but there isn't any meaningful testing from your side, you just go from a biased point of view and talk.

Does Weather/Rain affect a ride?

Yes it does. How did i test this: i placed the Viking Tea cup in an empty park twice. I picked a blueprint simply because the scenery as maxed out, so on one ride i placed a ceiling above the queue and the ride. So we have two rides identical in prestige and ride experience: Yeah, the 'indoor' ride got 20% more attendance over the day besides that your guest become wet after one full ride. Wet leads to guests become unhappy, spend less and leave the park, it can also affect your Parkrating, which affects your guests in the park.

So yes, weather is important factor overall, but it is just one factor, when it comes to things. With Update 3 there are seem to be more factors and it is a right direction, when it comes to management, but there are still ways to go, we will probably see more changes with the Restaurant update.

 

[eznapor]

Rain also looks rather poor compared to Planet Zoo, resembling repeating clusters of dots scattered around the ground (my graphics are on max). This is such a shame as it's supposed to be an evolution of the Planet series, and Planet Zoo came out 5 years before this.

 

[Valdo82]

uhm....are you sure this on max?

2k Ultra with balanced DLSS. Is your ambient occlusion/Ray tracing active? Cause i agree that your rain is ugly, but the normal InGame doesn't seem to be...

The only thing that is annoying is the bright skybox/weather