Implementing seasons/weather

I know that there will be a number of different biomes to discover in our exploration of the world, as such it doesn’t seem too terribly hard to add seasons/weather. Now I imagine manipulating the environment so that after X amount of in game time your grass biome turns into a snowy biome, which then turns into a different kind of grass, etc. might be overly complicated (or certainly not worth diverting resources from other aspects of the game), but how about if there was just a simple “wet” and “dry” season, which changes how much rain the player receives and thus crop output? This could also make the player have to build storage facilities, such as granaries, for crops, or to construct smoke houses and the like to ensure that he/she has the supplies for the long months without rain. Other applications could be effect on combat (arrows don’t fly as well in rain and if there was “fire magic” perhaps it’s not as effective). Just a thought!

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I’m pretty sure seasons in their entirety will be in the game, especially in relation to farming etc,. Not much has been said about seasons and so we’re not quite sure what other effects will come into play, but things like:

  • Infantry move slower in winter
  • Archers can’t see as far in winter
  • Different random events and plants based on seasons would also be pretty cool.

Having the need for fire’s in the winter would a pretty cool aspect otherwise your poor villagers would freeze to death!

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Tom said in the Livestream that there will definitely be weather. However, he was much more tentative when discussing the idea of seasons. I got the idea that they liked the idea of seasons, but didn’t want to commit to anything so early in the development. With that said, I love the notion of seasons in this game. The challenges that changing seasons would bring will only improve the game.

Taken from the kickstarter comments:

“On Seasons: Not in the game at this point. This is something we would like to do eventually.”

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I believe they mentioned it would be some what difficult to do, so it may be a future stretch goal or we just wont see it at release.

to be honest with you, it’s less about confirming it exists and more about voicing the desire to have it.

I’m excited for weather! that’s probably more important than seasons to me.

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I think it would be cool to allow settlers to interact with snow when seasons are implemented in stonehearth.

Examples:

  • Snowballs: The settlers already mess around when idle, why not take advantage of the available resources.

  • Snow angels: On the note of idling, snow angels can help pass the time.

  • Snow forts: Snow is a great building material. In the game it could be quick to collect and place but it’s fragile and melts in the spring in certain biomes. (how does ice sculpting sound?)

  • Snow shoveling: It’s a pain but it’s necessary.

  • Snowmen: Raise a ice cold army!

Note: I don’t get much snow here so i’m eager to see it in Stonehearth

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And don’t forget salting the driveway!

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