In the summer time....

[thl111]

As it goes, I suggest a weather system in game. We could start with 4 seasons which have an interval of,say, 3 months and in each season, players can grow certain crops, harvest certain items in the wild or time to shave some wool off the sheep. Also there would be rainy day, stormy day (we have a storm hat,iirc), sunny day etc... and these are random as well. Seasons and weather would give some boost to agriculture and maybe, stormy weather could deal small damage to structure, farming. The idea is to give people a sense of progress and have to plan ahead to grow/stock crops and whatever in the right season. This way, as I see it, food trading will be more interesting as not everyone can have a successful harvest or having enough stockpile for baking and so on... It might be a bit difficult to the devs at the moment as there aren't many crop varieties in Salem and we are using tier system because, imho, if this idea was to be introduced, it could be better the crops are separated and increased in purity independently (except cabbages and/or pumpkins). This is just my rough idea.

[ElCapitan1701]

I like this idea at all. A month could be a week in realtime. Would also bring some alternation in the game. Weather would need not to be determined by random but shift from one phase to another by random, meaning: there shouldn`t be sunshine and 1min after that rain.

[TotalyMoo]

there shouldn`t be sunshine and 1min after that rain.

I see you've never been in Stockholm.

As for the idea: like it a lot!

[MagicManICT]

there shouldn`t be sunshine and 1min after that rain.

I see you've never been in Stockholm.

As for the idea: like it a lot!

pfft... Come to Kansas. It'll be thunderstorms with tornados one side of the street and dry and sunny on the other.

What, exactly, are the benefits to this that aren't going to put too many restrictions on the gameplay? I've seen games with seasons. So far I haven't been impressed. Is the overall goal to make a farming sim or to build a game to have fun with? (No, I don't find farming sims fun... I have a garden to play farmer in.)

[JeffGV]

What, exactly, are the benefits to this that aren't going to put too many restrictions on the gameplay? I've seen games with seasons. So far I haven't been impressed. Is the overall goal to make a farming sim or to build a game to have fun with? (No, I don't find farming sims fun... I have a garden to play farmer in.)

Depending on the length of the seasons and making so certain crops grow better or worse depending on that, and maybe also changing animal spawns and, who knows, inspirationals according to the season (like bears, who would be in hibernation during winter; and in winter you may find "perfect snowflakes" inspirationals), the market could gain a certain depth. People could store vegetables and other foods and sell them in autumn and winter, for example, with increased prices.

[sabinati]

Sorry but the game is perpetual Indian Summer by design.

[TotalyMoo]

Sorry but the game is perpetual Indian Summer by design.

Winter is coming.

[thl111]

What, exactly, are the benefits to this that aren't going to put too many restrictions on the gameplay? I've seen games with seasons. So far I haven't been impressed. Is the overall goal to make a farming sim or to build a game to have fun with? (No, I don't find farming sims fun... I have a garden to play farmer in.)

I think farming in Salem at the moment is a monotonous affair and once you have a decent farm up and running, it becomes a very tedious chore that you have to repeat every 3 days or so and well..with it the predictability. So, this idea, might it have any influence on gameplay or not, would add some spice in the game and lets players have something to plan, to think about, not just doing it mindlessly. As you said you have a garden, so have I and I enjoy planning ahead to grow my vegetables.

[CockyBastard]

Is it too much to ask for a Thunder sound effect and some rain - Diablo 2 had weather. Sure Rainy, Snowy, Dry seasons would be great too.

[Darwoth]

would make for an interesting dynamic having to stockpile certain foods to last through the winter (even if the winter is only a month or so irl)