Everything wrong with the day and night cycle system in Half - Life 2.

[Chicken Jockey]

I am a really big fan of Half - Life 2 but there can be lots of flaws included in the game. But the flaw I'm about to talk about is a flaw nobody talked about ever. Have you ever noticed the Day and Night cycle go by a bit fast? If you don't know what I'm talking about, In Black Mesa East the sun is going down. But a few minutes later in Black Mesa East Alyx takes you to the scrap yard and it is already fully night. You may not find anything wrong with this but if this were real life, You would kind of see bright glowing from the sun even if you couldn't see the sun. And notice this. When you enter Ravenholm, The moon is literally where the sun comes up, You may assume that the moon already went to where the sun was because of the night passing by but, It literally became night minutes ago. So why is it kind of near the point where it goes down? And also when you reach the ending of Ravenholm, You appear in a trainstation like area which is where you get to reach the shore point base. But here's a flaw you never noticed. It is full daytime already. You were literally in the mines for almost 6 minutes straight and the sun is already up fully. In reality the sun would be still trying to rise and it would only be half night and half day. And also the sun rises where the sun goes down and the sun never moves but still day goes to night and back to day. Valve, you have lots of explaining to do.

[Ikagura]

This is maybe like why Day and Night cycle in videogames are faster than the ones irl.

Even OoT falls into it.

[Chicken Jockey]

Originally posted by Ikagura:

This is maybe like why Day and Night cycle in videogames are faster than the ones irl.

Even OoT falls into it.

Well, actually.. That only happens in games like minecraft and roblox. The daytime goes by in 8 minutes same for night. But in Half - life 2 It stays day until you reach another chapter that includes night or sunset. You can literally stay AFK for 3 hours in a chapter that is day and it will still be day until you move on. In Minecraft and Roblox you can witness the sun go down but in Half - life 2 your to busy in buildings to even witness the sun go down.

[geordiebroon58]

Originally posted by melisarc8:

Originally posted by Ikagura:

This is maybe like why Day and Night cycle in videogames are faster than the ones irl.

Even OoT falls into it.

Well, actually.. That only happens in games like minecraft and roblox. The daytime goes by in 8 minutes same for night. But in Half - life 2 It stays day until you reach another chapter that includes night or sunset. You can literally stay AFK for 3 hours in a chapter that is day and it will still be day until you move on. In Minecraft and Roblox you can witness the sun go down but in Half - life 2 your to busy in buildings to even witness the sun go down.

no it goes for every game as games arent meant to simulate real life

also just because they were in there for just a moment if it was real life gordon alyx and eli would probably be talking for hours catching up and reminiscing on the past

also hl2 doesnt have a day and night cycle as its a pre-set to the map, could wait 24 hours and the sun wouldn't move 1 inch as it doesn't move at all

[Ikagura]

The only kind of game that follows irl time that I think of was Pokémon (since the second gen) and Animal Crossing.

[Chicken Jockey]

Originally posted by geordiebroon58:

Originally posted by melisarc8:

Well, actually.. That only happens in games like minecraft and roblox. The daytime goes by in 8 minutes same for night. But in Half - life 2 It stays day until you reach another chapter that includes night or sunset. You can literally stay AFK for 3 hours in a chapter that is day and it will still be day until you move on. In Minecraft and Roblox you can witness the sun go down but in Half - life 2 your to busy in buildings to even witness the sun go down.

no it goes for every game as games arent meant to simulate real life

also just because they were in there for just a moment if it was real life gordon alyx and eli would probably be talking for hours catching up and reminiscing on the past

also hl2 doesnt have a day and night cycle as its a pre-set to the map, could wait 24 hours and the sun wouldn't move 1 inch as it doesn't move at all

That's what I said. But it is still unrealistic tbh. I think they should've improved the day and night system in Half - life 2.

[geordiebroon58]

Originally posted by melisarc8:

Originally posted by geordiebroon58:

no it goes for every game as games arent meant to simulate real life

also just because they were in there for just a moment if it was real life gordon alyx and eli would probably be talking for hours catching up and reminiscing on the past

also hl2 doesnt have a day and night cycle as its a pre-set to the map, could wait 24 hours and the sun wouldn't move 1 inch as it doesn't move at all

That's what I said. But it is still unrealistic tbh. I think they should've improved the day and night system in Half - life 2.

this a troll post or something? a 2004 game having that much realism, source wasnt built for that and would be unecessary, and it would mean the story wont follow the set path for it

realism should exist in games but not just for the sake of adding realism

having a "realistic" day / night system wouldnt affect the gameplay in any way and would ruin the settings for other things e.g ravenhome in daytime would be counter productive for a horror setting

and iv already answerd a reason on why the time couldve really passed so much, just dont want a player to sit for 2 hours for useless diolog to keep relism in check

[calembredaine]

suspension of disbelief does the job fine so they got away with it.

time going that much faster helps establishing that it was a long trip. it's only a flaw on the basis of personal standards, like for how dark energy is actually not like the game's depiction at all according to physics nerds, or how gordon picks up supplies by running over them in an airboat.

though i guess i would enjoy playing in a night time setting for longer.

Originally posted by melisarc8:

But the flaw I'm about to talk about is a flaw nobody talked about ever.

not literally though. you are not the first who noticed.

[Chicken Jockey]

Originally posted by geordiebroon58:

Originally posted by melisarc8:

That's what I said. But it is still unrealistic tbh. I think they should've improved the day and night system in Half - life 2.

this a troll post or something? a 2004 game having that much realism, source wasnt built for that and would be unecessary, and it would mean the story wont follow the set path for it

realism should exist in games but not just for the sake of adding realism

having a "realistic" day / night system wouldnt affect the gameplay in any way and would ruin the settings for other things e.g ravenhome in daytime would be counter productive for a horror setting

and iv already answerd a reason on why the time couldve really passed so much, just dont want a player to sit for 2 hours for useless diolog to keep relism in check

As in update back in 2013! not back at when Half-life 2 came out! and also I would keep the night for Ravenholm and for Black Mesa East. I'm not trying to add any realism at all. I'm just trying to improve the day and night system so it won't look like it's going fast,slow and fast.

[JoeM91]

See then if you could use some of the bsp maps from Dark-Life 2 with the originals and edit the maplist. Don't think it'll work though

[geordiebroon58]

Originally posted by melisarc8:

Originally posted by geordiebroon58:

this a troll post or something? a 2004 game having that much realism, source wasnt built for that and would be unecessary, and it would mean the story wont follow the set path for it

realism should exist in games but not just for the sake of adding realism

having a "realistic" day / night system wouldnt affect the gameplay in any way and would ruin the settings for other things e.g ravenhome in daytime would be counter productive for a horror setting

and iv already answerd a reason on why the time couldve really passed so much, just dont want a player to sit for 2 hours for useless diolog to keep relism in check

As in update back in 2013! not back at when Half-life 2 came out! and also I would keep the night for Ravenholm and for Black Mesa East. I'm not trying to add any realism at all. I'm just trying to improve the day and night system so it won't look like it's going fast,slow and fast.

well first of all what would really be the point of that change? besides i dont even think source can support such things

and lets say for example it just hit 8 am as you reach black mesa east, you go get gravity gun still around 8 am

then you enter ravenhome and now its midnight anyways because "why not?" it could actually harm immersion even more than what the game has

Originally posted by calembredaine:

suspension of disbelief does the job fine so they got away with it.

this is exactly how the game is showing a long journey and shows progression through the story

gordon wasn't just on a few hours journey he been tracked down for days

and in the case of entering black mesa being dusk by the time eli and gordon had time to catch up its already hit late at nigh as there would be a lot to talk about etc

even by just a bit of disbelief i'm able to make it seem just a bit more real

just because they can make time fit real life doesn't mean they should

even tho you were in there for only a few minutes it coudlve been way longer in reality

[Ghidrah1]

If one were to try rationalizing it, one might consider that Earths rotational speed, (day/night cycle) has changed since the invasions began X number of decades ago.
At 60° N lat it would also explain, add credibility to the climate and natural resources changes seen throughout the landscape

[calembredaine]

it's the combine. they make the earth spin at various speeds just to maximize dramatic effects.

[Ghidrah1]

Wonder how many people are suffering from vertigo?