I'm not sure why this has only just occured to me...

[MedievalKnievel]

... but an explanation about the destruction of the sun somewhere between 2000 and 2055 is never mentioned anywhere in game. Maybe I missed it, but after looking through all of the data cubes, books, newspaper clippings and even emails I have yet to see anything that explains why this game has no story unfolding during the daytime.

[Emrys]

LOL, yes. I seem to remember reading that they decided to have the entire story take place at night to enhance the dark cyberpunk(?) feel.

[PolaricEntropy]

From a technical standpoint it's easier to have dark levels and then add light, as that's how the engine works. It's harder to get proper sunlit levels.

[talgaby]

Also, you are moving from continent to continent, so with time zones and such it is possible that you have moved with the sun. It can happen even normally today to anyone who goes on a long distance flight: you may not see the sun for almost two days.

[MedievalKnievel]

Kinda like the fog effect in the older Silent Hill games only really being there to mask the technical limitations of the engine and system, MrRobotBear?

[PolaricEntropy]

Haven't tried Silent Hill, but I'd guess partially so, and also that cyberpunk makes itself better in darker levels.

[talgaby]

Originally posted by MedievalKnievel:

Kinda like the fog effect in the older Silent Hill games only really being there to mask the technical limitations of the engine and system, MrRobotBear?

Not really. Unreal Tournament had lots of daylight outside maps, and quite large ones. The engine was more than capable of decent daytimes scenes, it just looked a lot better in night levels.

[PolaricEntropy]

yeah, that's what I mean. It's certainly possible to make a daytime map in the engine, it's just that in general it looks better with darker scenes or indoor stuff with point lightsources.