Day/night cycles in video games

[Psycho]

In every popular modern game, like GTA 5, RDR2, Minecraft, Terraria, etc... there's always a day/night cycle. In survival games it's sometimes cool when monsters come out at night. But in most other games, would you like it if it was ALWAYS day time?

I feel like no one likes night time in games. It's just darker and harder to see. Whenever it's night time in a game you usually just sleep and skip to day time cuz its way better

If new popular games came out and it was always day time would you be happy? I feel like it would be great.. but idk. its kind of like saying "I would love to eat cheesecake everyday for the rest of my life".. It sounds good at first but after a while it will get old. But tbh I don't think id ever miss having night time in a game. In Rust especially, its just torture

[♥Peachboy♥]

it’s not the best, but it’s realistic

[GhostyOsty]

What, is sleep?

[↑↑↓↓←→←→BASelect]

The only time i like night time is if the enemies are stronger at night like dying light.

[Z i o ⚡]

I like night in games especially if they have a good night sky. It would also be nice if they affected the brightness of the nights depending on how much moonlight there is.

[DarkCrystalMethod]

In Half-Life(The Firste) there was day and night but it was tied to the map. If you were too slow or too fast it really made itself noticeable. Seems Valve games don't have a time based day/night cycle.
Other games are just fine with no day/night cycle at all, though there is a world clock that synchronizes all the levels. It is the deepness of the level that makes it tougher.
Trying to get the timing right in Majora's Mask (that N64 Zelda game) was a bit of a problem sometimes. At least it let you try again every time you failed.
Elder scrolls did day/night properly. It just worked! (unless you weren't in a structure/cave)

[Ensign]

TLDR: Na i wouldn't like it if games only had Day. Night makes worlds feel more real even though i sleep nights in games. Cities medieval-modern light up and its beautiful, oceans shimmer in moonlight, deep cricket chirps and echo-y owls add ambience. It makes things look different despite being the same graphical assets you've been staring at for hours.



Alot of those who sleep to skip the night do so for RP purposes. It IS harder to see, your character needs to rest anyway(even if there is no fatigue mechanic), no advantage to going out at night (unless there is a night perk and or conditions change at night like less guards in certain areas) so there really is no reason to stick around the world at night.

But damn if it doesn't spice things up visually so that even if you've been staring at the same trees and isolated Inn for 15mins/15ingame hours, those next 5mins/5ingame hours make those same things look radically different.

[DarkCrystalMethod]

What a horrible night to have cones instead of rods. (Retinavania)

[Chunk Norris ☯]

Night and Day cycles add immersion. You might not necessarily like it, but it's needed. Its like eating or drinking in games, you dont strictly need it in video games, but having that element gives you something to think about and worry about. Just like heat and cold cycles in video games, it adds to the game more.

[Blargo]

Time-of-day is one of those features in games that I don't really think about.
Whether a game takes place in only the day time, only the night time, or has a day/night cycle, makes no difference in whether or not I enjoy it.

[Schindler's Lifts]

For open world games, immersion is a crucial factor. This is true whether it's an open world survival game (Minecraft) or an open world sandbox (GTA, Red Dead Redemption). A day/night cycle is crucial to the illusion of a living, breathing world that the player is a part of, rather than a static backdrop for the game.

[Violeta]

The main problem with them I usually have is they blind the player while having no effect on enemies, even if those are day time enemies or even the same species as you.

[Metalnot]

Some of the areas in the Xenoblade games look especially pretty at night. It adds immersion and visual variety. I remember not being very fond of how the time of day is fixed during most story events in Pokemon Sword (it works normally after beating the game).

[Nomad]

I liked night time in Dragon's Dogma cause you had the little lantern and it was kinda cute. Would prefer if you could camp out like RDR2. I like games with night time where you have to rely on moonlight or night vision or torches/lanterns. I don't like it when enemies can detect you at night as easily as day but you can't even see them.

[Irene ❤]

I can't find joy from the time effects ^ ^;. Used to play portal knights and night time makes building difficult. Makes catching a ghost photograph in dark cloud 2 difficult as well. In genshin impact it's a pain to switch timing to do certain quest. I feel it's a system that is painful for both developers and players. Nobody wins.

Unless boks are included and boks bok in the morning at 6am with realistic bok sound.

[Phirestar]

Day/night cycles are an interesting concept, along with darkness in general, but the issue is that developers don’t seem to utilize the mechanic for gameplay very often. And when they do, there’s typically an easy means of skipping through them.

There should be more instances of gameplay which are tied directly to nighttime, in some form. Either it has an influence over the actions you take, or there’s acitivities that can only be done during night, or something else. Heck, how many times have you seen in-game shops that open & close during the day, but never at night?