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[FrozenFire]

FrozenFire

My weekly time system

For my Zelda, I plan on using what I call the weekly time system.


The idea is to have 7 days (um, duh?), starting with Sunday and going through until Saturday:

- This 7 day period will constantly and consistently repeat itself throughout the game's entirety.
   (Of course time pauses for cut-scenes, text stuff, any form of pausing, the menu screen, etc)
- Link is NOT going back in time at the end of the week; this is NOT supposed to be the same week repeating over and over again ( MM).
- Each day will have a daytime and a nighttime.
- There will not be months or seasons involved (no winters or springs, etc).
- The HUD clock is planned to only show the hour but may show minutes as well (undecided).
- The day will be shown as part of the clock in the HUD (i.e. "Monday").
- Character schedules and the like will not be nearly as precise/complex as MM.
- Some people will have weekly routines while others will have things they only do once.
- You will NOT be able to miss "one time" events (explained on reply#6 of this page).
- Link will have the ability to control time (to a certain extent of course).


Are there any problems in my thinking, any ideas, suggestions, whatever? Likes? Dislikes?
Anything. Bring it.

• 

[Jeod]

Jeod

Re: My planned idea of a "weekly time system"

You'd have to prove that the man steals food every Wednesday at 11pm to make the illusion work. Something like the shopkeeper mentioning that every Thursday morning some of his food is missing. Not only that, but if you want to truly make a time system this large you'd have to have a lot of patience and give a lot of thought to how you'll make it work well.

"You should challenge your fates. When all else fails, you can still die fighting." ~Yune
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• 

[Zhello]

Zhello

Re: My planned idea of a "weekly time system"

For my Zelda, I plan on using what I call the weekly time system.


The idea is to have 7 days (um, duh?), starting with Sunday and going through until Saturday:

- This 7 day period will constantly and consistently repeat itself throughout the game's entirety.
   (Of course time pauses for cut-scenes, text stuff, any form of pausing, the menu screen, etc)
- Link is NOT going back in time at the end of the week; this is NOT supposed to be the same week repeating over and over again ( MM).
- Each day will have a daytime and a nighttime.
- There will not be months or seasons involved (no winters or springs, etc).
- The HUD clock is planned to only show the hour but may show minutes as well (undecided).
- The day will be shown as part of the clock in the HUD (i.e. "Monday").
- Character schedules and the like will not be nearly as precise/complex as MM.
- Some people will have weekly routines while others will have things they only do once (explained in the example below).


An example of the weekly time system:

  Certain things may only happen on a certain day and time of the week. For example, lets say that a man is stealing food from a closed shop at 11pm on Wednesday night. If you catch the guy in the act, he will run off and drop a Heart Piece. Technically, the man would steal the food every Wednesday at 11pm, but you'd only see it happen once. After the thief has been caught, any future Wednesdays will not have this happen again.

  Generally speaking, this means that you can't miss whatever it is, yet it will only happen once. It allows for me to ONLY worry about ONE week while making it seem like it is not the same week repeating.


Are there any loopholes in my thinking or any ideas, suggestions, whatever? Like? Dislike?
Anything. Bring it.

lol thats what I did, but I made it a 28 day type a thing.

The IT Guy
Intermediate Coder
Linux is a wonderful thing
~Linkwolf48/Gumstone1080~

The Legend of Zelda - New Beginnings

http://zfgc.com/forum/index.php?topic=34986.0
1.6 Demo -
https://www.dropbox.com/s/56km0iadaras56g/LoZNB%20Game%20Folder.rar?dl=0


Side Projects:

Dragon Diary - Cybernetic Threat
Story: http://wiki.zfgc.com/Cybernetic_Threat

Aero88
ZFGC is like the Hotel California.  You can come in but you can never leave!

devianart: http://linkwolf48.deviantart.com/

[FrozenFire]

FrozenFire

Re: My weekly time system

You'd have to prove that the man steals food every Wednesday at 11pm to make the illusion work. Something like the shopkeeper mentioning that every Thursday morning some of his food is missing.

FrozenFire has failure!

I didn't actually mean that the guy steals every Wednesday. I failed miserably at trying to point out something else (which isn't very important anyway)). The guy only steals once. Actually, this isn't even planned to be in my game. It was just an example I thought up in "attempt" to explain a bit of my thinking. I apologize. *removes bad example from first post*

Not only that, but if you want to truly make a time system this large you'd have to have a lot of patience and give a lot of thought to how you'll make it work well.

- Yes, it is certainly "large" and I understand exactly what that means.
- People have said that I am an over-patient person. I do not give up. It is in my nature to be win! Failure will not stop me!
*grins and makes a manly grunt of satisfaction*
- I'm also an over-thinker and a well-organized person.

(I had a whole ton of crap typed here that I just deleted because I realized that you probably don't want to read ALL of that. )
So... I believe I am certainly able to do this (along with ALL of the other plans I have for my game) and I've figured out ways to make it easier on myself by use of "prioritized planning".

lol thats what I did, but I made it a 28 day type a thing.

28 days?! Does it reset like in MM (like a count down) or is it supposed to keep going? That sounds pretty ambitious either way. I mean, I even realize that my weekly one is hardcore.

It really depends on how many NPC's and time-related things you have and the length of the game, etc.

I thought about mine long and hard and decided that a week was a very big task, but it was pretty much the next step up from just the day/night system without pulling a MM.
I just needed a little more complexity to work from for some of my ideas.


I'm just saying though, 28 days seems a little overkill. Quality is better than quantity. Still, I don't really know anything about your game, so I could be wrong in saying all this.
Btw, what game of yours are you referring to? Are you currently programming it or is it still in the planning stages?

• 

[Ethelon]

Ethelon

Re: My weekly time system

Don't you think its lame if you miss an important event like that? How are you supposed to get that heart piece back, you won't be able to collect them all, AND, there's no learning in trial and error because after it happens, you can't redo it. It's more realistic I suppose, but I would really hate to play a game like that. Maybe adding onto the weekly cycle, after 4 weeks, the cycle repeat again, so instead you have a monthly cycle? It'll allow for trial and error.

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[Zhello]

Zhello

Re: My weekly time system

You'd have to prove that the man steals food every Wednesday at 11pm to make the illusion work. Something like the shopkeeper mentioning that every Thursday morning some of his food is missing.

FrozenFire has failure!

I didn't actually mean that the guy steals every Wednesday. I failed miserably at trying to point out something else (which isn't very important anyway)). The guy only steals once. Actually, this isn't even planned to be in my game. It was just an example I thought up in "attempt" to explain a bit of my thinking. I apologize. *removes bad example from first post*

Not only that, but if you want to truly make a time system this large you'd have to have a lot of patience and give a lot of thought to how you'll make it work well.

- Yes, it is certainly "large" and I understand exactly what that means.
- People have said that I am an over-patient person. I do not give up. It is in my nature to be win! Failure will not stop me!
*grins and makes a manly grunt of satisfaction*
- I'm also an over-thinker and a well-organized person.

(I had a whole ton of crap typed here that I just deleted because I realized that you probably don't want to read ALL of that. )
So... I believe I am certainly able to do this (along with ALL of the other plans I have for my game) and I've figured out ways to make it easier on myself by use of "prioritized planning".

lol thats what I did, but I made it a 28 day type a thing.

28 days?! Does it reset like in MM (like a count down) or is it supposed to keep going? That sounds pretty ambitious either way. I mean, I even realize that my weekly one is hardcore.

It really depends on how many NPC's and time-related things you have and the length of the game, etc.

I thought about mine long and hard and decided that a week was a very big task, but it was pretty much the next step up from just the day/night system without pulling a MM.
I just needed a little more complexity to work from for some of my ideas.


I'm just saying though, 28 days seems a little overkill. Quality is better than quantity. Still, I don't really know anything about your game, so I could be wrong in saying all this.
Btw, what game of yours are you referring to? Are you currently programming it or is it still in the planning stages?

Im trying to make my game run on a 7 day period which is 4 weeks total.  I have so many paths and quest set to each and every day.  Also once the clock hits the final hour of the 28th day, it will reset back to the first day, this will take its effect on npcs IF the player hasnt met them within an even.
For example:  There is a man dying in the woods, if Link does do the sidequests in time to gain information about a dungeon which is hidden, the man dies and turns into a Stalfo, and you cant do anything about.

lol I know its odd to do this but im trying to do alot.

Also I made achiecements to go along with the 4 weeks lol

The IT Guy
Intermediate Coder
Linux is a wonderful thing
~Linkwolf48/Gumstone1080~

The Legend of Zelda - New Beginnings

http://zfgc.com/forum/index.php?topic=34986.0
1.6 Demo -
https://www.dropbox.com/s/56km0iadaras56g/LoZNB%20Game%20Folder.rar?dl=0


Side Projects:

Dragon Diary - Cybernetic Threat
Story: http://wiki.zfgc.com/Cybernetic_Threat

Aero88
ZFGC is like the Hotel California.  You can come in but you can never leave!

devianart: http://linkwolf48.deviantart.com/

[FrozenFire]

FrozenFire

Re: My weekly time system

Don't you think its lame if you miss an important event like that? How are you supposed to get that heart piece back, you won't be able to collect them all, AND, there's no learning in trial and error because after it happens, you can't redo it. It's more realistic I suppose, but I would really hate to play a game like that. Maybe adding onto the weekly cycle, after 4 weeks, the cycle repeat again, so instead you have a monthly cycle? It'll allow for trial and error.

LOL.
Sorry, I tried to explain my fix for this earlier, but I removed it because it was difficult to understand.
You will NOT be able to miss anything.

Lets take an example of the weekly schedules of shops. Most of them are always open and closed the same time throughout the week.

Just an example of something that is consistent every week:
Weapons shop: Open Mon-Fri 6am-8pm. Closed Sat and Sun.

An example of a "one time" occurrence:
(the following is just an example and is not intended to be part of the actual game)
Tuesday night at 10pm, there is a man that tries to rob the safe at the rupee bank. You have a chance EVERY Tuesday night to catch this guy. If you miss a Tuesday, you get your chance next Tuesday. In fact, you will continue to get a chance until you stop him and get your reward.
(This is where it may get confusing)
This doesn't mean that the man robs the bank every Tuesday night. It means that, according to the player, it only happens when he/she (the player) catches the robber.
This is an example of a one time occurrence that you will not be able to miss.

Why is this important?
It helps make it "feel" like these are different weeks. When in reality, I have only programmed one week. Why does it make it feel like they are different weeks? Because you can be in your 3rd week before you do this and it will not happen in the 4th week (since you completed the task). With all of these "one time" tasks to complete, it will make different weeks hold different discoveries etc, making each week unique.

Whether anyone understands what I am trying to say or not, just know that I do have it figured out. I guess it is just a little hard to explain.

Anyway, just expect my game to have a wicked sick time system!


(BELOW HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH MY TIME SYSTEM. IT IS A RESPONSE TO LINKWOLF48'S TIME SYSTEM)

Im trying to make my game run on a 7 day period which is 4 weeks total.  I have so many paths and quest set to each and every day.  Also once the clock hits the final hour of the 28th day, it will reset back to the first day, this will take its effect on npcs IF the player hasnt met them within an even.
For example:  There is a man dying in the woods, if Link does do the sidequests in time to gain information about a dungeon which is hidden, the man dies and turns into a Stalfo, and you cant do anything about.

lol I know its odd to do this but im trying to do alot.

Also I made achiecements to go along with the 4 weeks lol

So... you can miss out on something if you mess up?

I'm having trouble understanding, but it sounds like, in your time system, if you do not meet someone they will be reset each "go around" until you do. But, when you do meet someone and you start a quest for or having to do with them, then if you don't complete it, it will not reset and you will have missed out on it.

Also, 28 days is a LOOONG time to have to wait.

Anyway, talking about your time system might confuse people who are reading about my time system.
If you make your own topic that explains, I'd love to talk more about it if you want.

• 

[Mamoruanime]

Mamoruanime

Re: My weekly time system

Don't you think its lame if you miss an important event like that? How are you supposed to get that heart piece back, you won't be able to collect them all, AND, there's no learning in trial and error because after it happens, you can't redo it. It's more realistic I suppose, but I would really hate to play a game like that. Maybe adding onto the weekly cycle, after 4 weeks, the cycle repeat again, so instead you have a monthly cycle? It'll allow for trial and error.

I would imagine it would happen every wednesday until you catch him. I don't really see too many errors in the idea at all, it just means there'd have to be a lot of time sensitive events that happen continuously until you actually *solve* said side quest.

[FrozenFire]

FrozenFire

Re: My weekly time system

I'm not sure if Mammy read my latest post, but I think he understands what I'm trying to explain.

• 

[Mamoruanime]

Mamoruanime

Re: My weekly time system

I'm not sure if Mammy read my latest post, but I think he understands what I'm trying to explain.

actually as soon as I hit post I noticed you posted yours... Didn't read it until afterwards tho D:

[Stellar]

Stellar

Re: My weekly time system

it's not exactly a complicated concept lol

the idea looks sound to me, but make sure there are a _lot_ of uses for this, at least one or two of which is crucial to the game. the game should basically revolve around the which day of the week it is, a little like majora's mask. if you don't, the whole thing becomes just a gimmick

ಠ_ಠ

[FrozenFire]

FrozenFire

Re: My weekly time system

it's not exactly a complicated concept lol

the idea looks sound to me, but make sure there are a _lot_ of uses for this, at least one or two of which is crucial to the game. the game should basically revolve around the which day of the week it is, a little like majora's mask. if you don't, the whole thing becomes just a gimmick

Actually, I was thinking I would have much more than 2 that were part of the main quest (crucial to the game).
I have tons and tons of ideas for this. I will be sure to make good use of the time system.

The time system is a core element of the game and I am definitely going to make sure it is not a "gimmick".
However, I am going to avoid overuse of the time system in the main quest and/or just flat out using it badly.

Another thing I did not say is that the player will have a fair amount of control over time. Making a player wait a whole week (not really a "week", but you know) to do something or whatever, that is a no no, very no no.
*adds this to the list on the first post*

• 

[Mamoruanime]

Mamoruanime

Re: My weekly time system

Give the player the option to rest for half a day, that will help time progress. Then track how many days the player actually plays the game :p

[FrozenFire]

FrozenFire

Re: My weekly time system

Yay! Ideas from Mammy. I have noted them. Thanks.


EDIT:
I'm not sure I like the resting idea, but recording the days played is good.

• 

[pxl_moon (dotyue)]

pxl_moon (dotyue)

Re: My weekly time system

for recording the days would be something like in harvest moon good

but for resting the gothic series shows a good resting system... when you go to bed it shows a menu how long you want to sleep, it restores the health depending on the time you sleep from that moment and helps for taking quests available at a different moment ( for example: quests only on nighttime )



Gothic uses these options for sleeping:
Sleep until next Morning = 08.00 AM
Sleep until next Evening = 08.00 PM
Sleep until Noon = 12.00 AM
Sleep until Midnight = 12.00 PM.

just a guess how to use a resting system

~~Resources~~
~Minish Cap Style~
Minish Cap Beta:Firerod Icon, Majoras Mask:ChuChu, Ocarina of Time:Gossip Stone, Oracle Series:Link plays the "Herpes of Ages", Impa, Wand Maker: HUD
~GB-Zelda Style~
Ocarina of Time: Deku Caca
~Other~
Paper Mario Style Zelda&Link, Tetra Trackers HUD-Cleanups

[FrozenFire]

FrozenFire

Re: My weekly time system

Well, I'm definitely having the "days played" recorded in the game.
Resting seems a bit strange for a Zelda though.

For one thing, if you could rest, what would it do? Would it just pass the time or would it heal Link? And could you rest whenever you wanted or just in certain places?

If it's just to pass the time, then it's completely unnecessary since I've already given Link a way to do that (which I don't want to reveal at this time).
If it's a way to recover life, well, then I'd have to make it so Link can not just rest anywhere. If he could rest (to heal) inside of a dungeon it would completely change how dungeons work and it would greatly reduce the challenge.

I do plan on letting Link go to an inn to sleep in order to regain his life and magic. Stuff Like that. Is that what you were suggesting dotyue?

I could have an alarm clock of sorts and that would be what Link sets before he goes to sleep (just a thought). I'll definitely consider the sleeping and healing thing, and amounts of sleep healing different amounts is interesting. I do know that I want to limit how Link can heal himself though, as well as giving too much control over time. It's really one of those things that I'll have to figure out much later on.

• 

[Mamoruanime]

Mamoruanime

Re: My weekly time system

Well, I'm definitely having the "days played" recorded in the game.
Resting seems a bit strange for a Zelda though.

Actually, OoT did it .... 7 years of it...

That's kinda how I'm seeing "resting" more or less. I would have some form of item in-game that lets you go back and forth in the days, much like how the mirror lets you go in and out of the dark world, the ocarina back and forth through time, and the wind waker lets you travel vast distances

[FrozenFire]

FrozenFire

Re: My weekly time system

Well, I'm definitely having the "days played" recorded in the game.
Resting seems a bit strange for a Zelda though.

Actually, OoT did it .... 7 years of it...

That's kinda how I'm seeing "resting" more or less. I would have some form of item in-game that lets you go back and forth in the days, much like how the mirror lets you go in and out of the dark world, the ocarina back and forth through time, and the wind waker lets you travel vast distances

Ah ok, yep, I totally got it covered.

• 

[pxl_moon (dotyue)]

pxl_moon (dotyue)

Re: My weekly time system

For one thing, if you could rest, what would it do? Would it just pass the time or would it heal Link? And could you rest whenever you wanted or just in certain places?

If it's just to pass the time, then it's completely unnecessary since I've already given Link a way to do that (which I don't want to reveal at this time).
If it's a way to recover life, well, then I'd have to make it so Link can not just rest anywhere. If he could rest (to heal) inside of a dungeon it would completely change how dungeons work and it would greatly reduce the challenge.

I do plan on letting Link go to an inn to sleep in order to regain his life and magic. Stuff Like that. Is that what you were suggesting dotyue?

I could have an alarm clock of sorts and that would be what Link sets before he goes to sleep (just a thought). I'll definitely consider the sleeping and healing thing, and amounts of sleep healing different amounts is interesting. I do know that I want to limit how Link can heal himself though, as well as giving too much control over time. It's really one of those things that I'll have to figure out much later on.

i suggested the method used in gothic so i tell you how it is used there:

you can rest in any bed you see, but you can choose a "guild" in the story of the game which provides you a own house and bed, if you use beds of other houses you maybe get problems and wake up when the owner is in his house again and calls the guards or attacks you himself.

the health and mana is restored and the time passes up to the limit you set when using the bed

so you just can rest when a house ( with a bed in it ) is near you and not just everywhere


in another option for resting would be from an old game i know:

Albion from Blue Byte ( creator of the settler ) had meat in the inventory, you could freely use a time limit you want to overcome and it used the meat to heal the group, you could use it everywhere and it just stopped not at your choosed time if a beast attacked you on your resting-place


So what i would guess for Link using these two other games would be:

1. Link has some Places in towns or on important places where is some kind of INN which lets him sleep and heal against an amount of rupees ( think about the saving locations in lttp: Links House, The Cathedral etc. )

2. Link can use a Campfire which lets him rest and on a random Timer monsters that walk the area would wake him up before he has reached the time he wanted to wake up

If he gets all of his sleep he is fully recovered if not he has only half recovered...

But Resting in general would mean for the record that good players who don't need health get a better score at the end of the game for their time

~~Resources~~
~Minish Cap Style~
Minish Cap Beta:Firerod Icon, Majoras Mask:ChuChu, Ocarina of Time:Gossip Stone, Oracle Series:Link plays the "Herpes of Ages", Impa, Wand Maker: HUD
~GB-Zelda Style~
Ocarina of Time: Deku Caca
~Other~
Paper Mario Style Zelda&Link, Tetra Trackers HUD-Cleanups

[Zaeranos]

Zaeranos

Re: My weekly time system

Well, I'm definitely having the "days played" recorded in the game.
Resting seems a bit strange for a Zelda though.

Actually, OoT did it .... 7 years of it...

That's kinda how I'm seeing "resting" more or less. I would have some form of item in-game that lets you go back and forth in the days, much like how the mirror lets you go in and out of the dark world, the ocarina back and forth through time, and the wind waker lets you travel vast distances

Actually the ocarina only teleports you, well you could turn day into night and night into day. The master sword and pedestal are the ones that travel through time over the 7 years. The harp though does allow you to travel through time.


ON-TOPIC: It sounds like a great idea, but it is also a lot of work. You also need to give clues to when certain events happen in the week, because letting the player search aimlessly through 7 days and 7 nights without direction is a lot, even if you can control time.

But if you can do it, than I would say go for it, I'll support the idea. But be aware of what you want to do and that it also works.