New precipitation: Snow

[Wolfscopez]

This is supposed to be a feature which could be added when the game is decoded 100% and things are being added but what about adding snow as weather?

Snow would be used on maps which are arctic themed, it would appear at a similar rate to rain but in arctic maps, it would also potentially prompt guests to buy scarves or sweaters from stalls allowing more opportunities of profit, though that would require sprite-work and adding a new temperature meter on guests.

It's just a suggestion though so shoot it down if it's too difficult to implement in the future.

[gavin1337]

couldn't scarves/sweaters be treated as umbrellas, and bought mostly when it's raining (or in this case, snowing)
that would be a lot simpler than any internal temperature meter. Just have it sell like any other accessory (shirt, etc.) and then have the code treat it similar to umbrellas during the weather, couldn't be that difficult.

[HaasJona]

Also the game already makes shop items more valuable depending on climate. On a cold map you can take more money for hot chocolate than in a desert.

[IntelOrca]

Interestingly enough there is already a climate sprite that shows in the bottom right for snow / frost. So that would fit nicely with this.

[Nubbie]

It's now being worked on in: #3576

[brettpenzer123]

Yes.

Umbrellas?

Or not?

[brettpenzer123]

So just a quick update. Here is how the snow looks now.

Snow - 2 Drops

Heavy Snow - 4 Drops

Blizzard - 4 Drops / White Overlay

I know blizzard at this point has a white overlay to all the menus, I'm just testing to see if it's worth adding in. I believe it may obstruct the gameplay itself having a permanent transparent white over the top unless I turn down the level of brightness.

What are your thoughts?

[brettpenzer123]

The gif for blizzard doesn't look good since I've had to optimize them under 10MB. Here is a link for the video https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Ton4rbrZGtSVJ8lXQBJtMdOgJzVrM_K- download it for better quality.

[Krutonium]

For the Heavy Snow you should remove the lightning effect - Not that a blizzard doesn't have it, but it's extremely rare to see it because snow be like that.

As for the white overlay, if you solve that it would also solve the day/night cycle issues regarding the menus as well, which might encourage more work on making that look better (working lights as such).

[ocalhoun6]

It still seems kind of odd to have umbrellas out during the snow. I know it makes sense that if you were already carrying an umbrella and it happened to start snowing, you'd probably use it ... but in real life, people using umbrellas in the snow doesn't seem to happen often. Of course, there are exceptions, but for the most part, you don't see people using umbrellas in the snow.

[brettpenzer123]

For the Heavy Snow you should remove the lightning effect - Not that a blizzard doesn't have it, but it's extremely rare to see it because snow be like that.

As for the white overlay, if you solve that it would also solve the day/night cycle issues regarding the menus as well, which might encourage more work on making that look better (working lights as such).

The heavy snow doesn't have a lightning effect it is using a darkening effect bit like how heavy rain is but it seems the gif is that fast it looks like it's flashing. Please see video for more evidence on that - https://drive.google.com/open?id=1UjT7bDXEgECqLtZyuYREHiRWvmqWD2kF

Yeah, didn't know there was any day/night issues but I'll look into that another time.

[brettpenzer123]

It still seems kind of odd to have umbrellas out during the snow. I know it makes sense that if you were already carrying an umbrella and it happened to start snowing, you'd probably use it ... but in real life, people using umbrellas in the snow doesn't seem to happen often. Of course, there are exceptions, but for the most part, you don't see people using umbrellas in the snow.

Yeah, there isn't any real alternative in the game for the peep to use. Normally people would put on coats but sadly the game only features t-shirts as peep clothing maybe I could do something with that? that still looks like a long shot though so I either cut it or keep it.

[Richard-L]

To your attention, the snow realisation here https://www.nedesigns.com/park/4598/the-blizzard/

[ZehMatt]

I don't like the movement pattern honestly. Snow has way more air friction due to the shape and even a tiny bit of wind will affect it, this still looks more like rain than snow.

Example:

[brettpenzer123]

To your attention, the snow realisation here https://www.nedesigns.com/park/4598/the-blizzard/

That looks amazing but the snow effect is static in that scene. In RCT2 the weather is drawn on top of the game so if you move the camera the weather doesn't adjust to the game world. Therefore I believe this is why the majority of the weather in RCT2 has a slightly tweaked X position.

I feel if the snow was that much over the top of the natural gameplay, it would obstruct the player's viewpoint.

[brettpenzer123]

I don't like the movement pattern honestly. Snow has way more air friction due to the shape and even a tiny bit of wind will affect it, this still looks more like rain than snow.

Example:

I did think about adjusting the snow as it was coming down which would give a sway effect although when two pixels overlap each other in the weather it becomes permanent to the screen.

The only way I could fix this is the keep refreshing the entire screen and deleting all the pixels since the weather draws a pixel, recolours a pixel back to original pixel colour and so on.

[ZehMatt]

I don't like the movement pattern honestly. Snow has way more air friction due to the shape and even a tiny bit of wind will affect it, this still looks more like rain than snow.
Example:

I did think about adjusting the snow as it was coming down which would give a sway effect although when two pixels overlap each other in the weather it becomes permanent to the screen.

The only way I could fix this is the keep refreshing the entire screen and deleting all the pixels since the weather draws a pixel, recolours a pixel back to original pixel colour and so on.

You won't have this problem with the OpenGL renderer as it redraws every frame. I'm not exactly sure about the software issue, it would be better to have a open draft PR so we can go over the code and test any changes instead of discussing this over the issue here.

[brettpenzer123]

I don't like the movement pattern honestly. Snow has way more air friction due to the shape and even a tiny bit of wind will affect it, this still looks more like rain than snow.
Example:

I did think about adjusting the snow as it was coming down which would give a sway effect although when two pixels overlap each other in the weather it becomes permanent to the screen.
The only way I could fix this is the keep refreshing the entire screen and deleting all the pixels since the weather draws a pixel, recolours a pixel back to original pixel colour and so on.

You won't have this problem with the OpenGL renderer as it redraws every frame. I'm not exactly sure about the software issue, it would be better to have a open draft PR so we can go over the code and test any changes instead of discussing this over the issue here.

Yeah. I guess but that's experimental so it doesn't fix the issue of getting it to draw properly on all drawing engines..

[ZehMatt]

The rain renderer already stores every overwritten pixel, I'm not sure I see what the issue is?

[pizza2004]

As far as umbrellas go I would just make it a small chance that anyone carrying an umbrella will pull theirs out, so only certain peeps will use umbrellas. It gives them some character.

[Krutonium]

"It's too cold to go on... ... I want a hot chocolate!"

IE They will ride rides if they feel "Warm" from having eaten or drank something warm recently. This would allow you to replace umbrellas with food items.

That being said, this is probably well out of scope.