Heck, I'm all for adding a gamma slider as long as a thick black fog rolls in (to replace the visibility restrictions of darkness) to make it so people can't abuse it for mining without torches, see for miles, and generally go about their routine without worrying about the dark.
The only time I have an issue with the darkness / length of the night is when I'm playing on peaceful or building stuff on our multiplayer server (which has monsters turned off). Otherwise, it gives me an opportunity to get below ground and get mining!
I really have no idea what game you're playing. I just started a new world, set the difficulty to peaceful, and waited for nightfall. I could see perfectly well through the entire night without any torches or other light sources.
I found the gamma slide bar idea cool. Not everyone actually have a monitor with enough range of gamma fo fit with Minecraft, I'm sure of it.
But I think that the real subject is:
Does the darkness of the night in Minecraft really fit with the darkness of a real night?
And I think that the dakness fits with a no moon night or if we are under clouds at night. Otherwise, if there's a moon, it sould be a little brighter when under it.
There is definitely a difference in lighting based on monitor. On my monitor, I have it set to desktop mode (movie mode makes everything darker, game mode makes everything overly whited out).. at night in minecraft I can set my brightness to 100% and only be able to see MAYBE 5 blocks in front of me unless the blocks in front of me are sand, then I can see them decently.
On my friend's monitor, he doesn't even tweak any settings and can see perfectly in front of the character at least 30+ squares.
I absolutely think that on my monitor, it's too dark. I shouldn't have to turn up the brightness all the way to be able to see-- I don't have to do that in any other games.
I also think the game isn't dark enough on my friend's monitor. It's like easy mode for him. In SMP we'll be building together, and I can absolutely not see what he or myself are doing unless I start throwing torches everywhere, yet he doesn't have to throw down any torches at all.
It probably has to do with the quality of monitor.. my laptop has an obviously inferior screen to my desktop, and I can see everything perfectly fine. Probably has to do with weak black levels, or poor contrast. The game definitely needs a gamma setting.
Brightness is all the way up on my laptop and the game at night is still the equivalent of being blind. Placing a torch every 6 steps is NOT a solution. Everyone who is defending the darkness is defending it because their monitors are at the right level. They do not realize that some monitors simply are not displaying enough brightness in this game. Easy fix would be to add an in-game brightness slider as most other PC games do.
I think the game should be brightened up a bit near the surface. It's becoming a pain in my eyes, always straining to see stuff. I like it dark really far down however, I hope that doesn't change, I just can't play more than 50 minutes at a time before my eyes start to kill me. :<
P.S. Before anyone points it out, I play all kinds of other games and my eyes don't bother me. I'm certain it's the dark light of mines and nighttime.
I agree with this. It's like the moon's not putting out any light at all. Even on peaceful, there's really not much reason to go outside at night- it's unrealistically dark out there.
And yeah, if torches worked while you carried them, it wouldn't be so bad. But they don't, so it's no solution at all.
its unrealistically dark out there? have you ever been outside a city or into the woods? it IS pitch black. I would love something that you can carry around with you that emits light, and since now we got new materials, notch will likely implement something like that
I agree its too dark at night. I can't get my monitor brightness adequate to make thinks look okay. Its more than possible for a game to give the impression of night without making things so dark. One trick i've seen in other games is to make everything dark blue. That might not suit Minecraft, but using tint as well as light to convey night-time is just an idea i'll throw out there.
(each and every night I have to go to the video card's settings and bump gamma to 2.1 to be able to see in the night. Really annoying)
But I think that the real subject is:
Does the darkness of the night in Minecraft really fit with the darkness of a real night?
And I think that the dakness fits with a no moon night or if we are under clouds at night. Otherwise, if there's a moon, it sould be a little brighter when under it.
On my friend's monitor, he doesn't even tweak any settings and can see perfectly in front of the character at least 30+ squares.
I absolutely think that on my monitor, it's too dark. I shouldn't have to turn up the brightness all the way to be able to see-- I don't have to do that in any other games.
I also think the game isn't dark enough on my friend's monitor. It's like easy mode for him. In SMP we'll be building together, and I can absolutely not see what he or myself are doing unless I start throwing torches everywhere, yet he doesn't have to throw down any torches at all.
It probably has to do with the quality of monitor.. my laptop has an obviously inferior screen to my desktop, and I can see everything perfectly fine. Probably has to do with weak black levels, or poor contrast. The game definitely needs a gamma setting.
He won't help you fight the night because he IS the night.
The Dark Knight.
wacka wacka
P.S. Before anyone points it out, I play all kinds of other games and my eyes don't bother me. I'm certain it's the dark light of mines and nighttime.
= Leather.
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Get it?
Its a leather cap with a top-mounted torch. So you wouldnt have to switch to the torch in your hand every time you need to see.
Of course, the other materials could be used too.. but i feel a leather cap would be enough. In caves, you should just spend your torches.
its unrealistically dark out there? have you ever been outside a city or into the woods? it IS pitch black. I would love something that you can carry around with you that emits light, and since now we got new materials, notch will likely implement something like that
Caves are where it's darkest, but if you're aimlessly wandering through a tunnel without torches then you deserve whatever you get :wink.gif: