This is my suggestion of how seasons can work in Minecraft with a new temperature physics.
Seasons
Seasons last 16 days (2 lunar months) each, so a year equals 64 days (8 months).
First - Spring
In spring, temperature values for biomes are medium, so grass and sky colors are normal. Spring season colors are the closest to current vanilla.
When you first create a world, you will spawn at the beginning of spring.
Passive mobs spawn with a very high frequency. (Also depends on temperature)
Trees will grow faster. Crops will grow normally. (Also depends on temperature)
Rainstorms and thunderstorms are very common.
Second - Summer
In summer, grass colors are more "deserty", and sky lighter, because temperature increases.
Passive mobs spawn with a medium frecuency. (Also depends on temperature)
Trees and crops will grow normally. (Also depends on temperature)
Weather inclemences are rare.
Third - Autumn
Temperatures in autumn are the same as in spring, but leaves colours are slightly brown/red. Leaves emit falling leaf particles.
Passive mobs spawn with very low frecuency. (Also depends on temperature)
Trees will grow slower, but crops will grow faster. (Also depends on temperature)
Weather inclemences are very common.
Fourth - Winter
Winter colours for grass and foliage are bluish and the skies darker, because temperature lowers.
Passive mobs don't spawn at all. (Doesn't depend on temperature)
Trees will not grow. Crops will grow slower. (Also depends on temperature)
Weather inclemences are medium.
Seasons have very, very, very smooth transitions. Only a season is "pure" in its central day, so you will never experiment sudden changes in the environment.
Seasons are optional and can be toggled in the world creation screen as well as with a gamerule.
Season calculations would be competely driven by the current time in the Minecraft world, so that a specific season can be set with the /time set command:
/time set 0 sets the time to the world's Big bang
/time set 24000 or /time set 1d sets the time to the beginning of day 1
/time set 48000 or /time set 2d sets the time to the beginning of day 2
/time set 192000 or /time set 8d sets the time to day 8 (after the first lunar cycle, half of spring)
/time set 384000 or /time set 16d sets the time to day 16 (Summer)
/time set 576000 or /time set 24d sets the time to day 24 (Mid summer)
/time set 768000 or /time set 32d sets the time to day 32 (Autumn)
/time set 960000 or /time set 40d sets the time to day 40 (Mid autumn)
/time set 1152000 or /time set 48d sets the time to day 48 (Winter)
/time set 1344000 or /time set 56d sets the time to day 56 (Mid winter)
/time set 1536000 or /time set 64d sets the time to day 64 (Spring of year 1)
/time set 3072000 or /time set 128d sets the time to day 128 (Year 2)...
Or simply add string options to the command: /time set [spring|mid_spring|summer|mid_summer|autumn|mid_autumn|winter|mid_winter], like /time set day or night.
Temperature physics
Temperature is a variable that depends on (in this order):
The biome main temperature (and season).
The time of the day. 15 degrees less at night, and gradually raising and lowering at sunrise or sunset. An image shows the variation.
Height. Temperature drops 0.1 per meter above y=64 and increases in the same way below.
Little random slow variation over time. +/- 7.5 degrees. (This should be maximum upon creating a world to prevent inevitable damage if spawned in a cold biome (see below))
This intermediate value in the calculation is called Regional temperature and affects grass, foliage and water color, water visibility and the type of meteorology (rain/sleet/snow) as follows:
- It will always snow (even with weather=clear) at regional temperatures below -40.
- It will snow (but not always) between -40 and 0.
- It will sleet (mix rain and snow particles) between 0 and 5.
Sleet does put snow layers on the surface but also melts them quickly.
- It will rain between 5 and 40.
Rain melts snow layers 3x quicklier.
- It will be always dry above 40, except in jungles and high rainfall biomes, if the ground happens to be hotter.
Foliage color is also depends on whether or not the current season is autumn and each biome's fixed Rainfall value. Swamps, dark forests and badlands still have their special colors.
The final temperature variable (local, block-specific temperature) depends on some more factors:
Climate. 5 degrees less if it's raining/snowing in the world.
Sky light. If It's 0 (underground), temperature will be always 12.5-0.1*(height-64). Outside (light level 15), temperature is calculated with all the factors. Light levels 1-14 are ponderated averages between the "underground" and "outside" values. *This is calculated as if solid transparent blocks (ie. glass) were opaque.*
Block light. The value of block light (0-15) is added to the final result.
Local temperature determines the amount of passive mob spawning, the speed of crops (highest at 20-25 degrees), water visibility (the lower the better, capped at 0), the speed of ice and snow layer melting (above 0, the higher the faster) (also yes, snow layers should melt) and freezing water (below 0, the lower the faster), snowman dying (above 10) and the output of the thermometer (suggestion for new item)
In HARD MODE ONLY:
You will be damaged by overheating if local temperature is >45 in your blockspace, except in the Nether. (Each non-leather armor piece increases resistance margin by +7.5, leather by +12.5. Fire Resistance, any Fire Protection level and Frost Walker prevent damage)
You will be damaged by hypothermia if local temperature is <-20 in your blockspace. (Each non-leather armor piece increases resistance margin by -7.5, leather by -12.5)
The health loss is no more than 1 half heart every 30 seconds, maybe 20 if it's really, really cold or hot.
If the damaging mechanic is too aggresive, you may just get the Hunger effect or lose the ability to sprint.
In order to not be too computationally expensive, temperatures update once every 15-30 seconds.
Trivia: taking all factors into account, the lowest and highest possible temperatures are -89.2 and 88.9.
New Items
Thermometer
An animated item like a clock or a compass, used to tell the temperature.
Crafted shapelessly from a glass pane, a water bottle and a piece of redstone.
The texture looks like an alcohol or mercury thermometer; changes color from blue to green to red and vice versa and liquid level depending on temperature. Hovering over it in the inventory shows the exact current local temperature value in the tooltip (maybe)
An image shows its 10 different textures.
Calendar
Another animated item that tells the time of the year.
Crafted from a clock and 8 paper, like a map but with a clock.
Displays as a paper with a circular clock-like calendar drawn on it, with highlighted season changes and a red arrow that points to the current day.
Can be placed on an item frame; a calendar on an item frame will make the frame expand to adapt to the full block size, just like a map.
Hovering over a calendar in the inventory will show a tooltip with the number of the current day of the year (0-63), the day of the season (0-15), the season name and the current year of the Minecraft world (a world starts at year 0)
An image shows the item as in the third day of spring.
First off, bravo for putting so much effort. It shows you care about the idea, which is great.
But unfortunately, I do not think we need seasons. My ultimate question to you is.. why? Why should Mojang add so many game-changing mechanics... for realism? I fear some of these features, such as dying from heat or cold, could make the game less enjoyable overall.
The logistics behind it are also an issue. The world would have to reset every day to create a "seamless transition" with textures constantly altering depending on the "temperature". Your system is the best I've seen, but it still runs into this dilemma.
Lastly, do we really need seasons? If you want to hang out in the Minecraft Spring, go to the Forest. If you want to build in the Minecraft Summer, go to the Plains. If you want to thrive in the Minecraft Winter, go to the Tundra. The only season not already represented by Minecraft is Autumn. I think it would be more practical to just create a new fall biome. For one, your builds would never be ruined by a season. For another, the player would have a greater reign of choice.
I think this is a great Idea logical maybe Not
There are already mods that can do something like make it where you can die from heat and cold. The Idea is well thought Out i just agree with what fishg said above
Great Idea, but No Support
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
When I thought minecraft forums was being archived I was mad I was told June 16th now its June16th and I'm still posting loL!
fishg, the damage from heat/cold wouldn't be too much, no more than half a heart every 30 seconds and only in hard mode. And there are many ways to avoid the damage than turning down difficulty: wearing armor or clothes, going down to the caves, placing light sources next to you, building a roofed base (to decrease sky light exposure) or sleeping if it's nighttime.
Secondly, the logistics? Really the world would have to reset every day? In which way? My seasons don't change at all the blocks placed in the world, only their color overlay (something that already is in vanilla Minecraft). In the current game all rendering is updated every frame to match the correct shade of sunlight/darkness and the foliage color. Try filling a large area of grass near the world height limit. It is actually a bluer colour than sea-level grass and it is displayed instantly...
There are also some mods that ley you dinamically change the biome disposition in the world at will (Biome Wands or Biome Paint tools for example). These mods also update all foliage color instantly when their items are used, even the biome blending, with minor performance impact. And remember that seasons don't change biome disposition in any way. I think most shaders are more computationally expensive than dynamic seasons.
Thirdly, do we really need seasons? Of course not, but do you need Minecraft at all? Does Minecraft really needed any feature added after its original release? Nobody was asking for the Suspicious Stew, the Loom or the Cartography Table before 1.14, so can't they be good additions?
Lots of people already wanted seasons in Minecraft for a very long time (Have been planned by Notch back in the alpha days!) because they would be a great improvement to the game's aesthetics and aesthetics is actually very important in a game. Resource packs and shaders are used by millions and are entirely aesthetic.
Also, seasons can lead to extreme variety in Minecraft's life: seasonal crops, seasonal animals that spawn, breed more or may hibernate in a specific time. Bone meal may have different effects when applied on the ground depending on the season.
Fourthly, a buider in creative mode would be able to set the current season with the /time set command because season calculations would be competely driven by the current time in the Minecraft world:
This is my suggestion of how seasons can work in Minecraft with a new temperature physics.
Seasons
Seasons last 16 days (2 lunar months) each, so a year equals 64 days (8 months).
First - Spring
Second - Summer
Third - Autumn
Fourth - Winter
Seasons have very, very, very smooth transitions. Only a season is "pure" in its central day, so you will never experiment sudden changes in the environment.
Seasons are optional and can be toggled in the world creation screen as well as with a gamerule.
Season calculations would be competely driven by the current time in the Minecraft world, so that a specific season can be set with the /time set command:
/time set 0 sets the time to the world's Big bang
/time set 24000 or /time set 1d sets the time to the beginning of day 1
/time set 48000 or /time set 2d sets the time to the beginning of day 2
/time set 192000 or /time set 8d sets the time to day 8 (after the first lunar cycle, half of spring)
/time set 384000 or /time set 16d sets the time to day 16 (Summer)
/time set 576000 or /time set 24d sets the time to day 24 (Mid summer)
/time set 768000 or /time set 32d sets the time to day 32 (Autumn)
/time set 960000 or /time set 40d sets the time to day 40 (Mid autumn)
/time set 1152000 or /time set 48d sets the time to day 48 (Winter)
/time set 1344000 or /time set 56d sets the time to day 56 (Mid winter)
/time set 1536000 or /time set 64d sets the time to day 64 (Spring of year 1)
/time set 3072000 or /time set 128d sets the time to day 128 (Year 2)...
Or simply add string options to the command: /time set [spring|mid_spring|summer|mid_summer|autumn|mid_autumn|winter|mid_winter], like /time set day or night.
Temperature physics
Temperature is a variable that depends on (in this order):
This intermediate value in the calculation is called Regional temperature and affects grass, foliage and water color, water visibility and the type of meteorology (rain/sleet/snow) as follows:
- It will always snow (even with weather=clear) at regional temperatures below -40.
- It will snow (but not always) between -40 and 0.
- It will sleet (mix rain and snow particles) between 0 and 5.
- It will rain between 5 and 40.
- It will be always dry above 40, except in jungles and high rainfall biomes, if the ground happens to be hotter.
Foliage color is also depends on whether or not the current season is autumn and each biome's fixed Rainfall value. Swamps, dark forests and badlands still have their special colors.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The final temperature variable (local, block-specific temperature) depends on some more factors:
Local temperature determines the amount of passive mob spawning, the speed of crops (highest at 20-25 degrees), water visibility (the lower the better, capped at 0), the speed of ice and snow layer melting (above 0, the higher the faster) (also yes, snow layers should melt) and freezing water (below 0, the lower the faster), snowman dying (above 10) and the output of the thermometer (suggestion for new item)
In HARD MODE ONLY:
The health loss is no more than 1 half heart every 30 seconds, maybe 20 if it's really, really cold or hot.
If the damaging mechanic is too aggresive, you may just get the Hunger effect or lose the ability to sprint.
In order to not be too computationally expensive, temperatures update once every 15-30 seconds.
Biome Temperatures: (layer 64, daytime, no randomness) (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter)
Two images show the variation graph, at daytime and nighttime.
Trivia: taking all factors into account, the lowest and highest possible temperatures are -89.2 and 88.9.
New Items
Thermometer
Calendar
Bumping this topic BUT BECAUSE I added new content and images. I hope it's justified.
This seems like a good idea to me. I feel however that mobs should still spawn in winter and fall, but only warm mobs like rabbits, sheep, and wolves.
A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker could have.
This is the best season suggestion I've ever seen!
Hey guys I'm James, I used to be a noob but now I'm not, I finally figured out how to use TextCraft so here's a banner for one of my suggestions.
First off, bravo for putting so much effort. It shows you care about the idea, which is great.
But unfortunately, I do not think we need seasons. My ultimate question to you is.. why? Why should Mojang add so many game-changing mechanics... for realism? I fear some of these features, such as dying from heat or cold, could make the game less enjoyable overall.
The logistics behind it are also an issue. The world would have to reset every day to create a "seamless transition" with textures constantly altering depending on the "temperature". Your system is the best I've seen, but it still runs into this dilemma.
Lastly, do we really need seasons? If you want to hang out in the Minecraft Spring, go to the Forest. If you want to build in the Minecraft Summer, go to the Plains. If you want to thrive in the Minecraft Winter, go to the Tundra. The only season not already represented by Minecraft is Autumn. I think it would be more practical to just create a new fall biome. For one, your builds would never be ruined by a season. For another, the player would have a greater reign of choice.
Sorry, but No Support.
There are already mods that can do something like make it where you can die from heat and cold. The Idea is well thought Out i just agree with what fishg said above
Great Idea, but No Support
When I thought minecraft forums was being archived I was mad I was told June 16th now its June16th and I'm still posting loL!
fishg, the damage from heat/cold wouldn't be too much, no more than half a heart every 30 seconds and only in hard mode. And there are many ways to avoid the damage than turning down difficulty: wearing armor or clothes, going down to the caves, placing light sources next to you, building a roofed base (to decrease sky light exposure) or sleeping if it's nighttime.
Secondly, the logistics? Really the world would have to reset every day? In which way? My seasons don't change at all the blocks placed in the world, only their color overlay (something that already is in vanilla Minecraft). In the current game all rendering is updated every frame to match the correct shade of sunlight/darkness and the foliage color. Try filling a large area of grass near the world height limit. It is actually a bluer colour than sea-level grass and it is displayed instantly...
There are also some mods that ley you dinamically change the biome disposition in the world at will (Biome Wands or Biome Paint tools for example). These mods also update all foliage color instantly when their items are used, even the biome blending, with minor performance impact. And remember that seasons don't change biome disposition in any way. I think most shaders are more computationally expensive than dynamic seasons.
Thirdly, do we really need seasons? Of course not, but do you need Minecraft at all? Does Minecraft really needed any feature added after its original release? Nobody was asking for the Suspicious Stew, the Loom or the Cartography Table before 1.14, so can't they be good additions?
Lots of people already wanted seasons in Minecraft for a very long time (Have been planned by Notch back in the alpha days!) because they would be a great improvement to the game's aesthetics and aesthetics is actually very important in a game. Resource packs and shaders are used by millions and are entirely aesthetic.
Also, seasons can lead to extreme variety in Minecraft's life: seasonal crops, seasonal animals that spawn, breed more or may hibernate in a specific time. Bone meal may have different effects when applied on the ground depending on the season.
Fourthly, a buider in creative mode would be able to set the current season with the /time set command because season calculations would be competely driven by the current time in the Minecraft world: