Time Of Day Systems

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iamsjn
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Time Of Day Systems

Post by iamsjn » Thu Sep 14, 2006 7:53 am

Podcast #12 was referring to the Time Of Day System in the Ultima series. Specifically Ultima V which was released in 1988. It got me to thinking...

Were there any game(s) prior to Ultima V that incorporated the Time Of Day system into them?

Well, right off the bat, I can think of one. Activision's Enduro for the Atari 2600. Released in 1983 featured a race that spanned days & nights and all kinds of weather conditions.

Any other games that you can think of that featured time of day systems pre-Ultima??


--SjN
Last edited by iamsjn on Thu Sep 14, 2006 9:44 am, edited 1 time in total.
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raz0red
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Post by raz0red » Thu Sep 14, 2006 8:04 am

Good question, I know Chopper Command had a similar system.

http://www.weaintcool.com/Reviews/atari.html
The helicopters look like helicopters and the trucks look like trucks. There is a cool effect at the top of the screen, where the sun is either rising or setting, depending on the game-time of day.
Did any other adventure or RPG games have the system pre-Ultima?

--Raz.

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raz0red
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Post by raz0red » Thu Sep 14, 2006 8:07 am

Yet another 2600 game, Krull.

http://www.ataritimes.com/2600/reviews/krull.html
Another thing that separates this game from the rest is the sense that it is all played in "real-time." In the movie, the Black Fortress would magically transport itself to a different place on the planet Krull each morning at sunrise. The game also includes a "time of day" in the top bar. When it is blue, it is daytime. Orange is sunset or sunrise and dark gray is night time. A simulated sun will even rise and set through this bar to complete the effect.

This adds a bit of strategy to the game. For example, if it is night and the Widow of the Web tells you the Fortress is in one location, you might want to consider waiting for the next day or you might end up riding to an empty lot and have to turn around. A penalty in the form of losing a life or a Glaive will be incurred for such a blunder.
That actually sounds fairly cool.

--Raz.

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Post by Ummagumma » Fri Sep 15, 2006 9:23 am

Not quite what you're talking about, but Epyx's Impossible Mission, released in 1984, had a sort of Time of Day system where at the start of the game you had 6 real-time hours to finish the game. Every time you lost a man (usually accompanied by a blood-curdling scream as you fell down an lift shaft), there would be 10 minutes deducted from this time. Since you died a LOT in this game, you'd burn through those 6 hours pretty fast and usually end up with good ol'mad scientist Atombender cackling with glee as he dispatched the world from his secret lair...

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Post by D_Davis » Fri Sep 15, 2006 3:00 pm

raz0red wrote:Yet another 2600 game, Krull.

http://www.ataritimes.com/2600/reviews/krull.html
Another thing that separates this game from the rest is the sense that it is all played in "real-time." In the movie, the Black Fortress would magically transport itself to a different place on the planet Krull each morning at sunrise. The game also includes a "time of day" in the top bar. When it is blue, it is daytime. Orange is sunset or sunrise and dark gray is night time. A simulated sun will even rise and set through this bar to complete the effect.

This adds a bit of strategy to the game. For example, if it is night and the Widow of the Web tells you the Fortress is in one location, you might want to consider waiting for the next day or you might end up riding to an empty lot and have to turn around. A penalty in the form of losing a life or a Glaive will be incurred for such a blunder.
That actually sounds fairly cool.

--Raz.
I remember this from the KRULL game. Man, I totally dug this game. It was one of my favorite 2600 titles.

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