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Armchair Arcade -> Forums -> General Discussion

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Weather in Games

Moderators: Bill Loguidice, David Torre, crcasey, Mark1970, deshrill

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Matt Barton

Wed Dec 08 2004, 10:06AM

Location: Tampa, Florida
posts 2680

Hi, there. I have an important question for you: What are some examples of good and bad use of weather in videogames? I'd really like a list of games that used weather not just as decoration or "atmosphere" but in ways that really affected gameplay. An example off the top of my head was Weather War, where players controlled hail, sleet, lightning, and rain? to destroy each other's castles. Help me out here, please.

1. What are some games you know of that make interesting use of weather?
2. What were the first games to include weather? How did they use it?
3. What are examples of games that turn the weather into a character, or feature bosses and such that manipulate the weather?

Thanks a ton for any help. I'm doing a book chapter for a book named _Playing with Mother Nature: Video Games, Space, and Ecology_ and could use any help you could give em.

Matt Barton

Rowdy Rob

Thu Dec 09 2004, 10:36AM

Registered Member #62
Joined: Sun Jan 18 2004, 12:02PM
Location: South Carolina, USA
posts 231

The various old-school arcade driving games took into account rain and snow (wet and icy roads). The arcade game "Turbo" comes to mind, but it was not the first arcade driving game to use weather (I can't recall the names of older overhead driving games). Maybe these driving games are the first major use of "weather" in video games. To this day weather is a factor in driving games.

Golf games often have weather (wind) effects, as did various "artillery" games that you recently wrote about.

Tactical war games often factored in weather. I recall the game "Eastern Front" on the Atari 8-bit (by Chris Crawford) dealing with this issue, as the German army must deal with the harsh Russian winter.

Flight Sims are of course a given, as are the various "God" games... (Rain, tornadoes, etc.)

"Exile," a physics-based platform game for the Amiga, made excellent use of heavy wind effects. I don't know if that constitutes "weather" though. Of course, platform games in general seem to limit "weather" to the slippery "icy" levels.

There's a level in the FPS "No One Lives Forever 2" where you must do battle with various baddies in the middle of a trailer park during a tornado! (This level was released as a playable demo, and is possibly available on the net somewhere).

Just some thoughts.... surely others will add to it!

----{ qoj hpmoj o+ 6uolaq aje aseq jnoh llV }----

JimSG1

Thu Dec 09 2004, 10:43AM

Registered Member #298
Joined: Tue Jun 08 2004, 07:51PM
Location: Lakeland, Florida
posts 249

Donkey Kong Country for the SNES first comes to mind for me.

Depending on the zone, there could be light snow, blinding snow, rain, etc.

I remember that it could be frustratation just because of the weather!

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Jim Orfield
http://www.JimboGames.com</a>
jorfield@tampabay.rr.com
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Fractalus!

Thu Dec 09 2004, 10:55AM

Registered Member #216
Joined: Fri Mar 26 2004, 10:41AM
Location: Montreal, Canada
posts 1790

Ultima VII: The Black Gate had a dynamic weather system, if i remember correctly.

PearlJammer

Thu Dec 09 2004, 11:13AM

Registered Member #186
Joined: Mon Mar 22 2004, 11:18AM
Location: Bronx, NY
posts 180

JimSG1 wrote: ...
Donkey Kong Country for the SNES first comes to mind for me.

Depending on the zone, there could be light snow, blinding snow, rain, etc.

I remember that it could be frustratation just because of the weather!

That was such an awesome effect for its time. It's like the snow came out the screen!

A lot of platform games such as Sonic, Taz-Mania, Mario and others almost always had that annoying Ice level. They basically made you slip all over the place, and if you fell into the water you would turn into a god-damn cube! To this day, whenever it is snowing outside I dread falling into a river for fear of turning into a perfect ice cube.

www.brainofmike.com - Proper authorities have been notified

Spin

Thu Dec 09 2004, 11:41AM

Registered Member #16
Joined: Fri Jan 16 2004, 07:07AM
Location: Ohio
posts 81

Enduro racer Atari 2600
Simple and fun.
The smow and fog
The fog forced you to slow down as you could only see the tail lights.
Great game for the 2600

Spin

Spin

Dragon57

Thu Dec 09 2004, 11:45AM

Registered Member #189
Joined: Mon Mar 22 2004, 11:05PM
Location: Dallas/Fort Worth area, Texas (USA)
posts 492

Another fav of mine that had weather on the 2600 was Robot Tank Click here for review and pics

It is great fun and I still play it today. The weather changes make the game even more challenging by making your tank harder to steer correctly.
[ Edited Thu Dec 09 2004, 12:46PM ]
[ Edited Thu Dec 09 2004, 12:47PM ]

Bill Loguidice

Thu Dec 09 2004, 02:04PM

Armchair Arcade Co-Founder and Editor

Location: Central New Jersey, USA
posts 4817

Datasoft's "Mancopter", C-64 version, used weather effects as environmental hazards, particularly lightning.

I believe the homebrew Atari 5200 game
Koffi the Yellow Copter uses similar effects as Mancopter, though more aggressive.

I'm watching, but not yet bidding on CBS Software's "Weather Tamers" for the C-64, on eBay.

Then there's plenty of racing games as was mentioned above, which, especially in recent times, becomes a factor. There are also plenty of weather effects in many FPS games.

Bill Loguidice - Armchair Arcade Editor
www.billandchristina.com (includes videogame & computer collection)
www.mythcore.com (creative development company)
www.armchairarcade.com (soliciting articles NOW!)

deshrill

Thu Dec 09 2004, 02:12PM

Armchair Arcade Editor

Location: Savannah, GA
posts 907

Surprised nobody has mentioned Capcom's Mega Man games. They had bosses based off of weather, such as Fire Man, Ice Man, Air Man, etc.

Of course, Sim City had the weather based disasters such as tornadoes which would wreck your little utopia in seconds.

-- Mathew Tschirgi
If you want to experience pain, read the worst blog.

Bill Loguidice

Thu Dec 09 2004, 02:25PM

Armchair Arcade Co-Founder and Editor

Location: Central New Jersey, USA
posts 4817

Ah, thanks for reminding me, Mat. Utopia, for the Intellivision, one of the first ever graphical Sim City type games, featured weather effects (hurricane, for instance). There's also the console-specific "Harvest Moon" series and computer games like SimFarm...

mrCustard

Thu Dec 09 2004, 03:33PM

Registered Member #174
Joined: Wed Mar 17 2004, 04:32AM
Location: The Netherlands
posts 416

Some games with weather:

Planetside features dynamic weather, but all it does is dimish the visibility. (You can even turn of the snowflakes and raindrops). During the night cycle, it doesn't get really dark. Getting lost in a dust storm is fun, but overall, a missed opportunity.

Geoff Crammond's Grand Prix 3 features real dynamic weather. Rain really wreaks havoc during races; you can't see a thing because of the spray, and getting to the pits is very hard indeed. Impressive.

Not weather per sé, but Metropolis Street Racer features a realistic day/night cycle, based on the Dreamcast clock. Because I tended to play the game in the early evening, I really only saw london by night, tokyo by night(ish) and San Fransico by day.

In 18-Wheeler Pro Trucker, there's a level with a tornado, that dumps trucks and cars on the highway.

In Populous (and it's ilk) you control the weather (of the cataclymic type)

Your Neighbor Custardo

Mike_Vox

Thu Dec 09 2004, 04:08PM

Registered Member #254
Joined: Tue Apr 20 2004, 02:40AM
Location: Los Angeles, CA
posts 89

If you get far enough in Spy Hunter, you'll get to the slippery ice roads.

Ultima 3 had a whirlpool traveling across the ocean your ship can get sucked into, taking you to a secret area of the map. Ultima 4 had wind direction, which (if I remember correctly) effected ship sailing and controling the hot air balloon.

Did Outrun have a rain effect? I remember it having a rain effect, but I may be confusing it with so many other racing games of the time.

deshrill

Thu Dec 09 2004, 04:17PM

Armchair Arcade Editor

Location: Savannah, GA
posts 907

Super Mario Bros. 3 had the Desert World level in which an angry sun chased Mario throughout the whole level...

-- Mathew Tschirgi
If you want to experience pain, read the worst blog.

Mark1970

Thu Dec 09 2004, 05:52PM

Armchair Arcade Editor

Location: The Netherlands
posts 1860

One of the first games I came accross that had some realistic weather in it was the c64 game named "sorcery". It had some pretty realistic thunder and lightning effects. Of course those had nothing to do with the gameplay but made some great atmospheric effects....

[ Edited Thu Dec 09 2004, 06:56PM ]

Mark Vergeer - Editor / I(c)onizer

Typhonsentra

Thu Dec 09 2004, 08:45PM

Registered Member #5
Joined: Fri Oct 17 2003, 09:20PM
posts 316

Didn't Oregon Trail have storms and droughts too?

Bill Loguidice

Thu Dec 09 2004, 09:18PM

Armchair Arcade Co-Founder and Editor

Location: Central New Jersey, USA
posts 4817

Forbidden Forest (C-64) used flashes of lightning for effect, didn't it?

David Torre

Thu Dec 09 2004, 09:38PM

Armchair Arcade Editor

Location: Armchair Arcade
posts 955

Who could forget the amazing rain effects in Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past at the beginning of the game?

You also got special medallions later in the game that let you control the weather and use it against your enemies.

CDs Music CDs Buy CDs Buy Music CDs
LUCAS: I love the Power Glove. It's so bad.
COREY: Well, keep your Power Gloves off her, pal.

deshrill

Fri Dec 10 2004, 12:04AM

Armchair Arcade Editor

Location: Savannah, GA
posts 907

Wizards & Warriors 2: Ironsword for the NES had you fight against Earth, Fire, Ice, and Wind Elements as bosses, though I don't know if this counts as weather.

-- Mathew Tschirgi
If you want to experience pain, read the worst blog.

forcefield58

Sat Dec 11 2004, 08:32PM

Registered Member #432
Joined: Tue Nov 23 2004, 09:54PM
Location: Northern Virginia
posts 771

As far as newer games go, Diablo II with the snow, Splinter Cell with the cool fog, rain, etc., can't beat them.

Bill Loguidice

Sat Dec 11 2004, 09:46PM

Armchair Arcade Co-Founder and Editor

Location: Central New Jersey, USA
posts 4817

Halo 2 has some snow as well, though it's a light snow...

Drift

Sun Dec 12 2004, 06:32AM

Registered Member #319
Joined: Fri Jul 16 2004, 10:38AM
Location: Northumberland, England
posts 161

The Sacred Armour Of Antiriad on Cpc had a few small weather effects. That was the first time I really took notice of weather in a game. I cant remember the first game where the weather actually had an effect on gameplay, sim city maybe .....?

"life is a game, so fight hard and win!"

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