WEATHER

Weather in the game will be 100% visual, with no impact on gameplay at all. The types of weather effects in the game will largely be based on the capabilities of the graphics engine, so this list may grow or shrink in the future.

Also see the section on Weather in the "Atlas" Editor document for information on setting the attributes of weather effects, and the Seasons section of the DD for information about how weather effects are factored into seasons. Also see the section on Environmental Audio in the Audio DD for information on the sound effects associated with weather.

1. RAIN

Standard typical rain, as in water falling from clouds.

Visual effects of Rain:

• Rain Sprites.
• Cloud decals (shadows).
• Lighting adjustment.
• Ripples.
• Puddles?

Rain will create sprites or "sheets" of rain falling down from the sky. If it's raining over water, ripple effects will be produced. When the the camera is zoomed in, raindrops will visibly hit the ground and make little splashes. This effect only occurs if the camera is zoomed in.

Additionally, we might have 'cloud decals' over the terrain and structures; the cloud's shadows will accordingly drift and cloak objects and terrain in shadow. This will most likely be a very performance demanding effect so we might cut it or save it for the "high quality" options setting. Rain will only appear where there are cloud shadows on the terrain.

Also, after a period of rain, puddles will appear where it's been raining a lot. Puddles are simple art objects that will already be available as objects in the Editor. They have a small watery texture on them (which doesn't move) along with vertex shaders (reflections) so that it can reflect stuff. If it's raining on top of puddles, they'll produce ripples just like when it rains over water.

2. SNOW

When it's cold, rain turns to snow - little white crystals floating down silently from the sky.

Visual effects of Snow:

• Snow sprites.
• Fog.
• Terrain and Object decals.

Snow sprites will float down softly and silently (like real snow!). Depending on the density of snowfall, terrain, trees, structures or unit textures could be covered with snow using snow decals. Greater snow levels can also produce a slight fog effect.

3. FOG

Visual effects of Fog:

• "Fog".
• Light Glow.
• Fog Objects.

When it's foggy, a colourised atmosphere is added to the map. The player won't be able to see stuff in the distance as well (based on the fog depth).

If there are any fires or other lights, a "glow" appears around them.

Furthermore, when the fog is really dense, "fog objects" will appear. These are eyecandy objects already in the Editor. They are mobile clouds of particle fog. It'll make for some really nice looking dense fog.

In the editor you can specify the amount of fog (how thick it is), the color of fog, it's density, and if you want it to create fog objects or not.

4. STORM

Visual effects of Storm:

• [Everything included with Rain].
• Lightning flashes.
• Lightning.
• Thunder sounds.

This is similar to Rain, but the rain sprite animation is different and harder. Also there could be lightning and thunder sounds.