Have you ever got the chills from the snow in Runescape? I think I have! Oh, wait, no. I haven’t because there is no weather in RuneScape except for the fake looking snow in the northern lands. Not only this, but we are all immortals because we can never age since our age is never affected. Wouldn’t some neat things come from aging and weather and temperature?

Aging

With great power, comes great responsibility. While that is an excellent quote, I think I need to have a small adjustment to it. “With great aging, comes great wisdom.” Wisdom doesn’t always come with great aging, but when you are in a computer game like RuneScape anything happens. So what am I getting on about this? Well, you might have had a quest where you know exactly where things are going, but your character doesn’t. Well, if you have more wisdom, you could figure these things out way easier.

How could it be implemented?

You have very few options when it comes to quests. You just have to do whatever the people say to you. However, Jagex could rework some of the stuff for those that are about three years or older. (40 to 50 in RuneScape time?) In that rework, options will be given to those that are older players so that they might be able to speed up the pace. Unless of course you would like to go through some mundane task that you know where it will lead.

In addition, over time, your character will get older and eventually you would require a youth potion or just to die and respawn. The only problem with this is if you are a hardcore Player versus Player person and would die in some cases.

Other Works

With aging comes more strategic playing. For example, in agility, you are more nimble as you are young, and a little less agile when you grow up. Perhaps having a battle while being older will make you slower, yet more accurate at hitting. On the other hand, you are faster and less accurate at hitting if you are younger.

Weather and Temperature

“It is either too hot or too cold!” a young child once complained. While I find this somewhat true in some cases, we find our self not being able to complain about that in RuneScape. That’s because it is just another inconvenience in our life. Temperature and weather don’t have to be problematic, though. This could affect, farming, running, small differences in combat, and much more.

How could it be implemented?

With the new particles system that we are starting to see more of, rain and snow can easily be created – along with things such as sunlight for places like the Khardian Desert. It doesn’t have to be a full out lift to the scenery and have rain or snow spots all over the ground in various seasons of RuneScape. It can have some effects with some of the basic game systems. For example, farming could have a faster speed in growing crops when it rains, and a very small slow down when it snows. However, it couldn’t be a noticeable amount of difference when it snows.

Running could be a little more fun with sliding around at a faster rate than just normal running when it is supposedly slick. Heat could exhaust you at fighting when near flamed areas such as volcanic wilderness spots or go in for the final kill a little quicker when you want to get out of the cold quicker.

Other Works
Do you like seeing some small differences in scenery? With rain comes weeds, or perhaps some pretty flowers. In which case, it wouldn’t be too difficult to implement. It is just a small randomization of flower placements when it rains or the sun shines more brightly than normal. After all, the weather could just be randomized throughout the day.

These are just a few ideas of what might coming up. With the particle installment, I thought the weather might be a good possibility. Aging is another idea that could be both useful and create more strategic ideas for any kind of playing, but it isn’t a likely factor at this point in time. Nice to see you, ol’ chap! Until next time, cheers!