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In-Universe Game Clock: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
{{Video Game Examples Need Sorting}}
[[File:In_game_clock_PokemonDP_5292.png|link=Pokémon Diamond and Pearl|frame|Yes, the guy with the [[You Gotta Have Blue Hair|green hair]] just stands there all day.]]▼
▲[[File:
{{quote|''"SABRINA DIES AT DAWN!"''|'''One of the first messages''' you receive in the graphic adventure game '''''[[wikipedia:Transylvania (series)|Transylvania]]'''''. [[Nonstandard Game Over|They are NOT kidding.]]}}
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A common trope in video games is the passage of time, including day and night cycles. Depending on the game, this can either be an attempt at realism or a way to introduce other features (including a night-based variant of the [[Underground Monkey]]). The result is one or more of the following:
# Time advances with the system-clock, or X times faster than the in-game
# The time of day/week/month/year/whatever affects character statistics.
# Changes the types of monsters that spawn, or which NPCs [[NPC Scheduling|can be encountered]].
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Contrast [[Take Your Time]]. [[NPC Scheduling]] is a subtrope.
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== Tied To System Clock ==
* A more obscure Gameboy title, ''Itsumo [[Cardcaptor Sakura|Sakura-chan]] to Issho'', also used a realtime clock, to keep track of card quests.
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** Pyrewood Village in the Silverpine Forrest is inhabited by humans cursed to change into worgen at night. The villagers are friendly to Alliance during the day and hostile at night, and always hostile to the Horde.
** Also, recently-introduced daily quests can be repeated by the player, but only once per day. The reset time for these quests is a few hours after midnight server time (1AM PST, 2AM GMT). In-game, many daily quest-givers seem aware of the daily nature of quests, and inform you to return the next day to repeat the quest.
** The game also [[Anti
* The amusingly named flight sim ''Corncob 3D'' has you create an avatar to serve in the game's air force, and as you complete missions you'll get medals and promotions. Do something stupid like bomb a friendly base instead of an enemy, and you'll get thrown in the brig for a few days to a week... and they really mean it. Come back in a week and you can play the game again!
* Since ''[[Nethack]]'' is a turn-based game, time mostly doesn't matter. But when it does ([[Gremlins]], for example, are only dangerous at night), it uses real-world time.
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* Very odd example in the second and third ''[[Ratchet and Clank]]'' games; they have a 'level' called the [[Developer's Room|Insomniac Museum]] in both, which in both is simply a large museum of (sometimes interactive) objects and concepts that didn't make the final cut. There are two ways of getting to it: beat the game 100% and then feel free to select it from the menu at any time, or find the one teleporter that will take you there. What does this have to do with this trope, you ask? The teleporter can only be used between 3:00 AM and 4:00 AM, according to the system clock. Made all the stranger by the fact that the games never so much as hint at this contingency.
** It's an ''Insomniac'' Museum, get it?
* The web game ''[[
** Just about every Facebook game either has an Energy system (that replenishes in real time) or, like Farmville, have a "do this action, then come back later to reap the rewards" system.
* ''[[Oracle of Tao]]'' has not only hours and days, but weeks and months, [[The Dev Team Thinks of Everything|and basically a working calendar]]. It even has seasons (where the [[The Dev Team Thinks of Everything|grass color changes (to look like snow in winter)]] and weather pattern becomes drier in summer or more snow in winter). They don't have actual years passing though, instead the same year loops infinitely.
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** Each character can also only digest so much food per real time day meaning you can't feed them again until tomorrow. Like with Shutdown PP this can be avoided by tweaking the date on the system clock.
* ''[[Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door]]'' has the Happy Lucky Lottery which can be played once a day, according to the Gamecube's system clock.
* ''[[Subnautica]]'' has a continuous day-night cycle that runs 20 minutes from midnight to midnight, with a bit more than 15 minutes of daylight and a bit less than 5 minutes of night. This overlaps with an Internal Game Clock as your total days on Planet 4546B are tracked, and many events in the game are on timers that start either with the game, or after you visit some point or perform some task.
== Internal Game Clock ==
* ''[[Pokémon Gold and Silver]]'' started the series' tradition of built-in clocks that segregate the day into three time
** The DS [[Video Game Remake|remake]] of ''Gold and Silver'' sees the time/day function return to true importance, as all of the date- and time-specific events from the original versions return with gusto.
** ''[[Pokémon Black and White]]'' expand on this by adding ''seasons''. Every real-life month, the in-game season changes (January, May, and September are spring, February, June, and October are summer, March, July, and November are fall, and April, August, and December are winter). Like with the day-night system, different Pokémon appear during different seasons or appear at different rates (for example, some ice Pokémon only appear during the winter, and others appear more frequently then). Also, just like in real life, the days are shorter during the winter and longer during the summertime.
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* In the [[Older Than the NES|1983 8-bit classic]] ''Knight Lore'', the main character turns into a werewolf at dusk then back into a human at dawn. The whole 24-hour cycle can take, in real time, anything from mere seconds on an emulator running at warp speed to at least a minute on the original machine when a lot of moving blocks/sprites are present. Several of the enemies react differently when you're in wolf form (most notably, it's impossible to enter the wizard's room as a wolf).
* In all three ''[[The Sims]]'' games, at the slowest (default) speed, time compression is 60:1; that is, one in-game minute takes about one real-time second. Since animations must still be carried out in a realistic speed, this means that characters take half an hour to go to the toilet, or an hour to have breakfast.
** Taking 10 minutes to climb a stairway in ''The Sims'' is ''[[Cracked.com]]'''s #11 [https://web.archive.org/web/20140804002112/http://www.cracked.com/photoplasty_388_27-science-lessons-as-taught-by-famous-video-games_p2/ Science Lesson As Taught by Famous Video Games], and accelerated crop growth as seen in farm simulation video games such as ''[[Harvest Moon]]'' series and ''[[
* ''[[Okami]]'' cycles from day to night, with many quests that can only be completed during one or the other. You start the game with the ability to turn night to day, and eventually learn to turn day into night as well.
* ''[[The Elder Scrolls|The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion]]'' has 1 minute in-game equal to 2 real-world seconds. As time passes, it gets dark, eventually shops close, and so on.
** There ''are'' cheat codes built into the game, interestingly, that allow you to change this ratio. Ever wanted to recreate the scene in ''[[The Time Machine]]'' (or, for you younger players, ''[[Futurama]]'') where the days and nights move so swiftly that everything becomes a blur? Set the radio to ''Decade''-Per-Real-World-Seconds.
** All the main ''[[The Elder Scrolls]]'' games since at least ''Daggerfall'', and especially ''Daggerfall'' where most quests were timed to some extent, have been heavily reliant on in-universe calendars and clocks to determine night/day cycles.
* The ''[[Baldur's Gate]]'' series uses six seconds of real time to equal one minute (which, conveniently enough, is the length of a combat round in ''[[Dungeons
** In contrast to this, many scripted events in the second game would appear a specific amount of ''real'' playtime after the previous in the sequence. One could cheat the system a little by pausing the game and leaving it alone for an hour, then unpausing it to see if the next event had triggered.
* ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]'', the [[Spiritual Successor]] to ''[[Baldur's Gate]]'', had two minutes of real time equal one hour of game time.
* [[Sierra]]'s ''[[Quest for Glory]]'' series would close stores, bar the city gates (whether you were inside or out), and put most civilians to bed past certain hours. This was also the only time thief characters could get in their looting. Furthermore, the series also kept track of the number of days elapsed and would advance the plot accordingly; beating the game was usually not possible until key events occurred several days in. An unnoticed time-keeping bug in Quest for Glory III unintentionally ''forced'' the player to be in a certain city on a certain day to take part in an important plot point; if the player missed the event, it would not
** ''[[Quest for Glory II]]'' is one big time-based mission.
* ''[[King's Quest III]]'' doesn't have a day/night cycle, but it does have a clock that starts at 00:00:00 in the status bar, and some game events are tied to it. For example, figuring out when the evil wizard will and won't be home will let you avoid being killed by being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
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** ''Fallout 3'' even has changing phase of the moon.
** Most but not all shopkeepers are affected by daytime. In ''Fallout 3'', other activities (most notably sleep) are also affected.
*** There are
* ''[[Rogue Squadron]] II'', of all things, uses a day/night system on a few of its levels. The initial training mission changes depending on what (real-world) time of day you play it; a later mission has you attack a base's early-warning sensors head-on in a bomber when played during the day, or sneak in with a speeder when played at night.
* ''[[Far Cry|Far Cry 2]]'' also has a fairly long day/night cycle. One minute of real time is equal to five minutes in-game. It gets odd to think, after blowing up a few convoys, assassinating a bunch of guys, taking over a number of safe houses by force, helping out the underground a couple of times, meeting and helping out a few new friends, all while conducting complex operations for one militant faction only to switch sides and work for their enemies across town, that you've still been in the country less than a ''week''.
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** The in-universe clock got very ''strange'' in [[Dragon Quest V]], in which, according to the in-universe day-night cycle, your wife gives birth to your twin children maybe three weeks after the first opportunity for conception.
* ''[[Vandal Hearts]] 2'' has time pass as you travel from checkpoint to checkpoint, and some maps will have different enemies and features during night-time. Also, some events can only take place at specific times.
* ''[[
** ''[[
* ''[[Hostile Waters]]'' has a day/night cycle that doesn't affect gameplay beyond giving you an excuse to use the night vision button. [[Guide Dang It|If you know one exists at all.]]
* The Phillon Planet in ''[[Air Rivals|Ace Online]]'' experiences a day-night cycle, complete with a moving sun and moon. This only affects the spawning rates of mobs, as some are nocturnal.
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** ''[[My Sims]] Kingdom'' is an odd case: each island's day/night cycle is suspended in daytime (yes, it's day in Rocket Reef and Spookane when you arrive) until you complete that island's story. There's another round of improvements you can make on each island, but time passes, anyway.
* ''[[Burnout|Burnout Paradise]]'' uses a clock system that is normally compressed. However, there is a menu option to lock it to day, lock it to night, or sync it to real-world time. This has the added use of giving the player the choice of when he wants to do specific day/night events. The player can also alter the time it takes for 24 in-game hours to pass, ranging from 24 minutes to 2 hours.
* Oddly enough, an [[What Could Have Been|early version]] of ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (2006
** An even better question is why they spent so much time creating that cycle instead of working on the game's ''many'' other problems (such as the terrible controls, the awkwardly implemented physics, the [[Loads and Loads of Loading|never ending loading times]]...)
* In the first two ''[[Way of the Samurai]]'' games, time ''does'' pass whether you're following the plot or not. However, time passes only while traveling, so it's possible to [[Take Your Time]] if you don't leave the current area you're in. In the second game, you have an entire month to spend exploring Amahara, and can ''still'' spend the whole time collecting swords and staying out of the plot. However, the third game appears to follow this trope more traditionally, letting you [[Take Your Time]] a bit more.
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* In Interplay's ''Lord of the Rings'', "you cannot enter the town of Bree at night." That is, unless you have someone use the sneak command and walk real close to a wall near the bottom of the fortress. Also, the blacksmith will not help you with anything while it's dark, even though piecing together your sword and equipping you with armor could save the lives of everyone in Middle Earth.
* ''[[Shantae]]'' has a day-and-night cycle in effect while you're wandering around the field. (It freezes in towns.) Monsters are not only more difficult at night (they have much more HP), but in towns, different NPCs will be out, some shops will close, and a certain town will only ''appear'' on the map if it's nighttime. Oh, and one area has [[Night of the Living Mooks|zombies.]]
* The day/night cycle in ''[[Beyond Good & Evil (video game)|Beyond Good and Evil]]'' is mostly
* Platformer ''[[Vexx]]'' has a day-and-night cycle in the levels, which advances at a slow rate, but can be controlled via magic sundials in some parts of the levels. Monsters change appearance and have more health at night, and certain levels have sub-levels that can only be accessed at specific times of day.
* Leads to awesome [[Fridge Logic]] in [[Rollercoaster Tycoon]] when you realize that your park guests have been standing in line for ''months'' without eating, sleeping or going to the bathroom.
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* In ''[[Hearts of Iron]]'' (1,2 and 3) every in game hour is a turn and you can control the speed at which time passes (and also pause it completely). Fighting at night comes with hefty penalties to both the attacker and defender and night bombings and air battles are also much less effective. Also certain technologies offer bonuses that improve effectiveness at night (such as night vision gear, aircraft radar and special night training).
* In the first [[Soul Series]] game, ''Soul Edge'', the sky changes from dawn to dusk over the course of about 4 minutes. This has no bearing on the gameplay, and is simply used to show off the game engine (and to [[Rule of Cool|look cool]].)
* ''[[Mount
* In ''[[The Godfather (video game)|The Godfather]]: The Game'', time passes faster "normally", though I'm not too sure by how much faster, though there are still [[Timed Mission
* ''[[Dwarf Fortress]]'' keeps track of how long your dwarfs have been at the fortress, and things like weather, available crops, and arrival of traders are tied to the season.
* ''[[The Lord of the Rings Online]]'' has an internal clock that makes an entire day last a little over 3 hours. While no specific in-game time is shown, an icon surrounding the mini-map will either show a sun or a moon, indicating whether it's day or night, and the tooltip will display the actual time period (dawn, morning, noon, afternoon etc.). In addition, the sun/moon cycle in the game is portrayed accurately throughout that 3+ hour day.
* In ''[[Resonance of Fate]]'', time passes at a set rate while on the world map, or skips ahead if you rest... but it stops passing once you enter a location and also stalls for plot-related reasons. The bizarreness of the fact that it can potentially be day for more than 24 hours if you're dawdling, then suddenly turn to night in a few minutes and refuse to change until you finish whatever plot points require it to be night is actually [[Justified Trope]]
* ''Earth 2150''.
* ''[[Shenmue]]'' among other innovations was one of the first to have an in game clock and the game ended if it took too long in game time to beat it.
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* A full day cycle in ''[[Minecraft]]'' lasts 20 minutes (equal to 72:1 time compression). In single player, you can skip the night by sleeping in a bed.
* The ''[[Etrian Odyssey]]'' series has a day-night cycle, as well as an in-game calendar (for instance, the guild always starts its adventures on Emperor 1). Time advances as you explore the Labyrinth, and when sleeping at the inn, you can choose to be awakened in the morning or evening. Depending on the time of day, different monsters may appear in the Labyrinth, or FOEs may behave differently.
** In some areas, however, this behaves oddly... For instance, in the third game, sailing around quickly eats up hours, and reaching different destinations can easily take a day or two. However, Sea Quests don't take any in-game time at
* In ''[[Sea World Tycoon]]'', a cycle of day and night is equivalent to the game's month.
* ''[[Hydlide]] III'' (also known as ''Super Hydlide'') featured day/night cycles, along with the need to eat and sleep.
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* In the Commodore 64 version of ''Alice in Wonderland'', time passed very quickly, some events only occurred at certain times, the people you talked to could return later if you offended them, and how long you took to finish the game affected your ending. (Fortunately, pausing the menu also paused the clock.)
* ''[[Uncharted Waters]]'' had a day-night cycle but only out at sea. The only effect that time of day really had on gameplay was that you couldn't attack other fleets at nighttime, so it was mostly used just to keep the number of days you spend at sea (and the amount of provisions you have remaining).
* [[
* [[Ryzom]] has a day/night cycle, and a cycle of seasons (4.5 real-time days for a season).
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** Which adds [[Fridge Logic]] of why the survive for one minute mission takes all day.
* ''[[Persona 3]]'' and ''[[Persona 4]]'', mostly due to your protagonist's regular schedule of [[Wake Up, Go to School, Save the World]]. The game announces when the "clock" progresses to the next time of day (or the next day).
** Very strange in ''[[Persona 3]]''. Feel free to take the monorail back and forth across the city as many times as you want while doing [[Fetch Quest
* In the [[Freeware Game]] Survivor: The Living Dead every single gameplay mode is tied to a clock (except one short area in the story mode), when the timer runs out you get rescued. The final unlockable mode has no rescue, and you must survive until sunrise.
* ''[[Touhou]] Eiyashou: Imperishable Night'' starts off explicitly at 11:00 PM, and your goal is to reach the end of the game and restore the real moon in time for a festival by 5:00 AM. Depending on how many time icons you collect in a stage, time will advance either by 1 hour or 30 minutes. Using continues also adds 30 minutes.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Timepiece Tropes]]
[[Category:Video Game Tropes]]
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