In-Universe Game Clock: Difference between revisions

* 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?

** 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.

* 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.

* ''[[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.

** 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.

** 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.

** ''[[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.

** 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.

* 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).