There’s nothing like it, is there? When the clouds mass suddenly and the first raindrops start to pitter-patter around you; interacting with a living, breathing environment. Lens flare became a bit of a running joke for a while but I shun the real sun so that I can catch those virtual rays at every available opportunity. I love a bit of sun in a game. Who can remember where they were the first time the sun unrolled it’s red carpet over the green fields of Hyrule? Or when the rolling sky above a brooding Balmora was split in half by a fork of lightning, booming thunder rooting you to the spot playing Morrowind?

Go to www.google.co.uk and search under “Hyrule” and “Setting Sun”. It was a very special time for many people who remember it with all the wistfulness of a holiday where they fell in love.

Relaxing, clear weather in the background. Alien darkness, death and destruction in the foreground. What would Brian Sewell say about that type of contrast?

There are others too. The crunch of freshly fallen snow in the first PlayStation outing for Metal Gear Solid. If you haven’t already brought the Game Cube remake it’s got even better snow, so you may want to bone up on your cold weather warfare training with the Royal Marines before you break the ice: http://www.rnjobs.co.uk/static/pages/4996.html

The sun lancing through the lower branches of the trees on the Silent Cartographer level of Halo: just a glimpse and then back in to the action.

In driving games the weather is more than just visual poetry, it can mean the difference between win or lose and there is no more direct, fundamental relationship with a gaming environment than that. Find your winter weather driving tips at: http://k99online.com/weather/driving.html. I only really play arcade racers and I love the aforementioned lens flare, in fact, I look for it in all of my games. I’m not a big fan of Vice City but tearing through a sunset - coloured the chipped red of a cheap hookers lipstick in a Ferrari - listening to Reign In Blood by the overlords of eighties thrash metal, Slayer, is surely a defining moment in gaming. Would it have the same frisson without the sunset? I don’t think so.

Frisson? Never heard one called that before.

Lickel Link manipulates the weather in Ocarina Of Time, and The Windwaker is full of, well, wind. Hideo Kojima’s new GBA game Boktai forces you to use real sunlight to recharge your weapons (or something) thus violating one of the most fundamental rules governing the lives of both consoles and gamers alike: do not leave them in direct sunlight for too long because eventually they will begin to malfunction.

Is using a MagLite considered cheating?

Those still left alive working on Fable, now for Xbox but originally intended for the Vectrex, have, during it’s long development process, managed to include dynamic weather systems that impact greatly on the various stages of your chosen avatar’s life. Examples of this include; a child in winter being able to fashion deadly projectiles from a combination of freshly fallen snow, gravel and dog shit; an adolescent at the height of summer spending an hour in the sun and the following twenty-three in complete and utter agony; an adult exploring a new town suddenly beset by torrential rain taking shelter in nearby taverns, but only if there’s a seat and the background music isn’t cheesy Euro-trance.

Best see an opticion if you see the world like this.

Shenmue was a highly ambitious game that set out to achieve many things, including a meticulous and high-energy recreation of the years 1986 and 1987. While playing you were constantly harassed for games of darts by moustached sailors wearing pink berets and approached on street corners by criminals who looked like the double bass player from the Stray Cats. Don’t worry if neither of these things happened to you during the Dramarama decade, it largely depended on the kinds of bars you drank in. Both of them used to happen to me all of the time.

Shenmue’s developers also devoted a great deal of thought to the weather. Every morning you can check that day’s forecast by telephone, then after completing the entire game you unlock a feature called “Magic Weather” which allows you to replay the game along with a recreation of the actual weather patterns experienced in Yokosuka at the time. All of these things, along with the same pair of painfully-tight stone washed jeans worn and never removed by Ryo Hazuki throughout the entire game, contribute to a heady atmosphere of eighties nostalgia. Drinking Soda Stream and wearing fluorescent socks while playing only adds to the experience. I also use my Big Trak to transport snacks to and from the kitchen, but I digress…

He say you Bwade Wunner.

Lets take some time out from all of this infantile computer and console game nonsense for a moment and think about a true art form: cinema.

More specifically, lets think about some of our favourite films, sorry, movies. Blade Runner. Would it be the same without that torrential rain hissing from the cracked pavements of a futuristic Los Angeles, along with the feeling of relentless struggle that it conjures? I would argue strongly that, no, it wouldn’t. The mental images of the film I’ve retained all contain rain (and not a bloody Unicorn.)

What about Fargo? Fargo without the snow and the fantastically pure backdrop it provides for all of that darkly hilarious desperation, plotting, mayhem and murder? I don’t think so.

And what about Carry on Camping? For me, it’s unimaginable without those golden rays of English summer sun that suffuse the campsite. It’s Coppola’s greatest movie; look out for the uncut “Redux” version coming to DVD soon featuring behind the scenes interviews revealing how Sid James only agreed to do the movie if he could ignore the script and ad lib his way through it instead.

The point I’m trying to make is that weather is essential for adding atmosphere to films and novels But in games, because of the closer and far more involved relationship we have with a game’s central narrative and characters, it’s arguably even more important.

So, the future of weather in games. What’s the forecast? (Sorry.) I would say, that as processing power increases and environments in games become increasingly complex, it’s future looks extremely bright. After all, London wouldn’t feel like London in the Getaway sequel unless your character was severely burnt by acid rain during the on foot sections, and the new Outrun wouldn’t feel like Outrun unless it included the greatest Lens Flare Effect In The World Ever T.M.

Anyway, I’m of to Lon Lon ranch now with Ryo Hazuki and a sailor friend of his who’s in town for a few days. I’ve programmed my Big Trak to run the circumference of the Coral but Ryo’s fed up because his jeans are so tight he can’t sit on it for a ride. Oh well, guess we’ll just have to lie down on Hyrule field as the Sun goes down on us.

Does anyone remember Wincey Willis?

Improve your life immeasurably by creating your own Lens Flare and therefore never being without it at: http://www.gamedev.net/reference/articles/article813.asp

Find simply bootiful hi res 360 degree skies up to 14 000 pixels wide at:
http://www.1000skies.com/

Shewrog, November 2004.

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