Games with live events as input

[J1M]

This is a category of games that I don't see very often, but I think has potential to grow. Both as a cross-media revenue increase and as a way to combat the public ignoring releases until they go on sale.

When I say "live events as input", I am referring to what happens in live events affects the game:

• content in a game or an entire game being only available during a certain event (Super Bowl, Eurovision)
• activities in the game being dependent on cyclical passage of time (fantasy sports leagues where you perform trades on certain days and select your "starting line-up" for the week)
• content in the game dictated by live conditions in the real world (mode in a golf game that recreates the same course conditions, weather, and time of day that the PGA tournament being televised live has)

I started this thread to try to find examples. Is there even a genre label for this yet?

Note: I would NOT consider these valid cases because the gameplay state doesn't differ based on how something in the real-world plays out:

• World of Warcraft gating patch content to arbitrary calendar dates
• A holiday event in an MMO
• mobile game "energy" tied to real-world passage of time
• Animal Crossing making the player wait for X real days

[Vergil]

Would games/mods that sync a game's day/night cycle to your local time count?

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Sonic and Mario at the Olympic games

[Oyster Sauce]

Would games/mods that sync a game's day/night cycle to your local time count?

Did they ever make an Animal Crossing that syncs to your local weather?

[rusty_shackleford]

content in the game dictated by live conditions in the real world (mode in a golf game that recreates the same course conditions, weather, and time of day that the PGA tournament being televised live has)

Project Gorgon has a bunch of stuff tied to the real world, from mushroom growth cycles to werewolves being forced into wolf form during full moons IRL(actually, mushrooms are linked to the moon phases too), does that count?

[J1M]

Would games/mods that sync a game's day/night cycle to your local time count?

To boil it down to a succinct litmus test, I would say it needs to be live+variable input and time of day that sunset happens is too predictable to meet the definition of variable. I think to cross that threshold you'd need to sync against weather (cloud cover, thunderstorms, and so on).

[J1M]

content in the game dictated by live conditions in the real world (mode in a golf game that recreates the same course conditions, weather, and time of day that the PGA tournament being televised live has)

Project Gorgon has a bunch of stuff tied to the real world, from mushroom growth cycles to werewolves being forced into wolf form during full moons IRL(actually, mushrooms are linked to the moon phases too), does that count?

If it can be described as an algorithm, no. If it needs to be queried from the real-world, yes.

[Vergil]

Would games/mods that sync a game's day/night cycle to your local time count?

To boil it down to a succinct litmus test, I would say it needs to be live+variable input and time of day that sunset happens is too predictable to meet the definition of variable. I think to cross that threshold you'd need to sync against weather (cloud cover, thunderstorms, and so on).

Feel like this is a level of randomness and unpredictability that would be borderline impossible to develop around.

[Acrux]

There's a Stardew Valley mod that uses your local weather in the game.

https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/5773

[J1M]

Would games/mods that sync a game's day/night cycle to your local time count?

To boil it down to a succinct litmus test, I would say it needs to be live+variable input and time of day that sunset happens is too predictable to meet the definition of variable. I think to cross that threshold you'd need to sync against weather (cloud cover, thunderstorms, and so on).

Feel like this is a level of randomness and unpredictability that would be borderline impossible to develop around.

That's why I gave some sporting examples. Since those a real-world activities, it's easier to explain.

Take F1 racing for example. On Saturday of a race weekend, a mode shows up that allows players of F1 2025 to hop into any car that is currently participating in qualifying and see if you can match the lap times of the top drivers on the grid with the same car setup + tires + track + weather conditions. Or qualify their own custom F1 team alongside the real teams.

On Sunday, you could join the race in either a 'ghost' mode where you can be driving alongside the real teams (with their setups or your own assisted setup to maintain pace) or you could have a 'sim' mode that would add your custom F1 team data to the real race data to inform a simulation that would play out largely the same except for things that you impact (crashing, slowing down another car, yellow flag).

They are already collecting all of the telemetry data for something like this.

TLDR: Beyond weather synchronization, I see the starting point for this genre as enabling the most authentic career mode ever for sports games.

[Acrux]

@J1M do you have actual game examples? I don't think I've ever heard of events, like you mention, that aren't holiday events in a game.

[WhiteShark]

The GBA game Boktai came on a cartridge with a solar sensor that you would expose to the sun in real life to charge your solar gun in game.

[rusty_shackleford]

The GBA game Boktai came on a cartridge with a solar sensor that you would expose to the sun in real life to charge your solar gun in game.

So you're saying I could just play it under a lamp?

[WhiteShark]

The GBA game Boktai came on a cartridge with a solar sensor that you would expose to the sun in real life to charge your solar gun in game.

So you're saying I could just play it under a lamp?

I don't know how exploitable it was. I haven't played it myself, only heard about it.

[maidenhaver]

I'm certain Nintendo tried this with their TV peripheral, because I remember they turned the device off before nip dinner time.

[Kolgrim]

It's not quite the same thing but this makes me think of the Defiance MMO and TV show that was created back in 2013. I remember the devs claiming that player actions in the game would affect the story of the TV show. It never actually happened because the show's first season had already been filmed before the game launched and I imagine also because the director of the show didn't want to be beholden to gamers.

[stormvermin]

Would games/mods that sync a game's day/night cycle to your local time count?

****** game Lunacid syncs with your system clock as one of its mechanics is tied to the phases of the moon.

[Vergil]

Would games/mods that sync a game's day/night cycle to your local time count?

****** game Lunacid syncs with your system clock as one of its mechanics is tied to the phases of the moon.

Phases of the *****

[J1M]

@J1M do you have actual game examples? I don't think I've ever heard of events, like you mention, that aren't holiday events in a game.

The PGA game from EA contains scenarios that replicate the conditions of famous golf shots. The player can see how many attempts are required to get a better shot that what played out. These are not uploaded live from tournaments. So that content is defined by real world events but not live.

[rusty_shackleford]

I had Sega Channel and the games on it rotated monthly and I'm pretty sure there were often events or tie-in promotional stuff.
Not exactly related but I've never met anyone else who had Sega Channel and I wanted to share.

[edit]
Apparently it had exclusive games too
https://www.mobygames.com/group/14285/s ... xclusives/

[asf]

this sounds incredibly ********

[Norfleet]

Probably Eve. Pretty much everything there is a "live event", caused by the actions of real players, with persistent consequences on the world.

[DemoGraph]

mobile game "energy" tied to real-world passage of time

Every single one of those shitfuckretarded always online browser-based casino in disguise "RPG" and "strategies" do it. Wait another hour to act or gibs moneyz. Is it really what you're looking for? Then Forge of Empires, Clash of Clans, something-dressup Nikki, etc. Literally all of them.

Pokemon Go had seasonal spawns, territory-dependent spawns (go to forest to catch wood mon, go near uni or power plant to catch an electric one) and geography-dependent spawns (real Earth hemisphere- or continent-limited spawns; I got myself several LatAm parrots but never bothered to exchange them in the end).
I think all of the similar augmented-reality games have similar mechanics.

Dungeon Keeper and Stronghold have narrator commenting that it's Christmas, Helloween and whatnot.
I think Minecraft has vastly increased mob spawn during Helloween.

[Tangerine]

Unless I'm missing something, I can't imagine live sports (or most media) wanting in on this idea since they'd be competing for attention with the video game.

[J1M]

Unless I'm missing something, I can't imagine live sports (or most media) wanting in on this idea since they'd be competing for attention with the video game.

Fair point, but I think there's ways to do it so that it supplements/maintains interest in the televised event like a fantasy sports league or sports betting keeps participants thinking about and talking about the teams between games.

[Norfleet]

Pokemon Go had seasonal spawns, territory-dependent spawns (go to forest to catch wood mon, go near uni or power plant to catch an electric one) and geography-dependent spawns (real Earth hemisphere- or continent-limited spawns; I got myself several LatAm parrots but never bothered to exchange them in the end).

If the game actually knows where you are, you have a serious opsec breach.