Hey, I just had an idea about how to improve time spent in multiplayer a bit. Cutscenes really burn up a lot of time during an otherwise productive day. Often this will trash what the player was trying to get done in a day, because over 6 game hours pass while watching a fashion show at Lewis's house. Sure you could avoid Lewis's house, but you probably can't avoid going to town during certain hours for other cutscenes. Sure you could skip the cutscene, but this is not a very new player friendly option. My proposal would be to have the game put out a notification that a cutscene will occur when you trigger one, and give you the option of seeing the cutscene play after you go to bed. Or even to make it so that all cutscenes occur after you go to bed. This would only happen in Multiplayer, obviously, seeing as the game flow would not be very natural. The end of day experience would also not be 'the greatest' for players that don't have a cutscene to watch. That said, this would dramatically improve the quality of life for all players doing multiplayer.
While not an ideal solution, it is worlds better than the current situation where the player is punished for watching cutscenes. Especially since late night cutscenes can result in the player not being able to make it back to bed before 2am.
I think the best solution is to have everybody's clock paused while someone's in a cutscene. That way game content is a bonus for everybody, instead of a penalty. Sent from my SM-S727VL using Tapatalk
This is easily exploitable by having someone start a cutscene and not progress it. The other farmhands can just go about their day without time moving forward. If the clock paused, then the farmhands should not be able to move or perform actions, but that would be annoying. Instead, time should pause if everybody is doing something that pauses time in single player, i.e. talking to NPCs, being in cutscenes, playing arcade games, and going to bed. The recuperation in bed would still happen when time flows (e.g. player in bed while others are doing stuff), but not when time is stopped (e.g. player in bed while others are in cutscene). Additionally, for late night cutscenes (when the clock goes past midnight), if everyone is in bed except the people in cutscenes, the day is over without having the player rush back home once the cutscene is over. This could also work for the arcade games at the saloon. The player can play as long as they can, but if everyone is in bed, the day is over without having the player go back home once they are game over. In short, players doing activities that pause the game in single player need to be flagged for time stop. If everyone is flagged for time stop, then time is stopped until not everyone is flagged anymore. Similarly, players in cutscene or playing arcade games just need to be flagged for end-of-day. When everyone is in bed and past midnight, the screen darkens and time stop with the message "Waiting for player". Once the cutscene finishes or arcade game is game over, it proceeds to end of day as usual. Furthermore, this could work with the suggestion made by Ivaar. When the day is over, just present the players with the option to review the cutscenes they've had that day. (Maybe a screen with NPC faces and a number of movie buttons next to them. This could potentially also include older cutscenes for review and be accessible from the Title menu too.)
