Struggling with the dark

[Blood Eclipse]

Yes, I always change the clock to 9:00 am when I play because decorating in the dark is annoying. The only time I try decorating at night time is when I want to test out light placements.

I don't mind too much playing at night (though I prefer seeing the sunlight which is why most the time I reset my timer), it's mostly when I have to decorate that I rather avoid night.

 

[Variety.Gamer 4438]

The night is hard for me when deep sea diving. Some creatures come out later and I couldn't see the shadow, so for the fast moving ones it was hard to catch them.
It is dark walking around the island, but I don't do any design work when it is dark so it doesn't bother me.

I didn't have too much trouble catching the late night sea creatures, although I agree that the fast moving ones are a pain, especially at night. Then again, I play while docked, so it may be a little easier to see the shadows that way (I did have to move a little closer to the screen though). I'm just glad there's apparently no jellyfish that frequently show up to sting you in this game XD.

 

[meggiewes]

I have the opposite effect, I think it’s to bright.

I also think that it is a little too bright at night. But, I don't focus on color decorating at night either. If I do decorate or change things at night, it is only layout focused and not color focused.

 

[Mick]

I normally do play the most in the evening, so I don't mind decorating my island during the nighttime because that's what I will end up seeing the most.

I've stopped caring about time travelling back on the same day though, I simply get locked out of the stores too many times because I couldn't bring myself to play before they closed. And then when I do play there's nothing to do and all the villagers are asleep.

 

[LuchaSloth]

I get what you're saying. And I wouldn't say that I "struggle" with the dark...but, I'm certainly less motivated to do many things. In fact, one of the first things I posted on this forum was a topic asking about outdoor lighting...because, the night hours just seemed so dull to me. Not necessarily "dark"...just dull. Like, the colors are too washed out, and the contrast is too low. I would like it very much if they tweaked the overall atmosphere of night. Of course...soon it will be winter in the Northern hemisphere, and there will be aurora in the sky, and the ground will be bright-white with snow. So...that should help a lot.

 

[Masenkochick]

I set my clock back sometimes to a few hours before night on the same day and that's worked pretty well for decorating and doesn't cause turnips to spoil or anything like that.

 

[rezberri]

Maybe this will be not good solution for you... however I noticed, playing in "handheld mode" - it's too dark for me during the night. I know, it's more realistic, but when I'm playing in "console mode" on TV, it's much brighter and everything is really visible for me, during the nights too.

yes i've noticed this too!! i think it's because while you can only change the brightness in handheld mode, with tvs (& perhaps monitors? idk much about them) you can actually change more settings to make it easier to see at night. if anyone reading this is into minecraft, it's like changing ur gamma in the game files to make it so u can see while exploring caves without needing to use torches. i definitely recommend playing on a tv at night if ur going to play then, but ig if ur trying to go to sleep that defeats the purpose of playing handheld & (potentially) in bed.

 

[GnarlyGarden]

Maybe this will be not good solution for you... however I noticed, playing in "handheld mode" - it's too dark for me during the night. I know, it's more realistic, but when I'm playing in "console mode" on TV, it's much brighter and everything is really visible for me, during the nights too.

I have a switch lite, so this isn’t an option. Interesting possibility for switch players.

Post automatically merged: Oct 16, 2020

I’m glad I’m not alone in this. The blue vs purple flower struggle is real after dark.

I haven’t had trouble with scorpions, thankfully. I guess there’s something to be said for having too many flowers everywhere. Keeps the scorpion spawns down.

 

[skarmoury]

Oooo I feel you. I play at very random times of the day, mostly adjusting to my break times between studying. When I lay down paths at night it's an absolute nightmare, especially when laying down transparent custom paths on stone/arched tiles, because I can barely see the transparent tiles and have to squint a little. Sometimes i just TT back a few hours, but I try to avoid it as much as possible because the brightness of the day hurts my eyes when I play at night.

Not sure what I can advise, you can probably amp up the brightness and see if that's better? Or maybe plan to do some things when you have a free slot in the morning. Of course the easiest solution is to TT, but I understand the struggle for the people who choose not to TT.

 

[Barney]

I'm fine with decorating at night, as that's when I mostly get to play the game.

If it looks good at night, then it will look good the majority of the time I see it!

I've not had too many things which looked particularly bad when I played during the daytime, to be honest.

 

[Dracule]

I try to stay out of the dark/late evening, haha. I make sure that if I have any decorating to do, then I get it done before then. However, sometimes I’ll need to time travel and see how certain items look in evening light because I set my time at dusk. It makes it easier to just time travel back and forth for me. C:

 

[KittenNoir]

I usually have to go back a few hours in the game to the morning cause I mostly play at night after work which is dark and I also like to be able to see the colours and how it looks.

 

[stitchmaker]

It's brighter when the Switch is in dock mode and on the big screen TV. For custom items/pathways I place them and keep checking during different times of the day. Some patterns are nice during the night and washed out during the day. Don't carry a net when scorpions and tarantulas are around. They can't take you out. While decorating I watched a scorpion for 5 minutes before it disappear.

 

[eseamir]

I have such a hard time with this too! I usually only have time to play after work (7:30pm) so everything is already starting to get dark then, I usually end up turning up my screen brightness which helps a little but it's still a struggle.

 

[Bluebellie]

I always set my time to maybe 4 pm. Morning is too bright for me, and I can’t decorate at night because the colors are weird. I can’t tell which flowers are blue and which are purple.
My favorite time is around 4-6pm.

I mostly play after work (which is usually late, so I have to switch back my time).

 

[dizzy bone]

Yeah I find it hard to play during the night, even though that's the time I play the most lol. It's also when I do most of my landscaping/decorating projects (it doesn't help that the 3am clown music is playing in the background). It makes me really unsure of what I've done until the morning when I can see everything in the day time. Oh yeah and I agree, purple/blue flowers all look the same to me at night. I have a huge purple/blue area in the back of my island that I arranged in a checkerboard pattern. The next morning when I saw it I realised I planted all the wrong flowers next to each other. Diving and fishing is generally ok for me at night but I can never tell the sizes so it's always a surprise

 

[deerteeth]

I also find it difficult to do anything when it's misty / foggy in the morning! Which is a real shame, because the first time I logged in and saw all the mist, I was absolutely in love with the vibe it gave my town. I gave up trying to terraform until it had gone away because I found it too hard to see what I was doing!

(Sorry if somebody already said this!)

 

[tolisamarie]

I live on the east coast (U.S.), but I'm a night owl, so I always have my switch set to the west coast time zone. That might be a perfect fix for you as well.

 

[thatawkwardkid]

Yeah, because of this I usually only landscape in the morning or later in the afternoon. Those are usually the times I play and I wanted my island to look nice especially around those times.