FS22: Changes to seasonal cycles, graphics, and sorghum
Recently, the developers of FS22 came to players with a lot of great news about the game ahead of its release on November 22, 2021. Farming Simulator 22 is now at the finishing lines of development, which is to be expected given how close it is to release.
While asking users for feedback regarding the new title, the developers have added lots of things and changed existing ones.
Here are some of these things which have been changed over time, along with details regarding just how big these changes are.
Changes to Season Cycles
When Farming Simulator 22’s season cycles were first introduced to players, the feedback wasn’t all that great. In the game, a virtual year consisted of 12 days. That means each day in the game would be the equivalent of a month passing by. The goal for the developers has always been to find a balanced bit of challenging and relaxing gameplay.
Despite the option to decrease how quickly time passes manually, lots of players still weren’t happy with how unappealing the duration of a year was. The new challenge for the developers because of this was to add a setting that allows users to customize the length of each passing season. This was a big challenge for one simple reason.
Game development is quite risky, with each little detail hinging on another detail. A butterfly effect could potentially ruin everything. That’s especially true for a change as seemingly as little as the option for custom season lengths. It could potentially break the game. Developers can’t release a game with issues like that, which is why fixing them was necessary.
To get to the bottom line, you can now increase a month’s length up to 28 days. Whatever changes you apply will be put into place immediately as the current season ends.
Changes to the Graphics
While the gameplay team focused on season cycles, the tech team focused on changing the graphics to make them much better. Since the first screenshot to the latest trailer of the game, visuals in FS22 have noticeably been upgraded.
Comparing the months-old build which was showcased at Gamescom to the version which was shown in the latest gameplay trailer, the visual appearance has changed a lot. New changes and already planned ones have been implemented according to the wishes of players.
The details have been considerably improved upon. Even the foliage is noticeably better, providing a much better sense of transition between fields and colors. The Screen Space Ambient Occlusion (SSAO) was greatly improved too. This means that there are better shadows and much more natural-looking environments in the game now.
For those wanting a quick summary, the graphics have been improved considerably and the game looks great!
Better Sorghum
It’s no secret that milo, which is also known as sorghum, is a very important crop for farmers. It’s especially important in warm climates. That’s why it’s an addition welcomed by American players of the game and a reason why it’s set to grow in the North America-inspired map of the game. Even the Mediterranean Haut-Beyleron map in FS22 benefits from sorghum being grown on it. Many farmers noticed that the process of harvesting wasn’t realistic though.
So, giving you the short end of the story, the developers made it more realistic. Now, only the top of the crop gets cut off when harvesting.
That’s a wrap for all the changes developers discussed in this update. We loved all the new things mentioned, and hope that the same can be said for you. There’s set to be more news regarding the game to come out as well. We have a lot to look forward to ahead of Farming Simulator 22’s release in the coming days!
