OK. So, the last attempt seems to have failed. Let's try again.
1. No Day/Night Cycle - Game as is currently. Absolutely no change to the game at all.
2. Day/Night Cycle with Realtime clock - There is a full realtime clock. Every second you play the game is a second in the game except when you click on Short Rest or Long Rest. Each Short Rest moves clock 1 hour. Each Long Rest moves the clock 8 hours. There would be a 2 Short Rest limit per Long Rest. This would be similar functionality to the old BG1 and BG2 games except with the addition of Short Rests that move the clock 1 hour each. So, in summary, the changes are that the End Day button is replaced by Long Rest and a realtime clock, Long Rest = 8 hours, Short Rest = 1 hour, and 2 Short Rests per Long Rest. Oh, and pause would need to be implemented better with a quick pause feature similar to other games that allow pausing so the Realtime clock can be paused and unpaused easily. This would allow players to stop the clock when it matters most, such as with potion durations, rage duration, etc. It would be similar functionality to Solasta. Oh, and they'd have to implement some sort of sun positioning in the sky so that if you rest for 8 hours you can see that the lighting has shifted from early morning to afternoon to evening to middle of the night to early morning, etc.
3. Day/Night Cycle with Long Rest button but no realtime clock - Same as option 2 except no realtime clock. This would be easier for Larian to implement. Day and night are triggered by clicking on Long Rest. Again, 2 Short Rests per Long Rest. The big difference between this option and Option 2 is that a Long Rest doesn't equal 8 hours. It triggers Day to Night or Night to Day. Period. No various sun positions in the sky (or moon or whatever). It would simply be Long Rest transitions from Day to Night and Long Rest transitions from Night to Day.
4. Day/Night Cycle triggered by Short Rests - Similar to Option 2 except no realtime clock and Short Rests transition from morning to afternoon and then from afternoon to evening. So, if you want to travel by Night and adventure by Night, you'd have to use your 2 Short Rests to first transition from Morning to Afternoon, and the second would transition from Afternoon to Night. This would keep the 1 Long Rest per day functionality that is currently in the game. The only change to current game would be that Short Rests control time by moving the position of the sun from one part of the sky to another and then creating a night version of the surface map.
5. Day/Night Cycle with Day/Night button - No Long or Short Rests used to transition from Day to Night. You just hit the button and it transitions from Day to Night. If you want to transition back from Night to Day, you need to End Day. This allows players to adventure by night and still use their 2 Short Rests per day. It also keeps the game to 1 Long Rest per day. It is up to the player whether they want to play by Day or Night, and there is little impact to Long or Short Rests. Long Rests are still End Day and there are still only 2 Short Rests per day. The only real difference is there would now be a button to essentially change the lighting on the surface and allow for Darkness Stealth Advantages, Sun Sensitivity functionality to be properly implemented, etc. with minimal impact to resting mechanics.
