Factorio Forums

Hello,

I find the current names of the day and night phases in the API *really* confusing since they're mostly synonyms and since what they represent in the code doesn't line up with the definitions of the words.

Currently the phases are: dusk, dawn, evening, morning
And they represent the parts of the day which respectively: darken, are brightest, are darkest, brighten.

Dawn as a word means "before sunrise" and can easily be confused with morning which is "the period of time between midnight and noon". These two are the most difficult to reconcile since in reality dawn ends before morning ends, but in the API morning ends and dawn begins.
Evening as a word typically means after the afternoon and before night and can easily be confused with dusk.

In a perfect world I would propose naming them: morning, day, evening, night or alternatively dawn, day, dusk, night.

Realistically, you likely don't want to rename one phase of the day with a word that used to be associated with a different phase, so in that case just renaming dawn to day and evening to night would at least eliminate the opportunity for confusion.

Wait, they're called dusk, dawn, morning and evening?
Dusk is the time transition from light to dark, and dawn the transition from dark to light, this makes sense. Evening, from how I understand it, is the last quater of the day, time between 6pm and midnight, so is confusing to use that here when you're already using dusk, as it entirely encompasses dusk. Morning is confusing as a term as a whole, because it could be considered either the entire half of the day after midnight and before noon, or just after dawn but before mid-day. I typically see it as the quater day between 6am and mid-day, oposite side of the wheel to evening.

Personally, I'd go with day, dusk, night, dawn.

Would be nice, but i doubt it's going to happen :(. (See an old thread)

Rseding91 wrote: Mon May 28, 2018 1:17 pm We aren't likely to change any of the names at this point in development as it would break too many mods compared to the benefit it gave.

Personally i think that major versions break many mods anyway, but alas it's not up to me ;p.

eradicator wrote: Mon Oct 22, 2018 9:46 am Would be nice, but i doubt it's going to happen . (See an old thread)

Rseding91 wrote: Mon May 28, 2018 1:17 pm We aren't likely to change any of the names at this point in development as it would break too many mods compared to the benefit it gave.

Personally i think that major versions break many mods anyway, but alas it's not up to me ;p.

I made that point before and my suggestions were declined. then they go and change terciary to tertiary, which breaks just as many things.

bobingabout wrote: Tue Oct 23, 2018 11:42 am I made that point before and my suggestions were declined. then they go and change terciary to tertiary, which breaks just as many things.

Didn't even notice that was finally fixed :D. Yea, i know you made the point. I can kinda understand both sides of the argument. Maybe the devs just don't write enough mod code to properly appreciate the importance of streamlined internal names. Which is weird especially now that they're considering to streamline the non-internal names...

eradicator wrote: Tue Oct 23, 2018 11:55 am

bobingabout wrote: Tue Oct 23, 2018 11:42 am I made that point before and my suggestions were declined. then they go and change terciary to tertiary, which breaks just as many things.

Didn't even notice that was finally fixed .

It's a 0.17 fix, it's not out yet.