Make a shadow clue that tells the hour and still works in winter

A riddle says to dig where the stone's shadow points at midday, and the player, who plays through a winter, finds nothing at the appointed hour. Here is how to compute where a shadow points and how long it is for any hour, and how to turn a shadow back into the hour, with short winter days.

Why this works

A shadow depends on where the sun is in its day's path, and that path is shorter and lower in winter. So a clue must be tied to the fraction of the day that has passed, not to a fixed clock hour, or it only works in one season.

When not to use it

Skip it when the game has no changing seasons, or when players can pass time freely. Then a plain fixed mark is easier to read. Also skip it near the poles or on a world with several suns, where the simple sweep misleads.

In the full entry

• What to build, step by step
• Starting values and the reason for each
• 3 common mistakes and the fix
• A diagram of every state
• 22 lines of example code with 4 checks that pass
• How your AI shows you that it works

Say this to your AI

Use the Spielerando entry "Make a shadow clue that tells the hour and still works in winter" (read_entry sundial-shadow-that-tells-the-hour-by-season) in my game. Build it step by step, and show me how you checked that it works.

Or skip this and connect the MCP: your AI then finds all of this by itself.Connect the MCP