Chinese New Year in a city builder: rain, snow and the Spring Festival
On 23 October 2026 the year started to show in Glyph Dynasty. Rain, drizzle, snow and fog now pass over the city in characters, lanterns light up street by street at dusk, and every new game year opens with the Spring Festival: red lanterns, firecrackers and fireworks made of text.
A year by the Chinese calendar
The game year follows the Chinese calendar. Month 1 opens spring; months 4 to 6 are summer with monsoon rains; 7 to 9 are autumn with fog; 10 to 12 are winter with snow. Each month has its own chances of rain, snow and fog, and the weather fades smoothly from one month into the next.
Raindrops are | / and \, leaning with the wind; drizzle is commas; snow is dots and stars. Snow settles on roofs and ground as a white layer, builds up through a snowy winter and melts in spring. Disasters push the weather around: no rain during a drought, a downpour with wind while the river rises.
The weather depends only on the map seed and the date, so two players in the same online game see the same sky. Like every visual effect it never touches the simulation, and the Weather setting turns it off.
A wave of lanterns
At dusk the windows and lanterns of the city do not switch on all at once. They light up as a wave: first at the palace, then along the streets, quarter by quarter, out to the edge of town, each flame flaring as it is lit and settling into a night glow. At dawn they go out in reverse, from the outskirts back to the palace.
The Spring Festival
Festivals and the New Year have been part of the city’s faith and culture since the first day of the project: a festival square raises contentment and immigration for several months. Now the festival is also something to see. Red lanterns hang on houses and facades, firecrackers crackle in the streets, and fireworks of characters burst over the palace and the quarters.
It happens on two calendars. In the game, every year ends with lanterns going up on New Year’s Eve and a burst of fireworks in the first days of month 1, so every city celebrates once a game year. On the real calendar, from New Year’s Eve to the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day, the city celebrates for the whole sixteen days. In 2027 the Lunar New Year falls on 6 February, close to Steam Next Fest in February.
All of it in capture mode
Snow, lanterns and fireworks are part of the normal game, not a separate scene, so capture mode records them as they are. The Festivals setting switches the show off for those who want quiet. For the opposite mood, see disasters you can watch.
Glyph Dynasty is coming to Steam for Windows, macOS and Linux. Watch the clips, follow the development history or open the press kit.