Day Cycle

See also: Days of the Week

The day cycle is a period of 20 hours in-game from 6am to 2am in which the player (farmer) can be awake and is able to do things.

In single-player, the game clock pauses when the player opens the menu, reels in a fish, jumps on the horse, etc. However when playing in a multiplayer game, the clock never pauses.

Effects

The main effect of the day cycle for the player themselves is sleeping and saving. The player will always wake up at 6am every day, but are able to choose to go to bed whenever they like. However, past midnight (12:00 am), the player's character will show that they are tired and in need of sleep. The game saves only after the player has gone to sleep and the daily profit breakdown has been accepted, signalling the end of day. Sleep will restore the player's Energy and Health to full if they go to bed no later than midnight and are not exhausted, and to half if they pass out or are exhausted. The longer past midnight the player stays awake, the less energy they wake up with, with about 75% restored if they sleep at 1am, and 50% if they sleep right before 2am.

Passing out

The player can stay awake until 2am, after which their character will pass out. If the character passes out outside their Farmhouse, they will wake up in bed, having been dragged there by either a JojaMart medical team, Linus, Marlon, or Dr. Harvey if they are not married to him. In each case 10% of the player's money, up to a maximum of data-sort-value="1000">1,000g will be lost (the details of this transaction will appear as a letter in the player's mailbox).

Villagers and locations

Villagers will move to different locations around the Valley depending on the time. The time of day also affects what locations are open, including shops according to their Shop Schedules. For example, most locations in Pelican Town generally open at 9am.

Fishing

It is considered nighttime after 6pm, which makes it possible to catch some nighttime fish. However, it does not become dark until around 8pm, depending on the season.

Animals

Livestock animals will leave their buildings at the start of the day if it is possible to do so (the weather is sunny and the building's animal door is left open). This allows them to eat grass. In the evening they will return to the building to sleep.

Cows, sheep, goats, pigs, chickens, ducks and rabbits will automatically go inside their coop or barn at 5pm and will start going to sleep at 7pm. They will stop moving around at 8pm. You normally cannot interact with animals while they are asleep, making it impossible to raise their heart level. The heart level of cows and goats, however, is increased through successful milking, which can be done any time, including while they are sleeping. The advantage of milking after 8pm is that animals never walk away from you.

Sometimes animals will refuse to go inside, moving around like they would during the day even at midnight. This can be fixed by leaving and re-entering the farm, and the animals will be automatically moved inside. You can also exit the barn and re-enter; the animals will change position randomly.

Game clock

If the game is not paused and passes without a cutscene, and the player does not visit the Skull Cavern, one maximum-length game-day (20 hours) passes in 860 seconds, real-time (14 minutes 20 seconds). At this rate:

One displayed time step of 10 minutes in-game equals about 7.17 seconds.
One in-game hour equals 43 seconds.
One in-game season equals 401 minutes 20 seconds (~6.689 hours).
One in-game year equals 1605 minutes 20 seconds (~26.756 hours).
Two in-game years equal 3210 minutes 40 seconds (~53.511 hours).

This calculation does not contain any between-day cut-scenes, announcements, or the selling summary after each day.

Playing 18-hour game-days:

One in-game day equals 774 seconds (12.9 minutes).
One in-game season equals 361 minutes 12 seconds (6.02 hours).
Two in-game years equal 2889 minutes 36 seconds (48.16 hours).