Fixing strange blacking out of shadows issue

game/scenes/Levels/level.gd

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 extends Node3D
 
-@export var day_length := 120.0 # seconds for full rotation
-@export var start_light_angle := -90.0
+@export var day_length := 120.0 # seconds for full rotation
+@export var start_light_angle := -35.0
 @export var show_spawn_dialog := true
 @export_multiline var spawn_dialog_text := "Welcome to Promiscuity.\n\nPress E to close this message."
 @export var spawn_dialog_auto_close_seconds := 4.0
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ const FIRST_QUEST := {
 }
 
 func _ready() -> void:
+	_apply_sun_state(0.0)
 	_setup_quests()
 	if _should_show_spawn_dialog() and DialogSystem and DialogSystem.has_method("show_text"):
 		await get_tree().process_frame
@@ -46,18 +47,19 @@ func _ready() -> void:
 				DialogSystem.close_if_text(spawn_dialog_text)
 	_show_quest_intro_dialog()
 
-func _process(delta):
-	time = fmod((time + delta), day_length)
-	var t = time / day_length
-
-	# Rotate sun around X axis
-	var angle = lerp(start_light_angle, end_light_angle, t) # sunrise → sunset → night → sunrise
-	sun.rotation_degrees.x = angle
-
-	# Adjust intensity
-	var curSin = -sin((t * TAU) + start_radians)
-	var energy = clamp((curSin * 1.0) + 0.2, 0.0, 1.2)
-	sun.light_energy = energy
+func _process(delta):
+	time = fmod((time + delta), day_length)
+	_apply_sun_state(time / day_length)
+
+
+func _apply_sun_state(t: float) -> void:
+	# Start in a clear daytime state instead of at the horizon, which created
+	# long harsh shadows as soon as the level loaded.
+	var angle = lerp(start_light_angle, end_light_angle, t)
+	sun.rotation_degrees.x = angle
+	var cur_sin = -sin((t * TAU) + start_radians)
+	var energy = clamp((cur_sin * 1.0) + 0.2, 0.0, 1.2)
+	sun.light_energy = energy
 
 
 func _setup_quests() -> void: