Another danger could be solar radiation, so while heat would be a danger that builds up, radiation would be immediate. We already have a concept of how it would work for radiotrophs: Radiotrophy
In this case radiation wouldn’t make any glucose, it would just harm you if your threshold is too low, if we combine that with dark and bright spots then the player can choose which spots are the best for them while avoiding those that are too bright. This mechanic would matter to non photosynthesizers too, since radiation also harms them.
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