Where the Wild Elk Are

[loboLoco]

[youtube]jIz9tKv90S4[/youtube]
Video link:

Yellowstone wolves must know a lot of things to survive, but perhaps the most important is: Where are the elk?

Unlike the elk currently in WolfQuest, elk in Yellowstone wander through the wilderness, always looking for good grass to graze on. Finding — and keeping track of — a herd is always a top priority for a wolf.

To make the game match this reality, we are designing a new animal roaming system. Elk will no longer be confined to a small “elk hunting ground” where you can always reliably find a herd. Instead, elk will be wherever elk might realistically be — which usually means where there’s good grass to eat, often roaming from one tasty spot to the next, which makes them a moving target for predators.

Along with the new scent system that I wrote about in an earlier post, we think that this new roaming system will transform the player’s experience. Finding a herd — and keeping track of its location — will be a constant need. In games without pups, players can simply follow the herd to keep an eye on it, but once pups arrive, you’ll have to use all your wits and senses to know where to find food.

This video gives you a peek at the new system, which uses a color-coded habitat map to mark ideal grazing areas along with tolerable and forbidden areas (such as steep slopes and cliffs). Elk herds will wander as they eat, always looking for good grazing areas and avoiding forbidden areas. And we’ll soon be extending this system to stranger wolf packs and all the other animals in the game, so all the denizens of the game will move about the game-world more naturalistically.

[Sableback]

This looks amazing, Dave!
Since the system will be extending to stranger wolf packs, will dispersals be wandering the entirety of the map, too?

[SolitaryHowl]

Sounds awesome! How many herds will there be per map? How big will the herds be?

(Your title references always make me chuckle. )

[Isela]

I've really been enjoying seeing the realistic approaches taken toward the new version of the game. I'm excited to see the new elk roaming system implemented, and it should call upon a greater need to use scent view this way c:

[roguemoon]

The new AM map looks awesome! I literally can't wait for this game.
It'll be really cool having to learn how to use the landscape to give you an advantage for hunting elk, just as real wolves do. I actually did a paper in college about how wolves would force elk and deer over steep drops, kinda like a buffalo jump. The new hunting system is going to be awesome!

EDIT: Will you also show the new systems for how other animals and how stranger wolves roam around the maps?

[loboLoco]

how wolves would force elk and deer over steep drops, kinda like a buffalo jump. [/color]

Our elk are smarter than those dumb bison.

[Sunset-Light]

This looks really cool and a lot more realistic, but that worries me even more...

My laptop can handle the current game on Fast graphics- but it's like a chair with three and a half legs. With this sort of thing, I am aware that basically everything in the environments and models would probably have to have terrible graphics in order for my laptop to handle WQ3 at all. I'd love to get an actual gaming computer, but I can't- this laptop is only about 2 years old, so I don't exactly have a good excuse to get a new one... I desperately want to get the update when it comes out, but I don't think I'll be able to.

I'm sorry if it sounds like I'm complaining- that isn't my intention. It's just my concerns.

[loboLoco]

Sounds awesome! How many herds will there be per map? How big will the herds be?

Not sure about number of herds -- we'll probably decide that in playtesting.

We're aiming for herds of 25-30 members. Obviously real herds can get much bigger, and we'll mainly be constrained by computer capabilities. (Which basically means the low-end hardware on each platform, since it's not feasible to have some players see 50 elk and others 25 elk in the same MP game.)

[CapriciousCeilican]

I saw the question asked on YouTube a few times, and I'm curious as well; will the elk sleep at night or bed down at certain times?

[PearlyReborn]

Golly, I'm excited! Guess that means my pups will be in even more danger than usual.

Which is part of the WQ experience.

[loboLoco]

I saw the question asked on YouTube a few times, and I'm curious as well; will the elk sleep at night or bed down at certain times?

Yup! (But one will keep an eye open for sneaky predators.)

[CapriciousCeilican]

Neat! I can't wait!

[Windstrider]

Oh dang, that's awesome! o.o

[loboLoco]

This looks really cool and a lot more realistic, but that worries me even more...

My laptop can handle the current game on Fast graphics- but it's like a chair with three and a half legs. With this sort of thing, I am aware that basically everything in the environments and models would probably have to have terrible graphics in order for my laptop to handle WQ3 at all. I'd love to get an actual gaming computer, but I can't- this laptop is only about 2 years old, so I don't exactly have a good excuse to get a new one... I desperately want to get the update when it comes out, but I don't think I'll be able to.

I'm sorry if it sounds like I'm complaining- that isn't my intention. It's just my concerns.

We're going to have more quality levels than I'm 2.7, and will certainly try to have the lowest level be equivalent to 2.7, but if your computer struggles with it now, I can't promise anything.

[Wolfwind]

This is awesome! So cool seeing some of the game's inner workings!! I can't wait to see all this new AI in action. Looks like it's definitely going to make for better gameplay. Elk tracking is going to be a valuable skill