With Farming Simulator 22, we created some buzz by bringing you bees to improve yield through the advantages of good, old pollinating. For Farming Simulator 25, we really went back to the drawing board in front of the animal pen. Which animals are missing? Worms? Bears? Dragons?
Sadly, those didn't make the cut - neither did Pink River Dolphins, Echidnas, and Leprechauns. But we went through your as well as our own wish list and instantly thought 'okay, we goat this, GIANTS Software! Let’s take the chance by its horns and create something goatally awesome. Water buffalos!'
But let’s not bleat around the bush. You know about the water buffalo already. Check out the Water Buffalo Preview if you don't.
Click for Water Buffalo + Dev Interview
In addition to this mighty animal of South(east) Asian descent, we wanted to give livestock owners another option to choose from. We goat your back, farmers!
The Road to Goat
Good Goats Take Time
You want to get goats right and the most complex thing are their legs and rectangular pupils. First, we almost created a Dahu by accident - a mythical creature. You can learn more about it from Katie. Right, you don't know who she is, do you? You'll find out soon enough.
One wrong slider and shorter legs on one side and you have a fantastical beast! Once the legs were up to snuff and we banished the Dahu back to its folkloric existence (or did we?), we had a squad of 2D & 3D artists working non-stop on the pupils. All so these beautiful animals could do what they do best - stare.
Then our artists and programmers build other parts of an anatomically correct goat in different stages from newborn to adult, so you can enjoy one of the most anticipated farm animals! Before we show you the mini goats, here are some real facts about real goats:
Why Goats Are Awesome
Goats? Great!
- Goats are incredible climbers. They're known for their agility, even scaling steep cliffs and trees. If you think you're good at bouldering, look at goats!
- Rectangular pupils give them nearly 360-degree panoramic vision, helping them spot predators and navigate challenging terrain.
- They're curious and intelligent. They can learn how to open gates or manipulate objects. Good to have an eye on them.
- Goats are highly social and form close bonds within their herds, or even humans and other animals.
- Each goat has a unique voice. Just look at all those screaming goat videos. So not only mother goats could recognize individual goats go by their bleat.
Best Goats: Baby Goats
What more do you want?
Best Cheese: Goat Cheese
New Productions & Products
Goat milk is not everyone's cup of milk, but those who like it, love it. Its distinct, slightly tangy flavor is not as sweet and mild as your regular milk from a cow, but that's why it's so unique in taste and profitable in production!
While keeping goats for the sake of it is awesome enough, new productions allow you to process their milk and go for fine goat cheese! It's worth it, you goat to believe it!
Want to try goat cheese for real? Try it with fruits, nuts, honey, and herbs like thyme, rosemary and basil. You can put it in almost every dish just like regular cheese. From salad and stuffed in peppers to pasta and pizza.
Bonus Interview
The Man Who Stares at Goats
What inspired the decision to add goats to the game?
Goats have been a popular request from our players, especially in certain regions where they play an important role in animal husbandry. They also work well with our production chains and new products that players can craft, making them more interesting for everyone.
What unique behavior will goats exhibit compared to other livestock?
You will notice many new animations from our Character & Animation team, who have done a great job bringing the animals to life. As goats are particularly lively and looking at our improved animation system, we thought Farming Simulator 25 would be incomplete without them. Especially the kids are jumping around like you would expect young goats to behave which is quite nice to watch.
How did you research real goat behavior to design their in-game actions?
One of the benefits of having a lot of people working on Farming Simulator who already had a lot of experience with real-life farming is that it is easier to bring those elements into the game. There's already an underlying sense of what's authentic, and that includes animals like goats when we digitize them.
But to really bring their virtual counterparts to life, we also look at a lot of videos of goats in various environments and discussed their behavior together. In the end, artists, animators, and programmers had to be in sync.
What challenges did you face when creating goats in general?
Goats are active, excited and playful creatures when you follow them around. So, the challenging part here was of course to make their movements look realistic and animate them properly. I think, our team did a good job here and goats add to the liveliness of the farms.
Why do you think goats are impressive farm animals?
Goats in particular like to let you know that they have distinct personalities. As I said before, they are playful. Because they are also incredibly curious and intelligent, always exploring their surroundings, they can be quite challenging livestock to keep. But they make up for it in providing valuable resources like milk, and they’re known for their hardiness in different environments.
Thank you for reading this preview. Goat day.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2300320/Farming_Simulator_25/