https://youtu.be/NcGUgk2POLk
A few months ago, WolfQuest composer Tim Buzza and I were talking about new music tracks for WolfQuest 3: Anniversary Edition, and I realized that we really needed new elk hunting music. The bigger herds, the better herding behaviors, and the vast new grasslands to chase elk across — they all called for an epic new track that captured the energy and exhilaration of an elk hunt — something like Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyrie that we used in the blog video last year about elk herding behaviors. So…no pressure, Tim.
Tim of course came back with an amazing, epic piece of music (actually, a set of tracks to use in our adaptive music system) that, as usual, lifts the gameplay to the next level. And now we’ve got all the elements of the elk hunt working well enough to show how they all come together (though the usual caveats about “still tweaking and refining” apply). Here my mate and I are hunting elk together. My mate is pretty social, so she likes to keep an eye on me as we run together — and she does indeed bite elk too, though that’s not shown in any of these shots. How bold your mate is about selecting and attacking elk will depend upon their personality. In multiplayer games, several wolves can attack the same elk, biting the front and rear legs during the chase.
This video has the HUD hidden for cinematic impact, but you may notice that the elk don’t have healthbars when you approach. Instead, you have to bite them to learn their health level (shown by the small red dot). We’ll talk more about the new hunting mechanics in a future blog post.
EDIT: Oops, a couple things on the wolf (head position and gallop animation) got set incorrectly last week, when we had to rebuild the wolf model after it blew up. Those''ll be fixed in future videos.
____________________
How can you support WolfQuest game development?
• Buy the game! (You'll get WolfQuest 3 for free if you buy the current version.)
• Tell your friends that WolfQuest is a great game! Games sales are why a little game about wolf ecology is still going strong after more than ten years.
• Give WolfQuest as a gift to a friend! Steam and itch.io make it easy to gift games.
• Buy the music extras and consider leaving a tip.
• Donate to game development at https://fundly.com/wolfquest.
• Follow, subscribe, and support WolfQuest on social media and Steam. Good buzz keeps WolfQuest alive.
• Write reviews. Great ratings and positive reviews from our fabulous players make a huge difference. Take the time to give WQ some love wherever you are online.
We appreciate all the ways players support WolfQuest! We truly wouldn't be here doing this without you.