https://youtu.be/QZq6zc4b6hk
I’ve been working on the cliffs of Amethyst Mountain and Specimen Ridge for way too long, but they’re finally looking pretty good. So now it’s time to focus on how animals, specifically the player-wolf, interacts with them. Seems like a simple matter, right? Longtime readers know what’s coming next….. there are various complications in getting the wolf to behave naturalistically on and around rocks, mainly because we have several intersecting systems, particularly how the IK (inverse kinematics) system interacts with the rock forms. Also complicating matters is that a big rock is both an obstacle (wolves can’t go inside them) and a surface (wolves can walk on them), and how the wolf deals with the rock depends on specific relative angles to each other and the world in general. So we got some unexpected results as we refined the behavioral logic.
Along with this, we’ve added a sliding action on steep slopes, so wolves cannot walk up a cliff face — instead, they’ll slide down the slope until it’s more manageable. A simple feature, yet strangely enjoyable. And finally, this video reveals that in WolfQuest 3, you can indeed jump off a cliff to meet your fate. Kids, don’t try this at home!
Of course, all this talk of rocks and cliffs will remind you that the winner of our “Vote for a New Animal” contest last year was bighorn sheep! They will certainly appreciate the barriers to wolves that rocks and slopes provide, and will most likely eye you from above. Bighorns might not make it into early release but we haven’t forgotten about them!