Genes Behind the Scenes

Find out what we're doing and thinking as we develop WolfQuest 3: Anniversary Edition and the Tower Fall expansion!

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Re: Genes Behind the Scenes

Post by paperpaws » Fri Apr 20, 2018 1:40 am

Oh, I've always loved it when genetics mechanics like these got added into games. It's amazing that you did the research and managed to make it reflective of real-world wolf genetics as well. I love Neam's art making a little appearance in this blog post as well!

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Re: Genes Behind the Scenes

Post by Polynesia » Fri Apr 20, 2018 3:02 am

WolfDragonPlasma wrote:
Polynesia wrote:I love games that have genetics in them! :oops: I have a suggestion that there could be a small chance for a puppy to inherit his colour from an ancestor. It would be a cute surprise if my mate and I are both white, and one of our puppies inherits a black coat.
Unfortunately, that's not exactly how genetics works. Since the allele for black coats is dominant over the grey coat allele, at least one of the parents would need to have that black allele in order to pass the black coat color to the offspring. Unless through spontaneous mutation, you can't produce a "Kk" from two parents with "kk".
Unless one of those white wolves had some serious highlighting going on to hide the fact that it was black, which, I'm not sure if that's a thing that happens in reality.
Ok, nevermind. :) It could work the other way around though, with two black wolves having a light puppy? And the two white wolves could have puppies with recessive genes for coat shade. They could have a puppy with a fawn coat, or a brown or dark grey coat. I hope there will be a chance for variations. :)

May we know more about the puppy illness in the game, if there will be a chance for the puppy to die no matter what you do?

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Re: Genes Behind the Scenes

Post by Allikat10011 » Fri Apr 20, 2018 5:00 am

Im so happy im not the only one who doesnt understand Genetics! I always fail that part of Bio class lol. Thank you for explaining it to be Lobo!
I find it very interesting that genetics almost sound like natural coding. Like what Wolfquest is behind the scenes, lots of codes I assume. Im not much a tech person, but I find it facinating!
Last edited by paperpaws on Fri Apr 20, 2018 5:21 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: merging double post. please use the edit feature for any additions to your existing post if no new post has been made yet.

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Re: Genes Behind the Scenes

Post by Kitsuma » Fri Apr 20, 2018 6:55 am

I have a question about the "dog" gene. Since dogs were domesticated by people, doesn't that mean dog genes are technically wolf genes?

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Re: Genes Behind the Scenes

Post by loboLoco » Fri Apr 20, 2018 7:35 am

Lil Pangoli wrote: a common misconception about punnett squares is that each of the four small boxes corresponds to one pup/offspring in a litter of four. It may be helpful for some to explicitly state somewhere in your post that the whole punnett square represents the probability for each pup in the litter to be born a certain color.
Yeah, I should have mentioned that more clearly. We'll be sure to do so in the future.
Lil Pangoli wrote: Now some food for thought: complex traits like "disease resistance" or "stamina" are not controlled by one gene, but rather a network of many genes/multiple loci that control many physiological processes, making complex traits very hard to study.

For example, what is speed? Is it a higher percentage of fast-twitch muscles? A larger-than average heart size? A more efficient transfer of hemoglobins in the blood? Having more hemoglobins in general? Or any combination of these, and more!
Right. We've got a couple other aspects of the genetics design that I didn't mention. For one thing, the genetic profile that we're creating for each wolf will have 5-10 genes for coat tint and for each of the stat-traits, each randomly set as 0, 1, or 2, then we'll add up all those to determine the final score for the trait. That's a crude approximation of the real genome, but probably sufficient for our purposes. (We may also have some of those genes have counter-effects on other traits -- such as a gene that contributes to higher speed might also affect stamina downwards .)
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Re: Genes Behind the Scenes

Post by xc92u3 » Fri Apr 20, 2018 8:34 am

Ohh, this is really neat! So this is going to be put in WolfQuest 3? That's really coooool!!

And some of the pups would be born dead..?? I better not play with my grandma since she cries every time a pup dies in 2.7... :lol:
Thank you Dave and WQ Team!

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Re: Genes Behind the Scenes

Post by Phasoli » Fri Apr 20, 2018 9:07 am

I'm very curious how eye colour will be inherited too, now that it is a customizable feature. I read that wolf pups are typically born with blue eyes that grow into a yellow or brown hue later in life. Does this mean that pups cannot be yellow or brown eyed from the start? I wonder, I wonder... And what about brownish and tawny pelts? Are those wolves considered to be gray as well? It'll be so much fun experimenting with pup coat outcomes! I love genetics, and this video has really taught me something new.

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Re: Genes Behind the Scenes

Post by xc92u3 » Fri Apr 20, 2018 9:25 am

Phasoli wrote:I'm very curious how eye colour will be inherited too, now that it is a customizable feature. I read that wolf pups are typically born with blue eyes that grow into a yellow or brown hue later in life. Does this mean that pups cannot be yellow or brown eyed from the start? I wonder, I wonder... And what about brownish and tawny pelts? Are those wolves considered to be gray as well? It'll be so much fun experimenting with pup coat outcomes! I love genetics, and this video has really taught me something new.
In 2.7., it is possible to get a grey pup with ORANGE eyes. It's really weird when Dave and the others say pups have blue eyes. :?

Now I'm wondering just the same :P

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Re: Genes Behind the Scenes

Post by alethe » Fri Apr 20, 2018 10:20 am

this is a really awesome game mechanic. Looks great!

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Re: Genes Behind the Scenes

Post by ForeverEverest » Fri Apr 20, 2018 11:30 am

This new feature sounds awesome.

Though I've been wondering... In WolfQuest 3, will all KK pups die, or will they have a small chance of survival? If they do have a chance of surviving, do you know what the percentage would be?

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Re: Genes Behind the Scenes

Post by Windstrider » Fri Apr 20, 2018 11:35 am

This will make things pretty interesting! And those pups at the end are adorable >w<

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Re: Genes Behind the Scenes

Post by loboLoco » Fri Apr 20, 2018 11:39 am

TimberRaven wrote:In 2.7., it is possible to get a grey pup with ORANGE eyes. It's really weird when Dave and the others say pups have blue eyes. :?
Hmm, so it is. That's an accidental effect of some fur tinting. Oops.
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Re: Genes Behind the Scenes

Post by Zoopal55 » Fri Apr 20, 2018 2:31 pm

LOL I Love genetic grids. Try a 4*4 grid instead of 2 things will get a whole lot more interesting. XD

-StarBender2000 :wolf:

P.S. Pups at a very young age will actually mostly always have blue eyes but as they grow older they tend to change color.

Edited 4/27/2018 - Hey is there actually going to be litter size caculation? Like 4-6 pups instead of 4 all the time? I know the average is actually 4-6 pups per litter. Will they have different varying amounts other than this?
Last edited by Zoopal55 on Fri Apr 27, 2018 4:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Genes Behind the Scenes

Post by Pepper » Fri Apr 20, 2018 3:18 pm

TimberRaven wrote: And some of the pups would be born dead..?? I better not play with my grandma since she cries every time a pup dies in 2.7...
They actually die in utero (before they are born) so the wolf (and grandma) wouldn't know about them. It will be part of the litter size calculation. There won't be stillborn pups in the game.
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Re: Genes Behind the Scenes

Post by Isela » Fri Apr 20, 2018 3:37 pm

This was always one of my favorite topics in biology classes. The amount of detail and research you put into the game still amazes me. It's admirable how dedicated the team is to producing a well-rounded, educational game. Echoing Anduril, I love seeing this mechanic implemented in games. Very much looking forward to it!

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