The Game Enhancements Poll for the WolfQuest Design Contest

[WQ Coordinator]

The time has finally come! This is your opportunity to help choose which great new idea will be implemented into WolfQuest 2.5. Vote for your favorite three Game Enhancements, and don't forget also go to and vote in the Big Ideas poll as well. Below are the summary of your options; the full descriptions are in the posts below this.

You will not be able to see the results of the poll until the poll has ended. You will only be able to vote once and cannot change your vote, so don't vote until you're sure of your choice. The winning idea, along with the creator's username, will be announced at the end of the poll. This winner will receive two WolfQuest t-shirts and have his/her idea implemented into the game. We may also be able to add the second-ranked Game Enhancement idea, but only if funding and time allows. All game suggestions may be edited by the Development Team for funding or accuracy reasons.

Please remember- while we typically love to see discussion about WolfQuest on these forums, there should be no discussion of these ideas, who the finalists may or may not be, etc. on these forums or elsewhere online until after the poll has ended. Thanks for your cooperation! (If you have any questions, you may contact me or any of the moderators; we will answer your question if we are able.) Do not post any questions, responses, or comments on this topic. All replies to this topic will be deleted and may result in a warning or ban.

The twelve Game Enhancements, alphabetical by title name:

Brave Bear

• •Bears should be more aggressive

Calves and Cubs

• •Include elk calves and bear cubs in the game
  •Young would potentially be easier to kill, though mothers would be protective of their young

Chatbox Removed!

• •Have the option to remove the chat box from a multiplayer game

Deleting games

• •Be able to delete unwanted games by clicking a button within the game

Elk Fatigue

• •Elk have a stamina bar like wolves, representing how tired they are

Food Conversion

• •Use the ‘pup food’ to increase your wolf’s health

Goals/Achievements

• •Unlock achievements by completing goals in the game

I need a rest!

• •Press a key to sit or lie down and regain stamina instead of just standing and waiting

Pups/Dens

• •Pups can actually go inside the den when danger is near

Sneaky Wolves

• •Wolves can stalk their prey to help avoid being noticed

Stalking Adjustment

• •Make stalking look more realistic by changing the head and body movements

Take Control of Your Chat

• •The creator of multiplayer games can push a button to kick out users they don’t want in their game.

[WQ Coordinator]

Brave Bear

Description: After Slough Creek came out, bears have been really cowardly. Only two out of ten I've encountered were aggressive. (Well, the rare time I’ve encountered a bear) In the next wolf quest, the bears should be more aggressive and more common. This will make the game more challenging to overcome a bear attack. And also, most of my bear encounters are beside a carcass. It would not be easy to drive a bear from a carcass. This should be changed too.

Because bears are much bigger then wolves and it real life, they wouldn't run from them as often. And bears would almost never give a carcass to wolves.

This will make the game more challenging to overcome a bear attack. And when it's more challenging, sometimes it's more fun.

[WQ Coordinator]

Calves and Cubs

Description: Since spring and summer is when just about everything is born, the elk and bear sows should be accompanied by young. They should be easier to kill, like the cow calf, and the elk calves should provide about as much meat. Bear cubs can just be adorable, although the sows should be hyper aggressive if approached. It would add to player enjoyment if the babies had simple play animations (stinking calves - an animation that could be rather similar to playing puppies -, tumbling bear cubs, etc), but if the money is not at hand, that can always be added at a later time.

Spring and summer are the times when offspring are born. The lack of diverse offspring makes the game less accurate because most vertebrate behaviors revolve around the production and care of offspring. In this case, extreme changes to the behaviors of already established species in the game can be overlooked. However, overlooking the next generation in other species can send a message that indicates a lack of importance in non-target species. Adding more diverse offspring allows for more hunting opportunity, which tends to be true during late spring and summer. In addition, male bears are not the only danger that wolves face; when females have cubs, they can be quite aggressive. While wolves tend to avoid sows with cubs, sometimes they encounter them unexpectedly, or are chased away from kills.

Having the opportunity to hunt easier prey that still provides enough food to feed pups would reduce player stresses and provide more enrichment in the form of being able to observe the universal nature of play among mammals at the very least. The addition of calves that can be hunted provides a greater sense of realism, and also, to a lesser degree, a sense of biodiversity. If bear sows and cubs are added, this will demonstrate that adult wolves are not invulnerable to attack from bears. While bears tend to ignore wolves unless their kill is being usurped or there are pups present, a sow with cubs is a different story, and should be a danger to look out for while hunting.

[WQ Coordinator]

Chatbox Removed!

Description: By having the option to remove the chat box, it will eliminate all the abuse that spawns from it, making the game more educational by replacing it with actions (such as barking and body language)

Wolves don't talk, they use a system of body language to communicate. People on MP don’t really know that and often make up things and spread rumors. It would boost the educational value of the game greatly.

Making it more realistic and more classroom friendly. It would eliminate almost all of this mating and power play on the MP games.

[WQ Coordinator]

Deleting games

Description: I thought about the idea of deleting games. If you make a game then later on decide you don’t want to play it you could delete it in-game instead of having to delete the computer file. When you click on it like if you want to open the game there would be a button where you could delete it. It would keep playing little less confused if you had only games you were playing and not twenty games and only four you were using.

My idea would not improve education but it would help out a little.

It would help people that have multiple games and don't play half of them (like me). Then you could delete your unwanted games more easily. It would be less confusion.

[WQ Coordinator]

Elk Fatigue

Description: Once you begin chasing an elk, it would have a separate bar indicating how tired it is (completely full meaning that it is not tired). The longer you chase the elk, the lower the bar would become. Also biting the elk would make the bar go down a slightly larger amount. The less full the bar is the more tired the elk is and the slower it would run.

When wolves hunt, they don't only run after the elk and bite it as much as needed. Wolves also try to wear down their prey. In fact hunting is more about the actual endurance of the wolf against the elk instead of the speed. Adding elk fatigue would not only show players that wolves don't only hunt by chasing and biting elk, but would also increase the accuracy of the game.

Elk fatigue would really improve gameplay, by making the hunting portion of the game more enjoyable and accurate. Players would be learning even more about the wolf's life while still enjoying the game. It shows an actual feature of how wolves hunt, and would make the game more scientifically accurate.

[WQ Coordinator]

Food Conversion

Description: Often, while playing Slough Creek I have found myself, as I'm sure others have too, in the situation of having nearly no health, yet a full bar of pup food. Every time this happens, I wonder why I can't change the pup food into health. Because it's still food, right? Which means that there should be no difference between eating directly off a carcass or converting the pup food into health energy. That way, the next time a player's wolf has nearly no health but a full pup food bar, with absolutely no carcass in sight, they would be able to change the pup food into health energy. The way it would work would be that there could be an option in the pack stats menu section where it would allow you to choose from the pup food bar a specific amount and then change that into health. Or, you could even do it the opposite way, if your wolf had a lot of health but no pup food and the pups were hungry. Also, for this idea to be more effective, perhaps the amount of natural carcasses that show up could be reduced.

Only the less carcasses part would be really educational, because it would show that there isn't always a helpful pile of meat just lying around, waiting to be eaten.

It would make it easier when you have low health or your pups are hungry and there are no carcasses around.

[WQ Coordinator]

Goals/Achievements

Description: The player will be able to earn achievements by completing certain goals. For example if the player walks for 20km in the game they will unlock an achievement. A bit like how the achievement system works on the Xbox 360. There could be various goals. For killing x amount of animals, for keep x amount of pups alive, for walking a certain distance, for visiting all dens. The achievements would only be for bragging purposes. The achievements would have names, such as "explorer", "expert hunter" etc. each name would relate to the goal they must do.

It would improve WolfQuest's educational experience since each goal could be something a wolf would realistically do in the wild. Such as one goal could be travel 50miles, which is how many miles on average a wolf travels each day in the wild. Each achievement would have a name which linked to something specific to a wolf's life in the wild, or relate to a scientific rank. It could have names such as "Skilled Hunter".

This would improve gameplay since it would be something that could be added upon easily for each new version release. It would provide the player something to work for, while hopefully learning. It would give an additional fun factor to the game, which would hopefully keep more players interested for longer and attract more players which will hopefully help teach more and more people about wolves, which is WolfQuest's main goal.

[WQ Coordinator]

I need a rest!

Description: This is for both, role play AND regaining stamina. When you press the L key, you sit down and regain stamina a little bit quicker. And when you press L again, you lie down rest, regaining stamina even quicker. Just standing to wait takes longer, about 2 minutes to fully regain. Sitting down takes 1 minute, and 30 seconds for lying down, and even quicker when under shade, like a tree.

It would improve the education, but mainly scientific accuracy, that if wolves run, or walk under the sun for too long, they get tired and need to rest.

It would improve role play for when players eat a big meal after a hunt, like after eating a brought down bull male elk, and they would still be tired from the long hunt, so they would need to sit down and/or rest. Also for when players feel like it.

[WQ Coordinator]

Pups/Dens

Description: Well, basically I think it would be a neat thing if you made it so that puppies could actually go into the den when danger is around, like a bear. If the mom and dad wolf drops the pup off at the mouth of the den then the pups should go into it until the parents have chased the danger off. Bears wouldn't be able to get the puppies because they are underground but a coyote could because it could fit in the den. I know that the puppies episode has been released already but this is really just an improvement you could add for the next episode.

Well, I'm sure that real wolf pups don't keep walking around when danger is near, they either run to the den or an adult wolf takes them there.

It would be more realistic and make things a smidge easier for new players who are just starting out.

[WQ Coordinator]

Sneaky Wolves

Description: Wolves could sneak up (stalk) their prey, to a relatively close distance without being seen or heard.

It would show how stalking actually works instead of the prey running away or hearing you. Some elk probably can’t hear silent wolves when they're in their herds of grunting and munching elk.

You could get up close to your prey without being heard and it would make hunting a little bit easier.

[WQ Coordinator]

Stalking Adjustment

Description: The wolf stalk could be improved by changing the head movement and body position. Right now the head sways side to side, and the body is very close to the ground. The head should be very still with the ears perked forward as it would be very intent and alert for its prey, and the body in a higher position.

It would be a more realistic stalk and therefore, the people who play the game know what a wolf stalk looks like. Here's a video clip of a actual wolf stalking: http://www.bbcmotiongallery.com/gallery ... 22_0002.do As you can see the wolf has a very intent expression, his head is very low and still. His body is also very upright in a normal walk position, though it gradually lowers as he gets slower.

By simply giving us a better view on how a real wolf stalks its prey. Which would make the game a bit more educational

[WQ Coordinator]

Take Control of Your Chat

Description: If someone is being mean or inappropriate in multiplayer, we could have a button on the pack stats. The Pack Stats will show: If they are Male/female Username and a button on the left of their username that says "Kick user" The "Kick User" button could be very useful for people who are being just plain RUDE. And only the pack leader (creator of chat) has the option to kick. Example: Wolf1: who has pups? LeaderOfChat: Me Wolf1: Takes pups and kills- Leader of chat: (scrolls to "Wolf1"'s user info, and clicks "Kick user") Example 2: Wolf1: This chat is boring and you stinkl! LeaderOfChat: Please be nice and respectful, i dont want to have to kick you out.. Wolf1: Who cares?! LeaderOfChat: Last warning. Please stop or get kicked... Wolf1: (continues) LeaderOfChat: (Scrolls to "Wolf1"'s user file and clicks "Kick User"

I hope that will make WolfQuest a more enjoyable, and child-friendly game!

It will teach the users on WolfQuest that in order to play the game, you must follow the rules shown to you.