The Fate of the Mate

[loboLoco]

[youtube]XbKPNRrFj50[/youtube]
Video link:

A player recently asked: [Will mates be more helpful in WolfQuest 3?

The answer is: Yes! and No! and Somewhere in between.

How’s that? Because in WolfQuest 3, your mate will have a personality! Some mates will be bold, some humble. Some social and some are loners. Some energetic and some lazy. We’re building much more naturalistic version of the social arena (I’ll share more about that in a future blog post), and in those interactions you can get a sense of each prospective mates’ personalities — though as with any partnership, you don’t discover everything at first… Your mate’s personality will affect how it hunts, how it interacts with you, with pups, and with the rest of the world.

Which leads us to another question about mates: Should it be possible for them to die? They can’t die in the current game, but that’s mainly for simplicity, since raising pups as a single parent would be quite daunting, and there’s no mechanism to get a new mate. In WolfQuest 3, it will be possible to get a new mate, so we’re thinking about what kinds of fates might await your mate — and we’d like your thoughts on this!

Here are the choices:

a) Mate can never die.
b) Mate can die and it's permanent.
c) Mate can die but you can revive it once -- but if it is killed again before recovering, that death is permanent.
d) All of the above, depending on difficulty level.

Please watch the video above and vote your preference (click the i button at top-right), and if you have more thoughts, post them in the comments here. (But please keep your comments focused on this topic.) Thanks!

[Noella]

Very excited to see how mates interact and stuff. Voted for All of the Above, it would be a fair aspect in the game to do things by difficulty.

[Shiranuiii]

• _{I voted for C but to be honest I'm not too fussed, can't wait to see the new mate stuff though cx}

[Polynesia]

Searching for a new mate while you have pups sounds so fun! It makes the social aspect interesting because, if a stranger wolf approaches your den, he could either be a threat or a potential new mate.

So that players don't have to wander off and leave their pups alone in search of mate, you could have a mechanism where howling attracts dispersal wolves to you. It would have an element of risk though, i.e., you might attract an enemy wolf who is a threat to your pups.

Anyway, I voted for permanent death because it's interesting. Mates being invincible gets tedious..

I would rather not have mate death be dependant on difficulty level. I like to play on the lowest difficulty just because it's more relaxed, but I really wouldn't want my mate to be invincible. Instead, maybe mate deaths could be permanent across all difficulty levels, but the ease of finding a new mate will be affected.

But the mates having personalities sounds awesome! Will mates in WQ 3 be able to attack predators on their own, depending on how bold they are? E.g. if there's a bear at the den, a brave mate will attack the bear independently. The mates in 2.7 are passive because they don't attack predators at all, which is a little unfair because it means you alone have to put your life on the line.

[roguemoon]

Searching for a new mate while you have pups sounds so fun! It makes the social aspect interesting because, if a stranger wolf approaches your den, he could either be a threat or a potential new mate.

So that players don't have to wander off and leave their pups alone in search of mate, you could have a mechanism where howling attracts dispersal wolves to you. It would have an element of risk though, i.e., you might attract an enemy wolf who is a threat to your pups.

I support this very much ^^ it would be nice to be able to bring potential mates to you.

I'm personally not sure where I stand on mates dying or not. I think on the lowest two difficulties, mates should revive infinitely as I imagine it could be frustrating for younger or newbie players who aren't yet familiar with gameplay, or for players who just want a relaxed and casual gaming experience.
I think it would be interesting if mates could die permanently (perhaps you would have a limited amount of chances to revive them?) and it would certainly add another element of realism. However, I believe the mechanism where mates will wander off and heal themselves when their health is low should be kept. If mates are to die permanently it should not be very easy for them to be killed.

I also love the fact that dispersal wolves will have personalities! I'm very excited to see what social interaction with stranger wolves will be like.

[cloudlover07]

I wish I could time travel..

[Shiverdam]

Adjusting difficulty level would be a good idea. I could see unavoidable, permanent death being a real deterrent for newcomers.
So no death could be beginner level, Death with revival can be intermediate, and permanent death could be advanced.

[Polynesia]

I really wouldn't want my mate to be invincible at any level. (That's not to say mate death would be a common occurrence.) A mechanism for finding a new mate sounds fun, but if it's only available on high levels, people who like to play on low levels - for the sake of not having to worry all the time - would miss out.

Instead, maybe we could just have the option to revive our mates, no matter what setting the game is on. This way, players who are not up to the challenge can choose to revive, and players who are up to the challenge can let nature take its course. Everyone wins!

[Zoopal55]

OH YES! I have been waiting for mates to get complex, now that they will have social levels, it's going to be interesting. Also death of a mate and the ability to find a new one would be awesome! Love your work guys can't wait! Voting: D, All of the above, based on difficulty level.

-StarBender2000

[KotiKkRotikK]

He, of course, can die, but there must be a case when the assistant received a big loss, for example, and, eventually, he could survive and get up, but with a wound until spring, like that (it's not quite the case when the mate in the current game gets injured)

[ClownfishtheDJ]

All of the choices sound great! Although I do like the idea of reviving your mate once because what if you take on a bull elk/moose/deer, and your mate dies? Or if there's 2 preds hunting your pups at one time. Therefore I choose C but that's just my opinion though. I also LOVE that the mates get personalities!

EDIT: Plus, I feel like it would be a little unfair to have the mates be invincible on the lowest level for the more experienced players who like to play on it to master hunting, pup raising, etc., and I love the realism of the dying that's already there. Also, maybe the revival could cost Exp? Or maybe for the higher levels, to revive you have to lose a certain amount of Exp. Like you do when you die?

[DragonSoul720]

I think having all options available and based on difficulty would be better for newer or younger players who might not be able to play the game so well. But it being option will make it a choice to take on that challenge which benefits older players too

[Erza101]

All of the choices sound great! Although I do like the idea of reviving your mate once because what if you take on a bull elk/moose/deer, and your mate dies? Or if there's 2 preds hunting your pups at one time. Therefore I choose C but that's just my opinion though. I also LOVE that the mates get personalities!

EDIT: Plus, I feel like it would be a little unfair to have the mates be invincible on the lowest level for the more experienced players who like to play on it to master hunting, pup raising, etc., and I love the realism of the dying that's already there. Also, maybe the revival could cost Exp? Or maybe for the higher levels, to revive you have to lose a certain amount of Exp. Like you do when you die?

I really like the idea of using exp as a currency in-game. It would make being an Elder wolf much more interesting and a good goal to reach (as you get added benefits)

[Frodo1]

Oh man, this will definitely add a new layer to the game! I'm both really, really excited and also apprehensive, heh...
I like the idea of the mortal injury system, for sure-- that adds a little bit of a "second chance", and that is definitely something I usually like, but at the same time it then falls to you to make sure your mate will be able to recover. Will you have to escort them back to safety? Protect them while they heal? Will predators sense your mate's injury and target them, or will stranger wolves detect the pack's weakness and seize the chance to try and chase you from your territory? As I've said before, I feel like death in games like this should be a direct result of a player's actions. This is already reflected with most pup deaths-- although sometimes they can be very hard to avoid, usually it is possible to look back and go "I should have done x differently", except in the odd event of glitches and such. Player death is similar-- usually the result of the player pushing their limits too far. I feel like having a "mortal wound" system could add a lot of depth to that element, because it could still be possible for the player to protect their mate, and wouldn't just be an automatic "BOOM! Your mate is dead!" thing, but would still give serious consequences to the more dangerous elements of the game.

Here's just some questions that popped into my head: If your mate dies, how will the pups be handled? Will their survival depend on the gender of the player and the gender of the mate (i.e. if a female mate dies before having pups, will you have to go back to AM to find a new mate?) If a wolf has pups and loses their mate, would a new mate accept the old one's pups? Or would new potential mates still be likely to try and kill the previous mate's pups, leaving you to have to defend against them as well?

[Nor-easter Forecast]

I voted for "all of the above" just because I love using difficulty levels to tailor my game experience.

However, I wonder if the team has also evaluated the possibility of having revival be a possibility at all times? In other words mates will always be killable, but you will also always have to option to bring them back to life. I feel like this would help with accidental deaths (no matter how good the AI is, sometimes a mate is going to die because it got stuck behind a tree or did something silly) because it would prevent resentment. Also, players could decide at any point and any difficulty level that they want to accept the challenge of raising pups alone.

At the same time I think most people would be happy with the options already presented.