Beta Testing WolfQuest 3

[Lebron BMT]

One thing is I noticed right away in this beta testing video is the amount of time the player spends in Scent Mode. This was a similar problem the Batman Arkham games had with Detective Vision where the world is grayed out and the important things are highlighted in bright colors. The result was players playing the majority of the game in Detective Vision missing out on the great graphics and environments.

I foresee this being a problem in WolfQuest 3 because of the necessity of Scent Mode to find prey animals to hunt, and just other animals generally to interact with. I suspect people will spend a lot of time in Scent Mode and miss out on the game's great graphics. The Batman Arkham developers fixed this problem in their 3rd game by making Detective Vision very ugly. They didn't just gray out the world, they took out details like the shape of buildings and objects so it would be unpleasant and also unfeasible to navigate the entire game while remaining in Detective Vision.

I suggest the Wolfquest developers do something similar. Make trees and bushes and ground clutter completely invisible in Scent Mode so players will naturally not want to stay in Scent Mode for extended periods. Make the game world unrecognizable in Scent Mode so that players feel like they're not even playing the real game while using it. The idea is to get players to use Scent Mode in flashes only to help guide them.

Alternatively, I suggest the Wolfquest developers make the floating scent trails visible in 'normal' mode. After all, wolves do perceive a lot of their world through their sense of smell. It would be more accurate to have a world filled with both smells and sights. It would be a beautiful sight in my opinion. Perhaps the developers should consider making this optional. Or, the developers should consider floating scents to be present in 'normal' mode, and only animal tracks and ground scents to be viewable in scent mode when the player wolf is getting closer to another animal.

These are just my observations. Thanks for reading.

[Wolffiey]

I LOVE HOW WELL THE GAME IS COMING ALONG! And seeing that you are having beta testers being added goes to show that this game is in fact a priority and we all appreciate all the work you guys have done for the game! I cannot wait to join into the wolf mindset in v3!

[Frodo1]

@Phasoli- I'm glad I was able to give some insight into what beta testing is! It's very different than what most people expect, I feel-- and this was definitely stuff I didn't know when I first became a beta tester. I still love what I do, even though it's not exactly what I imagined it would be when I started testing in 2.7, but I definitely think about it differently now than when I first started out. Hopefully I was able to give a more down-to-earth view of beta testing than the romanticized version most people tend to think of, so that those who are interested can have more realistic expectations.

@Itschi- There will be ways of identifying where wolf territory is, such as what Dave talks about in this video

@Lebron BMT- I did spend a lot of time in scent view in the video, but that's in part because I really only showcased the hunting part of the game. You do spend a lot of time in scent view while tracking elk (or other animals), but you don't usually spend nearly as much time in scent view while you're doing other things. You can see how even for the hunt itself I switched out of scent view (and it would actually be chaotic and confusing to stay in scent view while trying to hunt), and a lot of the gameplay I didn't show takes place primarily out of scent view.

[Mwitu]

Thanks for looking for glitches! I'm sure it takes a plethora of patience (even if it's probably fun, too) to beta test, so I'm grateful that you would give up a bit of your time to help perfect the game for us players.

[Zoopal55]

This is really exciting to watch to evaluate the game and how it runs. I like how there is a more unexpected turn of events that can happen a.k.a. Stranger wolves won't attack you they may instead attack the elk that is chasing you! XD I can't wait to see and hear more on the development of the game. I remember playing this game early on when all there really was on maps, was just Amethyst mountain. My brother introduced this game a LONG time ago,(even though I didn't join the community till much later), I remember getting really excited over the newly added weather affects,lol, , and its really awesome to see the progress you guys made over the years! I can't wait to play WQ 3!

-StarBender2000

[Rustic]

the developers should consider floating scents to be present in 'normal' mode, and only animal tracks and ground scents to be viewable in scent mode when the player wolf is getting closer to another animal.

I second this....and should go and add this to the suggestion thread...if remember to to so...but this is something I recall the old dos game Wolf utilized, in that you could on occasion get a scent of an animal nearby you but also had the option of LOOKING for scents and tracking animals that way. The above suggestion would be a great way of combining the two, something that was never possible with the old scent system.

[kelvin16]

I watched the video.
Looks good but at 4:19 in the video above you see a steep descent in the mountain. And the wolf just runs down without losing grip or balance. Normally the wolf should slide down. Also for other animals such as a jaguar or something. I think if you would add that it would also be a lot more risky to run through the mountains. Because if you fall then you will also lose health. all this makes survival in the mountains more of a challenge.

[Dovabear9]

So excited that this is really coming along! Y 'all are doing great!

[Wolflover293]

I love this i am so excited Good job Beta testing jay !

[Loach]

I hardly use scent view in the main game anymore, knowing where herds spawn like I do and since there's no trail to follow when a moose first spawns. I mostly just use it to relocate moose or bull elk after feeding from a carcass a little bit away, so it's very nice to see it have a lot more importance with the new system. Also really enjoying how the spores float like dandelion puff and trails are along the ground.

The only problem is it looks slightly hard to see. The brightness of the grayscale contrast in scent view made it very hard to see the floating spores or note different colors. If it's more distinct in person then it's fine, but in the footage, it was very hard for me to see.

Digging the interface for the scent identifiers and I'm a big fan of the color changes for certain trails, too! Yellow feels like a much nicer choice for hare compared to the orange they have in the original game.

[elkhunter123456]

Does this mean that wolfquest 3 is coming out soon?

[Dinoman9877]

Does this mean that wolfquest 3 is coming out soon?

The original release date for 3.0 was actually December. But, according to the developers, general bugs and needed tweaks popped up that showed that date wasn't realistic and they went back to saying the release date was unknown, to give themselves a comfortable amount of time to finish it. There was even a video showing some of the...pretty major bugs on the channel, called "Why Why Why?"

Some of the highlights include a flying wolf with its tail stretching far beyond its body, a mule deer continuing to stot even after being bitten on the leg, giving the wolf whiplash, an AI wolf dancing on an untextured, pink deer corpse, and a mate struggling to leave the boundary of the third and fourth dimensions while attacking an elk. It's really rather hilarious, hope a few easter eggs make it in from that video.

Given what we know the update could literally come any day now. If they're in beta testing, that means they're nearing the end of development for the update, but their caution in naming a new release date means the update could happen...well, at any time really. There's certainly still a few topics they can cover in the devblogs in the meantime, but really only the developers know when they're going to be comfortable to release the update.

We can only hope that it's soon, though I'm gonna play Devil's advocate and say that a February release is probably not going to happen unless they say it's gonna happen.

[Frodo1]

This is definitely the tail end of the development process, but not the end of the road just yet. This is the finishing touches/polishing stage, pretty much, where it's less about actually adding content and more about fine-tuning what's already there. That said, it's hard to say how long that'll take. I imagine the release date will come when the team is reasonably confident that everything is settled enough that they shouldn't face unexpected delays.

[Dinoman9877]

It's simply hard to contain one's excitement with an update of this magnitude so close. Never in my wildest dreams did I think WolfQuest would become so...so...I mean just look at it! I do like the game in its current state but...let's be honest, compared to what 3.0 is going to bring, it's as if it's a whole new game. The elk respond like elk, the stranger wolves are intuitive and an actual, constant threat, everything is just...

Words cannot begin to describe my anticipation. Once the update releases there will not be much else I'll be playing for a long time.

[Jahla456]

This looks awesome!! I can't wait to start hunting my victims... I mean calves soon!