Post
by Noctis_ » Sun Apr 01, 2018 5:07 pm
Personally, with a wilderness simulator like WolfQuest, I value true immersion and realism over "gamey-ness", and I don't think the former takes away from the fun. I know it's best for the two elements to meet somewhere halfway, but I'm on the more realistic side of that spectrum. I'm definitely inclined to say no to 'battle' (I wonder how well real wolves would do in life if they went out of their way to battle giant grizzlies), and other overly dramatic/eccentric mission types. I think it almost goes against WolfQuest's goal. By deriving the game's interest from the aforementioned unrealistic or rare activities, it marginalizes real wolf daily life. The greatest success WolfQuest could achieve is creating and fostering true, genuine interest and appreciation for wolves based on what they really are.
I think smooth, naturalistic missions are the way to go, ones that rope the player's interest into realistic activities and tasks, such as courting and hunting. For instance, I really like the idea of player wolves sneaking around the outskirt's of another pack's territory and courting an available young wolf who hasn't yet dispersed. It's a realistic activity that also takes some strategy to pull off. The mother and father (the leaders of the pack) would perhaps chase the player if the player is detected, and the player would attempt to draw the available wolf from its pack in order to court it. It may be a mission that would take some time to complete, maybe even one that stretches over the course of several days.
An idea I've read that I agree with is making the den-finding mission a little longer, where the player may use an already dug-out den, or dig their own in a spot of the player's choosing. There would be some risk and trial-and-error here, because some areas would be dangerous or not ideal, and would pressure the player to think strategically about den placement. Choosing a poor location may result in natural punishment such as predators finding the puppies more easily.
This isn't exactly a mission, but I'm also interested in the plant and animal glossaries that a few other people have already mentioned. It serves as a nice educational tool as well as a sort of 'collectible' element to the game that I know some would really enjoy. Encountering new plants, animals, and phenomena would add them, and information about them, to the glossary, which could be accessed through some sort of game menu at any time. Maybe discovering a certain number of animals would award the player with XP, and searching for plants to add to the glossary would prompt players to explore the map to find those plants.
What if there were unique hunting techniques for each prey animal (that may or may not be enter-able into the glossary) that the player would have to use in order to catch that animal most effectively? It would encourage the player to utilize strategy when hunting, and perhaps the player would receive an XP reward for mastering every hunting technique. Perhaps this could even be transformed into a mission, where the elk herds are no longer currently in the player's territory, and therefore the player must sustain themselves and their family by catching a wide variety of small animals such as mice, voles, rabbits, and squirrels. Here the player might be prompted to catch all the animal types using the appropriate technique.
As for the issue of how to trigger secondary missions, players wandering into certain areas is certainly a way, but maybe life events (such as the elk herd wandering out of the player's territory, mentioned above) or the player witnessing phenomena occur may also trigger them. It would be neat if many of the secondary missions revolve around learning some new skill or piece of information that the player could incorporate into their gameplay later on. As for whether or not to include a mission marker, I do think this is too "gamey". Players should be prompted to think whenever possible and try to figure out what to do on their own, just as real wolves would.
This is a larger idea, but what if WolfQuest had a tutorial of sorts, where the player plays as a juvenile wolf still in their natal pack? This would allow the player to learn the skills necessary to be a successful adult wolf in a realistic fashion. The parents would bring the player wolf and their siblings along on hunts to demonstrate hunting, and would teach the player their limitations (for instance, to avoid certain animals/situations). There may also be a small event(s) where a stranger wolf wanders into the player's natal pack's territory, and the parents drive it away. This would reinforce (or teach, in the case of players who did not already know) the fact that wolf packs do not generally include unrelated wolves, and do not simply 'take in' strangers. As an added bonus, players would be able to play/socialize with their siblings and learn wolf body language, that perhaps would be helpful for socialization later in life?
I loved the first idea, second, not really the third, and I liked the fourth. But my favorite... is the first suggestion! 
