Emote Yourself

[loboLoco]

[youtube]envkYw5FJc4[/youtube]
Video link:

We’re adding more emotes to WolfQuest 3: Anniversary Edition — which created a design challenge. With 18 emotes, how do we display them all while offering fast access to each one? Another constraint was that due to the revised control scheme (which keeps the mouse locked and invisible for steering — more on this in a future blog post), we couldn’t leave the emotes popup panel onscreen all the time as we did in WQ 2.7. We experimented with common RPG interfaces for this type of thing, then refined the design into what you see in today’s video: Press and hold the E key (or Emotes button on mobile) to display the popup, then choose an emote from the Favorites category, or select a different category and choose an emote from there. While the Emotes panel does cover up much of the screen, it’s only for a moment while you select a button.

What’s new:
* T2 (tail straight back)
* T3 (tail angled down)
* T3.5 (tail straight down)
* Airplane Ears
* Ears Back
* Growl
* Snarl
* Chin Rest
* Submissive Lick
* Sniff Noses

This new Emotes panel not only accommodates ten new emotes (for a total of 18, with room to add more in the future), but it lets you customize it by choosing which emotes should appear in the default “Favorites” category. You’ll also be able to assign hotkeys to each emote for even faster selection. (For the tail actions, we know players would like to do these while engaged in other actions, and we have that on our wish list.)

A couple notes:
* Those last three emotes require another friendly wolf nearby, so we’ll show those in another video in the near future.)
* The voice animations use real wolf vocalizations, including some from the ambassador wolves at the International Wolf Center.
* If you are interested in learning more about wolf body language and the complexities of wolf communication, be sure to check out the in-depth International Wolf Center videos at https://www.youtube.com/user/IntlWolfCenter

[MysteryFoxSpirt]

Now I’m impatient for the new mate emotes! Also, I like how the 2.7 emotes (Play Bow, Tail, Grin, And howl) make your mate do something with you! (Howling with your mate was in the game when mates where involved.) Also, I’ve noticed, mates have different howls too!

I’m going to explode I’m so impatient! Keep it up, Dave and Co!

[airbones]

!!!

I am so in love with that snarl and the new play bow! The model looks so good and the animations are smooooth wow. I love it. I'm excited to see the emotes that require another player! That kind of thing has been something I've been really wanting so I look forward to seeing how they work.

[Gillato]

Woah Settle Down Lassie! the wolf really gave me a jump scare when it snarled'
it looks so real!! U guys have really out done your self's. and the panels!!
Woah!! so Coool!! WQ is gonna be swimming with player's! ~Goodjob guy's

[Koa]

Wow, the new animations look great, especially the snarl-- you can definitely see that eye shader/lighting in action!

[duskypack]

Love how the background has gone from barren placeholder wasteland to what looks like an actual spot on the map! The body redesign has made everything so much more fluid and I love the new ways to interact with your pack mates! Can see myself having a lot of fun with this in both SP and MP - I love all the little ways to bond with your pack, especially in the latter, and I think it’ll help that significantly. Maybe wolf-to-wolf interactions will even raise pack affinity (if that mechanic remains in-game)? Can’t wait to see the rest!

[MysteryFoxSpirt]

Also, a question, will we be able to interact with pack wolves? And can we use the mate interactions with other players in Multiplayer?

Eh. Two questions.

[poncho0287]

Also, a question, will we be able to interact with pack wolves? And can we use the mate interactions with other players in Multiplayer?

Eh. Two questions.

I was wondering that to it would be so cool if we use the mate interactions in Multiplayer.

[PearlyReborn]

The updated UI looks SO GOOD. All these new emotes look really cool, and registering emotes as favorites is awesome. Keep up the good work!

[DawnWings]

This is awesome! The game is just getting better and better!

May I make a suggestion? You've said before that stranger wolves will be interacted with by emotes and may attack the player. For these reasons I think the game should automatically pause when the emote selector is brought up to give the player more time to think, otherwise the stranger wolf may attack or interrupt the player while they're trying to select a emote to interact with them. It's very easy to not be quick enough when trying to select something from a menu, as I've seen this problem with other games.

[SilkenGalaxy]

This is all around awesome! The new animations are so smooth!

[LamarWolf]

I love the snarl. It looks really good.

[roguemoon]

I love the design you guys decided on for the emotes menu! I definitely agree that it's the most functional and aesthetically appealing, that favourites menu will be super helpful.

The new wolf model looks amazing in action, so realistic and incredibly detailed! Adds a lot of life to the wolf, having all these emotes will too. Really interested in seeing how all these work! I love the play bow too <3 but that snarl was especially exciting! The IK system is working amazing, the movements on the wolf are so detailed. I wonder if you'll be able to intimidate enemies now without needing to engage in combat?

The team has been doing incredible so far, I'm always looking forward to these Thursday uploads!

[PearlyReborn]

This is awesome! The game is just getting better and better!

May I make a suggestion? You've said before that stranger wolves will be interacted with by emotes and may attack the player. For these reasons I think the game should automatically pause when the emote selector is brought up to give the player more time to think, otherwise the stranger wolf may attack or interrupt the player while they're trying to select a emote to interact with them. It's very easy to not be quick enough when trying to select something from a menu, as I've seen this problem with other games.

How I personally think it should work is that you can enter a "stranger mode" when close enough to a stranger (perhaps alerted with "A strange wolf is near!" briefly showing up on your screen) where socialization/combat emotes are temporarily assigned to hotkeys.

[SolitaryHowl]

This looks amazing. I love how it is organized, the favourites panel & hotkeys will be so useful!

"Airplane ears. When is WolfQuest 3 coming out? ....Uncertain."