The Long and Winding Lamar

[loboLoco]

Video link: https://youtu.be/PX55cEqfA4Y

As a central feature of Yellowstone’s Northern Range, the Lamar River is an important landmark for wolves, so we’re glad to finally include it in the Amethyst Mountain map. Today’s video looks at how we’re creating the river in Unity, using several new tools for Unity — River Auto Material and Lux Water — as well as good old-fashioned hand-carving. More remains to be done to this riparian stretch of the game map — adding more vegetation, rocks, and driftwood, but it’s coming along, and we think it’ll be an attractive place for an afternoon nap — as long as you can find a peaceful spot away from stranger wolves!

Got questions? Here are some answers!
* Yes, your wolf can drink (but no thirst meter)
* Other animals might get to drink too. But this is not that day.
* NEW! River current!
* No, adult wolves are strong swimmers so they can’t drown.
* No fish. Maybe beavers. Some live in riverbank dens. We’ll see.  Otters are the dream.
* Wet fur effects might be added someday.
* The Lamar River might freeze over in deep winter. We hope to add a deep winter map someday!

[TimberRaven]

Wow! The lamar's coming out pretty cool! Maybe I'll go jump in and swim in the current while glitchy wolves chase me :3

[poncho0287]

The Lamar's is coming out really great there.

[YellowstoneWolves1]

This game is going to be so beautiful. I can already imagine so many roleplayers having fun with the bigger map. I can already see my water-loving character(s) having fun in the river. I have a couple questions. First off, will our wolf's fur get wet or is that not your major concern right now? Will we have multiplayer right away or are we gonna have to wait until the full update, not the Early Access? And finally, what will happen to Lost River?

Edit: Saw the answered questions. Ignore my question about the fur please.

[elkhunter123456]

the Lamar looks awsome! I cant wait to hunt beavers!

[DinoDogDude209]

I have to say, the Lamar River is beautiful! The real footage and the in-game footage looked almost identical! I also think that the different water colors could be utilized at some point, maybe the darker blue water could be for a deep lake or a river that is deeper than the Lamar? Though some of the different water textures kind of looked like someone had dumped a few hundred gallons of Gatorade into the river. I think it might be a little more immersive if players could see objects and debris floating down the river, like a branch that has fallen into the water from one of the nearby trees. Either way, I'm liking the way that the river is looking, and I'm certainly going to explore that area when the new version is released.

[Koa]

The river (and the flash of the new collar) looks great, Dave!

[Windstrider]

Holy crap, it all looks amazing! I mean...it looks real; you can barely tell the real footage and the game apart. And that terrain-sculpting tool thing you were using to make the sandbars must be really fun to use. That's so cool how you can actually sculpt and make the terrain how you want, right there in front of your eyes!

[Bushmeat]

Dave, pulling some shader/tint/slider far beyond reasonable: Whoa!

I'm sure it was more tedious in real time, but the river carving looked really fun. Makes me excited to get down to my local river again whenever winter lets up.

Looking fantastic as always!

[x1103]

They say no fish but still I talk about fish. So is there never-ever going to be fish even considered? Especially if there were otters one day then there just had to be fish right? We even have a toad though I read that amphibians are less common because of the dryness and cold.

Fish are an importnant part of the ecosystem and I have heard some interesting stuff about wolves catching fish (and leaving them for other animals and then returning to eat what's left or something...)

For some reason I have always found the salmon run very fascinating. I tried to do a quick search but did not really find any loud and clear answer if Yellowstone has salmon runs... Wikipedia says this tho: "In northwest America, salmon is a keystone species, which means the impact they have on other life is greater than would be expected in relation to their biomass." Also I found some stuff about cutthroat trout (which, sorry to bring this up again, is called "red throat salmon" in my languange? So is it a salmon huh?) that lives in rivers but the biggest lake in Yellowstone has the world's largest population of them.

So what I am trying to say though you must already know... fish matter..! XD

[LamarWolf]

The Lamar looks great I love the sand bar and islands. I have two questions one is will there be the park road and two when will bison be added because when I went to lamar I saw more bison then elk, the elk were up in the higher mountains.

[loboLoco]

will there be the park road and two when will bison be added because when I went to lamar I saw more bison then elk, the elk were up in the higher mountains.

We'll add the road, but it'll be inaccessible to players. And bison are definitely in our long-term plans.

They say no fish but still I talk about fish. So is there never-ever going to be fish even considered?

There are fish in the Lamar, of course (popular with anglers), but wolves in Yellowstone do not hunt fish -- too much work for too little reward.

Will we have multiplayer right away or are we gonna have to wait until the full update, not the Early Access? And finally, what will happen to Lost River?

We're working on MP but if the SP game is ready to release into EA before MP is ready, we won't hold it up.

Lost River will return, but not before Slough Creek.

[Phasoli]

The river is looking beautiful thus far! I can’t wait to take a drink and nap along the sandbars. So pretty!

[BlackMetal]

Hello, I'm new here and I want to leave my first comment here.

At this point, I want to tell you that I'm really looking forward to the Early Access update of Amethyst Mountain and trying out the new features and emotes you've included. And everything looks so amazing and real like the river in the latest video and the animals and the landscape!

[Starbender2000]

This looks really nice, the Lamar river is coming along quite well. Let's hope the future players are wise not to sleep in wolf territory. lol

-StarBender2000