Hard Rock Ballet

Find out what we're doing and thinking as we develop WolfQuest 3: Anniversary Edition and the Tower Fall expansion!

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loboLoco
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Hard Rock Ballet

Post by loboLoco » Thu Mar 07, 2019 3:34 pm

[youtube]QZq6zc4b6hk[/youtube]
Video link: https://youtu.be/QZq6zc4b6hk

I’ve been working on the cliffs of Amethyst Mountain and Specimen Ridge for way too long, but they’re finally looking pretty good. So now it’s time to focus on how animals, specifically the player-wolf, interacts with them. Seems like a simple matter, right? Longtime readers know what’s coming next….. there are various complications in getting the wolf to behave naturalistically on and around rocks, mainly because we have several intersecting systems, particularly how the IK (inverse kinematics) system interacts with the rock forms. Also complicating matters is that a big rock is both an obstacle (wolves can’t go inside them) and a surface (wolves can walk on them), and how the wolf deals with the rock depends on specific relative angles to each other and the world in general. So we got some unexpected results as we refined the behavioral logic.

Along with this, we’ve added a sliding action on steep slopes, so wolves cannot walk up a cliff face — instead, they’ll slide down the slope until it’s more manageable. A simple feature, yet strangely enjoyable. And finally, this video reveals that in WolfQuest 3, you can indeed jump off a cliff to meet your fate. Kids, don’t try this at home!

Of course, all this talk of rocks and cliffs will remind you that the winner of our “Vote for a New Animal” contest last year was bighorn sheep! They will certainly appreciate the barriers to wolves that rocks and slopes provide, and will most likely eye you from above. Bighorns might not make it into early release but we haven’t forgotten about them!
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MysteryFoxSpirt
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Re: Hard Rock Ballet

Post by MysteryFoxSpirt » Thu Mar 07, 2019 3:39 pm

Wow, it would be cool if you could break your leg, like in the Isle. You know that dinosaur game right? And bleed if your bitten or hit by a prey animal by their antlers, or something that COULD make you bleed. I like seeing your updates. I'm giving this suggestion because it seems like your wanting to make this game more realistic. Broken leg, and bleeding wolf seems more realistic. But you should also be able to turn off blood, and just loose a bit of health if your uncomfortable with blood on your wolf or the grass. Like in the Isle, you just rest to heal.

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Re: Hard Rock Ballet

Post by wolf8484 » Thu Mar 07, 2019 3:49 pm

I love the sliding animation, especially the dust detail. And that sunset view on the cliff was gorgeous, bravo on those! When it’s fixed I’m sure I’ll be a little scared of falling off of them and hurting my poor wolf lol. Very excited to explore that area on the map when WQ3 comes out :) :wolf:

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Re: Hard Rock Ballet

Post by ClownfishtheDJ » Thu Mar 07, 2019 3:53 pm

This is so amazing! I will definitely love messing around with this feature when it's released. I'm absolutely blown away with how much work, time, and effort that is going into WQ3. It is truly one of the best games out there.
I think another good feature to add to this would be the option to have your stamina slowly run out as you climb the steeper slopes. I think it would add that extra touch of realism and sense of hiking in the real world!
The game is coming together very well and I totally can't wait until is is released!

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Re: Hard Rock Ballet

Post by elkhunter123456 » Thu Mar 07, 2019 3:57 pm

How would other animals interact with the bighorn sheep? e.g would cougars climb cliffs to hunt them
Also would i be able to see rams fighting? (that would look awesome)

I cant wait to jump off cliffs! (and if possible land in a river)

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Re: Hard Rock Ballet

Post by LamarWolf » Thu Mar 07, 2019 3:57 pm

It looks great I can just visualize a new multiplayer game cliff diving about jumping and seeing who survives. I can't wait to slide down the slopes and somedays I do feel like I'm in solid rock so you are not alone. Keep up the good work.

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Re: Hard Rock Ballet

Post by YellowstoneWolves1 » Thu Mar 07, 2019 4:04 pm

Oh the little bugs and glitches that need to be fixed. As mentioned, they are inevitable. I love every tiny little thing the wolf does, from sliding to the tail wag to it jumping off the rock, even if that did hurt it. I love all the details of the landscape and of the wolf itself. I'm going to like this game a lot. I assume we're going to lose the donor face rock near Aspen Heights? Where we jump inside the rock and give it a face?

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Re: Hard Rock Ballet

Post by Zoopal55 » Thu Mar 07, 2019 4:08 pm

XD Oh yes, I like the part where his head hardly comes above the rock, it looked hilarious! ;) I also loved the flippy tail, dead but still wagging! lol :lol: Anyway, it looks great, obvious glitches but the map really does look pretty good! :D I like how there is now sliding action, and fall damage. Nicely done!

-StarBender2000 :wolf:

(In other notes: Just became an elder wolf this last week! Yay!) :D

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Re: Hard Rock Ballet

Post by Polynesia » Thu Mar 07, 2019 4:42 pm

Oh, the sliding looks so fun lol 😁
Starbender2000 wrote:
Thu Mar 07, 2019 4:08 pm
(In other notes: Just became an elder wolf this last week! Yay!) :D
Congrats!!!

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Re: Hard Rock Ballet

Post by DinoDogDude209 » Thu Mar 07, 2019 4:58 pm

A new way to die: Jumping 40 feet to your death! In all seriousness though, I love how much effort is being put into making sure the rocks and cliffs work the way they are supposed to. All these bugs and glitches really show why the game is taking so long to develop, from the awkward visual glitches to the problems with the IK system on the rocks, I'm glad that time is being taken to playtest the game to prevent such immersion-breaking bugs and glitches.

I like the sliding feature, and the dust details are so amazing, I absolutely love that sort of attention to detail. The fall damage mechanic is nice to see too, especially with cliffs that high. I can't wait to see what the new Bighorn Sheep will be like. Though I think the amount of fall damage you take should probably be increased. I saw the wolf in the video fall pretty far without dying, though I'm assuming that might still be tweaked at some point.

Perhaps some more details when sliding down the cliffs would be nice to see as well, with small pebbles and other debris sliding down when the player is sliding down. Maybe when the landscape is all snowy later in the Amethyst episode, snow would roll down the cliffs too when that happens? I don't know how much coding that would take though. Although it would be interesting to see an avalanche or a rockslide as a random event, but that would probably have to be added sometime in the far future, as that would probably be hard to add.

Everything in the game seems to be coming along pretty well though!

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Re: Hard Rock Ballet

Post by poncho0287 » Thu Mar 07, 2019 6:07 pm

I love the bugs and the glitches. So funny.

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Re: Hard Rock Ballet

Post by Bushmeat » Thu Mar 07, 2019 7:59 pm

Ah, good old harakiri. :roll:

The propeller tail when jumping is excellen- wait, was that a peek at another new and improved coat? Can't wait to see more of those. I love just looking at the wolf model.. it's such an improvement and yet still feels like WolfQuest.

Sliding looks really cute and I'm sure the WQ community will immediately get to work finding the longest slide... but I'm also sure it won't take me too long to become absolutely frustrated when I'm trying to find my way up the cliffs! Don't think I didn't see how long it took you to find your way back up to jump a second time! I suppose in the cliff climbing respect, we've had it too good for too long..

I know getting the IK to play nicely and not break the wolf model must be aggravating at times.. but I kind of like seeing it as in the video, getting pulled to some extremes. What it's doing is usually far more subtle but here you can really see how it's trying to work. It makes the wolf model feel far less stiff and far more believable when interacting with uneven terrain, and I really think it's worth the effort! Can't wait to stand on those rocks properly!

Also, I've been curious on the turn around time on these videos. They're uploaded Thursday, but are they also recorded and edited earlier that same Thursday? Wednesday? How long does it actually take to go from hitting record to posting an update?

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Re: Hard Rock Ballet

Post by Alliniska » Fri Mar 08, 2019 4:54 am

As a current computing student, I find it fascinating to watch development like this. Just seeing how the industry works means a lot for me and I'm loving it.

Even though I'm not doing unity right now in a game development sense seeing the process is really helpful and I cannot say how much I appreciate you sharing these updates with the community.

The team dedication to wolf quest can be seen and as a person who started gaming through this game (more or less) it means a lot that someone wants to take this great concept the furthest they can! Keep it up!

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Re: Hard Rock Ballet

Post by Wolvencall » Fri Mar 08, 2019 1:50 pm

Also though wolves anatomy works differently than people they have an easier time going up slopes than going down per say. also the jumping off the cliff animation throws me off, I don't think they'd land like cats... there could be side sliding/ rolling.

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Re: Hard Rock Ballet

Post by Phasoli » Fri Mar 08, 2019 7:29 pm

Oh man, I love the sliding feature already. I can see myself pretending to sled by deliberately sliding down a slope when it’s snowy, haha. The extra addition of fall damage just adds that extra layer of danger and realism to the game! I’m loving how the game is progressing. So looking forward to the release!

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