Status Update - 14th March 2012

[Stefan Pettersson]

Hello and welcome to this week's Status Update!

We are putting the finishing touches on the Game Update that we will release... tomorrow Thursday!

The improved Trophy Shot mode mentioned in an earlier Status Update is the big new feature. Another change is that based on feedback we have made some changes and tweaks to TruRACS when it comes to Mule Deer and Blacktail.

Another thing that I wanted to discuss today is that we have significantly revised and improved how the animal's visual sense is modelled (that is, how they see you). The reason for this is to allow for better gameplay and make their behavior easier, and more logical, to understand.

There are several changes compared to the current way this is implemented.

Location of eyes Previously a generic position was used as the origin when it was calculated if an animal spotted you or not, this has now changed to always originate for the actual eye placement. The direction of the eyes are now also always in the direction of the head, rather than the general direction of the body (although these two are often the same). However note that herbivores such as deer tend to have a huge field of view (about 310 degrees), so even though it’s head may be facing away it may still be able to detect you unless you are in it’s rather tight 80 degree blind-spot. This means that following the head direction is more of an issue when hunting carnivores such as bears and coyotes that have a tighter field of view.

Partial detection An animal may now partially spot a player. The more an animal can see of a player the increased chance the animal will spot and react. Note that also other factors are involved, such as distance and probability.

Field of Vision Field of vision is now more accurately modelled. As an example, a deer has a typical FOV of 310 degrees while a human has 180 degrees (except Doc, he has 360 degrees, ofcourse).

Why do deer and other herbivores have such an insane FOV while predators do not? Well, the reasoning is that a huge FOV is advantageous when trying to detect creatures that want to eat you while these hungry beasts have a greater advantage of binocular vision that helps them conduct that very same business. Tighter FOV means more overlap between the vision field of each eye which in turn contributes to better binocular vision and binocular vision is vital when trying to measure the distance to your dinner in preparation for that final leap.

A creatures FOV is not two-dimensional. A human have for instance 180 degrees FOV in the horizontal plane, but only 100 degrees in the vertical plane. Previously this was not modeled in the game. Animals had different horizontal FOV, but the vertical FOV was always fixed to 180 degrees. VFOV is now also set to realistic values for our animals. For most of them this means 90-100 degrees.

The biological reasoning behind limited VFOV is that most ground-based animals have no natural reason to monitor the world above them at all time. For example it makes sense for a deer to keep an eye on the horizontal plane where wolfs and other predators lurk, but there are not that many natural threats that may attack from above. This is one of the reasons why a treestand is so effective vs. deer.

The exception to this rule are birds that tend to have a more extreme VFOV. The reason may be that they themselves spend a lot of time traversing the vertical plane and/or because some of their enemies (birds of prey) do likewise. The effect of the tighter VFOV will be felt in treestands, towers and other elevated positions (hills, rocks etc.) that now will offer better visual camo. Especially when animals are close to the players position.


Overall we believe these changes will make the game both more fun and realistic, where you as a hunter are challenged by the animals but may also take advantage of knowing how they behave, their strength and weaknesses. This is part of the Game Update tomorrow.

Happy hunting!

[killertut]

nice

[ColoradoKid]

Sounds good - I have to re-read all of that to make sure I understand it. Should make it feel more real and make using rocks and trees as cover more effective perhaps.

TruRACS updates are welcomed as well.

[TrophyHunter25]

Great Update I had no Idea the Game Update was gonna be tomorrow , I am really excited now!

[ronMctube]

great news finally get back to hunting regular for mulies and blacktails

nice update cant wait . should make alot very happy

[Alex308]

I got so excited that the update is going to be tomorrow.Thanks a lot! Really looking forward to the new trophy shot system.
Any word about the flowing water you had mentioned ages ago?

[Dirtclod]

Very cool new features. Thanks for always tweaking this game and paying attention to the community. It really helps justify buying memberships in these tough times. A REAL entertainment value IMHO.

[Dude378]

Sweet Update !
I've been struggeling with myself the last two or three days if i should buy another treestand , was not sure about it , since i don't use them that often .
But now - Im off to Doc's Outfitters...
c ya there!

[Willehard]

Yup, sound really interesting.

[Jalio]

Sounds really good, cant wait and thank you.