As for the sheer scale of these 16 x 16km maps, the
small team at Avalanche relies partly on procedural
generation. “A few locations are hand-crafted, usually
buildings and other man-made structures,” says Kevin
Darnis. “But for the most part the landscapes are
procedurally generated, because the maps are so big. First,
Peppe creates a terrain and from there I use a tool to
procedurally distribute materials across it.”
“There are certainly a lot of procedural aspects in our
game,” says Peppe Pihl. “It’s one of the reasons we can
create these massive worlds with just a couple of people.
Imagine placing all those trees by hand! Same goes for the
‘need zones’ of the animals.
We have hundreds of
thousands of them in each
reserve, and we use rules to
generate them in an
efficient way.
“There’s no magic ‘create
world’ button. All the rules
leading up to the procedural
results we get have been carefully designed. However, we
have adjusted several spots where animal and player
interactions were not ideal. Sometimes we get the result
we want with procedural content, but if there’s a problem
we solve it with good old-fashioned manual labour.”
SNAP HAPPY
When I play The Hunter, I often find myself completely
ignoring the hunting aspect of the game and just enjoying
existing in the world, taking screenshots with the in-game
camera. With a good pair of headphones you can really
get swept up in the atmosphere of the reserves, and it’s
possible, I think, to enjoy the game without firing a single
bullet from your rifle.
“This makes us really happy, because immersion is one
the core pillars of our open world,” says Philipp Strecker,
product owner. “The team has worked hard to get the
frequency of finding animal tracks just right, so the
investment pays off when you track one for a while. This
puts the environments at the forefront and we love seeing
the screenshots people have taken.”
Aware of the many different ways people play The
Hunter, Avalanche is always thinking about new systems
to incorporate into the game. I ask Philipp Strecker if the
studio has thought about
expanding the photography
aspect of the game.
“We’d love to do this,
and the development team
has discussed it ever since
the game started a few years
back,” he says. “You can
really get some fantastic
shots when the weather, nature, and animals line up
nicely and we’ve been blown away by some of the
community’s screenshots. It’s all about the interplay of the
tools we give to the player and the moments that emerge
from that. We’ve also discussed birdwatching, which
would open up a new way to experience the game.”
The Hunter: Call of the Wild is a brilliant example of
the kind of wildly immersive, ultra-specific sim games you
only find on PC, and it’s amazing how much graphical and
audiofidelitysuch a small team has managed to squeeze
outoftheApex engine.
Andy KellyFAR LEFT: Certain,
more reclusive
animals can only be
found in forests.LEFT: The Vurhonga
DLC map is set on a
beautiful African
savannah.NATURE CALLS Other great videogame forests
KiNgdomComE:dELivERANCE
The kingdom of Bohemia’s forests are
second only to The Hunter’s in terms of
atmosphere and density.STARWARSBATTLEfRoNT
Dice used a technique called
photogrammetry to perfectly recreate
the forest-covered moon of Endor.SKyRim
There are a lot of forests in Skyrim, but
the autumnal trees and mountain
flowers of the Rift are the highlight.ALANWAKE
Set in the Pacific Northwest, this Twin
Peaks-inspired horror game features
some deep, spooky forests.“TheTeamhasworkedhardTo
geTThefrequencyoffinding
animalTracks jusT righT”NewS |OPiNiON | DevelOPmeNt