Developer Diary: Layout Float Blind

Hey all,

My name is Arshak Ardeshir, Senior Game Designer on theHunter: Call of the Wild.

Some of you might know me from such classics as “The Stream about the Bloodhound” and “Behind the Scenes: Developing the Bloodhound”.

I’m here to present a classic “How it’s Made” episode. Today’s star of the show is the humble Layout Float Blind.

Why did we choose the Layout Float Blind?

A Game Designer’s job is to add value for the player.

One way we do this is by creating different types of experiences that allow you to play the game in various ways. The Layout Float Blind was conceived with this focus in mind.

As you might already know, the newest reserve for theHunter: Call of the Wild is Finland’s Revontuli Coast. This update also introduced the Waterfowl Rework.

With the addition of so many new upland birds and waterfowl, we looked at interesting ways to help you engage with these animals.

Traditionally, in theHunter: Call of the Wild, you hunt waterfowl from the shoreline. While this gives you an excellent opportunity to hunt birds, we wanted to expand on that and create new ways of hunting them.

Specifically, we wanted to give players a chance to get closer to waterfowl in their natural habitat!

When we release a reserve we normally also add some type of tool or weapon too. This time we wanted to find another way to add value.

And while we want the tool to be extra useful in its linked reserve, we also need to consider the bigger picture. With this in mind, we asked ourselves questions like:

• What can you do with this tool in other places?
• What other animals would be fun to hunt with the Layout Float Blind?

Making sure it works

The struggle when we design tools for the players is balancing the “possibility space” with the “problem space”.

While we want the tool to be as cool and useful as possible, we want to limit bugs, issues, and exploits. While we try our best to avoid these, we sometimes do fall short.

For example, sometimes we might allow too much freedom which creates bugs! One of our programmers actually built a bridge out of layout float blinds, jumping from one to the next, spanning a whole lake!

Other times we restrict its use. That can make it a less than ideal tool, but we always keep an eye on you, our community, and try to patch and fix things as we get feedback.

We hope you enjoy the Layout Float Blind and the ability to hunt waterfowl on Revontuli Coast. Please let us know what you think!