Hello hunters,
Time for our weekly status update. We’ve got lots of news for you in this one, so read on and let us know what you think in the discussion thread.
The new year has started with three new team members joining the fold. You can find more info about Morris, Dennis and Anna below. Make sure to read their intros and say hello, they are a cool bunch!
Improvements for guest hunters
So, as luck would have it, over the last weekend the 12GA single shot shotgun suddenly became free. It was a mistake on our part and we apologize for the confusion. To clear the things up a bit, this was part of a bigger update that went live prematurely. The upcoming update has been based on a lot of feedback we’ve received and is a part of our effort to make the theHunter experience more enjoyable for our guest players.
What will happen:
- The 12GA single shot shotgun (now available for both em$ and gm$) will be given out for free (all three types of 12GA ammo will automatically replenish in the same way as .243 ammo). This variety of ammo will make it possible to hunt all current species in the game, except bison.
- Whitetail Deer and Pheasant will become free to hunt, together with our old buddies rabbits and hares), whereas Mule Deer will become a “premium” animal (huntable only with a membership or a license). Tutorials and missions will be adapted accordingly. This change will allow guest players to hunt in more reserves (those which contain Whitetail) with more diversity (upland fowl).
To whet your appetite for this upcoming change, we’ve added some very special rare pheasants to Hirschfelden and Logger’s Point. Go and find some!
Update for Windows XP users
We’ve been digging into the issue affecting Windows XP which makes it impossible for some players to play the game and, as we are still struggling to pinpoint the problem and, taken into account fact that support for Windows XP will cease in one and a half months, we had to take the tough decision not to spend any more resources on trying to solve the problem. We sincerely apologize to everyone affected. You can of course apply for a refund or a membership transfer right away (see the details here). We learned a lot from this lesson and we will do our absolute best not to let something like happen again in the future.
We’ve prepared detailed instructions on the next steps for our players who still use Windows XP or Vista. Please make sure to read through them carefully here. We’ve tried to tackle all possible scenarios and we hope that no one will feel left out. If you do, please let us know and we’ll look into your particular case on an individual basis.
Something old and something new, on something blue
On a final note, here’s some major things we’ve been working on in the first weeks of January. Our backend guys have been tinkering with the move of our forum and wiki to a new server (there will most likely be downtime for these services which will be announced later), our programmers have been fixing old bugs and almost the entire team has been working on something new – a sixth species for Whiterime Ridge! It was one of the most popular animals in our latest survey and we are planning to release it after an open beta, similar to what we did with the ducks which was incredibly successful. Check back for more news on that later!
Meet Anna, Morris and Dennis
Anna
Hiya,
My name is Anna Bouveng and I joined theHunter team a couple of weeks ago as an Executive Producer. I will be developing and growing theHunter as a franchise – looking at our existing games, optimising and evolving them but also deciding where we go next. Despite a more top-line approach I still work closely with the dev teams to ensure that we are making the right decisions and working on things that you (hopefully) want. 🙂
Prior to joining Expansive Worlds I was at Spotify but have also spent 4 years at EA/DICE where I worked as a Marketing Manager on games like Battlefield Heroes, Battlefield 4, Mirror’s Edge Catalyst and other fun projects.
I’m a gamer at heart and also did some programming way back when, though I leave that to the pros these days. My ‘passion for gaming’ started at the age of 5 on my SV-328, then the NES came and change my life with Super Mario Bros (yes, it’s my fave game and I still have my old NES plugged in at home). Gaming is part of my DNA and even though I’m new to theHunter I look forward to giving it a good go! I already learnt that the Battlefield run-and-gun approach does not seem to be the right way to get close to our gorgeous animals, but I’m getting there. 😀
Apart from my job I like to play games (currently a lot of LoL and Tomb Raider), read books, watch good action movies (and sometimes bad ones as well), solve crossword puzzles and I also workout frequently. I really look forward to working with the fantastic teams here at Expansive Worlds, meet all you players when out touring our reserves or talk to you in the forums.
Game on!
~Anna
Dennis
Hello everyone,
My name is Dennis Borg and I am the new QA manager as you might already have read about last week. I have been playing games for a very long time which feels like forever. I started out playing a lot of console games which I did for many years but then I started playing pc games too. When I am not working then I spend my time by playing games, watching movies and series, meeting people and writing. Before I started to work in the gaming industry I spent 1 year in Tokyo studying Japanese and after that I spent 2 years studying game design at PlaygroundSquad. After my education I worked for the company called Paradox Interactive as a QA.
Right now I am working hard to learn everything that is new to me, there is always a lot of things that I want to do and too little time. I am looking forward to get to know everyone much better and make this game much better. Happy hunting!
Morris
Hello hunters!
My name is Morris Belfrage and I’ve just started my internship as an animator here at Expansive Worlds.
I’ve been studying game development for quite a while now; first I did three years (bachelor’s degree in Game Development) at Stockholm University and after that I went to Future Games Academy, where I am currently doing my second year – which is meant to be spent at a company as an intern.
Other than games I spend my time reading books (I’m a sucker for fantasy, sci-fi and post-apocalyptic settings) or trying to complete one of my increasing piles of unfinished projects. Currently the project I’m working on is bleaching images onto T-shirts, which I’ve had some mixed results with :/
I’ve been reading a lot on the forums lately and I am really excited to begin working on a game with such an awesome community! Although I am not a real hunter myself, I do my research, and I put a lot of effort in making it as realistic as I can. Hopefully you will enjoy the animations I will make, and if not I hope you will tell me (especially when I animate things incorrectly, so that I can learn from it!) 😀
That’s it from us for today!
Happy hunting!
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