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Status Update

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Hello Hunters,

Welcome to this week’s Status Update brought to you from the EW Studio in Stockholm. For us in Sweden it’s a short work week as we will be off for an extended Easter weekend soon and back in the office next Tuesday. In Sweden it’s a tradition to go on an Easter egg hunt (chocolate and real ones) during the Easter time and so it’s no surprise that this year’s competitions, Mission and rewards are inspired by it.

‘Eggciting’ Easter Competitions and Mission 2017

splashscreen_easter2017_announce

Our team around game designer Patrick has worked on a bunch of fun Easter competitions for us to play through during the Easter time. The competitions will run for a total of 7 days, starting today and ending on the 19th of April, with a new competition being released on a daily basis.

Johan, one of our artists, apparently had a secret meeting with the Easter bunny. He scored some nice rewards and beautiful Easter trophies for the winners of all individual daily competitions.

  • 1st Place: Trophy + 150 em$
  • 2nd Place: Trophy + 100 em$
  • 3rd Place: Trophy + 50 em$
  • 4th-10th Place: Trophy + 25 em$

easter_2017_goldeaster_2017_silvereaster_2017_bronzeeaster_2017_hematite

 

 

During the Easter Event you can also go on an egg hunt yourself, in your favorite Reserves. Activate the ‘Easter Mission 2017: Gotta collect ’em all!’ in the Mission section and use your HunterMate to collect a total of:

  • 20 Bronze Easter Eggs
  • 10 Silver Easter Eggs
  • 5 Gold Easter Eggs

Here is the unique trophy you will get after completing the mission:

easter_2017_missionAlong with all this you will find a great selection of limited time offers and bundles tailored to the daily competitions in our shop, so make sure to check it out.

For more information follow us on Twitter where we will announce the new competitions and sales on a daily basis.

Best of luck to all hunters!

About feeders

As mentioned in yesterday’s game update we have performed some changes on the feeder system, after having worked a lot with the feedback from our community. If you shoot an animal in baiting state within feeder range the range will be reduced to minimum and then slowly expand again over time until it hits its full range again after 30 minutes, while still attracting animals. After receiving questions about the concrete ranges for the penalty we will look into this further and see if we can share this information.

Adding to this the amount of feeders that can be placed in a hunting reserve has been raised from 3 to 4. We hope you’ll enjoy these changes and find them helpful!

Is it a bush or a dog?

splashscreen_dogbackpacks1

Fresh in from the Doggy fashion week are the latest backpack variations for our furry friends in Summer Swamp, Fall Forest & Arctic Winter camouflage. Get the right camo for every environment!

All bundled up

splashscreen_crossbundlepromo1

If you haven’t yet purchased theHunter: Call of the Wild or have a friend or family member you’d like to take with you on a hunt with you here’s the perfect opportunity for you to get the best out of both games. We bundled Call of the Wild together with a 3 months membership and a Scent Hound for theHunter: Classic, with a 20% discount. Make sure to check it out here.

Customer Support during Easter Holidays

Due to the Easter Holidays, theHunter Support Team will be unavailable from cease work on Thursday 13 April 2017 until the start of work on Tuesday 18 April 2017. We will reply to any support requests on our return to work.

Operation ‘Mystery Doodle’

You may have read that Alena hinted something about a new species being worked on in last weeks Status update. I got curious, went to have a look and found this doodle flying around in the design area. Although I tried to bribe them with sweets and coffee the Devs refuse to share the answer with me (apparently they’re afraid I can’t keep a secret…), so I’ll need your help to find out what species exactly we’re dealing with! I think the shape of the horns is the key here!

Sheep

Let us know what you think about this week’s Status update and of course your theories for the mystery doodle in the Discussion thread in our Forum. We wish you, your families and friends a happy Easter, a good weekend and see you all again on Tuesday. 😀

Happy Hunting!

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Status Update

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Hello Hunters,

Welcome to this week’s Status Update! Another exciting week is nearly over at Expansive Worlds, time really flies when we are busy and there are many great things to do. Oh, and talking about things that fly…

Duck Missions

We had announced it in one of the previous status updates and they’re finally here – the long awaited Duck Missions, designed by Tanngnjostr, the winner of the game design competition, are now live and playable. You can check them out in more detail under the ‘Missions’, make sure to give them a try.

We’re super excited to hear what you think about them, so let us know!

Brand new Membership Bundles

Our membership bundles Wayfarer, Pathfinder and Trailrunner have been community favourites since their release back in the days but as time went by and more and more things got added to theHunter, we felt that their contents became slightly outdated. So, we gave them a slight overhaul to give you even more value when buying those.

On top of that we also added totally new Special Bundles into the mix, containing a 3 month membership and a selection of items tailored for specific animals and their hunting gameplay. We are starting with Duck, Deer and Stealth Hunter, but if those are proven popular, we are happy to add more of those. Check out the details in the membership store and let us know what kind of membership bundles you would like to see added in the future.

To celebrate the new bundles there will be 20% sale on all memberships and membership bundles in our web shop until Sunday the 29th of January. You can activate the discount by redeeming this code MEMBERSHIPMADNESS in the membership store. So, come and grab them while they’re hot!

Game Trailer Competition Winners

After receiving so many great entries for our Trailer Competition it was a hard choice for us to select a winner, but we’ve made it.  theHunter team has voted and here are the results:

1st place goes to Beatsbynono

You win a copy of ‘theHunter: Call of the Wild’ (once it is released) as well as 5000 em$ or a “Trailrunner” Membership Bundle / 12 month-membership

2nd place goes to Moosehunter 330 – Trailer

3000 em$ or a “Pathfinder” Membership bundle /6 month-membership are waiting for you!

3rd place goes to Regimentstyp2 – Trailer

Your price will be 2000 em$ or a “Wayfarer” Membership bundle / 3 month-membership

I will be contacting the three of you individually via PM on the forum so you can claim your prizes.

Congratulations to all the winners, we hope you enjoyed this competition as much as we did here at Expansive Worlds. It was a pleasure for us to see the fantastic dedication and work everyone put into the creation of their trailers.

Farewell, Emil!

Today is also a sad day for us at theHunter and EW, because one of our own is moving on to new adventures. Many of you know our quirky Backend Developer Emil from the forum or in-game, since he joined theHunter in February 2013 he has brought significant positive change to the way we play the game today. The implementation of Multiplayer, release of theHunter on Steam, introduction of a new payment system and moving servers to a cloud based solution are only some of Emil’s many accomplishments. He will be founding his own business and we have no doubt that he will be successful in achieving his goals! The whole team here at EW says ‘Thank you and farewell,Emil!’

New streaming series ‘The Hunting Lodge’

For the next 3 weeks Johanna and I will be pausing theHunter Classic Lock&Learn to introduce our new streaming series The Hunting Lodge. It will be focused on theHunter: Call of the Wild and, joined by Developers from that team, we will be playing a pre-release version of the game. The first episode goes live today at 16:00 CET and we will be hunting with Robert, one of theHunter: Call of the Wild Animators. Make sure to tune in on www.twitch.tv/expansiveworlds!

Happy hunting!

Join the Discussion on the official forum here

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Status Update

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Hello Hunters,

Welcome to this week’s Status Update, we have a lot to talk about, so let’s jump right into it 🙂

Dog Backpacks

Available in Happy Camper and Blazing orange variations, the Dog backpack allows you to bring a little more equipment with you out in the field by letting your dog carry some of the smaller items (up to 1.5 kg weight). The total capacity of the dog backpack is 5 kg. Try letting your pooch carry their own treats – they love it!

In addition to that we have also released fantastic dog bundles, in case you want to buy a full set of equipment for your furry friend. They come in two variations, one Scent Hound and one Retriever bundle.  

Crows

Our team have created beautiful Crows who are now circling above carcasses on Timbergold Trails to make it easier for hunters to find those.Read about this and other changes and fixes in the latest Game Update  In case you missed it yesterday.

Trailer Competition winners

For the past 2 weeks we ran a theHunter Classic game Trailer competition. A big ‘thank you’ to everyone who has submitted a trailer and put hours of work into the creation, the team enjoyed them very much. We are still discussing and picking winners internally, hence the announcement of the results will be postponed for a few days. We want to make sure everyone in the team gets the chance to hand in their votes and the right person wins.

Design a mission or competition pack for theHunter

It’s time to do this again! You’re interested in Game Design and want to leave your personal mark in theHunter? Here’s your chance: Design a pack of missions and / or competitions for theHunter to win great prizes and get them featured in our regular schedule. You can find all the details on the official forum in this thread.

New Team Members

We’re very happy to welcome two new additions to theHunter team – Johan, our new 3D art intern, and Adam, our new customer support manager!

Hi there!

My name is Johan Pauli. I’m the new 3d artist Intern here at Expansive Worlds and I am super thrilled to get the opportunity to work together with this awesome team on theHunter.

I was born in Stockholm and I currently live in the outskirts of the city together with my wife and two kids. I’ve always loved being creative, but up until recently never been really sure what I wanted to focus on. I’ve studied both music and arts prior to my current education, which is Game Development at Stockholms University. When I started there I finally knew that working with games was the thing for me. Apart from games, my interests are cooking (and eating) food, travel and binge watching  series.

I’m really looking forward to get to know this dedicated community and to create content that you all like and enjoy!

Stay classy and happy hunting!

/Johan

Alright all.

My name is Adam Potts.  I joined the team this week as a Customer Support Manager.

I’m from the North of England and I’ve recently completed a sixteen-year contract with the Royal Air Force, where I was an Operations Manager in theaters around the world.

I’ve been involved with the gaming industry since I started playing the CounterStrike Beta to a high level in 1997.  I moderated forums, managed clan servers and wrote news and articles for the online gaming communities Wireplay, Barrysworld and MPZ in the UK before I joined the military.  More recently I have been a games reviewer and editor, event report editor and cosplay photographer.  In 2013 I ran a series of twelve fighting video game events for all the top fighter development companies raising money for the charity SpecialEffect, which assists disabled gamers with playing games.

The games I’ve most recently played are the Banner Saga, Farcry Primal, Batman (The Telltale series), Fire Emblem Awakening and now theHunter.

In my free time I’m a combatives and silat instructor (and practitioner because you are always a student) and I’ve recently taken up tai chi.  I’ve a huge interest in the outdoors and survivalist theories about preparing for worst case scenarios.

I look forward to assisting in any way I can, and will no doubt see you all in the forums or in game.

Stay safe.

Live Stream #Lockandlearn

Join us for our weekly Live Stream at 4PM CET on the Expansive Worlds Twitch channel. Johanna and I will be joined by the game’s Producer Alena, who most of you will probably know very well from being the former Community Manager of theHunter.

You can find the discussion thread for this week’s Status Update here. 

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Status Update

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Hello Hunters,

We hope you all had a fantastic holiday season with your families and loved ones and a good new year 2017. Our team is (almost) back from vacations as well and we are gearing up for yet another brilliant year at theHunter that we hope to share with all of you. We’ve already started working on some exciting stuff, including  a couple of really cool and highly requested features. Stay tuned for more news and here’s to the amazing year 2017!

Rocky Mountain Elk Scent Spray

You’ve been asking for it since the release of Timbergold Trails – and it’s finally here. Doc Outfitters presents a secret blend of natural ingredients that are guaranteed to lure those majestic Rocky Mountain Elks. Comes in a practical spray can. Guaranteed to attract both genders. (Grab it from the store and spray away from face)

 

theHunter Classic Trailer competition

Who didn’t dream of being famous at some point? Here’s your chance! Today we’re announcing the comeback of our popular video trailer competition!

We ran our first video trailer competition almost three years ago and it was a huge success. The engagement and creativity you showed was amazing and you’ve made some real masterpieces. The game has changed dramatically since then, and we are eager to see what you’ll come up with now! We’ve prepared some sweet prizes for you, the main one being a free copy of theHunter: Call of the Wild – oh yes! Now go put your creative caps on, make sure to read the rules carefully in this forum thread and happy filming!

For inspiration, here is one of the winners of the previous competition, created by community member Aruvyel<:


We are very much looking forward to seeing your Trailers and inspirational ideas that make your own vision of theHunter come alive!

Cheers,
Stefan

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Status Update

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Status Update – November 03

Howdy hunters,

this week’s status update is again brought to you by Phil who – this time – will actually go on a short vacation trip over the weekend, hopefully also slurping drinks in the sun as our beloved Alena still does.

Enough chit chat though, let’s get to the far more interesting updates.

Movember

As mentioned on the forums, this year there will not be any fresh beards or facial hairstyles.
We decided to spend more time polishing the work on Timbergold Trails and to invest our efforts into core content, such as the upcoming Gray Wolf.

Of course, we will still participate in creating awareness about cancer and hopefully improve regular and early check-ups. Check out some of the team members trying their best at growing a mustache on Instagram.
And of course all existing beard styles are available in the in-game shop where we will give $2 per sold mustache to charity.

We want to thank everyone who supports this movement and of course encourage everyone to take this seriously. Don’t play it down – early and regular check ups play a vital role and it is up to everyone of us to make an effort.

Movember 2016

Gray Wolf

Last week, we officially announced the Gray Wolf and we are humbled by your feedback so far. It feels like we made the right decision to go for this amazing animal and we are closely observing any feedback. So don’t hold back and let us know what you think, hope for and more!

Last time we shared work-in-progress screenshots and this week it is time for some moving images! Still taken from early development, we were able to steal a short video from Morris and Moe showcasing animations. Let us know what you think!

Updates

As we move on with increasing momentum on the Wolf, it might get a bit quieter in the next weeks when it comes to updates. Of course we are still monitoring data, your feedback and more and will jump on issues as we identify them.
Here is a reiteration of yesterday’s game update with a sneaky addition (we are working on increasing the amount of possible clues on Timbergold Trails) and of course we are looking into a solution for equipment that was placed beyond the recently updated borders on Timbergold Trails.

Bug fixes

* Fix for pink texture error and crash near the reserve borders on Timbergold Trails
* Fix for Bighorn sheep odd animations on very steep mountains
* Fix for rare crash that can happen on client connection on certain reserves
* Issues with patching system that caused infinite download loop
* Crashes while patching to a newer launcher version
* Disabled the Halloween version of the Elk
* Disabled spook an animal contextual help

In progress:

* Shooting Ranges preparing to open
* Increased amount of possible clues on Timbergold Trails

There are more (way more) things in progress but here we only state what is close to completion within the next week(s)

Misc.

* Localization update

That’s it!

All the best from theHunter team and a snowy Stockholm!

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Status Update

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Status Update – October 28

Howdy hunters,

this week’s status update is brought to you by Phil – who is not on vacation in Thailand, slurping drinks in the sun – but all the happier to write these words.

Let’s get right to it.

Timbergold Trails

It has been one week since the release of Timbergold Trails and we are thrilled about all the feedback that you left us. It makes us very happy that you enjoy the new reserve, animals and shared your feedback about the positive and of course the negative stuff as well.

We continue our work on fixing the initial problems of the patching system, border crashes and more and improved on the failed patch this Wednesday.

It will undergo more testing and will hopefully be ready for next week.

Timbergreywolf

Slightly tricky but all the more enjoyable from our end was the announcement of the next species in the EHR and it is finally happening. After seven years, theHunter will bring Grey Wolves into the game.

We will gradually share more news about this milestone in the upcoming weeks and like you to meet first screenshots, which is taken from early development.

Work in Progress Grey Wolf

Work in Progress Grey Wolf

Early Development

Early Development

Timberhalloween

It seems that the last patch brought even more uninvited guests than anticipated!
Honoring the yearly tradition, you can find a new beast variant of an animal in the game – at your own risk – next to spooky sales in the store and a mission to win a unique trophy!

Happy Halloween!

Timbercontextual Help

With Wednesday’s patch, we also introduced a new feature called Contextual Help.

Our aim is to help the newest of players to learn the ropes of theHunter.
As many of you know, it takes quite some time to understand and get good at this game. While we have an excellent, community-driven wiki, many video and text tutorials and divine support from all the experienced hunters on the forum, it can still be difficult to grasp what to do during your first hunts.
Enter the contextual help system which will give you hints based on what you do.
We have added the first hint, which tells player that running will spook animals.

More hints will follow in the future and as always, we would love to hear what you think about this.

Hint: You can turn off the feature in the launcher game settings and we will add a function to en / disable it from within the in-game settings as well.

(Thanks to killertut for reminding us about this 🙂 )

Timberupdates

And finally, to keep you in the loop, here is a selection of what is currently in progress on our end.

This list does not include everything as we don’t want to promise things that we can’t deliver (and this still counts for this list as well) but we want to reassure that we are continuing to work on your feedback.

Fixed:

  • Increased the chance of bighorn sheeps to start fighting which will increase the amount of clues on your HunterMate.

In Progress:

  • Infinite patching loop in launcher
  • Crash when updating from older versions of the launcher to current one
  • Pink textures and crash close to borders
  • Animals crossing the borders out of the reserve
  • Tweaking populations for how many animals you will encounter in the Timbergold Trails

That’s it!

All the best from a sickness struck theHunter team and have a great hunt out there!

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Status Update

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Hey hunters,

Welcome to our weekly status update.

We start by looking back to the latest highlight, Whiterime Ridge.
The addition of the latest hunting reserve has been a success and well received by players, especially those who were waiting to hunt Bison and the like in cold and solitary lands.
In numbers, there have been more than 175.000 hunts in Whiterime Ridge since its release.
This translates to over 200.000 harvested Bison, 89.000 Sitka Deer, 37.000 Snowshoe Hare and 19.000 Arctic Fox.
That is some pretty good hunting, keep it up!

Although the new reserve has been loved and well received since its release, the game has been plagued with subsequent issues, leaving some of you unable to play theHunter at all.
This is unacceptable and it’s all hands on deck to fix bugs/issues. Some are more complicated than others so bear with us as we sort it out. Full steam ahead.

Our producer Hannes wants to address this situation as well:

“Everybody who is affected by these issues will be compensated. Before we can roll out the compensations, we have to fix the issues, get the final picture of the severity as well as the details of the ones affected. We are on it.”

Today we have released a second patch with fixes and added tools to collect data on complex issues.

Completed fixes:

  • The Sitka deer now calls audible and correctly
  • Ground haze effect disabled while looking in binoculars and weapon scopes to improve performance
  • Issues related to bait *see below
  • Leaderboards no longer disappear randomly, clicking scores and player names to get to the correct pages
  • Fixed player cold faint sync between clients when ragdoll
  • Lightning issues: lowered specular intensity on models and terrain

In progress:

  • Improve patch download speed
  • Multiplayer connectivity issues
  • Major server stability improvements
  • Added additional logging information to pinpoint complex issues with game server communication

Bear barrels and hog feeders:

The issue causing bear barrels and hog feeders to show an incorrect number in the launcher and in the web has finally been fixed. There was no bait lost as a result of this bug, however, it had a negative impact on gameplay for many bear and pig hunters, so here is the compensation we are offering. Everyone who will visit www.thehunter.com and log in to the game starting from this Friday, October 23th until November 5th, will receive 1000 units of bear bait and 1000 units of hog bait for free.

New object: The Happy Camper Heated Tent

For the ones who want to stick to their beloved outfit in the cold of Whiterime Ridge and sometimes take it too far (or the ones who go for a too refreshing swim), there is something new:

The Happy Camper Heated Tent!

Heated Tent

It will allow you to fast travel to tents after succumbing to hypothermia while providing a fresh look as well. Just be sure to do some push ups before carrying it around for long distances.
You can find it discounted in the store from today.

Finally, we are thankful and really appreciate the communication with you, theHunter community. You remind us what is important, by praising as well as criticizing alike.

All the best,

your theHunter team

 

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