Enhance animal blood trails

[Cyclone35]

Let's keep this one simple. When an animal is injured and flees, it will leave a blood trail for the player to track. I was wondering if you could make the trail a bit more visible. 2 things I would like to see changed.

1: the size of the blood on the ground should be 20%-40% bigger, I can't count how many times I lost the trail and had to look for a small pixel in a sea of snow.

2: The color should be a little more brighter & vibrant, this helps it contrast from the rest of the environment (snow, boulders, grass, ice, etc.).

These 2 changes will make tracking less tedious and more engaging.

[Leeanda]

I have to agree!  I've had to give up the chase because I just can't find the tiny dots of blood in the snow.  

[Serenity]

They also really need to last longer. If you lose the trail just once or get caught on some terrain it's very difficult to pick it up again.

Edited December 19, 2022 by Serenity

[Sasquatch007]

Tracking should also be a skill. When finding an animal previously killed by player it will upgrade. Max skill might be better blood trails/something like that.

[APixelatedLemon]

Maybe even make it like Call of The Wild and make the blood puddles bigger depending on how fast it's bleeding out.

[Naimad]

I think the blood is so small because the long dark is supposed to be rated T. And I would make sure the system is based off the amount of bleeding that an animal is doing. One shot from a revolver or a flare gun should not cause bad believing, but A shot from a rifle, should cause significant bleeding. 

[Leeanda]

1 hour ago, Naimad said:

I think the blood is so small because the long dark is supposed to be rated T. And I would make sure the system is based off the amount of bleeding that an animal is doing. One shot from a revolver or a flare gun should not cause bad believing, but A shot from a rifle, should cause significant bleeding. 

I shot two bears,one with the rifle and one with the flare gun and the initial splatter was the same,as were the droplets that I followed.  The only difference I noticed was that the flare bear  died quicker.   

The advantage of a bear though is that the tracks are bigger and last longer than a wolves or deer ,from what I've seen anyway.  It's hard to miss a bears footprint though!🙂

Edited December 20, 2022 by Leeanda

[Kranium]

Tracking as a skill. Skill increasees > trail becomes easier to follow.

 

Could implement in-game "challenges" for this. Find a note about the one that got away at some blind, which triggers a hunt of sorts.

 

I also don't want it too easy. I mean, if it's snowing the trail should cover up. (blood, at least; footprints take much longer unless it's windy) I'm a stickler for using realism as much as possible, providing it balances out decently.

Edited December 20, 2022 by Kranium

[UTC-10]

I had an interesting episode with the bear that frequents Waterfront Cottages in Coastal Highway.  

I pegged the bear with an arrow then fled inside the fireplace house.  Came out (I am in Pilgrim so that was safe) and began to follow the bear.  Like most I would like the blood trail to be a larger (easier to see) or more informative (i.e. minimal bleed, one drop, serious bleed, two drops, and really major bleed, three drops which relate to the bleed out of the animal).  

I was a bit behind the bear so I was surprised at how persistent the blood trail was compared to previous experience.  The tracks had disappeared but I could still follow the blood drops.  Although the bear was following the road, mostly, so that limited where it could go, I could follow the blood trail up until it left the road and headed home at which point I just observed that black mass moving across the ice.  

I do not know if the apparent persistence of the blood trail was a change, just chance, or my imagination.  I won't depend on it happening again, but this time it helped. 

A tracking skill that helped with tracks and blood would be helpful.  It might possibly have levels up to 5 for legendary tracker or something like that.  

[hozz1235]

I think it's fine the way it is.  Realistically, the animal is usually running, which makes the blood it is losing, more spread out (smaller and farther apart).

On 12/19/2022 at 3:53 PM, Sasquatch007 said:

Tracking should also be a skill. When finding an animal previously killed by player it will upgrade. Max skill might be better blood trails/something like that.

I'm not sure how progression would work on this.  Most of the time, I just wait 1-3 hours for the animal to die then scour the area for crows/corpse.  I vary rarely will attempt to follow the blood trail until it dies.

[Sasquatch007]

3 hours ago, hozz1235 said:

I think it's fine the way it is.  Realistically, the animal is usually running, which makes the blood it is losing, more spread out (smaller and farther apart).

I'm not sure how progression would work on this.  Most of the time, I just wait 1-3 hours for the animal to die then scour the area for crows/corpse.  I vary rarely will attempt to follow the blood trail until it dies.

I was imagining the skill would work through the games point of view as: if player shoots or punctures animal (wolf struggle) wait a certain time limit to prevent upgrades from head shots, and then if player interacts with corpse skill goes up. Blood trails could be really useful in areas with common blizzards, and making this a skill could let devs get away with making harder aspects of the game.

[Cyclone35]

If you ever played Wintermute Chapter 3, you would know there's a side quest where you find a prison guards body out in the snow. If you follow the blood trail it leads to a shack with a convict inside. The blood trail in this side quest is more visually noticeable compared to a animals blood trail. I want that sort of level of detail when following a blood trail.

[Admin]

Thank you for your feedback.