Devlog #3 for 0.3.0.0 - New Ability System & Horse AI in Progress

During the week of October 27 to November 1, we worked intensively on the ability system, improved numerous animations, and laid the groundwork for the new horse AI, which will make behavior even more realistic in the future.

Revision of the Horse Manager

The "Information" section in the horse manager has been revised to present the details of each horse more clearly and in a more structured way. In addition, the subcategories Genetics, Stats, and Victories have been added, allowing more information to be displayed and better organized.

Revision of the Ability System

The ability system has been completely redeveloped from scratch. Our community especially appreciated that horses could previously be trained over time through repeated actions, we are keeping this core principle but significantly expanding upon it.

In the future, every horse, whether purebred, mixed, or hybrid, will be able to use every ability path. This will make training more flexible and personalized.

The new system works similarly to the previous one; however, instead of collecting experience points (EXP), you now earn ability points in specific areas when performing matching actions frequently enough.

Example: To earn Bonding Points, you can regularly feed your horse its favorite treat or brush it. If this action is repeated often enough, the horse will receive a Bonding Point. These points can then be used to unlock new abilities, special movements, or other unique traits.

But what happens once you’ve unlocked everything? Even then, it’s still worth continuing to train, because: The more points your horse collects, the higher its overall value becomes. This way, training remains rewarding even after reaching the maximum.

Additionally, it will be possible to exchange points between paths, for example, converting Agility Points into Bonding Points if you’ve accumulated too many in one area but want to focus on another.

Our goal is to make the system flexible, motivating, and exciting in the long term, with clear progress mechanics, as well as meaningful balance and difficulty levels to ensure it doesn’t become too easy.

Revision of the Horse AI

We have begun planning and developing the foundation for the new horse AI in detail. In the future, we will use Unreal Engine 5’s “A.I. Behavior Tree System” instead of integrating the AI directly into the horse.

This tool allows for a more structured workflow, better multiplayer replication, and enables the horses’ behavior to dynamically adapt to different situations.

Our goal is for horses to actively respond to their environment, for example, to weather, the player, other horses, terrain, or bodies of water. Furthermore, with the “A.I. Behavior Tree,” we can also integrate each horse’s individual personality, making their behavior feel even more natural and diverse.

Progress on Riding System & Environment

Riding System All basic riding movement animations have been completed, walk, trot, canter, and gallop are now fully implemented.

Dressage The basic movements (walk, trot, canter) for the dressage mode are complete. The first dressage lesson, the Passage, has been successfully implemented. Work has begun on the leg-yield movements.

Show Jumping Initial test animations for jumps have been created and are currently being evaluated.

Horse in the Stable First test animations for the horse’s behavior in the stable have been produced.

Technical Development

Progress on implementing the new horse coat and related functionality in Unreal Engine. (Currently still in an early testing phase.)

Level Design & Environment

• The width of the show jumping obstacles in the game has been adjusted to provide a more realistic gameplay experience.

• A first draft of a stable for the campground map has been created.

Note

All content is currently in WIP (Work in Progress) status and may still change before release! As always, you can follow our progress live on our public roadmap:

>> View the public roadmap here <<