Since the trailer and the last newsletter the bow has come a long way. When we first put the bow in we had in mind that we wanted it to be completely realistic and shoot with an accurate amount of physics. After implementing it this way we quickly learned how hard it was to aim, especially in a quick moving combat scenario. Since then we have revamped the way the bow works, making it a much nicer experience even in this early point of development. The aiming reticle has changed, during the time of the trailer it used to be a line that showed part of the trajectory that the arrow was going to take. It is now a circle which lets you know how accurate the shot is. The circle shrinks as you pull the bow string back and you can even pull back to an overdraw which takes a couple seconds more but will make the circle shrink to a much more accurate shot.

Moving around makes the shot less accurate and the circle will grow, as is seen in most modern FPS and third person games. Standing is still the way to get the most accurate shots. A simple addition that made a huge difference was the addition of trail effects to the arrows when shooting the bow. These trails let you see very clearly where your arrow went so you can adjust your aim or if you want, try to retrieve your arrow if it hasn’t broken from the shot. While we’re happier with it now, we intend to be continually tweaking the bow much more before release.