🦊 DevLog – Lost Soldier: Foxhunt (Initial Release)

📅 Date: May 25, 2025

👤 Developer: Gunnar Gersdorf
🎮 Game: Lost Soldier: Foxhunt

🎯 About the Project

Lost Soldier: Foxhunt is a small third-person hunting minigame, created as a prequel to my upcoming title Lost Soldier: Survival.
This game is set before the collapse of the world, in a peaceful natural environment.

Your goal: Find and catch the fox that roams the land.

🧩 Gameplay Overview

• Catch the Fox: Press F when you're close enough

• Move: Use WASD

• Jump: Press Spacebar

• Menu: ^

🕊️ No combat.
🧭 No HUD.
🌲 Just the calm before the storm.

🗺️ World & Level Design

Foxhunt includes three handcrafted levels, each fully playable and self-contained.
They represent different parts of the world, with unique terrain and atmosphere.

These levels are final — no further updates are planned for this minigame.

Some areas may return later in the full game, reimagined in a darker, post-collapse context.

🏗️ Development Insights

• Built with Unreal Engine 5

• The fox AI is powered by StateTree logic: wandering, sitting, and fleeing

• Modular and procedural world-building techniques were combined

• Third-person camera with smooth animation blending

This was a learning-focused side project that helped test systems for Lost Soldier.

💡 Design Philosophy

Foxhunt is designed as a compact exploration challenge:

• You have a clear goal — catch the fox before it escapes.

• Along the way, you can discover three hidden secrets scattered across the levels.

It's a mix of light tension and quiet exploration, with no combat, no distractions — just you, the wilderness, and your mission.

This project also served as a testbed for mechanics and systems that will appear in Lost Soldier.

🧭 Known Issues & Feedback

This is an early build. Some animations and interactions are still rough around the edges.

Known Issues:

• Rare fox clipping through terrain

• Some terrain zones might feel a bit empty

🎤 Feedback welcome!
If you notice anything strange or have ideas, leave a comment or reach out via: Lost Soldier

📜 How to Install & Play

1. Download the .zip file

2. Unzip the folder

3. Run Game.exe — no installation needed

Controls:

• Move: WASD

• Jump: Spacebar

• Catch Fox: F

• Menu ^

💸 Donations & Legal Notes

This project is a hobby, developed in my free time.
I'm a full-time public employee in Germany, doing this because I love it.

Donations via PayPal are 100% voluntary and help motivate future development.
This project was not funded or endorsed by any official institution.

🔮 What's Next?

I’m now shifting focus to developing the survival mechanics for Lost Soldier, the main game.
The calm will fade. The world will fall. And surviving will become the only goal.

Thanks for checking out Foxhunt.
Enjoy the peace — while it lasts.