DSD’s first commercially available avatar, this wolf represents some of the skill that new entrances into the market bring into the competitive fold. Featuring a very canine facial structure and filled with features, this avatar is a marker for DSD’s future avatars to be compared to.

Out of the Box

• Talking Jaw
• Moving Ears and Tail
• Different Eye Colours
  • Blinking Eyes
  • Dilating Pupils
• PG & Mature Skins
• Male Genitals for both Male and Female Avatars
• Legwarmers
• Head and Ear Piercings
• Dog Muzzle and Collar
• Tail and Ear Touch Action Dialog Box
  • (e.g. “<Someone> grabs <Your Name>’s tail…  maybe time to worry…”)

This avatar has been discontinued. However, it has been replaced by a new version of the wolf avatar. Click here to visit the review of that version.

Build and Skin

The texturing on this avatar is simple yet affective as giving the impression of a wolf’s fur. To avoid a monotone avatar, there are varying shades of light and dark colour along the body. The lines used are clear and on areas like the chest, there is a good use of shading to give it definition. For the male shape, there is a light semblance of a six-pack abs on the stomach. The only real issue with the skin could be that where the torso meets the hips; there is a horizontal line circling the body that might bug folks who are OCD about textures.

The foot attachments are fairly average and can easily be worn with a normal pair of trousers/pants. Prims imitating fluff line the toes and the back of the foot. The base of the paws are rather large, however, and jut out too far from the leg, (whether base avatar legs or the digitigrade legs). This ends up making the feet look overly large and disproportionate, and as if the legs are going into slippers. Fortunately, DSD has improved this with their newer avatars, starting with the Cheetah. The digitigrade legs are of average quality as well, with good sculpts and texturing. The handpaw attachments are also of average quality, with non-moving fingerdigits that give the impression of hand-paws instead of copied foot-paws. The tail and ears both come with click-dialogues, so people can click them and perform an action like: “Casey grabs Forepawz’s tail…  maybe time to worry…”

Finally, we move to the head. The overall shape of the head is very canine in appearance, with a long and relatively large muzzle that merges into the forehead with a gentle incline. This means that this avatar does not have as much of a forehead as many other avatars, making it slightly more difficult to fit custom hairs. This really presents a question that avatar creators are faced when creating a furry avatar; how much of a mix between human and animal features should there be? In this case, the gently sloped forehead and muzzle definitely brings a more canine likeness to the head as a whole, but at the cost of some anthropomorphic features.

The eyes are colour-changeable and offers users the ability to change pupil sizes as well. One can set the size by choosing a value between 1-100 or have the pupils change according to the sun’s location (i.e. with light changes). The eyes are brightly textured and glossy, (through textured means rather than applying ‘shine), but users can find ways to reduce or remove it if they wish. One last criticism being on the ears, when typing or voice-chatting may tilt too far back on the head than some users would like. However, the ear-folding action can be turned off using commands or the HUD.

Features

Take Notice: The pictures under this Features Section are rated Mature.

The features that the avatar includes are listed under the “Out of the Box” Heading earlier in the review. The different options will be included in photos . The avatar features an entire assortment of attachments with piercings, (in particular, the ears, head, and male genitilia). Additionally, the avatar comes with a leather muzzle.  Included are the leg-warmers, Mature Skins for the females, and male genitilia for both the male and female versions of the avatar. As we are a review site, we will not discuss the accessories other than to list them and display pictures.

On a quick note in regards to the avatar’s genitilia, they are uniquely designed and likely useable for whatever anatomically correct interests users may have. The HUD may be somewhat difficult to get used to at the start, however, as there are not many words on the buttons to show you how to use it. However, there is a short guide that accompanies the genitals;  With some practice however, dedicated users may achieve their goals. (To see accompanying male genitals and HUD, click here.)

Heads up Display (HUD)

The HUD that is included is versatile and offers some settings that are often neglected by other HUDs. Alongside the options to change settings on some avatar options (tail settings, etc.) there are some of the most basic options such as whether the jaw or ears move during typing and/or voice, to turning off blink. The only issue that could really be had with the HUD could be the missing ability to use a slider  to choose eye colour; but like all functions of the avatar, one can change this using chat commands, all of which are listed in a notecard.

To summarize, the following are controllable by the HUD:

Customiseability

The avatar is fully modifiable and copiable, so it should not be difficult for people to make changes to it. The only issue in this regard could be that the head is fairly round which means that hairs will need to be enlarged to fit, and adjustments need be made to accommodate the sloping forehead.

Conclusion

This wolf avatar is a decently designed avatar that fulfills basic functions and then some. While maybe not as strong an avatar as what DSD has offered after it, (e.g. their cheetah), the wolf stands on its own as a competent wolf avatar with a head that is distinctly canine in shape. The potential that Dark Spot Designs possesses speaks loudly for their newer avatars.