March 25th Patch Notes + Pluffin Trailer BTS 🌷
Hello Wanderers,
We’re incredibly overwhelmed with all of the kind words, fanart, and reactions we’ve seen, read, and heard over the last few weeks! Launch has been a whirlwind (not to mention last week most of the team also attended the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco!) and we’re excited to share what we’ve been up to in addition to celebrating the fact that the game is out.
[h2]🍵 Patch Notes: March 25, 2025 🍵[/h2]
First things first! We wanted to be sure and share patch notes, as we’ve been hard at work taking care of the bugs you’ve been reporting (thank you!) and the feedback we’ve been seeing.
Please continue to share any bugs and feedback with us here: we look at all of them!
To experience the version of the game with these fixes, please make sure you check that you’ve updated the game. You can see that by looking at the version in the upper right corner of the title screen (and you should see Build #15460):
Without further ado, our notes for this latest build out now on PC:
- To help address the reports of motion sickness, we’ve adjusted the camera behavior and max FOV from the camera tilt! It’ll be more sensitive to detecting player camera rotation in camera bias regions and defer to you as you play. We hope this helps!
- Fell asleep while playing? Weeds won’t take over anymore! We’ve set up an AFK Timer based on the last player movement. Please note that camera movement doesn’t count as movement - we’re basing this off of Alta! When you are AFK (aka Alta is still for 5 minutes OR if you’re sitting on the bench), weeds won’t grow and spread.
- Fixed various music and SFX bugs. For example, where background music can leak into Demon Hunter music events, the Cycle 1 song refusing to play when the radio is on, vocal volume polish, reverb song transition polish, and trinket sound effects when the game is paused.
- Fixed overlap issues with Xbox controller diagram on non-16:9 aspect ratios.
- Allow players to rebind keys to AZERTY versions of the number row
- Fixed a bug that caused some players to encounter a black screen whenever a cinematic was playing.
- Lots of misc and small fixes and polish!
[h2]đź’› Behind-The-Scenes: The Pluffin Short đź’›[/h2]
Right before launch, we made a trailer that highlighted a fresh perspective on the shop, as well as let our animators flex their talents!
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
We wanted to take some time to share some behind-the-scenes insights about the making of the video – and ready to unpack the details with us are two of the five Ivy Road team members who worked on the trailer, Liz and Nat.
A special shoutout to the full trailer team: Ana (Animator), Aura (Lead Animator, Rigging, FX), Daniel (SFX & Music), Nathalie (2D Art Director & Concept Artist), and Liz (Cinematics Lead, Animator).
The folks who brought the pluffin trailer to life!==============================================
[h3]What inspired the idea of doing a trailer from the puffin’s perspective? [/h3]
Liz: Wanderstop is a game very much about Alta and her story. We felt our original reveal trailer already showcased things from her perspective perfectly, so we wanted to try a different way of seeing her. The Pluffins are a regular presence in the game and we wanted to explore things from their view as chilled out little birds that don’t have the worries of life and the world to wrestle with, contrasting with Alta’s own personal struggles.
Nat: What Liz said above! The tone of the first trailer presented a dark side of the game, so we wanted to counterbalance that tone with some of the lighthearted elements present in the game too, to paint a full picture.
These lil dudes are full of mischief[h3]What did you want to be sure to share and showcase? [/h3]
Liz: I really wanted to show the Pluffins’ cat-like personalities in this short. As cute as they are, they get very mischievous and sometimes they feel like they want to annoy you specifically. (While recording a shot, one actual in-game Pluffin ran in and interrupted it!)
Blooper time!Nat: I wanted to show the world in this more casual, baby-cam view. Kind of like the feeling of being a 5-year old pleasantly playing a game while parents have an argument in the background.
[h3]In a nutshell, how did the trailer creation process work (e.g. brainstorm, storyboard, blocking, etc)? [/h3]
Liz: It was collaboration all the way through! Jenny approached us with the premise for the trailer, Nathalie did 2D storyboards mapping out the short, I interpreted the storyboards into in-engine shots adjusting things for runtime, and laying down the blocking poses for me and the animation team to work on. Once all the animation was done, Ana handled final renders and compositions, and Daniel followed up with the amazing sounds and music you hear in it.
Nat: What Liz said above! We also had come together as a group to define a script idea together, before I started doing any storyboard thumbnails.
Some of Nat's storyboard examples[h3]Any challenges come up when animating? [/h3]
Liz: The biggest challenge for me was working with the tea machine while filming. I wanted to make sure the continuity was good; if I did any action out of sync with the animated cameras or otherwise ruined the shot I’d have to dump out the tea, make a new batch, and start from the top.
Nat: During the Alta-Pluffin stand off, there was originally a shot of Boro watching excitedly from behind a door that had to be cut for time. It was an amazing shot.
[h3]Did anything come especially easily OR that you were very excited to create?[/h3]
Liz: I was particularly excited to work on the shots where we’d mix hand-made animations and acted out gameplay at the same time. Controlling Alta while in the perspective of the movie camera and having to act in conjunction with the hand animated Pluffin was really fun. It felt a lot like making a machinima, making the footage in real-time.
[h3]Are there any details you want to highlight (e.g. things players should pay attention to? Anything you want to brag about?)[/h3]
Liz: I feel really good about the bespoke animations Aura, Ana, and I did! My favorite shot to animate was the Alta versus Pluffin bit where they swipe for the tea cup like in an old western duel.
Fastest steeper in the West[h3]What do you hope players get out of Wanderstop when they play? [/h3]
Liz: I hope people will love the audio and visual treat the team has made for them, and enjoy how our characters come to life through our animations.
Nat: I hope players are able to use this game as a tool to help themselves through their own struggles. Maybe the game is an epiphany for them, or a toy that helps them manage stress throughout the week.
==========================================
A HUGE thank you to Liz, Nat, and the whole trailer team for making such a delightful short dedicated to a day in the life of a pluffin. And thank YOU for reading and supporting Wanderstop!
As always, you can find us on Bluesky and YouTube.
Cheers,
🍵 The Ivy Road Team
