WolfQuest: Anniversary Edition News

We've been working on a few new features for multiplayer recently, which we hope will give players more options for their game experience.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

* TAGS: When creating a game, the host can select several tags from a pulldown list that help describe their game. These then are displayed on the preview panel in the multiplayer lobby so players can get a better idea about the nature of each game available to play, and choose one that suits their own interests.

* TERRITORY CONFIGURATIONS: We're adding three more territory configurations -- that is, which hexes each stranger pack has claimed, and which are unclaimed at the start of the game. The host can choose one of these when creating a new multiplayer game. One of the new options has the unclaimed area down in the Lamar Valley, and two others have larger and smaller unclaimed areas, for different levels of challenge.

* SLEEP MODES: Up until now, the host has been in charge of sleeping in multiplayer games. Whenever the host sleeps, all other players must sleep then as well. We think this is a good method for many players, but understand that it doesn't suit all play styles. So we've added a second option now, which has a fixed sleep schedule: All wolves must sleep at fixed times of day. One such sleep period is from late morning to late afternoon, and the other is from late evening to early morning. Time accelerates during these periods, same as in Host Decides mode. Also in this mode, if everyone sleeps at the same, time will accelerate (but players are not required to sleep at other times, even if the host is sleeping.)

We're finishing up these three new features, and they should be ready for public beta within a few days, and then release in patch 1.0.7e next week!

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WolfQuest: Anniversary Edition is available now for PC/Mac on Steam and itch.io, as Early Access. The game currently includes Episode 1: Amethyst Mountain, Episode 2: Slough Creek, Lost River: Classic, and multiplayer mode in Amethyst and Lost River. (Slough Creek multiplayer is coming soon,.) The mobile version will come after the game (including Slough Creek) is completed on PC/Mac platforms. The next episode, Tower Fall (DLC) will follow. We do not announce specific release dates. We will release them when they are ready!

Patch 1.0.7d released on 4 June 2021

Available for Windows now. Mac patch is delayed but should be available later today. Mac patch is now available as well.

[h3]IMPROVEMENTS:[/h3]
* In Setup New Game, added text indicating whether or not the selected wolf is ready to advance in age on their birthday.
* On Wolf Customization, body size now changes based on male/female selection (to match that difference in wolves in the game).
* Reduced the odds of flooded den after rain or storm.
* Added better rules and feedback about marking near water's edge.
* More variations in aspen trees in Slough Creek.
* Some refinements to the Amethyst cliff rock appearance.
* Some refinements to snow appearance.
* Age Perks music begins before the black loading screen for Age Perks on your wolf's birthday.
* On Affinity meter on wolf badge, made it clearer where the max value is.
* Clearer feedback on multiplayer Quick Heal notification, based on health level.
* When making a pup into a grown wolf, clearer header txt on the "Make an Ironwolf?" dialog, should help prevent accidental ironwolves.
* Increased volume and frequency of birdsong.
* Dinner music will not keep playing whenever there's meat at the den.
* Wolf ears adjust a bit when running.
* Can now edit the bio of a dead wolf.

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* In multiplayer, players get stuck sleeping and can't wake up.
* Sometimes dispersal and stranger wolf coats switch when moving closer or farther from player.
* June elk calf's rear right leg gets stuck at odd angle.
* Territory grid hexes are slightly misaligned vertically, especially at the southern end.
* When player is sleeping, rain or storm may occur without any precipitation, which can then potentially trigger den flooding unexpectedly.
* Game does not remember previous difficulty selection, always reverts to default Challenging in main menu.
* Occasionally, dust kicked up by fleeing prey is glitched (square shapes).
* In Photo Mode, when pressing right arrow key to advance time, it also also makes wolf move to the right.
* At age 8, Ironwolf term used in some cases when it should be Elder Wolf.
* Occasionally a snowshoe hare that spawned in an earlier season will survive to be killed in the next season, and its coat then is basd on the new season instead of the previous season.
* Bark is always wet and shiny on cottonwood trees in Amethyst.
* Some creek rocks are floating above the creekbed.
* Wolf Coat 859M has a black mark on the right hip.
* On low quality settings, part of the river near the Slough Creek spawn point is underground when viewed from the spawn point.
* When creating a multiplayer game, the game mode switches back to the default selection when changing the map selection.
* Approaching Elk Herd music plays when approaching other ungulates.
* Willow bushes switch to lower detail models when player is quite close.
* Game Pause/Options menu won't open on the Age Perks panel (on your birthday) so you are forced to make the stay/advance age choice.
* Lost River Learn to Hunt quest completion text mentions having pups in the future.
* Wolf freezes in odd pose if you pause the game while digging out a dirt den.
* Short Douglas-fir tree accumulates snow unevenly (at very top of tree).
* Occasionally a beaver leaves a branch floating in the air.
* Scent post color sometimes does not update immediately.
* Mate keeps feeding pups even when predators approach.
* Occasional glitches with the scrolling panel on the Load or Save Game panels.
* Occasionally the FPS warning gets stuck on screen even after clicking to close it.
* Occasional layout issues on Wolf Bio panel.
* In very specific circumstances, the DLC Coat info ? button appears when non-DLC coat is selected.
* Terrain and water issues.

There are more features still to come for WolfQuest: Anniversary Edition! Tommi and Mikko are working on some deep code overhauls that should improve quality and performance of several core systems including AI and pathfinding. The rest of us have been working on smaller improvements and bugfixes, as well as Achievements. Then we’ll get back into Slough Creek multiplayer, which we know many players are eager for. And of course, the bighorn sheep are still waiting patiently to move into their cliff homes.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Once we finish these remaining features of the game and exit Early Access, we will dig into mobile and start on the next episode,Tower Fall (DLC), which will continue the story of your family pack through the fall and beyond. By October, pups look like small adults as they start the long, hard lessons of hunting and surviving. Your family pack will move south into the valley of the Yellowstone River. There, on the banks of the Yellowstone, with Tower Fall thundering nearby, the pack will stake out a new territory, protect the family from danger, and raise a new generation of skilled hunters.

In addition to Tower Fall, a new, expanded version of Lost River (DLC) will be even more mysterious and intriguing than Lost River Classic (which will still be included in the main game purchase).

We don’t give release dates or estimates — we release new content when it’s ready!

[h2]Beta 8 Now Available![/h2]

UPDATE May 29th: There are a couple bad bugs in this beta, so we've pulled it and switched back to 107c. Sorry about that! We'll make it available again after fixing them.

This beta is for Windows only. Instructions on how to get the beta are at the bottom of this announcement.
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[h2]1.0.7d Public Beta (beta1, 28 May)[/h2]

[h3]IMPROVEMENTS:[/h3]
* Reduced the odds of flooded den after rain or storm.
* Added better rules and feedback about marking near water's edge.
* More variations in aspen trees in Slough Creek.
* On Affinity meter on wolf badge, made it clearer where the max value is.
* Clearer feedback on multiplayer Quick Heal notification, based on health level.
* When making a pup into a grown wolf, clearer header txt on the "Make an Ironwolf?" dialog, should help prevent accidental ironwolves.
* Increased volume and frequency of birdsong.
* Dinner music will not keep playing whenever there's meat at the den.
* Wolf ears adjust a bit when running.
* Can now edit the bio of a dead wolf.

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* Territory grid hexes are slightly misaligned vertically, especially at the southern end.
* When player is sleeping, rain or storm may occur without any precipitation, which can then potentially trigger den flooding unexpectedly.
* Occasionally, dust kicked up by fleeing prey is glitched (square shapes).
* Game Pause/Options menu won't open on the Age Perks panel (on your birthday) so you are forced to make the stay/advance age choice.
* Lost River Learn to Hunt quest completion text mentions having pups in the future.
* Wolf freezes in odd pose if you pause the game while digging out a dirt den.
* Short Douglas-fir tree accumulates snow unevenly (at very top of tree).
* Occasionally a beaver leaves a branch floating in the air.
* Scent post color sometimes does not update immediately.
* Mate keeps feeding pups even when predators approach.
* Occasional glitches with the scrolling panel on the Load or Save Game panels.
* Occasionally the FPS warning gets stuck on screen even after clicking to close it.
* Occasional layout issues on Wolf Bio panel.
* In very specific circumstances, the DLC Coat info ? button appears when non-DLC coat is selected.

[h2]1.0.7d Public Beta (beta2, 30 May)[/h2]

[h3]BUG FIXED:[/h3]
* Player is stuck under the terrain at transitions from Find Den to Raise Pups, and from Raise Pups to Journey quests.


[h2]1.0.7d Public Beta (beta3, 310 May)[/h2]

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* Elk showdown music keeps playing after encounter ends.
* All music stops playing entirely for periods of time.
* Map zoom scrollbar input is reversed.
* Account registration key is marked as "used" when trying to register an account with an invalid email address.
* Bark is always wet and shiny on cottonwood trees in Amethyst.
* Terrain and water issues.


[h2]1.0.7d Public Beta (beta4, 1 June)[/h2]

Added debug code for multiplayer sleep bug. If this bug happens in your game, we need a bug report (F11) from the host and all players!

[h2]1.0.7d Public Beta (beta5, 1 June)[/h2]

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* In multiplayer, players get stuck sleeping and can't wake up.
* Sometimes dispersal and stranger wolf coats switch when moving closer or farther from player.
* June elk calf's rear right leg gets stuck at odd angle.


[h2]1.0.7d Public Beta (beta6, 2 June)[/h2]

[h3]IMPROVEMENTS:[/h3]
* Age Perks music begins before the black loading screen for Age Perks on your wolf's birthday.
* On Wolf Customization, body size now changes based on male/female selection (to match that difference in wolves in the game).

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* In Photo Mode, when pressing right arrow key to advance time, it also also makes wolf move to the right.
* At age 8, Ironwolf term used in some cases instead of Elder Wolf.
* Occasionally a snowshoe hare that spawned in an earlier season will survive to be killed in the next season, and its coat then is basd on the new season instead of the previous season.
* Some creek rocks are floating above the creekbed.
* Wolf Coat 859M has a black mark on the right hip.

[h2]1.0.7d Public Beta (beta7, 3 June)[/h2]

[h3]IMPROVEMENTS:[/h3]
* In Setup New Game, added text indicating whether or not the selected wolf is ready to advance in age on their birthday.
* Some refinements to the Amethyst cliff rock appearance.

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* Meat chunks laying on a slope will incrementally move downhill.
* On low quality settings, part of the river near the Slough Creek spawn point is underground when viewed from the spawn point.
* When creating a multiplayer game, the game mode switches back to the default selection when changing the map selection.
* Approaching Elk Herd music plays when approaching other ungulates.
* Willow bushes switch to lower detail models when player is quite close.

[h2]1.0.7d Public Beta (beta8, 3 June)[/h2]

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* Enhanced vegetation is missing in Amethyst and Slough Creek.

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[h3]TO GET THE BETA BUILD[/h3]
1) In the Steam app, go to your Library, then right-click on the WolfQuest: AE name in the left column and choose Properties.
2) Then go to the Betas tab and select the WQ current Beta option in the pulldown. No password is necessary. Steam should then start downloading it. Later you can switch back to the public version in that Betas tab, by selecting NONE in that pulldown.

As part of Steam's Open World Sale this weekend, WolfQuest: Anniversary Edition is 25% off! That brings the price down to US$14.99, so if you've got WolfQuest on your wish list, this is a rare opportunity to save a few bucks. Or if you already own the game, you might take advantage of the sale to buy it for a friend who'd enjoy it!

If that price is still too steep for you, you could try your luck with our monthly WolfQuest giveaway.

No devblog this week. We're still deep in some code overhauls that should bear fruit in the long-term. Thanks for all your ideas for Achievements! So many suggestions! We are working through them and choosing which to incorporate into our master plan.