WolfQuest: Anniversary Edition News

Patch 1.0.8o (Released 15 July 2022)

[h3]NEW:[/h3]
* Randomizer in Wolf Customization: Click the dice button to generate a random wolf: Coat, eye, tail and body customizations (including any DLC you have purchased), attributes, and personality.
* Minimal HUD option in Gameplay Settings. With this enabled, the wolf badge, compass, targeting arrow, courtship banners, and scent readouts are displayed, but other UI elements (bite cursor, NPC health bar, elk health dots, pup hunger meter, and damage indicators are not. Targeting arrow is shown only when locked into an animal or object.

[h3]TUTORIAL AND NOTIFICATION IMPROVEMENTS:[/h3]
* Revised tutorial tips to be less intrusive and more responsive to player actions.
* Added Skip button on quest intro panels to skip the subsequent How to Play panel.
* New toggle in Game Settings>Gameplay to disable common notifications (like Hex is Still Strong, Too Soon, Nearby Den, etc.).
* Some common notifications (about den discovery, pup illness, mate injury) now appear in smaller window in bottom-right corner.
* Added small corner notification when mate's injury heals.

[h3]OTHER IMPROVEMENTS:[/h3]
* When starting Establish Territory quest, rival packs will spend a bit more time strengthening their own hexes before claiming new ones.
* Keyboard "Enter" key will now close Mate, Den, and Rendezvous Site naming popups.
* Added a new button on World Map to hide scent post markers (when wolf has that perk).
* Some optimizations to improve GPU performance (mostly on Enhanced Sky & Vegetation mode, and probably mostly noticeable on older/weaker GPUs like GTX 1050).
* Increased ambient light level a bit to reduce darkness of unlit sides of objects.
* Refactored some multiplayer code (should have no noticable effects in gameplay).
* In Endless Summer, the "End Ironwolf Run" dialog has clearer text and more meaningful button names now.
* Better error message when sending an in-game message but game cannot contact server.
* Slough Creek pack wolves now have much more variety in attributes.
* Social Cooldown notification now uses the new, smaller popup in the right corner of the screen.
* Hiding the HUD now hides the animated heart icons on mate and pups.
* Adjusted line spacing in tutorial tips.

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* In Multiplayer games, sometimes wrong wolf bio shows in Pack Info panel.
* Sometimes dens don't lose snow cover when going from early Spring (Find a Den quest) to later Spring (Raise Pups quest)
* Some animals leave wide stance snowprints.
* Fall and winter elk calves snap to their feet for a moment if they were prone when killed.
* Lower dead branches on lodgepole pines wiggle too much in the wind.
* Whitebark pine bark is too smooth.
* Some icons in Wolf Customization don't have rounded corners.
* Fur is rendered on Family Tree wolves when fur is disabled.
* Wolf creation's name input field shows controller placeholder text when highlighted without a controller.
* Once a wolf becomes an elder wolf, if you go into the wolf carousel in main menu and modify a different wolf which was created as an ironwolf, then modify and save your elder wolf, that wolf loses it's elder status and won't be marked as dead when it dies.
* In Lost River Classic, camera jitters when underneath fire tower.
* In multiplayer lobby game preview panel, "Starting season" shows for Slough Creek Story mode games, but should not.
* Wrong affinity label on a notification.
* When fur is disabled, wolf coat tint is not applied to wolves inside den.
* Minor issues on a few wolf coats.
* Old text about Tower Fall on Game Help: Loaf at Rendezvous Site panel.
* Tutorial tip about companionship boost not being in effect when overtired is triggered reliably. (Also added a corner notification about this.)
* In Graphics Quality settings, Terrain Blending is not set to Off when switching to Fastest quality level.
* When using controller, certain interactions on Age Perks panel will make controller input stop working.
* Radio collar clips into body of dead wolves.
* Hare carcass changes to incorrect seasonal coat sometimes.
* A few dens don't have the correct den-type scent icon when player has Den Memory perk.
* Buttons on End Ironwolf Run don't work properly.
* In Age Perks panel, "not your birthday" alert appears too soon in certain situations.
* In Age Perks panel, wolf doesn't have fur in certain situations.
* On Name Your Pack panel, clicking in the central area over text field and Suggest a Name button will submit the current name in the text field.
* In Amethyst during winter, cliff rocks have dark areas from terrain blending.
* Photo mode icon has problems when player-wolf is sleeping.
* In Lost River, music sometimes stops abruptly.
* Terrain and water issues.
* Text issues.

The next patch, v1.0.8n, is now in public beta! Available on Steam for Windows and MacOS. Instructions for opting into public beta at bottom of this post.

NOTE: Saved games and multiplayer games are compatible with the last patch, 108n, so you can switch back to that patch if you want with no problems.

[h2]BETA 5[/h2]

[h3]NEW:[/h3]
* Randomizer in Wolf Customization: Click the dice button to generate a random wolf: Coat, eye, tail and body customizations (including any DLC you have purchased), attributes, and personality.
[h3]
TUTORIAL AND NOTIFICATION IMPROVEMENTS:[/h3]
* Revised tutorial tips to be less intrusive and more responsive to player actions.
* Added Skip button on quest intro panels to skip the subsequent How to Play panel.
* New toggle in Game Settings>Gameplay to disable common notifications (like Hex is Still Strong, Too Soon, Nearby Den, etc.).
* Some common notifications (about den discovery, pup illness, mate injury) now appear in smaller window in bottom-right corner.

[h3]OTHER IMPROVEMENTS:[/h3]
* When starting Establish Territory quest, rival packs will spend a bit more time strengthening their own hexes before claiming new ones.
* Keyboard "Enter" key will now close Mate, Den, and Rendezvous Site naming popups.
* Added a new button on World Map to hide scent post markers (when wolf has that perk).
* Some optimizations to improve GPU performance (mostly on Enhanced Sky & Vegetation mode, and probably mostly noticeable on older/weaker GPUs like GTX 1050).
* Increased ambient light level a bit to reduce darkness of unlit sides of objects.
* Refactored some multiplayer code (should have no noticable effects in gameplay).
* In Endless Summer, the "End Ironwolf Run" dialog has clearer text and more meaningful button names now.
* Better error message when sending an in-game message but game cannot contact server.

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* In Multiplayer games, sometimes wrong wolf bio shows in Pack Info panel.
* Sometimes dens don't lose snow cover when going from early Spring (Find a Den quest) to later Spring (Raise Pups quest)
* Some animals leave wide stance snowprints.
* Fall and winter elk calves snap to their feet for a moment if they were prone when killed.
* Lower dead branches on lodgepole pines wiggle too much in the wind.
* Whitebark pine bark is too smooth.
* Some icons in Wolf Customization don't have rounded corners.
* Fur is rendered on Family Tree wolves when fur is disabled.
* Wolf creation's name input field shows controller placeholder text when highlighted without a controller.
* Once a wolf becomes an elder wolf, if you go into the wolf carousel in main menu and modify a different wolf which was created as an ironwolf, then modify and save your elder wolf, that wolf loses it's elder status and won't be marked as dead when it dies.
* In Lost River Classic, camera jitters when underneath fire tower.
* In multiplayer lobby game preview panel, "Starting season" shows for Slough Creek Story mode games, but should not.
* Wrong affinity label on a notification.
* When fur is disabled, wolf coat tint is not applied to wolves inside den.
* Minor issues on a few wolf coats.
* Old text about Tower Fall on Game Help: Loaf at Rendezvous Site panel.
* Terrain and water issues.
_____________________

[h2]BETA 6[/h2]

[h3]IMPROVEMENTS:[/h3]
* Randomizer in wolf customization now also randomizes gender.
* Adjusted sunlight color in main menu to match sunlight in game scenes.
* Added small corner notification when mate's injury heals.
* Added controller support for wolf randomizer button.

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* On certain Fastest (Custom) quality settings, performance is much worse than before, until reset.
* When fur is disabled, elk carcasses don't show correct consumption textures.
* When fur is disabled, newborn pup textures are incorrect.
* Fix for elder wolf bug is now fully applied to exisiting wolves (Once a wolf becomes an elder wolf, if you go into the wolf carousel in main menu and modify a different wolf which was created as an ironwolf, then modify and save your elder wolf, that wolf loses it's elder status and won't be marked as dead when it dies. )
_____________________

[h2]BETA 7[/h2]

[h3]IMPROVEMENTS:[/h3]
* More tweaks to lighting in main menu.
* Increased fur rendering distance on pups.
* Adjusted line spacing in tutorial tips.

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* In multiplayer games, animals sometimes float in the air. (Probably fixed, but if you see this again, please get everyone to submit reports.)
* Tutorial tip about companionship boost not being in effect when overtired is triggered reliably. (Also added a corner notification about this.)
* In Graphics Quality settings, Terrain Blending is not set to Off when switching to Fastest quality level.
* When using controller, certain interactions on Age Perks panel will make controller input stop working.
* Layout misalignment on multiplayer Pack Info panel.
* Header text is too long on new "Mate Healed" corner notifications.
* On MacOS, Amethyst cliff rocks are pink.

_____________________

[h2]BETA 8[/h2]

[h3]IMPROVEMENTS:[/h3]
* Adjusted ground textures in Amethyst for brighter sunlight intensity.
* Increased fur rendering distance on elk.

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* In multiplayer, sometimes pups won't go into den when woofed. (Possible fix; please have everyone submit reports if you see this again in multiplayer.)
* End Ironwolf Run: Last line of text overlaps itself.
_____________________

[h2]BETA 9[/h2]

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* Wolf can't stop panting.
* In Age Perks panel, "not your birthday" alert appears too soon in certain situations.
* In Age Perks panel, wolf doesn't have fur in certain situations.

___________________

[h2]BETA 10[/h2]

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* Buttons on End Ironwolf Run don't work properly (not fixed, temporarily changed text to point players to functioning Jump Ahead button)
* In wolf customization, randomize button can select DLC that hasn't been purchased.
* Wrong texture on dead Douglas-fir trees.
_____________________

[h2]BETA 11[/h2]

[h3]BUG FIXED:[/h3]
* Buttons on End Ironwolf Run don't work properly (properly fixed now) .
_____________________

[h2]BETA 12[/h2]

[h3]IMPROVEMENTS:[/h3]
* Added debug code for flying animals in multiplayer games -- if you see this, please ensure that everyone submits a bug report.
* Slough Creek pack wolves now have much more variety in attributes.
* Wolf Customization Randomizer: Adjusted the odds for some things.
* Social Cooldown notification now uses the new, smaller popup in the right corner of the screen.
* Hiding the HUD now hides the animated heart icons on mate and pups.
* In Lost River, music sometimes stops abruptly.
* Photo mode icon has problems when player-wolf is sleeping.

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* Possible fix for flying animals in multiplayer games.
* A few dens don't have the correct den-type scent icon when player has Den Memory perk.
* On Name Your Pack panel, clicking in the central area over text field and Suggest a Name button will submit the current name in the text field.
* In Amethyst during winter, cliff rocks have dark areas from terrain blending.
* Text issues.

_____________________

[h2]BETA 13[/h2]

[h3]NEW:[/h3]
* Minimal HUD option in Gameplay Settings. With this enabled, the wolf badge, compass, targeting arrow, courtship banners, and scent readouts are displayed, but other UI elements (bite cursor, NPC health bar, elk health dots, pup hunger meter, and damage indicators are not. If you prefer to have this mode hide or show specific UI elements, please press F11 to submit a feedback report.

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* In multiplayer, animals often teleport and sometimes take flight.
* Some tutorial tips appear in every game session.
* Radio collar clips into body of dead wolves.
* Hare carcass changes to incorrect seasonal coat sometimes.

_____________________

[h2]BETA 14[/h2]

[h3]IMPROVEMENTS:[/h3]
* Minimal HUD now hides courtship banner and the targeting arrow is shown only when locked into an animal or object.

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* Minimal HUD doesn't show scent readouts (but should).
* Minimal HUD doesn't hide wolf badge during sleep.
* Minimal HUD sometimes doesn't recognize that it should be enabled.
* When fur is disabled andt thus no snow accumulates on animals, mid-distance wolves and elk have snow on them.
_____________________

[h2]BETA 15[/h2]

[h3]IMPROVEMENTS:[/h3]
* Pressing "I" key now toggles HUD between 'Off' and player selected option, 'Minimal' or 'On'.

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* In multiplayer, sometimes pup names don't update for other players in the game.
* In multiplayer, animal teleporting and flying still occurs sometimes.

_____________________

[h2]BETA 16[/h2]

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* If multiple pups get sick at the same time, notification only appears for one of them.

_______________________________________

[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.

While Tommi works on the improved AI system and Mikko refactors multiplayer code and Andrei tackles various minor game features and improvements, I've been focused on Lost River -- the upcoming, greatly expanded version of Lost River which we will release later this year as DLC. There's plenty to do on it -- setting up all the seasons, refining the terrain and points of interest, creating an interesting variety of dens, and working with artists on new ... features ... in Lost River.

This week I've also been adding beaver artifacts to the game map:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

The main beaver dam and the pond that flooded Allison Acres are already in place, but there should be more beavers busy at work elsewhere, so I've now added several new dams, lodges, and ponds. Today's devblog video shows the construction of one of those, along with an improved water shader that adjusts water speed based on slope. As always, it's the little things that make a difference. We're also getting the next patch ready to release into public beta -- look for it soon!

________________________________________

The WolfQuest saga will continue! Stay tuned for more news in upcoming devblogs. More maps and wolf customizations are also coming in 2022!

Once the game is completed on PC/Mac, we will turn our attention to other platforms.

We do not announce specific release dates. We will release them when they are ready.

With the last round of game updates (injuries and elk stumble) released, I've switched my attention back to the upcoming expanded Lost River map. For those new to WolfQuest, Lost River is a fictional location somewhere outside of Yellowstone where some mysterious events have forced all humans to evacuate the area. The Classic version of Lost River first appeared in WolfQuest 2.7 in 2015, and this new, greatly expanded version of Lost River will be available as DLC (price TBD) once completed. I've been working on it, off and off, for over a year in a separate project, and finally this week I cleaned it up and imported it into the main WolfQuest project so I can finally have the actual game running on the new map. Today's video offers a little sneek peak. The map is very much a work-in-progress, with many many things left to do -- but it's still great to see the game in action here. One of those many things that needs doing, also shown in today's devblog, is refining the forest patterns on the map using some algorithms and Perlin noise patterns.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

There's plenty of work still to do before this expanded Lost River map is ready to release. While I'm working on it, the rest of the team is focused on the WolfQuest Saga and related improvements. Stay tuned for updates about all these things coming (sooner or later) to WolfQuest!
________________________________________

The WolfQuest saga will continue! Stay tuned for more news in upcoming devblogs. More maps and wolf customizations are also coming in 2022!

Once the game is completed on PC/Mac, we will turn our attention to other platforms.

We do not announce specific release dates. We will release them when they are ready.

[h3]NEW:[/h3]
Elk will stumble occasionally when fleeing from wolves, giving nearby wolves a moment of opportunity to bite while the elk is down. Chances of stumble are higher when elk is low on stamina or health, or running downhill. Elk take damage from stumbling (varies from a little to a lot).

[h3]IMPROVEMENTS:[/h3]
* Wolf bio allows more text (1500 characters, about 250-300 words). The bio is now editable in Pack Info.
* New musical cue when player injury heals.
* Adjusted some odds for competitor den raids to try to balance out variety of attackers.
* When pup is sick, companionship (boosting the pup's odds of recovery) now won't have any effect when the player-wolf's wakefulness drops to zero. (Put on your oxygen mask first, parents!) Companionship effect increased a bit to compensate.
* Elk run faster to catch up when they fall behind the herd.
* Updated "End Ironwolf Run" alert to mention Jump Ahead to Next Year option.
* Sync lowest difficulty with current difficulty when using the Jump Ahead option.
* Changed texture around burrow den near Gravel Fan to match the den texture better.
* Reduced volume of wind-in-grass sound effect.
* Tweaked pup version of Bronze Forehead to be more clearly a black coat.
* Increased odds of carcass spawning when player-wolf is very hungry.
* Multiplayer: When a player-wolf is killed by large prey, the prey is now more likely to wander some distance away from the player, so the player can revive themselves safely.
* Multiplayer: Season is now indicated in preview panel for Pack Life and Territory Quest games.

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* Carcass confrontation music keeps playing after competitor leaves carcass.
* If player is in Find New Den subquest when pups near 15 lbs, rendezvous sites do not appear on map when they should.
* Wolf ear customization twitches in Family Tree viewer.
* Bull elk antlers change form upon dying, if bull was spawned in earlier season.
* Cryptic message appears if player tries to log into account that hasn't been activated yet.
* Eagle gets stuck when trying to swoop kill something in certain areas.
* Birds land when trying to circle their target in certain areas.
* Mate can't fight because it's carrying a meat chunk and won't drop it.
* Wrong texture assigned to Frosty NPC coat.
* Wrong coat banner image (displayed during courtship) assigned to 1091 coat.
* Snow accumulation issues on beaver lodges.
* Small white specks on base of tail on some wolf coats.
* In Main Menu, sometimes Secondary Howl 6 won't play audio.
* In very specific circumstance, game freezes after going into My Wolves.
* In very specific circumstance, buttons in Main Menu are disabled and not clickable.
* Buy DLC alert stays onscreen sometimes after leaving wolf customization.
* Coyote howl is silent.
* Pups can have trouble navigating through the roots of the northeast tree-root den.
* Sometimes bark emote has no audio.
* Multiplayer: Game gets stuck if player has Options menu open when another player submits a bug report and window appears asking player to submit one as well.
* Controller: Can't navigate around some Wolf Customization panels.
* Controller: Can't navigate to Finish Quest in Establish Territory Quest panel.
* Scent view breaks if you switch into it the instant you wake up.
* Problems ensue when a pup somehow gets an injury, when that isn't technically allowed.
* Wolf preview in Family Tree doesn't show Blind Eye when it should.
* Multiplayer: Client players cannot move after joining a game.
* Elk sometimes get confused and stop running when the run into a steep slope or wall. (Partial fix, more refined improvements to come in the future.)
* Blind Eye visual glitch when wolf is panting.
* Grizzly bears chase too slowly.
* Mate sometimes get stuck walking into a rock when it's trying to find some privacy.
* Game freezes if player goes to sleep just as a popup window appears.
* Short Tail modification isn't visible on wolves inside den.
* Sometimes game will duplicate wolves when syncing with the server.
* Move to New Den subquest is indented below wrong quest.
* Black smear on left edge of 870Fs mouth
* Hole in the rocky outcrop of Lake McBride.
* Terrain edge visible in one den entrance.
* Wolf canter animation plays too fast.
* Dead wolves don't get Short Tail body mod when they should.
* Ride of the Wapiti music restarts when switching intensity levels.
* Some spring/summer aspens have too much specular lighting on leaves.
* In the northeast root den, ground behind the den doesn't quite meet the terrain.
* Terrain and water issues.