WolfQuest: Anniversary Edition News

[p]We're making good progress now on the upcoming Tower Fall DLC map. Located west of Amethyst and Slough Creek, and south of Hellroaring, the Tower Fall map features a central high plateau with gently rolling hills, plus the Yellowstone River Canyon to the east and, of course, Tower Fall itself in the north. After the various distractions of the spring and summer, it's been great to finally have time to really work on this map. [/p][p][/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]Like the other Yellowstone game maps, Tower Fall is based on actual areas of the park, using elevation and satellite data to determine topography and ground cover. But as amazing as it is to have those data as resources, they are still relatively low resolution for our needs in a game map. So each map then requires a lot of work to shape and fine-tune the terrain, rocks, and vegetation. Today's devblog looks at what we've been doing to get the upcoming Tower Fall DLC map in shape. [/p][p]We've lately been using a new tool in Unity, called MicroVerse (created by Jason Booth, who also created the MicroSplat terrain shader that we've been using from the start in WQ:AE). MicroVerse gives us some incredible powers to shape the terrain in realtime, so we tweak and nudge and push the terrain around endlessly. (And I mean endlessly!) [/p][p]For example, it has a Spline tool that is very useful for building the road that runs through the game map, allowing us to configure the road to match the actual route in real-world Yellowstone, while also forcing the terrain to always match the road's elevation (which previously was much trickier to do). It also has some cool stamping tools that let us create detailed topography around den sites, for example. After making over 100 dens on other maps, it's tough to come up with new den ideas, but Tower Fall does now have a couple that make my Favorites list.[/p][p]Watch the video to see these tools in action! And stay tuned for more about Tower Fall![/p]

[h2]2.0.4b - PUBLIC BETA[/h2][p][/p][p]NOTE: Game saves are NOT backward compatible with v2.0.4a, so if you switch back to that versions, new saves will be hidden until this patch is officially released. [/p][p]See instructions at bottom of this page for opting into the public beta.[/p][p][/p][p]IMPORTANT! Multiplayer games are no longer backward-compatible with 2.0.4a -- or with earlier beta builds of 2.0.4b. All players must be on 2.0.4b beta 11 or newer to play together.[/p][p][/p][h3]BETA 16[/h3][p][/p][h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3][p]* Multiplayer: In certain cases, error prevents transfer hosting panel to show.[/p][p]* Font tag appears in many Game Help entries.[/p][hr][/hr][p][/p][h3]BETA 15[/h3][p][/p][h3]BUG FIXED:[/h3][p]* Multiplayer: Chat input misaligned after multi-line text input.[/p][hr][/hr][p][/p][h3]BETA 14[/h3][p][/p][h3]IMPROVEMENTS:[/h3][p]* Refinements to font display at small game resolutions.[/p][p]* Some memory optimizations.[/p][hr][/hr][p][/p][h3]BETA 13[/h3][p][/p][h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3][p]* Multiplayer: Pups can get stuck howling, and several other bad AI bugs.[/p][hr][/hr][p][/p][h3]BETA 12[/h3][p][/p][h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3][p]* Multiplayer: In certain situations, pups are uncompliant.[/p][hr][/hr][p][/p][h3]BETA 11[/h3][p][/p][h3]IMPROVEMENTS:[/h3][p]* Improved display of some fonts at very small game display resolutions.[/p][p][/p][h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3][p]* Multiplayer: NPC packmates are too reluctant to engage in a hunt.[/p][hr][/hr][h3]BETA 10[/h3][p][/p][h3]IMPROVEMENTS:[/h3][p]* Tweaked appearance of Lamar and Yellowstone Rivers in Amethyst and Hellroaring maps.[/p][p]* Improved support for some non-English but still Roman language glyphs.[/p][h3][/h3][h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3][p]* Placeholder nametags and damage readouts sometimes are stuck onscreen.[/p][p]* Achievement: Explore panel layout has some overlapping text.[/p][hr][/hr][p][/p][h3]BETA 9[/h3][p][/p][h3]IMPROVEMENTS:[/h3][p]* Refined wolf nametag and damage readout displays.[/p][p]* Refined player-wolf and mate name displays in Pack Info to fit tabs.[/p][p][/p][h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3][p]* Wolf jumping is glitched (regression from IK refactor, fixed now, but jumping still needs some work in general).[/p][p]* My Account: Packs: Placeholder entry displayed but not clickable.[/p][p]* Text display glitches in Bug Reporter. [/p][hr][/hr][p][/p][h3]BETA 8[/h3][p] [/p][h3]IMPROVEMENTS:[/h3][p]* Improved FPS readout font display.[/p][p][/p][h3]BUGS FIXED: [/h3][p]* Sometimes packmates eat right next to a competitor at a carcass.[/p][p]* Gameplay Settings: HUD pulldown doesn't include Minimal HUD option. [/p][p]* Multiplayer: Cant see other player's wolf bios.[/p][p]* Multiplayer: Text chat panel doesn't scroll.[/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][h3]BETA 7[/h3][p][/p][h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3][p]* Tall grass patches, and some boulders, missing from Hellroaring Mountain during summer season.[/p][p]* Multiplayer: Error interferes with voting during the Name Pups scene.[/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][p][/p][h3]BETA 6[/h3][p][/p][h3]NEW:[/h3][p]* New object of interest at Eduweb tent in Slough Creek.[/p][p][/p][h3]IMPROVEMENTS:[/h3][p]* Refactored wolf eating AI, to improve code quality and refine some eating behaviors. Packmates should now be smarter about eating carcasses when bison and other dangerous prey or competitors are nearby.[/p][p]* Refactored wolf hunting AI, to improve code quality and revise some hunting behaviors. When attacking mother-calf pairs, packmates will ignore mother until she is within 15 meters. When hunting elk herds, packmates will be less eager to start biting elk before herd begins to flee. [/p][p]* Refactored IK to improve code quality.[/p][p]* Revised layout of Gameplay Settings panel to be more logical.[/p][p]* New keyboard layout image in Game Settings: Controls (in preparation for localized keyboard layouts once we add other languages).[/p][p][/p][h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3][p]* Occasionally a pup survives an instant-kill predator attack with 1% of health remaining.[/p][p]* Douglas-fir tree branch texture visual glitch.[/p][p]* In Lost River-Classic, Halloween coffins are missing the box mesh. [/p][p][/p][p][/p][h3]TO GET THE BETA BUILD[/h3][p]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.[/p][p] [/p]

[h2]2.0.4a - RELEASED 21 OCTOBER 2025[/h2][p][/p][h3]BUGS FIXED: [/h3][p]* Beige coat (revised a few months ago) does not have supracaudal gland marking on tail.
* Lost River DLC Map: Halloween coffins are missing their mesh, and Halloween cats float during winter season.
* Unity (game engine) bug that could allow another application installed on the user's computer to execute malicious code in the game (though there are no known cases of this in any Unity game, and WolfQuest does not use the particular code that would make this intrusion more feasible.)[/p]

[h2]2.0.4a - PUBLIC BETA[/h2][p][/p][p]NOTE: Game saves ARE backward compatible with v2.0.4, so you can switch back to that version and continue playing. Multiplayer games are also backward-compatible with that last patch, so you can play with those who are not in this beta.[/p][p][/p][h2]BETA 1[/h2][p][/p][h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3][p]* Beige coat (revised a few months ago) does not have supracaudal gland marking on tail.[/p][p]* Lost River DLC Map: Halloween coffins are missing their mesh, and Halloween cats float during winter season.[/p][p]* Unity (game engine) bug that could allow another application installed on the user's computer to execute malicious code in the game (though there are no known cases of this in any Unity game, and WolfQuest does not use the particular code that would make this intrusion more feasible.)[/p]

[p]Fire and ice forged the terrain around Tower Fall in Yellowstone National Park. Today's devblog takes a look at that geologic history -- and how we're recreating that environment for the upcoming Tower Fall DLC map.[/p][p][/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]This area, which lies just north of the Yellowstone caldera, features an ancient volcano called Mount Washburn, which erupted around 640,000 years ago, spewing lava and ash. Some of the lava cooled quickly and formed blocky rocks called breccia. The upper slopes of the mountain are blanketed with dark, angular rocks. Creating this kind of landscape in the game has been difficult, since terrain textures can't render such sharp bumps without special techniques that have a major performance impact. But by using a Blanket shader (the same one that we're using for large grass patches), we can "wrap" rock meshes to the terrain, giving us good, realistic coverage which looks so much better than the plain terrain.[/p][p][/p][p]Many of these breccia rocks came to rest on the upper surfaces of the mountain, but others got caught in mudflows, which carried them farther downhill before cooling. As they cooled, those flows formed conglomerate rocks. These conglomerates along with the breccia form the slopes of Mount Washburn today. [/p][p][/p][p]During that eruption, Washburn also spewed out clouds of volcanic ash, which drifted away before settling onto the ground -- but the ash particles were still so hot, over 600 degrees celcius, that they welded together. This rock is now called welded ash or tuff, and that forms much of the northern areas of the game map. It's a hard rock indeed, but it has eroded in some places, such as the famous Devil's Den, just above the Tower Fall waterfall, where the creek has carved a crazy maze of spires and pinnacles. [/p][p][/p][p]Millions of years after these eruptions, the glaciers moved in, scouring the landscape and then as they receded, leaving behind a layer of glacial till. They also deposited many boulders (glacial erratics) and carved out a few glacial ponds. This left much of the game map a gentle landscape, with rolling hills and ravines in the Antelope Creek watershed, where the glaciers scoured the land and filled it in with gravel. [/p][p][/p][p]All this makes the Tower Fall map quite different from the granite landscapes of Slough Creek and Hellroaring. It's much more similar to Amethyst, with chunky, bumpy conglomerate rock formations and broad valleys and plateaus that are layered with glacial till. The only major topographical feature, besides Mount Washburn itself, is the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River, on the eastern edge of the map. The river has cut a deep canyon through various layers of conglomerate and glacial till -- but since it's mainly in this corner of the map, so you can just avoid that area if you want.[/p][p][/p][p]We have plenty more work to do on Tower Fall, including dens, so stay tuned for updates![/p]