WolfQuest: Anniversary Edition News

The new, greatly expanded Lost River map is coming along nicely! For those new to WolfQuest, Lost River is a fictional map somewhere in the Mountain West, where....something....has happened that prompted all humans to evacuate the area, leaving it to the wild animals. Lost River: Classic (the OG map) will remain in the game, and this new expanded map will be available as DLC for purchase.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

I began working on this last year and have made much progress, but let's take a look back at the beginning: creating the terrain. Like the other Anniversary Edition maps, this is much bigger than in the old game, and in fact (for obscure technical reasons) it's a bit larger than the AE Yellowstone maps, over 8x8 kilometers. That provides lots of room for recreating downtown, the subdivisions, and other areas of the old map, as well as much more wilderness areas to explore and play in.

Today's devblog looks at several steps in this terrain-shaping process. We'll share more in future devblogs (though giving only very narrow peeks at the new map, so there will be plenty to discover when you can finally explore the map on your own). And not to worry, Floppy will still reign over Lost River.

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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.

It's time for another chance to win a free copy of WolfQuest! Lucky winners will receive a free copy of WolfQuest 2.7 (and PC/Mac users will also get WolfQuest: Anniversary Edition Early Access for PC and Mac)! Winners can choose to get any version of the game (Mac/Windows, Android, iOS, Kindle).

If you prefer, you can choose the new Yellowstone Wolf Coat DLC (only for WolfQuest: AE for PC/Mac) or the WolfQuest Soundtrack and Music Extras.

How to Enter
Email your username, preferred email address, and your answer to the question: "What are three interesting facts about wolves?" to [email protected]. Winners are selected randomly from complete entries. Please enter only once in each contest.

Deadline
All entries must be received before midnight (Eastern Daylight Time) on Monday, February 7, 2022.

Random Drawing
Each complete entry will be assigned a number. We will then use a random-number generator to generate four numbers. The entries bearing those numbers will each win a free copy of the game.

[h3]NEW:[/h3]
* Lost pups will sometimes howl back at the player, and if they do, their icon will appear on the compass briefly to help you find them.
* New volume sliders in Audio Settings for Nearby Howls and Animal Sounds.
* Added Regenerate Family Snapshot button to Pack Info during the Journey to Slough Creek quest, in case player changes their mate's name.
* "Hanging Out with the Pups" music now plays sometimes when at the den.
* On Account panel, added new toggle to hide your email address (for streamers).

[h3]IMPROVEMENTS:[/h3]
* Mate is now more attentive to finding food when moderately hungry.
* Volume in Audio Settings has a more useful dropoff curve now (might need readjusting depending on your custom settings).
* Low FPS Alert should be more reliable now, much less likely to be triggered when FPS is good.
* Achievements layout adjusts better at lower resolutions.
* In Wolf Customization, names that are too short (two characters or fewer) are now flagged as such.
* Late summer mule deer fawns do a bit more damage when kicking.
* Elk weave back and forth less when being chased.
* Increased ambient occlusion during rain, snow, and nightime, for better realism.
* Reduced moose and mule dear health levels in spring and early summer, to match elk and be more realistic.
* Moose get tired more quickly when fleeing.
* Upon reaching rendezvous site, the spiral camera movement stops after awhile.
* On World Map, you can now edit the name of a custom marker without moving it to your current location.
* Added special alert if game cannot sync files to server because player is not logged into their OneDrive account.
* New method for loading terrain materials to reduce memory load (currently only in Amethyst).
* Tweaks to snow coverage on terrain.

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* Multiplayer: Game progress stalls if host dies while Name Rendezvous Site or similar panels are displayed.
* Multiplayer: Sometimes notification incorrectly says that host has disconnected.
* In multiplayer games, some alerts like Revive don't respect the Hide HUD setting.
* In Load/Save Game panel, multiplayer games have Mate line even though there are no mates in MP games.
* New Trial Mate music doesn't loop.
* In Slough Creek games, Endless Summer quest does not show on Quests panel.
* Wolf bodies can get wonky if you enable Photo Mode and then orbit the camera around.
* Mate sometimes moves too fast in water when chasing prey.
* Bull ungulates can spam-attack wolves, doing excessive damage.
* Mate can get stuck holding pup on some topography.
* After a certain sequence of events in multiplayer games, a player can get the wolf of another player in their carousel.
* In multiplayer, problems ensue if a client disconnects before getting spawned into the game.
* Problems ensue if mate goes hunting when pups are responding to feeding by it.
* Pups don't sleep when player is away on an excursion.
* In Wolf Customization, wolf is facing away after a certain sequence of player actions.
* In Wolf Customization, wolves with inherited black variation coats can't be edited.
* Sow grizzly does not respect fur settings.
* Terrain issues.
* Typos.

This beta is available in the Steam Public Beta branch (see instructions below) for Windows computers only.

NOTE: Multiplayer IS compatible with the last released version, 1.0.8f, so you can play MP games with others who have 1.0.8f.

[h2]BETA 2 (26 January 2022)[/h2]

[h3]NEW:[/h3]
* Lost pups will sometimes howl back at the player, and if they do, their icon will appear on the compass briefly to help you find them.
* New volume sliders in Audio Settings for Nearby Howls and Animal Sounds.

[h3]IMPROVEMENTS:[/h3]
* Elk weave back and forth less when being chased.
* Increased ambient occlusion during rain, snow, and nightime, to improve game visuals.
* In Wolf Customization, names that are too short (two characters or fewer) are now flagged as such.
* Reduced moose and mule dear health levels in spring and early summer, to match elk and be more realistic.
* Upon reaching rendezvous site, the spiral camera movement stops after awhile.
* On World Map, you can now edit the name of a custom marker without moving it to your current location.
* Added special alert if game cannot sync files to server because player is not logged into their OneDrive account.
* New method for loading terrain materials to reduce memory load (currently only in Amethyst).
* Tweaks to snow coverage on terrain.

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* Wolf bodies can get wonky if you enable Photo Mode and then orbit the camera around.
* Mate sometimes moves too fast in water when chasing prey.
* Prey charging attacks should now do damage properly, without allowing bulls to spam them.
* Mate is stuck holding pup on contours.
* After a certain sequence of events in multiplayer games, a player can get the wolf of another player in their carousel.
In multiplayer, problems ensue if a client disconnects before getting spawned into the game.
* Problems ensue if mate goes hunting when pups are responding to feeding by it.
* Pups don't sleep when player is away on an excursion.
* In Wolf Customization, wolf is facing away after a certain sequence of player actions.
* In Wolf Customization, wolves with inherited black variation coats can't be edited.
* Sow grizzly does not respect fur settings.
* Terrain issues.
* Typos.
_________________________

[h2]BETA 3 (27 January 2022)[/h2]

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* Terrain in main menu sometimes changes to springtime when returning from Slough Creek game.
* No trees in main menu if game is set to Basic Sky & Vegetation when launched.
* In Slough Creek games, Endless Summer quest does not show on Quests panel.
* Multiplayer: Game progress stalls if host dies while Name Rendezvous Site or similar panels are displayed.
* Multiplayer: Sometimes notification incorrectly says that host has disconnected.
_________________________

[h2]BETA 4 (28 January 2022)[/h2]

[h3]NEW:[/h3]
* Regenerate Family Snapshot button added to Pack Info during the Journey to Slough Creek quest, in case player changes their mate's name.

[h3]IMPROVEMENTS:[/h3]
* Mate is now more attentive to finding food when moderately hungry.
* Volume in Audio Settings has a more useful dropoff curve now (might need readjusting depending on your custom settings).
* Low FPS Alert should be more reliable now, much less likely to be triggered when FPS is good.
* On Account panel, new toggle to hide your email address (for streamers).
* Achievements layout adjusts better at lower resolutions.

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* New Trial Mate music doesn't loop.

[h2]BETA 5 (30 January 2022)[/h2]

[h3]IMPROVEMENTS:[/h3]
* Moose get tired more quickly when fleeing.
* Late summer mule deer fawns do a bit more damage when kicking.

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* Pack Info layout has several extra columns.
* In Amethyst, the new Regenerate Family Snapshot confirmation alert refers to pups.
" In Load/Save Game panel, multiplayer games have Mate line even though there are no mates in MP games.
* In multiplayer games, some alerts like Revive don't respect the Hide HUD setting.
_________________________________________

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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.

[h3]IMPROVEMENTS:[/h3]
* Five more tags added for multiplayer games.

BUGS FIXED:
* NPC wolf response howls not reliably synced in multiplayer games.
* When near the edge of Slough Creek map, trees at opposite end of map don't render.
* Cougar whiskers are black, should be white.
* Text edits.