WolfQuest: Anniversary Edition News

Patch 1.0.3a is released now. This has a lot of tweaks and fixes to minor (but annoying!) issues with objects and colliders in Lost River.

We've released the next update for WolfQuest: Anniversary Edition, which has two big new features: a deep winter season on Amethyst Mountain, and the classic Lost River map from WolfQuest 2.7, which we've incorporated into WQ:AE with all the new gameplay.

UPDATE: The Mac version is now available, along with Windows version.

[h3]NEW: Winter season in Amethyst![/h3]
* Winter season begins on or soon after December 1st in game calendar. If you load a saved game that's after that date, it will be in Winter. The game world is blanketed in snow, about a meter deep in the highlands and half that in the valley. Creeks and waterfalls are frozen, but the Lamar River remains open.
* Elk migrate down into the Lamar Valley in November and early December. You may notice them slowly wander that way as they graze. If you load a previously-saved game that is past December 1st, they will begin their migration then.
* Grizzly bears have gone into hibernation, so they won't challenge you over carcasses.
* Bull moose will lose their antlers in early January. (Bull elk and buck mule deer don't lose their antlers until later in the winter.)
* Many birds have migrated south, so the forests are quieter.

[h3]NEW: Lost River (Classic) game map![/h3]
* This is the map from WQ 2.7, with a few upgrades, but mostly has the same low-quality models and textures as the 2.7 version, combined with all the new WQ:AE game systems (unting, courtship, competitor fights, dynamic time and weather, etc.)
* We are calling this "Classic" because it used the small (2x2km) map from the old game. Later this year we will create a new version of Lost River that matches the size, scope, and quality of the Amethyst and Slough Creek maps in WQ:AE. This will be DLC, available as an additional purchase.

[h3]IMPROVED: Optimizations![/h3]
* Improvements to game logic (uses CPU) when many animals are spawned (usually after playing for quite awhile).
* Improvements to graphics performance (uses GPU), including:
- Better performance on Basic Sky & Vegetation mode, especially if both Ambient Occlusion and Anti-Aliasing are disabled.
- Faster versions of cliff rocks on lower quality levels (with new "Other Objects" pulldown in Game Settings: Graphics panel)
- Note: Scent View still has substantial slowdown on low-end hardware, still investigating that.

[h3]REVISED: Territory marking[/h3]
* We have revised aspects of the territory and marking system, but these are mostly disabled in Amethyst, since players cannot claim territory there. They should not affect gameplay significantly.
* Territory hexes show strength of territory claim on mouseover.

[h3]OTHER CHANGES:[/h3]
* Reduced maximum number of grizzlies at a carcass.
* Adjust elk health levels so some are more likely to have mid-level health.

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* Visible crack between terrain tiles in valley floor.
* Some issues with shadows (e.g. some shadows were not continuous, but broken lines)
* In Basic Sky & Vegetation mode, rivers are fully visible through fog.
* Splash effects are broken on lower Chalcedony waterfall.
* Snowshoe hares do not change to white coat in winter.
* Rain can occur in winter months.
* Can start to urinate while running.
* NPC animals occasionally can get stuck on trees.


[h3]KNOWN ISSUES:[/h3]
* The World Map moves in wrong direction when you click-drag it. Will be fixed in next patch.
* On certain computers (Mac using Intel integrated graphics, certain old Windows dedicated GPUs) in Amethyst: Basic Sky & Veg mode, distant trees are sometimes multicolored, and sky may have similar discoloration. This seems to be a Unity game tool bug but we are still investigating.
* On very old (2012-2014) AMD GPUs, terrain may have white patches. Try upgrading your graphics drivers and submit a bug report if that helps. If it doesn't, please test different Terrain Quality settings and submit detailed bug reports about the results of your tests.

Our main focus here at WolfQuest World HQ is to create a realistic and immersive game about the world of wild wolves...but we do like to have a little fun too. (I suppose that's why we make games in the first place.) The Lost River map in WolfQuest 2.7 came out of idle conversations that the project team had back in 2006-07: Wouldn't it be fun to put the wolves in a post-apocalyptic world? Of course, that was far outside our mandate with the original game, but when we began working on WolfQuest 2.7, it felt like a justifiable diversion.

And in that spirit, we recently decided to bring the Lost River map into WolfQuest: Anniversary Edition. Today’s devblog looks at this hybrid game map — it’s the original Lost River map with just a few upgrades, but wrapped in all the new game systems of WQ:AE. We’re calling this map “Lost River (Classic)”  Why? Because we also have many ideas for a bigger, expanded, improved Lost River map — one that’s equal to the scope and quality of Amethyst Mountain and Slough Creek. We plan to create that later this year and release it as DLC (downloadable content, for purchase).

But in the meantime, since Slough Creek won’t be ready to release for months, we thought it would be nice to add another map to the game, at no additional cost. And even better, Lost River (Classic) is coming soon! Get all the details in the video.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

_________________
We have released the first episode of WolfQuest 3: Anniversary Edition (Amethyst Mountain) for PC/Mac on Steam and itch.io, as Early Access. While in Early Access, we are updating the game frequently with more features, multiplayer, and ultimately the Slough Creek episode with pups. The mobile version will come after the game is completed on PC/Mac platforms. We’ll then resume development of the next episode, Tower Fall (DLC).

This beta (1.0.3 beta10a) is now available in our beta branch (for Windows only). See bottom of this post for instructions on how to get it.

[h2]NEW: Winter season in Amethyst [/h2]
* Winter season begins on or soon after December 1st in game calendar. If you load a saved game that's after that date, it will be in Winter. The game world is blanketed in snow, about a meter deep in the highlands and half that in the valley. Creeks and waterfalls are frozen, but the Lamar River remains open.
* Elk migrate down into the Lamar Valley in November and early December. You may notice them slowly wander that way as they graze. If you load a previously-saved game that is past December 1st, they will begin their migration then.
* Grizzly bears have gone into hibernation, so they won't challenge you over carcasses.
* Bull moose will lose their antlers in early January. (Bull elk and buck mule deer don't lose their antlers until later in the winter.)
* Many birds have migrated south, so the forests are quieter.

[h2]IMPROVED: Optimizations[/h2]
* Improvements to game logic (uses CPU) when many animals are spawned (usually after playing for quite awhile).
* Improvements to graphics performance (uses GPU), including:
- Better performance on Basic Sky & Vegetation mode, especially if both Ambient Occlusion and Anti-Aliasing are disabled.
- Faster versions of cliff rocks on lower quality levels (with new "Other Object Quality" pulldown in Game Settings: Graphics panel)
- Note: Scent View still has substantial slowdown on low-end hardware, still investigating that. May have a few more optimizations coming in the next week or two.


[h2]REVISED: Territory marking[/h2]
* We have revised aspects of the territory and marking system, but these are mostly disabled in Amethyst, since players cannot claim territory there. They should not affect gameplay significantly.
* Territory hexes show strength of territory claim on mouseover.

[h2]OTHER CHANGES:[/h2]
* Reduced maximum number of grizzlies at a carcass.
* Adjust elk health levels so some are more likely to have mid-level health.


[h2]BUGS FIXED[/h2]
* Visible crack between terrain tiles in valley floor.
* Some issues with shadows (e.g. some shadows were not continuous, but broken lines)
* In Basic Sky & Vegetation mode, rivers are fully visible through fog.
* Splash effects are broken on lower Chalcedony waterfall.
* Snowshoe hares do not change to white coat in winter.
* Rain can occur in winter months.


[h2]KNOWN ISSUES[/h2]
* On certain computers (Mac using Intel integrated graphics, certain old Windows dedicated GPUs) in Basic Sky & Veg mode, distant trees are sometimes multicolored, and sky may have similar discoloration. This seems to be a Unity game tool bug but we are still investigating.
* On very old (2012-2014) AMD GPUs, terrain may have white patches. Try upgrading your graphics drivers and submit a bug report if that helps. If it doesn't, please test different Terrain Quality settings and submit detailed bug reports about the results of your tests.

[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.

The snow may be melting here in Minnesota but winter is coming to WolfQuest

Yes, the next game update, v1.0.3, is just about ready for Public Beta — we thought it would be today, but gotta fix a couple things still. So we’ll release it tomorrow on Steam, in the beta channel.

This update includes the winter season we showed a few weeks ago, and some significant performance optimizations, especially for low-end computers with Intel integrated cards. On my test computer with an Intel HD 630, the game went from about 30fps to 55-60fps on Fastest — which I didn’t think would be possible, but I’m not complaining! Watch the video for details!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

_________________
We have released the first episode of WolfQuest 3: Anniversary Edition (Amethyst Mountain) for PC/Mac on Steam and itch.io, as Early Access. While in Early Access, we are updating the game frequently with more features, multiplayer, and ultimately the Slough Creek episode with pups. The mobile version will come after the game is completed on PC/Mac platforms. We’ll then resume development of the next episode, Tower Fall (DLC).