WolfQuest: Anniversary Edition News

Territory is important to wolves, which makes it important that WolfQuest presents the tasks of establishing and maintaining territory in accurate and enjoyable ways. In the old game, which we designed back in 2006-2010, we couldn’t figure out how to make a fairly tedious task — trotting around and marking every 50-100 meters — into exciting gameplay, so we simply made the territories quite small. Now with WQ: Anniversary Edition, we tackled the challenge anew and are excited about what we’ve come up with.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Today’s devblog video looks at the new territory marking system, which makes “scent posts” — those well-marked spots that all canines seek out — into central element. Instead of marking frequently and uniformly around the territory, players will create a single scent post in each territory hex, on which they can then concentrate their maintenance efforts over the course of winter and spring.(These are the most efficient ways to maintain your territory, but howling, hunting, fighting, and simply being in a hex will also contribute to your claim on it.)

But remember, competitor wolves will be hard at work marking their territories too!

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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).

While we’ve been focusing mainly on Slough Creek, some features it requires will also improve the current Amethyst Mountain level of WolfQuest: Anniversary Edition. Today, let’s look at seasons and some changes you will experience as time passes in WolfQuest: Anniversary Edition.

Each episode/map occurs in certain seasons: Amethyst is fall to early winter, Slough Creek is late winter to early summer (and the future episode Tower Fall will be summer to late fall).

The game already has dynamic weather that accurately reflects typical weather patterns of each month depicted in the game (currently that’s September to December) — but we need a deep winter season where snow covers the entire landscape. That’s what we’ve been working on this week. It’s not quite done but should be in good shape soon. The most obvious feature is that snow coverage.  So we are adding deeper snow which really gives that winter feel.  Yes, we are working on footprints and deep paths in the snow are on our future wish list.

As winter deepens, this means physical and behavioral changes for many of Yellowstone’s animals. The elk migrate from their summer grazing grounds to the low elevation valleys. Male ungulates lose their antlers and snowshoe hares change their fur color completely.  

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

These seasonal changes aren’t quite ready to release yet, but we expect they’ll be part of the next patch, coming within a few weeks.
_________________
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).

KNOWN ISSUES:
* In Basic Sky & Veg mode, rivers and ponds do not respect atmospheric fog. Will be fixed in next patch.
* 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.

IMPROVEMENTS
* At end of trial period, a new option "Extend Trial" lets players postpone that decision for ten minutes.
* Grizzlies and cougar will stop chasing player-wolf sooner (chase duration varies depending on their grumpiness, from 1 to 12 seconds now).
* Reduced the maximum number of competitors that will congregate at carcasses.
* Improved NPC animal behaviors around water.
* Mate will mark territory if you mark it.
* Keyboard and Controller Remapping panel is now cleaned up and organized by type of function!
* Using Controller on onscreen keyboard, pressing Left or Right Stick will switch between lowercase and uppercase.
* Somewhat reduced the number of eagles that are typically spawned at any given time.
* Mule deer become tired and slow down sooner when fleeing wolves during a chase.
* Removed bite-points on fox (wolf can't bend down that low to bite them realistically).
* Mate Permadeath setting is saved to player preferences on that computer, and used when starting a new game (instead of always defaulting to Off).
* Added 120 and 144 FPS options in Game Settings: Gameplay: FPS setting.
* FPS Readout now obeys show/hide HUD setting.
* Tweaks to Douglas-Fir trees.
* HUD automatically reappears if you hide HUD while in Photo Mode.
* Improved feedback when game is unable to save to computer, due to computer firewall or anti-malware settings.
* Removed clouds of flies at random locations (was realistic but confusing).
* Grizzlies have larger teeth, the better to bite you with.


BUGS FIXED
* NPC animals can fly.
* Some carcasses are exploded. (Probably fixed, but we can't reproduce it, and a bit puzzled why it started happening after last fix.)
* Some missing terrain chunks at certain settings and locations.
* Mate and NPC wolves sometimes run in circles endlessly when near water.
* Dead coyote's legs are bent in unnatural ways.
* Wolf howl volume doesn't diminish properly at mid-distance.
* Clouds/weather change too rapidly.
* On mule deer corpse, ribs poke through skin before anyone starts eating it.
* Can't eat a meat chunk that's been placed next to a boulder.
* Scent prints appear under water.
* In Customization: Howls, wolf does not do howl animation if No Fur is selected in Graphics Quality settings.
* In Enhanced Graphics mode, there are some invisible tree-colliders in upper area of the Burn.
* On large fossilized tree in Fossil Forest, the collider is too big and high above the object.
* Cougar swims under water, not at surface.
* Removed some words from the badwords list for wolf names.
* With controller, can't back out of Customization: Coats panel.
* Corrupted wolf file (missing all data) breaks the game.
* A cliff rock went AWOL.

It's time for the monthly contest 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). Or you can also choose the WolfQuest Soundtrack and Music Extras if you already own the game.

[h2]This Month's Contest[/h2]
Send your username, email, 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 monthly contest.

[h2]Deadline[/h2]
All entries must be received by midnight (Eastern Daylight Time) on Sunday, February 23, 2020.

[h2]Random Drawing[/h2]
Each complete entry will be assigned a number. We will then use a random-number generator to generate three numbers. The entries bearing those numbers will each win a free copy of the game.

We’ve released the next patch to the beta channel on Steam (Windows only at the moment).

One important note: Game saves made in this beta are not compatible with the official release, v1.0.2b, so please make new saves so you don’t overwrite older saves, just in case you decide to switch back to 1.0.2b for awhile. We do expect to release this patch as the official version by mid-week next week.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

To get the beta build:

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.

KNOWN ISSUES:
* 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.

IMPROVEMENTS
* At end of trial period, a new option "Extend Trial" lets players postpone that decision for ten minutes.
* Grizzlies and cougar will stop chasing player-wolf sooner (chase duration varies depending on their grumpiness, from 1 to 12 seconds now).
* Reduced the maximum number of competitors that will congregate at carcasses.
* Improved NPC animal behaviors around water.
* We are working mostly on Slough Creek now, and some new and revised functionality for that episode, especially with territory marking, may have unexpected effects in Amethyst, so please report anything that is unexpectedly different than before. (These changes are still in progress and mainly affect player-marking, which is not part of any missions in Amethyst. We’ll describe them in detail once they are finished and tested in Amethyst.)
* Keyboard and Controller Remapping panel is now cleaned up and organized by type of function!
* Using Controller on onscreen keyboard, pressing Left or Right Stick will switch between lowercase and uppercase.
* Somewhat reduced the number of eagles that are typically spawned at any given time.
* Mule deer become tired and slow down sooner when fleeing wolves during a chase.
* Removed bite-points on fox (wolf can't bend down that low to bite them realistically).
* Mate Permadeath setting is saved to player preferences on that computer, and used when starting a new game (instead of always defaulting to Off).
* Added 120 and 144 FPS options in Game Settings: Gameplay: FPS setting.
* FPS Readout now obeys show/hide HUD setting.
* Tweaks to Douglas-Fir trees.
* HUD automatically reappears if you hide HUD while in Photo Mode.
* Improved feedback when game is unable to save to computer, due to computer firewall or anti-malware settings.
* Removed clouds of flies at random locations (was realistic but confusing).
* Grizzlies have larger teeth, the better to bite you with.

BUGS FIXED
* NPC animals can fly.
* Some carcasses are exploded. (Probably fixed, but we can't reproduce it, and a bit puzzled why it started happening after last fix.)
* Some missing terrain chunks at certain settings and locations.
* Mate and NPC wolves sometimes run in circles endlessly when near water.
* Dead coyote's legs are bent in unnatural ways.
* Wolf howl volume doesn't diminish properly at mid-distance.
* Clouds/weather change too rapidly.
* On mule deer corpse, ribs poke through skin before anyone starts eating it.
* Can't eat a meat chunk that's been placed next to a boulder.
* Scent prints appear under water.
* In Customization: Howls, wolf does not do howl animation if No Fur is selected in Graphics Quality settings.
* In Enhanced Graphics mode, there are some invisible tree-colliders in upper area of the Burn.
* On large fossilized tree in Fossil Forest, the collider is too big and high above the object.
* Cougar swims under water, not at surface.
* Removed some words from the badwords list for wolf names.
* With controller, can't back out of Customization: Coats panel.
* Corrupted wolf file (missing all data) breaks the game.