WolfQuest: Anniversary Edition News

[h2]Beta 8 Now Available![/h2]

UPDATE May 29th: There are a couple bad bugs in this beta, so we've pulled it and switched back to 107c. Sorry about that! We'll make it available again after fixing them.

This beta is for Windows only. Instructions on how to get the beta are at the bottom of this announcement.
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[h2]1.0.7d Public Beta (beta1, 28 May)[/h2]

[h3]IMPROVEMENTS:[/h3]
* Reduced the odds of flooded den after rain or storm.
* Added better rules and feedback about marking near water's edge.
* More variations in aspen trees in Slough Creek.
* On Affinity meter on wolf badge, made it clearer where the max value is.
* Clearer feedback on multiplayer Quick Heal notification, based on health level.
* When making a pup into a grown wolf, clearer header txt on the "Make an Ironwolf?" dialog, should help prevent accidental ironwolves.
* Increased volume and frequency of birdsong.
* Dinner music will not keep playing whenever there's meat at the den.
* Wolf ears adjust a bit when running.
* Can now edit the bio of a dead wolf.

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* Territory grid hexes are slightly misaligned vertically, especially at the southern end.
* When player is sleeping, rain or storm may occur without any precipitation, which can then potentially trigger den flooding unexpectedly.
* Occasionally, dust kicked up by fleeing prey is glitched (square shapes).
* Game Pause/Options menu won't open on the Age Perks panel (on your birthday) so you are forced to make the stay/advance age choice.
* Lost River Learn to Hunt quest completion text mentions having pups in the future.
* Wolf freezes in odd pose if you pause the game while digging out a dirt den.
* Short Douglas-fir tree accumulates snow unevenly (at very top of tree).
* Occasionally a beaver leaves a branch floating in the air.
* Scent post color sometimes does not update immediately.
* Mate keeps feeding pups even when predators approach.
* Occasional glitches with the scrolling panel on the Load or Save Game panels.
* Occasionally the FPS warning gets stuck on screen even after clicking to close it.
* Occasional layout issues on Wolf Bio panel.
* In very specific circumstances, the DLC Coat info ? button appears when non-DLC coat is selected.

[h2]1.0.7d Public Beta (beta2, 30 May)[/h2]

[h3]BUG FIXED:[/h3]
* Player is stuck under the terrain at transitions from Find Den to Raise Pups, and from Raise Pups to Journey quests.


[h2]1.0.7d Public Beta (beta3, 310 May)[/h2]

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* Elk showdown music keeps playing after encounter ends.
* All music stops playing entirely for periods of time.
* Map zoom scrollbar input is reversed.
* Account registration key is marked as "used" when trying to register an account with an invalid email address.
* Bark is always wet and shiny on cottonwood trees in Amethyst.
* Terrain and water issues.


[h2]1.0.7d Public Beta (beta4, 1 June)[/h2]

Added debug code for multiplayer sleep bug. If this bug happens in your game, we need a bug report (F11) from the host and all players!

[h2]1.0.7d Public Beta (beta5, 1 June)[/h2]

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* In multiplayer, players get stuck sleeping and can't wake up.
* Sometimes dispersal and stranger wolf coats switch when moving closer or farther from player.
* June elk calf's rear right leg gets stuck at odd angle.


[h2]1.0.7d Public Beta (beta6, 2 June)[/h2]

[h3]IMPROVEMENTS:[/h3]
* Age Perks music begins before the black loading screen for Age Perks on your wolf's birthday.
* On Wolf Customization, body size now changes based on male/female selection (to match that difference in wolves in the game).

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* In Photo Mode, when pressing right arrow key to advance time, it also also makes wolf move to the right.
* At age 8, Ironwolf term used in some cases instead of Elder Wolf.
* Occasionally a snowshoe hare that spawned in an earlier season will survive to be killed in the next season, and its coat then is basd on the new season instead of the previous season.
* Some creek rocks are floating above the creekbed.
* Wolf Coat 859M has a black mark on the right hip.

[h2]1.0.7d Public Beta (beta7, 3 June)[/h2]

[h3]IMPROVEMENTS:[/h3]
* In Setup New Game, added text indicating whether or not the selected wolf is ready to advance in age on their birthday.
* Some refinements to the Amethyst cliff rock appearance.

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* Meat chunks laying on a slope will incrementally move downhill.
* On low quality settings, part of the river near the Slough Creek spawn point is underground when viewed from the spawn point.
* When creating a multiplayer game, the game mode switches back to the default selection when changing the map selection.
* Approaching Elk Herd music plays when approaching other ungulates.
* Willow bushes switch to lower detail models when player is quite close.

[h2]1.0.7d Public Beta (beta8, 3 June)[/h2]

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* Enhanced vegetation is missing in Amethyst and Slough Creek.

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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.

As part of Steam's Open World Sale this weekend, WolfQuest: Anniversary Edition is 25% off! That brings the price down to US$14.99, so if you've got WolfQuest on your wish list, this is a rare opportunity to save a few bucks. Or if you already own the game, you might take advantage of the sale to buy it for a friend who'd enjoy it!

If that price is still too steep for you, you could try your luck with our monthly WolfQuest giveaway.

No devblog this week. We're still deep in some code overhauls that should bear fruit in the long-term. Thanks for all your ideas for Achievements! So many suggestions! We are working through them and choosing which to incorporate into our master plan.

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.

[h2]How to Enter[/h2]
Email your username (any username is fine, we just have to know what to call the winners) and your answer to the question: "What are three interesting facts about wolves?" to the email address [email protected]

[h2]Deadline[/h2]
All entries must be received before midnight (Eastern Daylight Time) on Monday, May 31, 2021..

[h2]Random Drawing[/h2]
Winners are selected randomly from complete entries. Please enter only once in each monthly contest. 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.

1.0.7c - Released on 21 May 2021

[h3]IMPROVEMENTS:[/h3]
* If an ironwolf dies while raising pups, the game will save a Family Snapshot with the mate and surviving pups (same as when Elder Wolf dies).
* Visual improvements to Flat Clouds (used in Basic Sky mode, and option in Enhanced Sky mode).
* Precipitation will not fall out of a clear blue sky now.
* Thunder only happens when it's raining.
* Some improvements to fall aspen and cottonwood appearance.
* In Wolf Customization and Pack Info, long wolf bios now force scrollbars.
* In multiplayer games, each player's Age Perks are now listed in Pack Info.
* Mate and pup names are now filtered through badname filter (since they can become playable wolves in multiplayer games eventually.)
* Made the sleeping death of Elder Wolf (player) a bit slower and more poignant.
* Moved "Age" readout in Family Tree higher, for better visibility.
* Improvements to snow dust kicked up by running wolves.
* Some minor optimizations to disable distant objects so they don't require rendering, might help a bit on low-end computers.

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* Sleep/teleporting bug in multiplayer.
* Various music bugs (Scent chimes play when not in scent view, Beaver ambush music doesn't stop playing, Food and fight music overlap, etc.)
* Various bugs with scent posts (they have wrong color initially, confusing feedback about territory quality, etc.)
* After player adjusts certain graphics quality settings, water bodies levitate when player runs toward them.
* In Pack Info, mate's name is often truncated.
* When creating a wolf, you can save it without giving it a name.
* Winter ambient sounds continue into early morning in Slough Creek.
* In Amethyst, grizzly cub shrinks when it dies.
* In Slough Creek with Basic Sky & Vegetation, one type of tree is missing, creating invisible obstacles.
* Pup howling can be heard from much too far away.
* Dust kicked up by wolf pups looks odd.
* Cow moose doesn't swim appropriately.
* In multiplayer, the territory chime plays only for host, not other players.
* Game interface does not adapt well to very widescreen monitors.
* When starting new game in Slough Creek, player-wolf falls a meter to the ground.
* Beavers won't flee if they are trying to place a branch on their lodge or dam.
* Foxes can get stuck going back and forth between two points, leaving a large number of scent tracks.
* Pup's scent track readout does not show recent change to pup name.
* Sometimes rendezvous rocks have dark lines.
* If mate has bent ear, in the den it also has a second, undamaged ear.
* Quick-fingered players can get an ironwolf into multiplayer games.
* Water and terrain issues.

Achievements are one of the remaining features still to be added to WolfQuest: Anniversary Edition, and we will be focusing on them soon. We’ve been working on our plans for achievements, on and off, for quite awhile. We are going to avoid the kind of grindy achievements (Kill 10 Elk! Kill 25 Elk!) that we had in WolfQuest 2.7/Classic, instead focusing on three kinds:

* Achievements that you earn while completing the main game quests.
* Achievements that are related to the main quests but require some extra effort.
* Achievements that are more exploratory, such as finding some collectable objects.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

But we know that many players have ideas for achievements too! If you’re one of those players, now is the time to share your ideas!

Describe your ideas for achievements below or submit them as a feedback report (press F11 in game). We’ll review them as we refine our list and create the final set of achievements to build into the game.

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WolfQuest: Anniversary Edition is available now for PC/Mac on Steam and itch.io, as Early Access. The game currently includes Episode 1: Amethyst Mountain, Episode 2: Slough Creek, Lost River: Classic, and multiplayer mode in Amethyst and Lost River. (Slough Creek multiplayer is coming soon,.) The mobile version will come after the game (including Slough Creek) is completed on PC/Mac platforms. The next episode, Tower Fall (DLC) will follow. We do not announce specific release dates. We will release them when they are ready!