WolfQuest: Anniversary Edition News

GENERAL IMPROVEMENTS:
* Minor refinements to grizzly and fox behaviors and vocalizations.
* Added button for WolfQuest merchandise store on main menu.
* Enabled controller bumper buttons when selecting wolves in My Wolves screen.
* Visual cues for controller usage in main menu wolf customization.

GENERAL BUGS FIXED:
* Wolf sometimes does crouch animation when it bites galloping prey.
* Territory hex readouts are incorrect (inverted) -- we disabled those until we fixed this bug, so they are displayed again.
* Camera can go underground if you swing it around very quickly.
* Aspen and cottonwood trees are blotchy when viewed at a distance.

AMETHYST BUGS FIXED:
* In the fall season, animal snowprints are too bright at night.
* Lower section of Chalcedony creek has bright blue texture in winter.
* Winter objects (frozen waterfalls and creeks) don't appear on Mac computers.

LOST RIVER IMPROVEMENTS:
* The much smaller map for Lost River has created a variety of issues. One was that stranger packs had to venture out of their tiny territories to find elk herds, which was confusing since it was mostly unrealistic and differed from behavior in Amethyst Mountain. In this patch, we've adjusted those territories and given each pack an elk herd in its territory. Now they should be more likely to stay and hunt in their territory, but they may still occasionally venture out into the unclaimed central area to hunt. (These changes will only take effect in new games).
* This patch has a few more tweaks to object colliders, but there are still some problems, especially on the narrow steps of the fire tower and gas tanks. It's tricky because the wolf-controller wasn't designed for these narrow spaces. To solve this, and similar issues with the rugged rocky outcrops in Slough Creek, we're reworking some aspects of the controller to handle them better. It's a significant task and will take some time to get it working well.

LOST RIVER BUGS FIXED:
* Various issues with music.
* Prey animals can escape by going farther towards the edge of the map than wolves can. (Now they will turn back before the wolf has to.)
* Mate bounces like a superball when player is in fire tower or atop gas tanks. (Mate still won't go up those ladders--they're afraid of heights.)
* Mate flickers on and off when player is in northeast area of map.
* NPC animals can go underneath the elevated plaza in front of City Hall.
* Some strange clumps of trees here and there.
* Can get stuck if you venture close to the dam.
* Rain falls through roofs.
* Various collider issues.

Last month we put a survey on our YouTube channel, asking if anyone might be interested in WolfQuest t-shirts, mugs, and other merchandise. The response was quite positive, so Susan began exploring how to set up an online store with a variety of game-related images on products. Now it's ready to launch....but of course, the world has changed a lot in the past month. We considered whether to delay or skip an announcement about the store. But it's up there, so in case anyone is interested, you can check it out: http://www.wolfquest.org/merch/

Much more importantly, we hope that everyone out there is staying safe and staying healthy. We truly treasure the community that has developed around the game. On our end, everyone on the WolfQuest team works at home, and we're all currently healthy, so we continue to work on the game every day. Please take care of yourselves and be kind to others. Thanks for all your support.

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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).

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 Wednesday, March 25, 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.

This is out now for Windows, coming shortly for Mac.

Patch notes below include fixes from 1.0.3c which was released only for Windows on Steam on 16 March.

LOST RIVER IMPROVEMENTS:
* We're working on various glitches with object surfaces and colliders. It's tricky because the wolf-controller wasn't designed for the intricate objects and ladders of Lost River. We had it working pretty well, but players are of course much more industrious and random with their actions than we had seen in beta testing. We've made some changes which should prevent getting truly stuck, but which will increase the chance of goofy vertical-climbing wolves, and are now working on some improvements for that, but they won't be ready for a few days.
* Reduced the number of wolves in stranger packs (will only take effect in new games).

LOST RIVER IMPROVEMENTS:
* We're working on various glitches with object surfaces and colliders. It's tricky because the wolf-controller wasn't designed for the intricate objects and ladders of Lost River. We had it working pretty well, but players are of course much more industrious and random with their actions than we had seen in beta testing. We've made some changes which should prevent getting truly stuck, but which will increase the chance of goofy vertical-climbing wolves, and are now working on some improvements for that, but they won't be ready for a few days.
* Reduced the number of wolves in stranger packs (will only take effect in new games).

GENERAL BUGS FIXED:
* The World Map goes in incorrect direction when you click-drag it.
* Rain and snow sound effects begin before rain and snow are visible.
* There can be a delay after killing elk to getting credit in the Quest panel.
* Note: Territory hex readouts broke at some point (inverted the percentage) so we are hiding them until that's fixed.

LOST RIVER BUGS FIXED:
* Various issues with music.
* NPC animals are sometimes oblivious to the presence of water in the beaver pond and reservoir.
* Some animals are too speedy in water.
* Animals are sometimes underground.
* Lost River stranger pack can get wiped off the face of the map.
* The Two Step waterfall and creek audio is not tied into Audio Settings (and volume for those sound effects is too loud).
* Can get stuck in far northwest corner of map, between border and steep hillside.
* Profusion of floating scent markers coming from far northwest beyond the map.
* Coyote snowprints are huge.

AMETHYST BUGS FIXED:
* Gap in cliff rocks on Basic graphics mode.
* Small crack in terrain, just north of Lamar River.

(Note: This patch has been released only for Windows on Steam so far; will get the rest out on Tuesday.)

LOST RIVER IMPROVEMENTS:
* We're working on various glitches with object surfaces and colliders. It's tricky because the wolf-controller wasn't designed for the intricate objects and ladders of Lost River. We had it working pretty well, but players are of course much more industrious and random with their actions than we had seen in beta testing. We've made some changes which should prevent getting truly stuck, but which will increase the chance of goofy vertical-climbing wolves, and are now working on some improvements for that, but they won't be ready for a few days.
* Reduced the number of wolves in stranger packs (will only take effect in new games).

GENERAL BUGS FIXED:
* The World Map goes in incorrect direction when you click-drag it.
* Rain and snow sound effects begin before rain and snow are visible.

LOST RIVER BUGS FIXED:
* Various issues with music.
* NPC animals are sometimes oblivious to the presence of water in the beaver pond and reservoir.
* Some animals are too speedy in water.
* Animals are sometimes underground.
* Lost River stranger pack can get wiped off the face of the map.
* The Two Step waterfall and creek audio is not tied into Audio Settings (and volume for those sound effects is too loud).
* Can get stuck in far northwest corner of map, between border and steep hillside.
* Profusion of floating scent markers coming from far northwest beyond the map.
* Coyote snowprints are huge.

AMETHYST BUGS FIXED:
* Gap in cliff rocks on Basic graphics mode.
* Small crack in terrain, just north of Lamar River.