WolfQuest: Anniversary Edition News

(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.

BUGS FIXED:
* Autosaves can get mixed up between Amethyst and Lost River.
* Player-wolf can get stuck when trying to get off car roofs (but still some quirkiness on some cars).
* Other minor refinements to object colliders.

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).