WolfQuest: Anniversary Edition News

To be honest, releasing WolfQuest on Steam Deck was not at the front of our thoughts since we are so busy. We'd been following Steam Deck progress since Valve announced it last summer. I submitted a devkit request, but I figured getting the game running on Steam Deck was going to be a fair bit of work, so it would not be something we would tackle for quite awhile . (As you know, we are focusing on getting the game done for PC and Mac before considering other platforms. )

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

But then Valve sent us a devkit (a sample device) in January and we tried WolfQuest on it. We were pleasantly surprised that the game ran quite well right out of the box! There was definitely some work that needed to be done for the controller support and to manage the three different input types that the Deck offers (thumbsticks, trackpads, and touchscreen). That took Andrei a few weeks of work, but as of the latest patch, 1.0.8h, we are pleased that Steam Deck users can play WolfQuest.

We know a lot of you are probably thinking, Hey! What about mobile or console? Are you working on these too? The answer is still no, not right now. Those platforms all will require many, many months of development time from the whole team. So, not until the game is completed on PC/Mac, will we have time to turn our attention to other platforms.

We look forward to hearing how Steam Deck users find playing WolfQuest: Anniversary Edition. It does seem like a nice option for people who don't want to spend what it takes to get a computer that runs modern games well or just want a handheld gaming console that can play many or most games in their Steam library. If you want to learn more about the Steam Deck, here is Valve's website about it: https://store.steampowered.com/steamdeck

________________________________________

The WolfQuest saga will continue! Stay tuned for more news in upcoming devblogs. More maps and wolf customizations are also coming in 2022!

Once the game is completed on PC/Mac, we will turn our attention to other platforms.

We do not announce specific release dates. We will release them when they are ready.

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* Problems ensue if stranger wolf kills your mate, since they then are neither hostile nor courtable.
* Can't select emote when notification is onscreen.
* Pups eyes flicker when sleeping.
* When adding pack members, game doesn't register them until game is relaunched, and similarly for players accepting or rejecting a pack invitation.

Patch v1.0.8h (Released on 3 March 2022)

[h3]NEW: MULTIPLAYER[/h3]
* In public games, host's Pack Info panel has a button to make the game private. This hides the game in the MP lobby except for those who are in the game when the host clicks that button.
* In private games, host's Pack Info panel has a button to add other friends to the game, so it will be listed for them in the lobby.

[h3]NEW AND IMPROVED: COURTSHIP[/h3]
We have remade the courtship gameplay to fix some bugs and add new behaviors and functionality:
* If two dispersal groups come to you, interested in courtship, you can now growl at one group to send them away without sending the other group away as well.
* When encountering wolves from a rival pack, if some are interested in courtship, you must immediately show your intentions with submissive behaviors or they'll assume you are hostile and will fight you. You don't have to fight the non-interested wolves anymore, and they will stay around during courtship to ensure the safety of their packmate(s).
* Rival pack wolves aren't courtable if you've recently marked inside their territory.
* If you reject a wolf after its heart-meter fills up, it'll lose some affinity and walk away -- but then come back around in hopes it can still persuade you.
* NPC wolves can court each other (though it's rare to see this in the current game -- this is more for future gameplay in the Saga).

[h3]STEAM DECK SUPPORT[/h3]
WolfQuest now fully supports Steam Deck. We made many small refinements and improvements to controller support, as well as refinements specific to the Deck hardware and inputs, to ensure the game works well on the Deck. Most of these improvements will also make controller experience better in general.

[h3]OTHER IMPROVEMENTS:[/h3]
* Territory size (and to a lesser extent strength) have much more effect now on stranger wolf attacks. A good territory has two-hex buffer all around your den. Stranger wolves care about how far they have to travel in your territory to reach your pups, not about the total size of your territory.
* Multiplayer: If a player leaves the game but remains in limbo, their slot is reserved (while in limbo) so the room cannot fill while they are away.
* Multiplayer: If a player whose wolf is in limbo in a game session returns to the multiplayer lobby, a notification appears asking if they want to rejoin that game.
* Multiplayer: Leaving games should be more reliable now.
* Competitor NPCs animals eat less from carcasses, so carcasses are not consumed as quickly.
* If player fails to complete Slough Creek after advancing in age, when starting a new Slough Creek game, mate will also advance in age to keep player-wolf and mate age in sync.
* Reduced the Affinity threshold for pups in tall grass when traveling (about halfway back to what it has been previously).
* Controller: Changed left D-Pad to Chat, and moved Headcam to double-pull on left shoulder.
* Controller: Added Headcam tip for controllers on notification when eagle attacks.
* Controller: Added controller input icon for Peaceful Death.
* Controller: Refined navigation on coat selection panel of wolf customization.
* Added Nametags dropdown on Game Settings panel.
* Added Nametags option on Remap Controls panel for game controllers (currently unmapped, but available for remapping).
* Cropped the badge's pawprint icon, as it had a row of invisible pixels at the top which made the health level non-intuitive.
* Prevent usernames consisting only of numbers, as those can cause problems with the WQ account system.
* Inverted the stranger airborne scent icon, to contrast better with player's scent post icon at a distance.
* Refined elk hunt music so it switches back from showdown to chase music if solo elk starts fleeing again.
* When in Pupcam, player-wolf's head doesn't follow camera viewing direction now.
* Improved wolf's aim when urinating and appearance of urine stream.
* Reduced wolf howl volume at medium (20-100m) distances.
* Removed the Basic/Enhanced Sky & Vegetation toggle on Apple Silicon Macs (since the trees are wonky in Basic and M1s can run Enhanced.)
* Increased ambient occlusion before sunset and after sunrise to improve visuals.
* Better texture for Douglas-fir bark.
* Adjusted volume of music and sounds at end of Courtship quest.
* Made FPS display more readable.
* Assigned correct Confident Tail Wag icon on Courtship Emote wheel.
* Added a delay to prevent dens from flooding while newborn pups are in it.
* Tweaks to predator attack frequency.
* Adjusted wolf walking speed to match animation speed better.
* Cougars can attack when you are moving to a new homesite.

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* NPC wolves just can't stop themselves when eating at a carcass.
* Mate won't eat a meat chunk at den (unless very hungry), even if pups are too young to eat it.
* Mate won't eat a meat chunk if it's too close to pups (even if pups can't eat it).
* Mate won't feed pups if there's a meat chunk at den, when the pups are too young to eat meat chunks.
* Mate won't drop pup during journey sometimes.
* Mate sometimes carries pup to you when you're out marking territory.
* Stranger wolves don't attack summer pups.
* At night in winter, ambient occlusion is too strong and causes dark flickering behind trees.
* Staying in den with sick pup will ensure its recovery.
* Multiplayer: Incorrect text on disconnect alerts (saying whether host or you have disconnected).
* Multiplayer: Players are stuck with black screen if they have not saved/reloaded game since starting new MP game.
* Multiplayer: Players in limbo are included in the Pack Rally requirement.
* Multiplayer: Tail keeps wagging when player goes into limbo.
* Multiplayer: When a notification is onscreen, you cannot type into text chat.
* Multiplayer: Some issues with chat input when using both controller and keyboard.
* Several things interrupt predators when en route to a homesite raid.
* Going into scent view just as you are going to sleep enables scent view, and it can't be disabled.
* Stray "100%" readout on the margin of the World Map sometimes.
* Scrolling does not reset to top of long panels such as those in Game Help.
* Error when loading game with unborn pups.
* In Setup New Game panel, depending on visible dropdowns, Start Game button navigation could jump the last one.
* On very rare occasions, ungulates spawn at den.
* Find a Den quest music doesn't play properly.
* Saving game sometimes erroneously says save exists already.
* FPS Alert is inaccurate in certain moments.
* When remapping an input with multiple actions associated with it, those associated actions were not recreated when the action was remapped again.
* Terrain edge peeks through entrance tunnel at several burrow dens.
* Sometimes damage sound effects don't play when they should.
* Pups don't close their eyes when they sleep or howl.
* White edge on right eye of Tawny wolf coat.
* Low texture quality selected incorrectly on higher graphics quality levels in Amethyst map.
* Massive lag spikes in certain, probably not too common, situations that make the game unplayable.
* Error when saving game (possible fix).
* Elk meat chunk has wrong scent color.
* Terrain and water issues.

The next patch, 1.0.8h, now in public beta, features another nice set of improvements and bug fixes. Today's devblog video looks at two of those:

* Tommi rewrote the courtship gameplay, adding new aspects to it, eliminating bugs, and laying the groundwork for more gameplay to come in the Saga expansion. For example, now when you encounter an interested wolf from a rival pack, you can avoid a fight with their packmates by demonstrating that yours is a peaceful visit. You might also occasionally glimpse dispersals courting each others.

* Territory size affects how frequently rival wolves will attack your pups, but this effect was diluted substantially by other factors, often making it hard to see much difference with different-sized territories. We've revised how this works so now the effect should be much more noticeable. And remember, it's the size of your territory -- specifically how far a rival wolf has to travel from the edge to your homesite -- that matters, much more than the strength of the hexes.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

We'd love to get feedback on these improvements, especially on the territory revision, so please use the F11 key to report on your experiences. And there's lots more in this patch as well, which we expect to release next week.
__________________________________

The WolfQuest saga will continue! Stay tuned for more news in upcoming devblogs. More maps and wolf customizations are also coming in 2022!

Once the game is completed on PC/Mac, we will turn our attention to other platforms.

We do not announce specific release dates. We will release them when they are ready.

This beta is available in the Steam Public Beta branch (see instructions below) for Windows and MacOS. Instructions at bottom of this post for getting the beta.

NOTE: Multiplayer is NOT compatible with the last released version, 1.0.8g, so you can play MP games only with others who have this beta. (But you can switch back to 1.0.8g anytime.)

NOTE: There is a bug in multiplayer which can cause substantial performance degradation. We are investigating and have added some debug code to help -- if you have this problem, please submit bug reports from all players. Thanks!

[h2]BETA 14 (18 February 2022)[/h2]

[h3]NEW: MULTIPLAYER[/h3]
* In public games, host's Pack Info panel has a button to make the game private. This hides the game in the MP lobby except for those who are in the game when the host clicks that button.
* In private games, host's Pack Info panel has a button to add other friends to the game, so it will be listed for them in the lobby.
[h3]
NEW AND IMPROVED: COURTSHIP[/h3]
We have overhauled the courtship gameplay, to fix some bugs and add new behaviors and functionality:
* If two dispersal groups come to you, interested in courtship, you can now growl at one group to send them away without sending the other group away as well.
* When encountering wolves from a rival pack, if some are interested in courtship, you must immediately show your intentions with submissive behaviors or they'll assume you are hostile and will fight you. You don't have to fight the non-interested wolves anymore, and they will stay around during courtship to ensure the safety of their packmate(s).
* Rival pack wolves aren't courtable if you've recently marked inside their territory.
* If you reject a wolf after its heart-meter fills up, it'll lose some affinity and walk away -- but then come back around in hopes it can still persuade you.
* NPC wolves can court each other (though it's rare to see this in the current game -- this is more for future gameplay in the Saga).

[h3]OTHER IMPROVEMENTS:[/h3]
* Multiplayer: If a player leaves the game but remains in limbo, their slot is reserved (while in limbo) so the room cannot fill while they are away.
* Multiplayer: If a player whose wolf is in limbo in a game session returns to the multiplayer lobby, a notification appears asking if they want to rejoin that game.
* Multiplayer: Leaving games should be more reliable now.
* Competitor NPCs animals eat less from carcasses, so carcasses are not consumed as quickly.
* If player fails to complete Slough Creek after advancing in age, when starting a new Slough Creek game, mate will also advance in age to keep player-wolf and mate age in sync.
* Territory size (and to a lesser extent strength) have much more effect now on stranger wolf attacks.
* Reduced the Affinity threshold for pups in tall grass when traveling (about haflway back to what it has been previously).
* Courtship: Player can now resume courtship more easily with wolves that it rejected, by following and catching up to them.
* Courtship: Made courtship between NPC groups less common.
* Increased ambient occlusion before sunset and after sunrise to improve visuals.
* Various improvements and refinements for controller and Steam Deck.
* Controller: Changed left D-Pad to Chat, and moved Headcam to double-pull on left shoulder.
* Added Nametags dropdown on Game Settings panel.
* Added Nametags on controller remapper.
* Better texture for Douglas-fir bark.
* Cropped the badge's pawprint icon, as it had a row of invisible pixels at the top which made the health level non-intuitive.
* Prevent usernames consisting only of numbers, as those can cause problems with the WQ account system.

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* Stranger wolves don't attack summer pups.
* At night in winter, ambient occlusion is too strong and causes dark flickering behind trees.
* Staying in den with sick pup will ensure its recovery.
* NPC wolves just can't stop themselves when eating at a carcass.
* Mate won't feed pups if there's a meat chunk at den, when the pups are too young to eat meat chunks.
* Low texture quality selected incorrectly on higher graphics quality levels in Amethyst map.
* Multiplayer: Incorrect text on disconnect alerts (saying whether host or you have disconnected).
* Going into scent view just as you are going to sleep enables scent view, and it can't be disabled.
* Stray "100%" readout on the margin of the World Map sometimes.
* Scrolling does not reset to top of long panels such as those in Game Help.
* Error when loading game with unborn pups.
* In Setup New Game panel, depending on visible dropdowns, Start Game button navigation could jump the last one.
* On very rare occasions, ungulates spawn at den.
____________________

[h2]BETA 15 (19 February 2022)[/h2]

[h3]IMPROVEMENTS:[/h3]
* Cougars can attack when moving to a new homesite.

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* Cougars attack open and forest dens with equal odds (shifted now to be favor forest dens).
* Error when saving game (possible fix).
* Multiplayer: Sometimes you can find a courtable wolf in multiplayer.
* Multiplayer: Sometimes you cannot target stranger wolves.
* Trial mate vanishes instantly if rejected.
____________________

[h2]BETA 16 (20 February 2022)[/h2]

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* Multiplayer: Players are stuck with black screen if they have not saved/reloaded game since starting new MP game.
* Several things interrupt predators when en route to a homesite raid. (These are fixed, which should make raids more frequent now -- somewhat at dens and rendezvous sites, and much more frequent when traveling between them. Please submit feedback reports with your experience so we can gauge how it's working now.)
____________________

[h2]BETA 17 (21 February 2022)[/h2]

[h3]IMPROVEMENTS:[/h3]
* Added notification if you find courtable wolves but cannot court them yet because you are engaged in a fight.
* Tweaks to frequency of predator attacks on homesite and when traveling. Please submit feedback!
* Pack wolves will now become hostile if you end the courtship in any other way than getting a mate.
* Pack wolves will now become hostile if you mark territory during courtship with them.

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* Multiplayer: Issues with text chat when notifications are onscreen.
* Multiplayer: Errors when wolf revives from near-death, causing performance degradation, teleportation, and other bugs.
* Multiplayer: Players in limbo are included in the Pack Rally requirement.
* Multiplayer: Tail keeps wagging when player goes into limbo.
* Multiplayer: When a notification is onscreen, you cannot type into text chat.
* During courtship, a wolf might suddenly trot away unexpectedly.
* Mate won't eat a meat chunk at den (unless very hungry), even if pups are too young to eat it.
* Mate won't eat a meat chunk if it's too close to pups (even if pups can't eat it).
* Mate won't drop pup during journey sometimes
* Elk meat chunk has wrong scent color.
* Terrain and water issues.
____________________

[h2]BETA 18 (22 February 2022)[/h2]

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* Saving fails in certain situations.
* Can't move wolf after saving the game
___________________________________

[h2]BETA 19 (22 February 2022)[/h2]

NOTE: Beta 17 may have fixed the multiplayer bug that causes slowdowns, but we cannot be sure because the reports we received about lag all had a player who still had beta 16. So beta 18 is now required for multiplayer games, to ensure that everyone has it. If you have unusual lag issues in multiplayer:
* Please ensure that everyone submits a bug report, including the player who has the lag.
* In the description, provide the names of the players who are having trouble (if you just say "a player" or "Player A", we can't match that up to the data in the game log.)

[h3]IMPROVEMENTS:[/h3]
* Tweaks to predator attack frequency.
* Adjusted wolf walking speed to match animation speed better.
* Tweaks to wolf urine appearance.

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* Saving game sometimes erroneously says save exists already.
* FPS Alert is inaccurate in certain moments.
___________________________________

[h2]BETA 20 (23 February 2022)[/h2]

Note: Multiplayer in Beta 20 is not backward compatible with previous betas, so everyone must have this beta to see and play MP games.

[h3]IMPROVEMENTS:[/h3]
* Controller: Restored B button to close interface panels.
* Added a delay to prevent dens from flooding while newborn pups are in it.
* Made competitors eat more slowly at carcasses. (It's important to chew three times before swallowing each bite.)

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* Courtship: Can't end trial with pack wolves.
* Courtship: Courtship invitation appears right after loading a saved game when player not interested in courtship.
* Courtship: Odd behavior when re-courting your rejected trial mate
* Multiplayer: Any text being typed into chat field is auto-selected when a notification appears and is closed, making it easy to accidentally delete that text.
* Multiplayer: Pack name in Pack Stats overlaps wolf name.
* Multiplayer: In Pack Info, the pack name appears behind player-wolf names.
* Popup to filter games in Save or Load Game panel disappears unexpectedly.
* Sometimes summer pups levitate objects as they trot around.
* Can't close map if player opened it during Newborn Pups transition.
* When player chooses a wolf as trial mate, its packmates start attacking instantly.
* HUD Scale resets when loading a game.
* Can't close popup about making a pup an Ironwolf.
___________________________________

[h2]BETA 21 (25 February 2022)[/h2]

[h3]IMPROVEMENTS:[/h3]
* Refined NPC wolf behaviors in non-Find Mate quests: Dispersals are wary and pack wolves are hostile. Other refinements to pack wolf behavior and courtship situations.
* Reduced wolf howl volume at medium (20-100m) distances.
* Removed the Basic/Enhanced Sky & Vegetation toggle on Apple Silicon Macs (since the trees are wonky in Basic and M1s can run Enhanced.)
* Controller: Added Headcam tip for controllers on notification when eagle attacks.
* Controller: Refined navigation on coat selection panel of wolf customization.
* Adjusted volume of music and sounds at end of Courtship quest.
* Made FPS display more readable.
* Assigned correct Confident Tail Wag icon on Courtship Emote wheel.
* Reduced frequency of den raids a bit.

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* Some issues with chat input when using both controller and keyboard.
* Find a Den quest music doesn't play properly.
* Terrain edge peeks through entrance tunnel at a burrow den.
* Adjusted size and placement of text on loading screens.
* Mate sometimes carries pup to you when you're out marking territory.
* Pack wolves are immediately hostile after finishing courtship with one of them.
____________________

[h2]BETA 22 (27 February 2022)[/h2]

[h3]IMPROVEMENTS:[/h3]
* Dispersal wolves outside of Find Mate quests won't follow you anymore.

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* Loading an older (pre-1.0.8h beta) in the Journey to Slough Creek quest resets your mate to a trial mate.
* Massive lag spikes in certain, probably not too common, situations that make the game unplayable.
* Game won't let you sleep when near dispersal wolves.
____________________

[h2]BETA 23 (28 February 2022)[/h2]

[h3]IMPROVEMENTS:[/h3]
* Reduced frequency of den raids a bit.
* Improved wolf's aim when urinating.

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* Controller doesn't work on main menu (broken in betas 21 and 22).
* Pups don't close their eyes when they sleep or howl.
* White edge on right eye of Tawny wolf coat.
* Tutorial tip about how to chat in multiplayer games sometimes appears in single-player games.

____________________

[h2]BETA 24 (1 March 2022)[/h2]

[h3]IMPROVEMENTS:[/h3]
* When in Pupcam, player-wolf's head doesn't follow camera viewing direction.

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* Controller doesn't work on Age Perks panel (at player-wolf's birthday).
* Stranger wolf danger music plays when dispersal wolf is nearby.
* Sometimes damage sound effects don't play when they should.
____________________

[h2]BETA 25 (2 March 2022)[/h2]

IMPROVEMENTS:
* Inverted the stranger airborne scent icon, to contrast better with player's scent post icon at a distance.
* Refined elk hunt music so it switches back from showdown to chase music if solo elk starts fleeing again.
* Controller: Added controller input icon for Peaceful Death.

BUGS FIXED:
* When remapping an input with multiple actions associated with it, those associated actions were not recreated when the action was remapped again.
* Terrain edge visible at one burrow den.
* Terrain and water issues.
____________________

[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.