WolfQuest: Anniversary Edition News

Testing, tuning, tweaking, and fixing are continuing apace on the upcoming Slough Creek multiplayer mode for WolfQuest: Anniversary Edition. Today's devblog looks at a couple features along with the ongoing task of tuning and balancing the game for multiplayer.

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For example, we've built a new voting system for choosing dens and rendezvous sites, where all players have two minutes to vote for their preferred location, and then the host ratifies the vote (breaking a tie if necessary). We've also finalized the way that pup genetics works in multiplayer. This is a tricky matter indeed, with technical, usability, and social concerns that need to be satisfied. The dev team pondered it for many months until Tommi realized that, with the pack being a family, they share a common gene pool. The two parents obviously (or at least hopefully) have different genes, but offspring share their parents' DNA in various combinations. So we can simply draw on everyone's genes when calculating the pups' genes. This is by no means a perfect solution if you think about it real hard, and it doesn't capture the complexity of some Yellowstone packs, but for our purposes its a pretty good solution that meets our needs.

We've also been working on game balance for 4- or 5-person multiplayer games, increasing the frequency of competitor attacks on the den, increasing the wolves' hunger rate, among other things, to create sufficient challenge with a larger pack than you have in single-player.

So it's coming along! Not ready to release yet, but we are making excellent progress.

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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,.) Once the game is completed on PC/Mac, we will turn our attention to other platforms. The next episode, Tower Fall (DLC) will follow. We do not announce specific release dates. We will release them when they are ready!

This beta is now available for Windows computers in the WQ:AE Public Beta branch (see instructions at bottom of this post.)

In this beta, game saves and wolves are backward-compatible with the last released version (1.0.7j3), so switch back and forth without any problems, but Multiplayer is NOT compatible with 1.0.7m so players can only see games hosted by others on the same version.

[h2]Beta 1[/h2]

[h3]IMPROVEMENTS:[/h3]
* Stamina drain added when carrying a pup. Added to deter players from doing companionship with sick pup while marking territory, and looking ahead, to somewhat deter malicious players in SCMP from taking pups far from homesite.
* Adjusted max speed when catching up to prey, should make it slightly easier for players to bite mule deer, and noticeably easier for mates.
* Increased chances of pup death from sickness if player doesn't spend time with them, and refined pup sickness odds to vary the timing of sickness and make second sickness less likely.
* Douglas-fir trees in Amethyst look a bit better, not as dark.
* Improved pace of snow accumulation on trees in Amethyst.
* Added note on World Map indicated hex diameter.
* On Family Tree panel, moved Delete button to avoid accidental clicking (though there is a confirmation dialog too).
* Added more waypoint-paths at northwest rock den for entering and exiting den.
* Adjusted meat chunk collider so wolves don't float above it when lying down.
* Slightly increased the allowed duration of single spacebar taps (to make it more forgiving when trying to eat).

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* Airborne scents stop moving and spawning in certain situations (probably fixed).
* When creating new Amethyst MP game, some options for SC MP (coming soon) are displayed.
* Mate frozen at edge of Lost River map.
* When mates attempt to help in a beaver ambush when bison (better prey) are nearby, they wiggle and won't bite beaver.
* Beaver does twitchy in-place turn instead of spin turn when attacked.
* Beaver carcass is missing fur on both sides when partially consumed.
* Sometimes beavers get stuck on lodge.
* Beavers sometimes get stuck going in circles.
* Pups pile around the same food chunk even if there are others more easily accessible.
* NPC animals can get stuck where boulders or trees are very close together.
* If you do secondary howl to call mate to your location, it will eat any food it comes upon, rather than leaving some for pups.
* In certain situations, game freezes while sleeping.
* Pup gets stuck running in circles near beaver dam.
* Pup going in circles trying to cross river (and other similar cases, no doubt).
* Cow elk freezes when health drops and it cannot find another action to do.
* Yellowstone features boneless mule deer carcasses.
* Ambient blowing snow particles aren't visible.
* Wolf Bio: can't select text in bottom rows of text.
* Wrong eye color if you switch from Basic to Enhanced graphics mode during Photo Mode.
* MP game name appears in top-left corner of Perks panel.
* Odd object in lower left corner in Newborn den scene.
* Sometimes no music plays when the Hide & Snack music should play.
* Airborne scents move too slowly in high winds.
* Adjusted meat chunk collider so wolves don't float above it when lying down.
* Increased odds of pup dying from sickness (but no change to odds if player stays with pup).
* Mule deer don't respect fur setting in Graphics Quality.
* Snow accumulates on sides of animals sometimes.
* Grizzly rubs against den if all pups are inside.
* Typos.
* Terrain and water issues.

[h2]BETA 2[/h2]

[h3]NEW: [/h3]
Feeding pups now gives a small boost to pack affinity (and why wouldn't it?)

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* Pups don't follow player when moving to new den or rendezvous site.
* Dead tree in Lamar Valley has striped bark.
* Problems ensue if player goes to sleep while Den Discovered alert is onscreen, just before Name Your Pack appears.
* Beavers can get stuck by beaver dam when trying to flee.
* Beavers sometimes cross overland instead of following a trail.
* Beavers behave erratically if spawned while player-wolf is sleeping.
* No wolf or pup preview in Family Tree panel.
* Eagles get stuck on ground or in rocks.

[h2]BETA 3[/h2]

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* Order of perks is inconsistent from one age subpanel to the next.
* Lost River: Van Winkle scent posts are floating above ground and beyond map's edge.
* Some remaining issues with Hide & Snack music triggers.
* Photo Mode camera icon doesn't appear.
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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.

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 Tuesday, November 23, 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.

[h3]IMPROVEMENT:[/h3]
* Switched to colorblind-safe colors for Slough Creek territory map (somehow still had original colors from Amethyst).

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* Player-wolf and NPCs sometimes have trouble finding the shortest path to nearby object like carcass or food chunk.
* Elk mother circling wolf and calf without attacking, and several other elk pathfinding bugs.
* Sometimes birds are motionless in sky.
* In certain circumstances, game gets stuck on black screen when Raise Pups quest ends.
* HUD resizes when launching the game each time.
* Some invisible obstacles in Amethyst.
* On some graphics cards, wet aspen leaves look bluish.
* Dead pup lying on ground has one eye open.
* Mule deer and cougar can't reach thair maximum flee speeds.
* Multiplayer: when joining a game, sometimes camera doesn't swing around behind the player-wolf.
* Wolf moves too fast when stalking.
* In Lost River, several stranger wolf scent posts are floating high in the air on the east border.
* Ranger crew cleared logs from Slough Creek wagon trail, and did it properly this time.
* Animals sometimes have non-glowing areas in Scent View.
* There are some whitebark pine trees in Lamar Valley.
* On Basic Vegetation mode, there are no willow bushes in Lamar Valley.
* One type of fescue grass has poorly-chosen LOD settings.
* Light snow appears oddly on leaves of creekside aspens in Amethyst.
* One spawn location for handbag is too close to a tree to be picked up.
* Controls Remapper fails after specific sequence of remappings.
* Typo.
* Terrain and water issues.

This beta is now available for Windows computers in the WQ:AE Public Beta branch (see instructions at bottom of this post.) In this beta, game saves and wolves ARE backward-compatible with the last released version (1.0.7la), so switch back and forth without any problems. Multiplayer is also compatible with 1.0.7k, so you can play with other players who have 1.0.7la.

NOTE: Beta 4 has debug code to help us understand why the floating scents occasionally freeze up and stop moving in the wind, so if this happens to you, please press F11 to submit a bug report.

[h2]Public Beta: v1.0.7m Beta 1[/h2]

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* Player-wolf and NPCs sometimes have trouble finding the shortest path to nearby object like carcass or food chunk.
* In certain circumstances, game gets stuck on black screen when Raise Pups quest ends.
* Some invisible obstacles in Amethyst.
* On some graphics cards, wet aspen leaves look bluish.
* Dead pup lying on ground has one eye open.
* Mule deer and cougar can't reach their maximum flee speeds.
* Ranger crew cleared logs from Slough Creek wagon trail, and did it properly this time.
* Animals sometimes have no-glow areas in Scent View.
* There are some whitebark pine trees in Lamar Valley.
* On Basic Vegetation mode, there are no willow bushes in Lamar Valley
* Light snow appears oddly on leaves of creekside aspens in Amethyst.

[h2]Beta 2[/h2]

[h3]IMPROVEMENT:[/h3]
* Switched to colorblind-safe colors for Slough Creek territory map (somehow still had original colors from Amethyst).

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* Elk mother circling wolf and calf without attacking, and several other elk pathfinding bugs.
* Sometimes birds are motionless in sky.
* HUD resizes when launching the game each time.
* One spawn location for handbag is too close to a tree to be picked up.
* Controls Remapper fails after specific sequence of remappings.

[h2]Beta 3[/h2]

[h3]BUGS FIXED:[/h3]
* Wolf won't stop moving after grabbing hare or newborn ungulate.
* One type of fescue grass has poorly-chosen LOD settings.
* Typo.

[h2]Beta 4[/h2]

[h3]BUG FIXED:[/h3]
* When joining multiplayer game, sometimes camera doesn't swing around behind the player-wolf.

[h2]Beta 5[/h2]

[h3]BUG FIXED:[/h3]
* Popup dialogs (in Age Perks, when overwriting a save, etc.) don't appear when they should, so player can get stuck.

______________________________________________


[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.