WolfQuest: Anniversary Edition News

We are on the verge of releasing multiplayer into public beta! We have a few things we are finishing up and then expect to make it available on Steam in the next few days. It’s been a long haul but we are very excited to get it out there, even in this limited way, before the full release which shouldn’t be too much longer.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

A couple things about multiplayer:

1) You’ll need a game account to play it. You can register an account in the current version of the game, 1.0.4a, which we released early this week. See the devblog “New Game Accounts” for details (link below).

2) Our abuse report system is fully operational so we can deal with inappropriate behavior in multiplayer — but we hope that it isn’t necessary (at least not yet). We want beta testers to be focused on (a) having fun and (b) reporting bugs, not causing trouble with other players. If we do find that players are misbehaving, we will disable those game accounts. We aren’t kidding about that. Brush up on the rules, behavior reporting, and guidelines at https://support.wolfquest.org/help/behavior-reports-and-guidelines-f1023eb7

Recent devblogs have shown various new features of multiplayer. If you missed any of those, now’s the time to catch up!
* New Game Accounts
* A Medley of Multiplayer Matters

We will make announcements on the WolfQuest website, Steam, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Discord, and Instagram when multiplayer is available in public beta, so keep an eye out!

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Thumbnail screenshot by ƚeroηeƚsu
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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).

[h2]NEW: Game Accounts[/h2]
* Create an Account: Players can register a WQ:AE account either by upgrading a WQ 2.7 account or creating a new account. (2.7 usernames are reserved, so upgrade if you want to keep the same username, or create a new account if you want a new username, but you cannot register a new account with a username already claimed by someone in WQ 2.7.)
* Friends and in-game messages are working, though we have a number of refinements still do to.
* Packs and Achievements are not set up yet.

[h2]IMPROVEMENTS[/h2]
* Bison and stranger wolf scents adjusted for better differentiation.
* In Wolf Customization, changed "Stats" section name to "Attributes".
* Adjustments to stamina drain and recharge rates.
* Added notification about duplicating wolf when player changes wolf name in customization panel.
* Camera controls: If you move left, right, or backwards in scent view or headcam, when switching back to third-person view, the camera now retains the view angle from the first-person view rather than switching to behind-the-wolf view. Camera also does not reset now after sleeping or leaving Photo Mode.

[h2]BUGS FIXED[/h2]
* Floppy is dead. Long live Floppy!
* A few boulders in Amethyst have invisible sphere colliders, making wolf walk above it, on air.
* Some cougar sounds are truncated or sound bad.
* On World Map, territory hexes can show 0% strength while hex is tinted.
* Occasionally, wolf face is missing from badge.
* On some terrain quality levels, inconsistent amount of snow in distant view.
* Terrain texture and topography issues.
* Ravens and eagles often don't fly away when wolf gets close.
* Wolf carcass has two coats, can't decide which to use.
* Controller: Cannot access Attributes buttons.
* Amethyst ponds are green in certain lighting on low quality levels.
* Removed some unnecessary words from badword filter.
* Adjusted wolf howl volume.
* Lost River: Some collider issues around the bridge.
* Lost River: Some animals have spidey skills.
* Lost River: NPC animals walk high in the air above the wall along the BCE compound.

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]
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 by midnight (Eastern Daylight Time) on Thursday, August 27, 2020.

[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.

Back in June 2017, we had been working concertedly on WolfQuest 3: Anniversary Edition for half a year. To help maintain interest in the game during development, we decided to start creating devblog videos to show our progress periodically. One of our players suggested releasing them on a regular basis, and I thought, "Sure, let's do one every week. We should have the game ready to release around the end of the year, so that's manageable."

Over three years later....

Today's marks the 150th devblog video! That's a lot of videos. So I've put together a semi-random selection of clips for our amusement, and hopefully yours too. Enjoy!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

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Thumbnail Screenshot Image by Sass
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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).

[h2]1.0.4a beta4 -released 18 August 2020 on Steam Public Beta Branch[/h2]

The beta build of the 1.0.4a patch is ready for public beta testing! Please review the changelist below. (Beta is currently available only for Windows; see instructions at bottom of this post to get it.)

[h3]NEW: User Accounts[/h3]
* Register Account: Players can register a WQ:AE account either using their username/password from their WQ 2.7 account or creating an all-new account. (2.7 usernames are reserved, so upgrade if you want to keep the same username, or create a new account if you want a new username. You cannot register a new account with a username already claimed by someone in WQ 2.7.) On Steam, your WQ account is then linked to your Steam account, so you'll subsequently log in automatically.
* Friends List: Works the same as in 2.7.
* In-game messages: Works the same as in 2.7.
* Packs and Achievements are not set up yet.

[h3]IMPROVEMENTS[/h3]
* In Wolf Customization, changed "Stats" section name to "Attributes".
* Adjustments to stamina drain and recharge rates.
* Added notification about duplicating wolf when player changes wolf name in customization panel.

[h3]BUGS FIXED[/h3]
* Floppy is dead. Long live Floppy!
* A few boulders in Amethyst have invisible sphere colliders, making wolf walk above it, on air.
* Some cougar sounds are truncated or sound bad.
* On World Map, territory hexes can show 0% strength while hex is tinted.
* Occasionally, wolf face is missing from badge. (Possibly fixed, if not, please submit bug report with details about your game.)
* On some terrain quality levels, inconsistent amount of snow in distant view.
* Terrain texture and topography issues.
* Ravens and eagles often don't fly away when wolf gets close.
* Wolf carcass has two coats, can't decide which to use.
* Lost River: Some animals have spidey skills.
* Lost River: NPC animals walk high in the air above the wall along the BCE compound.

[h2]1.0.4a beta 5 - released 21 August 2020 on Steam Public Beta Branch[/h2]

[h3]IMPROVEMENTS[/h3]
* Bison and stranger wolf scents adjusted for better differentiation.

[h3]BUGS FIXED[/h3]
* Occasionally wolf face is missing from badge HUD.
* Cannot access Attributes buttons with controller.
* Amethyst ponds are green in certain lighting on low quality levels.
* Discrepancies in snow coverage between near and far terrains on some terrain quality levels.
* Lost River: Some collider issues around the bridge.
* Removed some unnecessary words from badword filter.
* Adjusted wolf howl volume.


[h2]1.0.4a beta 6 - released 21 August 2020 on Steam Public Beta Branch[/h2]

BUG FIXED: Grizzly cub dies unexpectedly.

[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.