1.0.5b - released 1 October 2020

IMPROVEMENTS:
* When loading a saved multiplayer game, the host can now change their wolf along with the game's difficulty, region, number of players, and access settings. They can also keep or remove the "wolves in limbo" (other players who were in the game when it was saved, and whose wolf is preserved in a limbo state in that game.)
* Players who leave a multiplayer game can now switch their wolf and then rejoin it with the new wolf.
* In a multiplayer game, the host can now kick wolves "in limbo" (who have left the game but their wolf remains for five minutes in case they return) without that counting toward the three-kick limit.
* Players who are in limbo (away from keyboard or have left the game without indicating they are not returning) have brackets around their wolf nametag, and that status is indicated in Pack Info.
* Death in multiplayer is reclassified as "near-death" (since you can revive without aid of veterinarian).
* New revive animation after near-death experience in multiplayer.
* In multiplayer chat, up to 12 all-caps letters are now allowed.

BUGS FIXED:
* Occasionally in multiplayer games, game is corrupted and cannot be saved.
* On some Mac computers, the pack territory overlay does not appear on the World Map. (We think we fixed this. Please report if we have or not!)
* At the end of pack rally, for client (non-host) players, the rally wolfhead icon does not (but should) flash black for 15 seconds before the rally ends.
* In the Quests panel, keyboard/controller icons do not appear correctly.
* When loading a multiplayer game, the Load panel shows Mate status, but there are no mates in multiplayer.
* In multiplayer, occasionally some creek pebbles have snow on them when it hasn't snow recently.
* Fossil forest objects are too bright when covered in snow.
* In Lost River, animals walk slightly above concrete in one section of Hank's Ditch.
* Some trees grow out of boulders.

1.0.5a - released 25 September 2020

NOTE: On some Mac computers, the pack territory overlay does not appear on the World Map. We have been unable to reproduce this so have added additional debug code to this patch. If you have this problem, please submit a bug report (F11 or via ESC - Options menu.)

IMPROVEMENTS:
* When client-player is leaving multiplayer game, we added explanatory text about wolf staying in limbo state for five minutes if the player is returning soon.
* When using a controller, controller icons appear now in mission intro panels instead of keyboard icons.
* When viewing a message from a pack, the Reply button now opens the Packs panel so the player can reply to everyone.

BUGS FIXED:
* Various connection issues when creating or joining a multiplayer game. (Fixes for several of these, along with better notifications. Quite possibly some similar bugs remain, so please submit reports if you experience them.)
* Players occasionally encounter enormous packs with 30 or more stranger wolves. (Possible fix in this beta, but if it happens to you, we need reports from host and other players.)
* In Accounts, Add Friend and Add to Pack input fields do not allow underscores or similar special characters.
* Occasionally players are unable to leave the game while sleeping because the "Are you sure" notification is not shown.
* When changing region in multiplayer lobby, the notification stays on longer than necessary.
* In Accounts: Add Friend, username remains in text field after sending the request.
* In Accounts: Packs: you can send a Pack message without a subject line.
* Some animals are missing snow after dying.
* Some unnecessary words removed from badwords filter.

After the excitement of releasing of multiplayer last week, it’s nice to get back to one of my favorite things: working on the terrain. While Mikko and Andrei work on bugfixes for multiplayer and Tommi is now deep in testing and tweaking the Slough Creek quests, I’ve spent some time on ice. Ice floes, that is. I realized that we needed a transitional state for McBride Lake and other water bodies in early spring, and that called for some new 3D models of ices floes and chunks. We brought in 3D artist Donovin Peterman to create these, and today’s devblog video looks at the process of setting them up in the game. Perhaps not as exciting as pups, but I think they add something to early spring in Slough Creek as you search for a den.



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, Lost River: Classic, and multiplayer mode in both maps. Slough Creek is in development! The mobile version will come after the game (including Slough Creek) is completed on PC/Mac platforms. The next episode, Tower Fall (DLC) will follow. We do not announce specific release dates. We will release them when they are ready!

IMPORTANT: To fix a critical bug listed below, this version is not compatible with the last official version (1.0.5), so the multiplayer lobby will only show games on the same version (either 1.0.5 or 1.0.5a beta). This will be the case until we release 1.0.5a for everyone, which we plan to do soon.


This beta is currently only available for Windows computers.

IMPROVEMENTS:
* When client-player is leaving multiplayer game, we added explanatory text about wolf staying in limbo state for five minutes if the player is returning soon.
* When using a controller, controller icons appear now in mission intro panels instead of keyboard icons.
* When viewing a message from a pack, the Reply button now opens the Packs panel so the player can reply to everyone.

BUGS FIXED:
* Game stalls out when trying to create or join multiplayer game, or returns to main menu. (We've fixed a couple bugs with this, but there may be others still, so please submit a bug report if it happens.)
* Players occasionally encounter enormous packs with 30 or more stranger wolves. (Possible fix in this beta, but if it happens to you, we need reports from host and other players.)
* Some unnecessary words removed from badwords filter.


IMPORTANT: To fix a critical bug listed below, this version is not compatible with the last official version (1.0.5), so the multiplayer lobby will only show games on the same version (either 1.0.5 or 1.0.5a beta). This will be the case until we release 1.0.5a for everyone, which we plan to do soon.

BUGS FIXED:
* In multiplayer, if some players are using this beta version and others using the last official version (1.0.5), wolves have generic "NPC Wolf" names.
* Occasionally players are unable to leave the game while sleeping because the "Are you sure" notification is not shown.


BUGS FIXED
* Various connection issues when creating or joining a multiplayer game. (Fixes for several of these, along with better notifications. Quite possibly some similar bugs remain, so please submit reports if you experience them.)
* In Accounts, Add Friend and Add to Pack input fields do not allow underscores or similar special characters.


IMPORTANT: To fix a critical bug listed below, this version is not compatible with the last official version (1.0.5), so the multiplayer lobby will only show games on the same version (either 1.0.5 or 1.0.5a beta). This will be the case until we release 1.0.5a for everyone, which we plan to do soon.

BUGS FIXED
* When changing region in multiplayer lobby, the notification stays on longer than necessary.
* In Accounts: Add Friend, username remains in text field after sending the request.
* In Accounts: Packs: you can send a Pack message without a subject line.


BUGS FIXED
* When changing region in multiplayer lobby, the notification stays on longer than necessary.
* In Accounts: Add Friend, username remains in text field after sending the request.
* In Accounts: Packs: you can send a Pack message without a subject line.

__________________________________________

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.

We have released multiplayer for WolfQuest: Anniversary Edition! It’s available now in v1.0.5, and your game should automatically update via Steam or the WolfQuest game launcher. Multiplayer truly is the reason that WolfQuest has survived since the very first release in 2007 and we are thrilled to finally bring it back in Anniversary Edition. We are still calling it a "beta" since we have more bug fixes, refinements, and improvements -- but now it's a beta for everyone to play.



NEW: MULTIPLAYER!
* Create a public game that anyone can see in the multiplayer lobby and join.
* Create a private game with restricted access: All friends, Selected friends, or Packs. Only the selected players will see the game in the multiplayer lobby.
* Choose from two modes: Territory Quest, where players try to claim and maintain territory, and Pack Life, where players have an enforced no-mans-land (much like in single-player) so they don't have to worry about holding territory.
* Choose text chat or no chat. (For players under age 13, text chat is available only in private games with friends and packs. We will be adding phrase chat soon, which will be an option for everyone in all types of games.)
* NOTE: When creating and joining multiplayer games, please select the region and game with the lowest latency (under 150ms when possible). This will help keep latency (ping) as low as possible, minimizing in-game lag and teleporting for yourself and everyone else.

MULTIPLAYER-ONLY FEATURES
* If killed, you can revive yourself after ten seconds.
* If very low on health, use the new Quick Heal action, which converts some food in your stomach to health. Can only restore some health (capped at 40%). On keyboard, lay down, then press-hold the R key. On controller, lay down, then press-hold Y button and right trigger simultaneously.
* Pack Rally: If most players howl simultaneously, everyone earns a stamina boost, which lasts for about six minutes.
* On the World Map, other player-markers are displayed only when they are within two kilometers. If they howl, their marker will appear and remain displayed for one minute. If players do a Pack Rally, everyone's markers will be displayed for everyone else for the duration of the rally.
* When a player leaves the game, they indicate if they are planning to return soon or not. If returning soon, their wolf is put into limbo for five minutes and if they return within that time, they can resume where they were. This also occurs if they leave abruptly without clicking the Quit or Main Menu buttons (such as if they are disconnected from the game).

PACKS:
* In your Account panel, you can create a Pack (private group) and invite friends to join it.
* Send messages to pack members. (NOTE: There are a few known bugs with this: If a pack member sends a message, everyone but the host receives it, and you cannot reply to messages sent to a pack. The next patch should fix both of those issues.)
* When creating a new multiplayer game, select one or more packs to have private access to it.

NOTE ABOUT GAME SIMULATION
The game host runs the entire simulation, so more powerful CPUs can handle bigger simulations than weaker CPUs. The host's game runs a CPU benchmark test when starting a new game and uses that to set a cap on the number of spawned animals. If players mostly stay together, they should rarely be affected by this cap, but if there are a lot of players and they spread out, it's possible (especially if the host has a weaker CPU) to hit that cap. (The cap ranges from 50 animals for weak CPUs to 120 for powerful CPUs.)

FEATURES STILL TO COME
We have many more features and refinements still to come, including:
* Controller support for Accounts panels, add some missing controls for multiplayer creation.
* Refinements to wolf and NPC animal turning (headlook, etc).
* Add multiple spawn points and different territory configuration for each.
* Host can name their pack.
* Phrase Chat
* MP Lobby filtering options.
* Improve jumping and falling as seen by other players.
* Enable contact emotes.
* Add descriptive tags that host can select when creating MP game.

BUGS FIXED:
* On some Mac computers, the Health and Hunger meters are empty when in Enhanced Sky & Vegetation mode. (Apparently some Mac systems do not support the new shine effect used during Quick Heal, so we have disabled that effect on all Macs, since there is no way to identify on which Macs it is a problem.)
* Grizzlies don't have correct swim animation.
* Some unnecessary words in the badwords list.
* Terrain texturing discrepancies.
* It's darkest before the dawn.....too dark.

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.

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 contest1@wolfquest.org

All entries must be received by midnight (Eastern Daylight Time) on Thursday, September 24, 2020.

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.

Today we’re taking a look at our master plan for WolfQuest: Anniversary Edition, from what’s already available in the Amethyst Mountain episode, to what’s currently in development in Slough Creek episode, to our future expansion plans with the Tower Fall episode.



WolfQuest follows the life of a dispersal wolf in Yellowstone National Park, so we start at age two. You’ve just left your family pack and find yourself alone for the first time, so your first task is to learn to hunt on your own. Then, once you’ve killed a few elk, other dispersal wolves will consider you as a potential mate. This episode takes place in the fall and early winter, which lasts about three months in your wolf's life.

Coming up next is the Slough Creek episode, which runs from winter to summer, as your wolf and their mate establish a territory and then find a den. We’re going to have a lot more dens out there to choose from — over two dozen — and one will become the home for your pups. Those pups take a lot of attention in their early months, especially if you have a large litter (up to seven pups are possible!). Pup personalities will make family life richer and challenging.

Then when they're two months old, the pups have outgrown the den and it's time to choose a good place to spend the summer. This is called the rendezvous site, and it’s basically an open-air densite, where the pups frolic and continue to grow. That's where the Slough Creek episode ends -- or at least, that's where it's always ended in the past.

After that, we have a third episode planned, called Tower Fall, which will begin halfway through the summer. In our storyline, the pack has been squeezed out of Slough Creek by rival packs and forced to make another journey. Wolves actually do often move every few weeks during the summer, so this is not unusual. In our case, the pack travels to the Tower Fall area, about 10 kilometers southwest of Slough Creek. This episode will continue into the fall, which is when pups begin to join their parents on hunting trips, initially just observing, but increasing taking part — at great risk to life and limb. Those that survive are on their way to adulthood! We have some ideas about how to continue the story in Tower Fall, but it's still early in the design phase so we'll see how that evolves. Tower Fall will be an expansion available as DLC.

But right now we're focused on Slough Creek, and we have a question for you all. As I said, in the past, Slough Creek ended when you reached the rendezvous site. We did this because...well, games should have an ending, right? And also, the pups are growing and it would be inaccurate to keep playing at the rendezvous site with these tiny pups.

But over the years, we've gotten a fair number of comments saying that the ending is too abrupt -- boom you're done -- and it would be nice to have some time at the rendezvous site with your pups. So we're wondering what players today would like: A proper ending like in the old game, or ongoing play for awhile at least with your pups at the rendezvous site. Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

______________
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).

Today’s devblog takes another look at our genetics system in WolfQuest: Anniversary Edition, now that we have built it out for pups in the upcoming Slough Creek episode. (We first looked at this in a 2018 devblog, which you can watch here.

Since our systems designer and lead developer Tommi is responsible for this system, I’ll let him explain it:

“We made a mini-genetics system for the game. Instead of the around 20,000 (functional) genes a real wolf has, yours has 50 (25 allele pairs). They code for black vs gray (1 pair), coat selection and tinting (9 pairs), your stats (6 pairs), and personality (9 pairs). This means all these traits are inheritable to your pups! When we create your pups, we apply the Punnet Square law on each of your pups, on each of these pairs. Then we take this newly formed genome and find the right coat, the right tints, the right stats, and the right personality for everyone.

“Now, you may remember from school that allele pairs like this have "dominant" and "recessive" alleles. However, we only applied this to the black vs gray pair (or "K locus" as the experts call it): kk is gray while Kk, kK, and KK are all black (blackness is "dominant"). All the other genes are simply summed up with no concern for dominance, so to be very bold, your pup will need to have BB + BB + BB in the Cautious-Bold triplet. Conversely, a very cautious pup has bb + bb + bb. An average pup would have something like Bb + BB + bb. This is realistic enough for our purposes, since many genes do work in this manner. (The K locus is the only "real" gene in our genome - everything else is just a simple model we made up.)

“When it comes to stats, we ended up kind of accidentally representing something that comes up in genetics a lot: tradeoffs. Each of the six genes boosts one stat while reducing another. So, for example, SS would boost strength by one while reducing stamina by one, while conversely ss would reduce strength and boost stamina (and Ss would leave both alone). This means your pups will be just as balanced, stat-wise, as any new wolf you create. Unless they got unlucky and rolled KK on the K locus, which is known to be a bad combination: if that doesn’t kill the pup before birth, it has a significant impact on its health and vitality, making survival even more difficult than usual.”

________

To learn more about the personality system for mates and now pups, watch “For Better or For Worse" devblog.

______________
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).

v1.0.5 is ready for public beta testing! Please review the changelist below. (Beta is currently available only for Windows Mac beta is now available! See instructions at bottom of this post to get beta for either Mac or Windows.)

It wouldn't be WolfQuest without hitting some capacity issues on a launch day -- this time with text chat. We've greatly increased that capacity now in a new patch, v1.0.5 beta37a, so be sure to get it. The version number is shown in bottom-left corner of the main menu. (To force Steam to download it, right-click on the WolfQuest:AE name in your library left sidebar, click the Local Files tab, then click Verify Integrity of Game Files -- that should force the update. NOTE that everyone in a multiplayer game must be on this version, or future versions, in order for chat to work for everyone.)

* Create a public game that anyone can see in the multiplayer lobby and join.
* Create a private game with restricted access: All friends, Selected friends, or (coming soon) Packs. Only the selected players will see the game in the multiplayer lobby.
* Choose from two modes: TerritoryQuest, where players try to claim and maintain territory, and Pack Life, where players have an enforced no-mans-land (much like in single-player) so they don't have to worry about holding territory.
* Choose text chat or no chat. (For players under age 13, text chat is available only in private games with friends and packs. We will be adding phrase chat soon, which will be an option for everyone in all types of games.)

* If killed, you can revive yourself after ten seconds.
* If very low on health, use the new Quick Heal action, which converts some food in your stomach to health. Can only restore some health (capped at 40%). On keyboard, lay down, then press-hold the R key. On controller, lay down, then press-hold Y button and right trigger.
* Pack Rally: If most players howl simultaneously, everyone earns a stamina boost, which lasts for six minutes.
* On the World Map, other player-markers are displayed only when they are within two kilometers. If they howl, their marker will appear and remain displayed for one minute. If players do a Pack Rally, everyone's markers will be displayed for everyone else for the duration of the rally.
* When a player leaves the game, they indicate if they are planning to return soon or not. If returning soon, their wolf is put into limbo for five minutes and if they return within that time, they can resume where they were. This also occurs if they leave abruptly without clicking the Quit or Main Menu buttons (such as if they are disconnected from the game.).

The game host runs the entire simulation, so more powerful CPUs can handle bigger simulations than weaker CPUs. The host's game runs a CPU benchmark test when starting a new game and uses that to set a cap on the number of spawned animals. If players mostly stay together, they should rarely be affected by this cap, but if there are a lot of players and they spread out, it's possible (especially if the host has a weaker CPU) to hit that cap. (The cap ranges from 50 animals for weak CPUs to 120 for powerful CPUs.)

* Player can send a friend request directly from another player's info panel in Pack Info.
* On the World Map, in Multiplayer, other player-markers are displayed only when they are within two kilometers. If they howl, their marker will appear and remain displayed for one minute. If players do a Pack Rally, everyone's markers will be displayed for everyone else for the duration of the rally.
* In multiplayer, autosave enabled only for the host, not for clients.
* If client players clicks Quit or Main Menu buttons, they then indicate if they are returning soon or not. If they are, then their wolf is kept in the game, in limbo, for five minutes. If they are not, their wolf is removed from the game immediately.

* Mother (elk or mule deer cow) sometimes stands idle while player attacks calf/fawn.

We have many more features and refinements still to come in the next month, including:
* Many improvements and refinements to friends, multiplayer lobby, etc.
* Controller support for Accounts panels, add some missing controls for multiplayer creation.
* Refinements to wolf turning (headlook, etc)
* Add multiple spawn points and different territory config for each.
* Host can name their pack.
* Phrase Chat.
* MP Lobby filtering options.
* Improved sync precision (ongoing task over the coming months)
* Improve jumping and falling as seen by other players.
* Enable contact emotes.
* Add descriptive tags that host can select when creating MP game.



IMPROVEMENT: WASD keys will wake players from sleep, in addition to the spacebar key.

BUGS FIXED:
* Client player-wolves get stuck in "head kicked" animation after reviving, can't break out of it.
* Layout issues in Pack Info panels.


IMPROVEMENT:
* Added Asia as a region for multiplayer (servers are in Singapore).
* Killing a hare no longer boosts your territory strength.

BUG FIXED:
* Game gets stuck sending friend request.
* Game gets stuck with other notifications (should be better now, and ESC should close those if they don't have a Close button. Please report any remaining problems.)
* On account panel, in game level, multiplayer rules overlap account info.


IMPROVEMENTS:
* In Amethyst, moved the Junction Butte pack's rendezvous site so their home hex does not include Fairies' Falls.
* Allow up to eight allcaps letters in a word before converting to lowercase.
* Adjusted multipliers for reaction time and damage dealt by a struggling animal to attacking animals when attacking in a group.
* Allow underscores and other such characters in account password
* Save the last-selected multiplayer Region to player prefs, so it's the default selection for that player until they change it
* Extra debug code to help analyze why some players stall out when joining a MP game.
* Added "Your" to Region selection in multiplayer, to hopefully make it clearer that you should choose your own region when hosting or joining a multiplayer game, for minimal latency and teleporting.

BUGS FIXED:
* MP Text Chat: If player minimizes the chat box, automatically exit from text input mode, so player has controls back
* Snowshoe hare in winter coat has brownish rim lighting.
* Terrain texturing discrepancies.


IMPROVEMENTS:
* Multiplayer rules are now displayed when you first create or join a multiplayer game, and after that they are displayed only on your Account panel.
* Removed some innocuous words from the badwords filter.

BUGS FIXED:
* If prey animal dies on top of you while you're dead, you're stuck underneath it and cannot get out.
* Corrupted save file on computer can prevent loading a multiplayer game.
* Various notifications occasionally get stuck onscreen. (Should be mostly fixed, possibly entirely fixed, but please submit a bug report if it happens).
* Wintertime hare is frozen in place.
* Revive button is occasionally unclickable.



BUGS FIXED:
* Game sometimes loses connection with multiplayer server, especially after returning to main menu from a MP session, with no alert about that, so multiplayer pulldown menu appears to work, but does not. (Game should now try to reconnect and show error if it fails.)
* Game stalls out when joining multiplayer game. (Added additional debugging to help diagnose the problem.)


NOTE: We've gotten a couple reports about a game that's restricted to friends at some point is displayed to non-friends in the lobby. We can't reproduce this, but we've added some debugging to help us understand what's going on. If it happens to you, we need a client player to return to main menu, then go to the multiplayer lobby and do an F11 bug report there, and in the report, tell us the name of the game that was supposed to be private. 
IMPROVEMENTS:
* Overhaul of the notification alert system. This should fix some bugs (such as the first one listed below as well as others), and it should have no adverse effects, but if you notice a problem with notification alerts, please submit a bug report (F11 or in Options menu.)
* Alert now displays multiplayer lobby when switching regions.
* In multiplayer games, chime plays when text chat message arrives. (Can be disabled in Game Settings: Gameplay.)
* Difficulty multipliers no longer affect the stamina lost when first biting NPC animals. (Had a severe impact on Accurate difficulty.)

BUGS FIXED:
* Wolf frozen after joining game. (This is usually because the player was disconnected from the multiplayer server during the loading process, but that notification did not appear properly.)
* Game stalls out when joining multiplayer game. (Several bugs fixed for this, but usually occurs because game lost connection to server. Now it should recognize that situation and show error and/or return to main menu.)
* Notification alert about creating a scent post to boost territory claim above 25% appears when howling, even when there's already a scent post in that hex.
* MP text chat panel doesn't correctly follow new messages when scroll bar first appears.
* If you minimize MP text chat panel and someone else types two lines of text, then the layout is messed up when you expand the chat panel again.
* If, to sleep near host, player-wolf teleports while stranger wolves are biting them, the strangers come along for the ride.
* Some unnecessary words in the badwords list.
* It's darkest before the dawn.....too dark.



NOTE: We've gotten a couple reports about a game that's restricted to friends at some point is displayed to non-friends in the lobby. We can't reproduce this, but we've added some debugging to help us understand what's going on. If it happens to you, we need a client player to return to main menu, then go to the multiplayer lobby and do an F11 bug report there, and in the report, tell us the name of the game that was supposed to be private.

IMPROVEMENTS:
* Create new multiplayer game, Region pulldown shows latency (ping) from your computer to the multiplayer server in that region. Choose the region with the lowest ping to minimize teleporting and other issues in the game.
* Multiplayer lobby now shows total latency (ping), adding player's ping to host-to-server ping. This is more accurate and should be used as guidance when choosing a game to join.

BUGS FIXED:
* Winter season is not synched in multiplayer.
* Extreme lag (freezes the game for some seconds) for some players when the Accounts system checks the game server for new messages and friends (most noticeable when in main menu, especially the Accounts panel is open, but can also cause lag spikes during gameplay).
* Account panel is unclickable when opened in the main menu.



BUG FIXED: Boulders missing in Amethyst map.



IMPROVEMENTS:
* In Accounts, create a Pack (group) and invite friends to join it. Send messages to pack members. When creating a new multiplayer game, select one or more packs to have private access to it.

BUG FIXED:
* Grizzlies don't have correct swim animation.


IMPROVEMENTS:
* Upon receiving a friend request, you can now choose to Decline it instead of Ignoring it. (Ignore simply closed the Friend Request window, to reappear next time you run the game. Decline deletes the friend request entirely so you will not see it again.)
* In multiplayer games, the host is indicated on the Pack Info panel.
* When the host clicks Quit or Main Menu in multiplayer game, a confirmation alert appears now.
* Dreams don't begin now until all players are sleeping. (This might fix a "stuck dreaming" bug, but please report if that happens to you.)
* When sending a message to others in a Pack, now you won't get that message in your Received inbox, only in your Sent box.
* In Game Controls: Keyboard Remapping, added "C" key for Chat panel, so that is now remappable to another key.

BUGS FIXED:
* If multiple friend requests await you, only one shows each time you run the game, instead of appearing one after another.
* Players from two games in different regions -- but which have the same game name -- will appear in each other's text chat (but not in the game itself, thus seeming to be invisible).
* If you load a saved multiplayer game that has access set to "All Friends," access is limited to players who were in your Friends list at the time of that game save, instead of all your current friends.


IMPROVEMENTS:
* Multiplayer host can choose the maximum number of players in the game, from two to eight.
* When creating a pack, the pack name is now filtered through the badword list, but can have spaces and punctuation.
* If multiplayer, if player is away from keyboard for five minutes, their wolf is put into limbo so they don't delay pack sleeping.
* Photo mode is not available in multiplayer games, and now an alert informs players of that if they try to activate it.
* Host is warned if they kick three players in a multiplayer game.

BUGS FIXED:
* The new Quit/End Session confirmation popup (for hosts in multiplayer) appears in singleplayer but should not.
* On some Mac computers, the Health and Hunger meters are empty when in Enhanced Sky & Vegetation mode. (Apparently some Mac systems do not support the new shine effect used during Quick Heal, so we have disabled that effect on all Macs, since there is no way to identify on which Macs it is a problem.)
* A player who has been blocked by another player can add that other player to their pack.
* A player who has been blocked by another player can see and join their games in the multiplayer lobby.
* Pack Rally interface panel doesn't respect Hide HUD command.


IMPROVEMENTS:
* In Friend Request notification, default selection is now Accept instead of Decline.
* In multiplayer, new animation when reviving from death. (Note: This plus the bug fix below will make the wolf more vulnerable to dangerous prey or competitors who are within range.)

BUGS FIXED:
* In multiplayer, a dead player-wolf sometimes is unable to revive.
* Wrong header text when reporting a game name.
* Placeholder [playername] appears in some player death notifications.


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.

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.



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).