We've released the next big game update, where you can raise pups on Amethyst Mountain, hunt pronghorn, customized your territory hex colors, and much more!




v1.1.0 - Released 27 June 2023

* All quests are now playable in Amethyst and Slough Creek, with more than 20 dens on the Amethyst map.
* Several territory configurations to choose from when starting new game in Amethyst, Slough Creek, and Lost River (DLC).
* Added a Territory hex color picker in Game Settings.
* All AI converted to new AI system -- animals should generally behave as they did before.
* In Wolf Customization: Primary and Secondary howls are now combined into one panel, so you can choose any howl for either type. There are also 22 new howls added.
* Pronghorns now roam the grasslands of each map. They are very fast and generally extremely hard to catch, except for summertime fawns: in June, newborn fawns hide in the grass like elk and mule deer, while later in the summer they are ambulatory but easier to catch than adults are.
* New coyote model.
* Many new dream images.
* Many new idle animations when sitting and laying down. (Note: the wolf's head-look action doesn't occur now when sitting and lying down, due to some complications with these new idle animations in those poses. We might be able to add it back at some point in the future, but that's uncertain.)
* Player can do most emotes when sitting and lying down (but not tail emotes).
* Pups are now more tentative and clumsier for a short time after first emerging from the den at the start of the Raise Pups quest.
* Pups have a few more play behaviors, including chasing each other around the homesite area.
* Mate and pups now howl with the player-wolf instead of afterwards. (Finally able to do this with the new AI system.)
* Bigger, better fire tower in Lost River DLC.
* New, improved cottonwood trees.
* New, improved lupine plants.
* Research airplane occasionally flies overhead to observe wolves if any in the group have a radio collar.
* Find a Mate quest: Upon accepting your trial mate, you can now choose to hang out with your mate for awhile, or proceed onward into winter season and Establish Territory quest. If you choose to hang out with your mate, once you're ready to proceed into winter, you can do so via a button in Pack Info.
* Juniper bushes added throughout Slough Creek.
* Better meat chunks from carcasses.
* Added privacy statement on Register and Account panels.
* New game title art now used in game loading screen.

* The Family Tree snapshot now auto-saves if you rename your mate or pups, or you get a new mate after your old mate dies.
* Loading screens (between main menu and maps) have many new tips and images, and all tips are now matched to appropriate images.
* Reduced memory footprint in Amethyst and Slough Creek.
* Some performance improvements in Amethyst Mountain.
* Starting and joining MP games should now be more reliable even if it takes quite awhile (several minutes) to load in.
* Some performance improvements around big cliff rocks in Lost River DLC map, if Big Rock Quality is set to Medium.
* In Lost River DLC map, human actions are no longer possible causes of death for old wolves.
* Domestic cattle carcasses in Lost River DLC now show partially-consumed textures when partially-eaten.
* Spike elk now lose their antlers in late spring and regrow them over the summer.
* Reclassified tree stump den north of Lost River fire tower as Wooded.
* Improvements to tree appearances.
* Boulders now always have snow on them during winter season.
* Improved movement on fawn and calf carcasses when being carried.
* Improved springtime overflow waterfall on Lost River DLC hydro dam.
* Small fawn and calf carcasses, and collectible objects, now respect gravity when being carried.
* Some additional wolf growls and other vocalizations.
* Additional pup howls.
* New idle animation variations when wolf is lying down.
* Improved wolf walk and stalk animations.
* Reduced ambient noise in some animal vocalization audio.
* Improved performance when around the Amethyst cliff rocks in deep snow.
* Reduced chances of snow in February a bit.
* Amount of dust kicked up by running animals is now tailored to each season (based on how wet or dry the season is).
* Many minor improvements to Amethyst natural environment.
* Improved snow accumulation on tree dens (to better match accumulation on surrounding terrain).
* Enabled Fearful Snarl emote when moving.
* Bull elk fights now feature more frequent antler clashes.
* Lost River DLC: Some big rocky outcrops now have permanent snow throughout the winter. (in progress)
* Refinements to Slough Creek small ponds in early spring.
* Enlarged the short-grass area around each den in Slough Creek and Lost River DLC.
* Increased distance that mate will hear player's woof to go back to den.
* New Woof animations (tailored to audio)
* Improved waterfall graphics at Fairies' Falls.

* NPC animals can get stuck on Lost River west bridge.
* Some newborn pups are vibrating in the den.
* Foxes don't know to avoid stray dogs.
* When caught in a rancher's trap in Lost River, the wolf gets stuck running endlessly.
* Short tail looks slinky in main menu wolf carousel.
* Strength perk alters wolf's body size.
* Mate will eat small carcass or meat chunk instantly.
* Old outdated text on "You cannot mark territory in Lost River" notification.
* Some dispersal names are too long for Scent Readout.
* In Lost River DLC, on Basic Sky & Vegetation mode, creeks don't respect fog when viewed at a distance.
* In Lost River DLC, if wolf is caught in a second trap after escaping the first trap, the second trap doesn't disappear after escaping it.
* Snow can fall in far corner of Lost Luck Silver Mine in Lost River DLC.
* Scent view is too bright when there's light snowfall on the ground at night.
* Lost River Classic: High quality terrain floats above correct ground level a bit, causing visual issues.
* In Lost River DLC, player can't go quite as close to the map border as prey animals can.
* Stray dachshund swims underwater.
* Carcasses persist from Find a Den quest to Raise Pups (in reality, they'd be long consumed by the time the pups emerge from the den).
* Many minor issues with terrains and dens.
* Alert about not being logged into Microsoft OneDrive doesn't appear when it should.
* Multiplayer: Only host can view rendezvous sites before Raise Pups quest is completed.
* Multiplayer: If host is slow to load into game and client player joins quickly, the client can become stuck.
* Multiplayer: Pup death notifications sometimes don't appear.
* Multiplayer: Stuck notification during Fixed Sleep schedule.
* Multiplayer: Scent tracks sometimes have blank label in scent view.
* Removed Fixed Sleep option for MP Story games.
* Sometimes ungulates have snow when farther away from the player, but it disappears when they get closer.
* Clever wolves can obtain multiple mates.
* Lamar River flickers when viewed from far away.
* Maple bushes along creeks get thicker when you're farther away from them.
* Blank notification if pup dies of burns in hot springs.
* Mate frequently stops following player for a moment.
* Some reductions in memory usage.
* Mate marker on map is rotated 90 degrees.
* Empty notification at edge of game map.
* Tall grass patches are tilted at a few rendezvous sites.
* Inside dirt den, snowflakes can still fall.
* Wolf gait is too fast when running in deep snow.
* Sky is often very bright when you first switch into scent view.
* Many minor terrain and water issues.

_________________________________________

See all patch notes at: https://support.wolfquest.org

The next big update of the game is now in public beta on Steam, for those interested in trying it! We’ve had a dedicated group of private beta testers hammering on it for awhile now, so it’s in good shape but undoubtedly there are still some things that need fixing and tweaking before we release this update.

Saved games from this beta build are NOT backward compatible with the last released patch (1.0.9h), nor is multiplayer backward-compatible, so you can only play MP with others who have the beta. Because of that, if you want to try the beta but might want to switch back to the last released patch (v1.0.9h), I strongly encourage you to follow the instructions in the video and make a backup of your WQ user files.



_____________________________
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.


* Made mate only eat chunks or portable carcasses at the den if they have 95-100% food, as opposed to eating up in order to regurgitate.
* Gave energetic mates a chill pill so they'll take a load off sometimes, and let lazy mates lounge even longer.
* Improved performance when around the Amethyst cliff rocks in deep snow.
* Reduced odds a bit more for some carcasses.

:* Main menu lighting is a bit different than before, making darker wolf eyes too dark to see.
* Some big rocks turn pink after a certain sequence of actions in game graphics quality panel.
* Pups don't stop when the player picks them up.
* Courtable wolf keeps running up against player.
* The "mouth full" notification doesn't appear when growling while carrying toy.
* When doing roll emote, if player interrupts it at end of animation, the stand-up animation plays twice.
* Sometimes emotes play twice.
* Various den and terrain and vegetation issues.
_______________________________________


* Added pronghorn entry to Game Help

:* Home hex dot for Lamar pack is barely visible
* Minor den issues.
* Minor terrain and water issues.
_______________________________________


* Mate won't eat hare carcass if it's before pups can eat small carcasses.
* Mate who lays down on new dirt den won't get out of the way of player-wolf who needs to dig it out.
* Pronghorn don't notice wolves stalking them.
* Some deciduous tree leaves are too shiny in the rain.
* Winter aspen trees on Basic Sky & Veg mode wiggle.
* Pups sleep above the roots on an Amethsyt toppled tree den.
* Mate occasionally forgets to put down pup before going off to hunt.
* When player does Bark emote, pups come over and do social emotes (Better implementation coming soon.)
* Lost River dogs sometimes freeze for several seconds.
* Doe pronghorn carcass re-inflates for a few moments when being consumed.
* Terrain issues.
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* Randomized attributes for Rescue Creek wolves.
* Reduced pronghorn swimming speed.

* Glitchy movement when running into boulders and rock obstacles.
* Several errors with Amethyst territory configs (wrong one for MP Story mode; missing pack on another).
* Rival wolves don't try to chase away intruding players.
* Elk don't stay down after being pulled down.
* Pup pathfinding issues at a few dens.
* NPC animals can get stuck on Lost River west bridge.
* Flash of darkness at nighttime in main menu.
* Showdown music sometimes plays when chase music should play instead.
* Mate can't decide whether to eat at carcass or move away from it.
* Mate can get stuck at a carcass if still trying to eat once full.
* Pronghorn herd ground scent is sometimes wrong color.
* Dreams when in den are too dark.
* Some newborn pups are vibrating in the den.
* Pronghorn don't notice wolves stalking them.
* Placeholder text sometimes appears on notifications in Find Mate quest.
* Animals in Lake McBride can act oddly in Spring season.
* If trial mate does during Find a Mate quest, it will still be shown as original mate and parent of pups in Family Tree.
* Amethyst fall grass tweaks so more pinegrass grass is rendered in scent view.
* On loading screens, coyote tips are displayed with cougar photos.
* There are no pronghorns in Lost River-Classic.
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NOTE: In the past few days, we've received some bug reports about the targeting arrow not appearing when it should, or lock-on getting stuck on. We can't repro this, so we've added some debug code to this beta build. If this happens to you:
1) Please submit a bug report immediately, while the problem is still occurring. Give as many details as you can think of.
2) After submitting that, experiment to see if it happens with all animals or just certain ones.

* Amethyst Territory Configs: Split off a new Lamar River config and tweaked the Soda Butte config. Also tweaked the Eastern Dens config so packs occupy space more logically.
* Reduced chances of snow in February a bit.
* Amethyst: Moved a few elk herd locations so there's more in the western den area.
* Amethyst: Made rival packs work harder to maintain their own territory so they can't be as expansive.

* Rival wolves chase player long after player has left their territory. (Probably fixed)
* Can't mark territory in some areas of First Meadow in some seasons.
* Courtable wolves persistently walk into player-wolf.
* Mate bounces when eating cow elk carcass.
* If you join mate in howling, mate restarts howl rather than continuing its howl.
* Pup den pathfinding issues.
* Pup who lays down on new dirt den won't get out of the way of player-wolf who needs to dig it out.
* Fall cow calf glitches if player bites it after it stumbles.
* Very young pup abruptly lays down sometimes to howl.
* Giant boulder cohabiting with Slough Creek ranger cabin.
* No howl audio if another wolf has same howl as your wolf.
* Bull elk sometimes sleeps through wolf attack.
* Bark audio is on Howl audio slider rather than Animal Sounds.
* When low on health, mule deer mother stays and fights after newborn fawn is killed.
* Minor terrain and water issues.
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* Mate and pups now howl with the player-wolf instead of afterwards. (Finally able to do this with the new AI system.)
* Glow effect on the territory hex icon on wolf badge now matches custom colors.
* Amethyst: Moved a scent post up from a steep slope onto flat ground.
* Updated quest texts in Game Help to remove map-quest references.
* Tweaked volume levels for wolf and pup growl audio.
* Added back a few old mate behaviors at the den, so they have more to do.
* Added privacy statement on Register and Account panels.
* Controller glyphs added on new Howl customization panel.

* In Slough Creek in summer and fall, animals act like the main creek extends farther up the shore than it does (they're thinking it's the spring flood).
* Mate won't eat off carcass when elk nearby.
* Sometimes mate will stand on top of a meat chunk, preventing player from eating it.
* Pups sometimes have trouble pathfinding into dirt den in western Amethyst area.
* Unable to repeat growl and other head animation right after the previous one is finished.
* During courtship, NPC wolf lets you walk right up to it while it's howling during "Suspicious" courtship stage.
* Pups never greet the new mate if the player wasn't away from home for long.
* Howling while growling produces a howl with a growl head animation mixed in.
* Emote ends immediately if you start a full body animation and then start moving.
* Main Menu screen goes mostly black for a second at 11pm. (Probably fixed?)
* NPC wolves can glitch up into the new LR Fire Tower when your wolf is up there.
* Multiplayer: If autosave is triggered when host is near death, the save file is buggy if loaded.
* Various minor terrain and water issues.
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* Made NPC wolves in courtship respond more reliably to emotes.
* In Territory Hex Color panel, changed the slider bar on Saturation from black to white for better visibility.
* In Amethyst, added two more hexes to Eastern Dens config.
* In Amethyst, nudged some scent posts in hexes along the border closer in to possibly be accessible to players. (New games only)0
* Tweaks to rate of snow accumulation.
* Juiced up Rescue Creek wolf specs.

* Scent view is too bright when there's light snowfall on the ground at night.
* In Amethyst, in Pack Life multiplayer mode, rival packs can claim a hex that should be locked off.
* Pup and mate pathfinding issues at several dens.
* Various minor den issues.
* Various minor terrain and water issues.
* Research airplane audio doesn't pause when game is paused.

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* Sometimes the player-wolf is unable to bite another animal.
* Multiplayer: Fails to load if you had just previously played single-player (regression in beta 52).
* Multiplayer: If host is slow to load into game and client player joins quickly, the client can become stuck.
* If player-wolf dies while doing an emote, they enter a deathless state.
* Wolf does not stand up gracefully if interrupting a roll emote.
* Lost River Classic: High quality terrain floats above correct ground level a bit, causing visual issues.
* Lost River Classic: Willow bushes are white.
* Dead wolves don't match their former selves.
* Wolf can get stuck on one type of Amethyst tree stump.
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* Added pronghorn to requirements for Smorgasbord achievement.
* Moved some initial elk herd locations in Amethyst closer to the western dens spawn point.

* Multiplayer: Multiple issues when trying to reconnect to a game.
* Social emotes (including hostile emotes to opponents) have no effect on NPCs if player is moving or starts moving during emote.
* Mate won't reliably help with hunt.
* Pronghorn newborn fawn carcass glows in scent view.
* Miner's lantern misnamed.
* Wolf doesn't take damage for a short while after starting to bite a stationary opponent.
* Buck mule deer carcass is missing antlers in springtime.
* In courtship, growling boosts the heart meter.
* Pup can get stuck going back and forth between two piles of regurgitation if both are being eaten by another pup.
* Issues with pup pathfinding into several dens.
* When loading old Amethyst saved games, dispersals who were part of Junction Butte aren't updated to Rescue Creek.
* Wolf doesn't release bite immediately when player releases key input.
* For some players, the sliders in Graphics Quality don't work.
* On pronghorn and mule deer carcasses, the eating spot for wolves is offset from the actual carcass.
* When caught in a rancher's trap in Lost River, the wolf gets stuck running endlessly.
* Trial mode timer on Lost River DLC doesn't work.
* The "You can't do that..." notification appears when trying to put down a pup when there's another pup nearby.
* Various minor terrain issues.
_______________________________________


* NPC animals can spawn in Lake McBride and behave as if they are on land.
* Find a New Mate quest starts and ends repeatedly if mate lost during Establish Territory.
* During Journey to Rendezvous Site quest, pups follow players even after the player leaves the pack on an excursion.
* New mate constantly pushing towards home when roaming.
* Grizzly Sow charges player endlessly.
* Bench creek in Amethyst is invisible.
* The white cube in Lake McBride has returned to whence it came.
_______________________________________


* Many new dream images (these are not new in beta 50, but forgot to mention them before).

* In Amethyst, rival packs have to work a wee bit harder to maintain their territory in the fall season.
* Wolf now spawns near instead of atop rendezvous rock when jump ahead to next year.
* Rsearch airplane comes by a bit more often.

* In Slough Creek, when graphics are set to low quality levels, game crashes when going from Find a Mate to Establish Territory (regression from beta49 fix for pink cliffs).
* Wolf spins around repeatedly after biting.
* Mate often moves away from player when it should come help with a fight.
* Mate and NPC wolves don't adjust their bite durations based on damage being dealt.
* Some aspen trees in fall season are green when distant.
* Tiny white spheres leading into one dirt den.
* White cube floating above terrain.
* Rough terrain in one area of Amethyst.
* When out on an excursion, mate can get stuck behind a rocky outcrop and not return home.
* Pups can get stuck behind the beaver lodge den (possibly fixed).
* Tributary creek visible from Amethyst west spawn point flickers when viewed at distance.
* Several dens missing in Slough Creek winter season.
* Various minor issues with dens and terrain.
_______________________________________



NOTE: As some players have noticed, the wolf's head-look action doesn't occur now when sitting and lying down, due to some complications with the new idle animations in those poses. We might be able to add it back at some point in the future, but that's uncertain.

* Changed dirt den in lower east Amethyst area from Wooded to Open.
* Reduced frequency of bold mates howling obsessively.
* Tweaks to animation speeds on wolf and pup walking gait.

* Socializing with pups does not boost affinity as it used to.
* Choosing to Hang Out with Mate at the end of Find a Mate quest, then saving and reloading the game, hides the button on the Quest panel to proceed to next quest.
* Potential mates during courtship are difficult to interact with (possibly fixed).
* Regurgitated food chunks are invisible after using scent view.
* Some rocks around rock dens are pink.
* For some players in certain situations, some Amethyst cliff rocks are pink. (This fix is not included in the Mac beta49.)
* Wrong colors assigned when confirming custom hex colors, resulting in changes when next loading a save.
* Pronghorn fawn is still invisible when camera zoomed out on Fastest.
* Tweaked lighting inside dens.
* Corrected intro text on Slough Creek Pack Life MP games.
* Moved a scent post in northeast Amethyst map southward a bit to make it accessible to players.
* Snowshoe Hare carcass isn't carryable in water.
* Family Snapshot is taken when changing pup or mate names even before completing Loaf at Rendezvous Site quest.
* Various issues with pup movement when entering and exiting certain dens.
* Player is blocked from entering one western dirt den.
* Sometimes elk follows player-wolf around.
* "You can't do this..." notification appears when putting down a meat chunk.
* Pup runs against parent when running away from threat.
* Tiny white spheres leading into a tree den.
* Various terrain and water tweaks.
_______________________________________


* Moved the rear-leg bite points on coyotes up some so wolf doesn't have to go underground to bite it.

* Various glitches and issues at dens.
* In some situations, some dens are pink.
* One tree den in Slough Creek in winter is just a hole in the ground.
* Pathfinding issues with mate and pups at the tall rock-wall den in Slough Creek.
* Two moose meat chunks are misplaced when carried in wolf's mouth.
* Bad advice in Amethyst Establish Territory intro tips about where to find dens.
* On Fastest graphics quality, pronghorn newborn fawn disappears when camera is zoomed out.
* Somebody turned off the Amethyst waterfalls in spring through fall.
* Lower Chalcedony creek is AWOL in winter.
* Dead cattle snow accumulation is a bit extreme.
* Regurgitant doesn't glow in scent view.
* On low graphics quality levels, new LRAE fire tower looks odd at mid-distance.
* Snow on pronghorns is blotchy.
* Fall season grass in Amethyst is floating off the ground.
* Some dirt dens have low resolution texture.
* Various terrain and river tweaks and fixes.
* Some misssing texts after the Premonition of Death alert.
* Typos.
_____________________________________


* Tweaked some pronghorn animation speeds when running fast.
* Reduced some carcass spawning rates.

* Wolves get stuck or fly high into the sky when entering the springtime flooded Slough Creek.
* In Slough Creek, can get stuck on black screen after finishing Establish Territory quest.
* Multiplayer: Non-Story mode games in Lower Amethyst territory config load the wrong territory config.
* Tall grass patches at rendezvous sites are invisible.
* Player-wolf not saved as dead when dying from old age.
* Wolves can do Peaceful Death at any age.
* Some misssing texts after the Premonition of Death alert.
_____________________________________


KNOWN BUG: Tall grass patches at Slough Creek rendezvous sites are invisible (but still work as hiding places for pups).

* Enabled Bark emote when moving.

* Loading certain old saves from Amethyst Find a Mate quest get stuck in that quest and cannot be completed. (This fixes the issue but any save that is already in this state can't be fixed, sorry.)
* Slough Creek: Some issues with water rendering.
* Slough Creek: Animals walk underwater in Slough Creek rather than swimming in it.
* Slough Creek: One tall rock den is too low, blocking the den entrance.
* Amethyst: Very large rock floating over Lamar Valley.
* Full body emotes don't play when started in sitting or lying position
* Inconsistent scent colors for pronghorns.
* Multiplayer: Upper Amethyst territory configuration has wrong territory configuration.
* Multiplayer: Game get stuck loading when Pack Life or Territory Acquisition modes are selected and Summer season.
* Holding R for peaceful death doesn't make wolf lie down.
_____________________________________


We have converted all animal AI to our new, improved AI system. In most cases, this should not change animal AI or behaviors, so please report any new issues that you notice.

* All quests are now playable in Amethyst and Slough Creek, with more than 20 dens on the Amethyst map.
* Several territory configurations to choose from when starting new game in Amethyst, Slough Creek, and Lost River (DLC).
* Added a Territory hex color picker in Game Settings.
* In Wolf Customization: Primary and Secondary howls are now combined into one panel, so you can choose any howl for either type. There are also 22 new howls added. (Controller support for howl selection coming tomorrow.)
* Pronghorns now roam the grasslands of each map. They are very fast and generally extremely hard to catch, except for summertime fawns: in June, newborn fawns hide in the grass like elk and mule deer, while later in the summer they are ambulatory but easier to catch than adults are.
* New coyote model.
* Player can do most emotes when sitting and lying down (but not tail emotes).
* Pups are now more tentative and clumsier for a short time after first emerging from the den at the start of the Raise Pups quest.
* Pups have a few more play behaviors, including chasing each other around the homesite area.
* Bigger, better fire tower in Lost River DLC.
* New, improved cottonwood trees.
* New, improved lupine plants.
* Research airplane occasionally flies overhead to observe wolves if any in the group have a radio collar.
* Find a Mate quest: Upon accepting your trial mate, you can now choose to hang out with your mate for awhile, or proceed onward into winter season and Establish Territory quest. If you choose to hang out with your mate, once you're ready to proceed into winter, you can do so via a button in Pack Info.
* Juniper bushes added throughout Slough Creek.
* Better meat chunks from carcasses.
* New game title art now used in game loading screen.

* The Family Tree snapshot now auto-saves if you rename your mate or pups, or you get a new mate after your old mate dies.
* Loading screens (between main menu and maps) have many new tips and images, and all tips are now matched to appropriate images.
* Reduced memory footprint in Amethyst and Slough Creek.
* Some performance improvements in Amethyst Mountain.
* Starting and joining MP games should now be more reliable even if it takes quite awhile (several minutes) to load in.
* Some performance improvements around big cliff rocks in Lost River DLC map, if Big Rock Quality is set to Medium.
* In Lost River DLC map, human actions are no longer possible causes for old wolves.
* Domestic cattle carcasses in Lost River DLC now show partially-consumed textures when partially-eaten.
* Spike elk now lose their antlers in late spring and regrow them over the summer.
* Reclassified tree stump den north of Lost River fire tower as Wooded.
* Improvements to tree appearances.
* Boulders now always have snow on them during winter season.
* Improved movement on fawn and calf carcasses when being carried.
* Improved springtime overflow waterfall on Lost River DLC hydro dam.
* Small fawn and calf carcasses, and collectible objects, now respect gravity when being carried.
* Some additional wolf growl and audio.
* Additional pup howl audio.
* New idle animation variations when wolf is lying down.
* Improved wolf walk and stalk animations.
* Reduced ambient noise in some animal vocalization audio.
* Amount of dust kicked up by running animals is now tailored to each season (based on how wet or dry the season is).
* Many minor improvements to Amethyst natural environment.
* Improved snow accumulation on tree dens (to better match accumulation on surrounding terrain).
* Enabled Fearful Snarl emote when moving.
* Bull elk fights now feature more frequent antler clashes.
* Lost River DLC: Some big rocky outcrops now have permanent snow throughout the winter. (in progress)
* Refinements to Slough Creek small ponds in early spring.
* Enlarged the short-grass area around each den in Slough Creek and Lost River DLC.
* Increased distance that mate will hear player's woof to go back to den.
* New Woof animations (tailored to audio)
* Improved waterfall graphics at Fairies' Falls.

* Foxes don't know to avoid stray dogs.
* Short tail looks slinky in main menu wolf carousel.
* Strength perk alters wolf's body size.
* Mate will eat small carcass or meat chunk instantly.
* Old outdated text on "You cannot mark territory in Lost River" notification.
* Some dispersal names are too long for Scent Readout.
* In Lost River DLC, on Basic Sky & Vegetation mode, creeks don't respect fog when viewed at a distance.
* In Lost River DLC, if wolf is caught in a second trap after escaping the first trap, the second trap doesn't disappear after escaping it.
* Snow can fall in far corner of Lost Luck Silver Mine in Lost River DLC.
* In Lost River DLC, player can't go quite as close to the map border as prey animals can.
* In Lost River DLC, can get stuck, unable to move, when going under the bridge (on the ravine slopes just underneath the bridge roadway) to the west of downtown.
* Stray dachshund swims underwater.
* Many minor issues with terrains and dens.
* Alert about not being logged into Microsoft OneDrive doesn't appear when it should.
* Multiplayer: Only host can view rendezvous sites before Raise Pups quest is completed.
* Removed Fixed Sleep option for MP Story games.
* Sometimes ungulates have snow when farther away from the player, but it disappears when they get closer.
* Clever wolves can obtain multiple mates.
* Lamar River flickers when viewed from far away.
* Maple bushes along creeks get thicker when you're farther away from them.
* Multiplayer: Pup death notifications sometimes don't appear.
* Multiplayer: Stuck notification during Fixed Sleep schedule.
* Multiplayer: Scent tracks sometimes have blank label in scent view.
* Blank notification if pup dies of burns in hot springs.
* Mate frequently stops following player for a moment.
* Some reductions in memory usage.
* Improved waterfall graphics at Fairies' Falls.
* Mate marker on map is rotated 90 degrees.
* Empty notification at edge of game map.
* Tall grass patches are tilted at a few rendezvous sites.
* Inside dirt den, snowflakes can still fall.
* Wolf gait is too fast when running in deep snow.
* Sky is often very bright when you first switch into scent view.


_________________________

The WolfQuest saga will continue! Stay tuned for more news in upcoming devblogs about it and other new features!

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.

The next big game update is getting very close to public beta...but it's not quite there yet. So in today's devblog, let's look at a new pup behavior. It's one we've had on the list for a long time: a chase, with coordinated action between two pups. One pup playbows to invite the other to chase it, then runs off hoping that the invitation will be accepted.



Tommi tackled this to try out the new AI system (which mainly has converted AI from the original system, plus a few new behaviors like this). But while preparing this devblog video, I hacked the pup AI to make them chase all the time (easier to get good video then), and realized that what we really needed were group chases -- one pup chases another and other pups nearby can't resist joining in. So Tommi expanded this behavior to include that -- and that along with many other things will be in the upcoming v1.1.0 update -- which should be in public beta very soon!
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The WolfQuest saga will continue! Stay tuned for more news in upcoming devblogs about it and other new features!

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.

Coming in the next game update are more wolf howls for players to choose from. We've been working on this for awhile -- recording wolves at the Wildlife Science Center last fall, and more recently scouring wolf videos from the Voyageurs Wolf Project and the Wolf Conservation Center, both of which have graciously given us permission to use audio from their videos in the game.



Due to ambient background sounds and other wolves joining in, we could only use a relatively small number of howls from those organizations, but check out their YouTube channels for many more great videos!

* Voyageurs Wolf Project
* Wolf Conservation Center
* Our visit to the Wildlife Science Center

So we've now got 15 new howls added to the game -- and we've revised the Howl section of the wolf customization panel so all 39 howls can be selected as either primary or secondary howls (or both!).

Long ago we added the ability to howl when sitting or laying down, but other emotes have been disabled when in those poses. That was due to constraints of the AI system -- but Tommi designed the new AI system to allow emotes in any pose, so we've got that working now. You can do all voice emotes, and a few others, when taking a load off. (Tail emotes are still disabled, since the ground gets in the way of them.)

All this is coming soon in the next game update. It's getting closer!

_________________________

The WolfQuest saga will continue! Stay tuned for more news in upcoming devblogs about it and other new features!

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

We do not announce specific release dates. W

In the next game update (coming somewhat soon), you'll be able to play the entire (current) sequence of quests in all maps. You can start a new game in Amethyst -- and stay there through the winter and into the next year, choosing and raising your pups. And in Slough Creek, you can start a new game and find a mate there. This of course requires homesites in Amethyst, so we've created 21 dens and nearly 30 rendezvous sites there.



Because of Amethyst's topography, the dens are located along the lower elevations of the Chalcedony and Amethyst Creek watersheds, on south-facing slopes. These two watersheds are on opposite sides of the map, so the Amethyst territory configuration -- with the no-mans-land in the center between them -- doesn't work too well. So we've set up two territory configurations -- one centered on the western dens, one on the eastern dens. Along with this, we revised the territory hex grid to match Slough Creek's grid.

All this is part of the WolfQuest Saga -- and a related part of it will be more dynamic rival packs. Raul is working on that, but they won't be ready for awhile (and until they are, you can't move between Amethyst and Slough Creek, you're stuck on whichever map you start on). But while working on that, we realized that there's a chance of more than three rival packs holding territory on the map simultaneously, which means we need more territory hex colors. It's pretty hard to find five or six colors that look distinctly different in all common types of colorblindness, so this is a good rationale to finally create a way for players to customize the hex colors. We've got two preset palettes -- colorblind and the original palette we used initially in the game -- but you can then override any hex colors that you like and save this new palette to be used in all game maps. We'll be curious to see what color schemes players come up with!

We've got a fair bit of work and bugtesting left to do, but we expect to release this game update somewhat soonish.
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The WolfQuest saga will continue! Stay tuned for more news in upcoming devblogs about it and other new features!

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.

Trading cards are ready to drop in WolfQuest: Anniversary Edition! Yes, we've finally created a set of cards and other art assets for Steam's trading card system. So if you have the game on Steam, as you play, every hour or so a trading card will drop, added to your card collection in your Steam account. But only about half of the cards drop. To get the rest of them, you have to trade them with other players For example, you might end up with two coyotes and no bison, and so you'd trade your extra coyote to someone who has an extra bison card. Learn more here.



Artist and longtime WolfQuest player Rolin (who created the new game title art a few months ago) has created five gorgeous trading cards for us -- and as we know that some players would love to have Rolin's title art as a desktop background, we made a sixth card from it. Rolin has also created six badges and nine emoticons. We've also created seven profile backgrounds -- several derived from Rolin's title art and Lost River town sign, along with several that Susan made based on her dream images.

The trading cards are ready to start dropping next time you play the game -- and after that, it's up to you to craft badges and unlock emoticons and profile backgrounds. We hope everyone enjoys them!

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The WolfQuest saga will continue! Stay tuned for more news in upcoming devblogs about it and other new features!

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.

WolfQuest is ON SALE on Steam April 17-24. Happy Earth Day!

WolfQuest: Anniversary Edition is 25% off on Steam as part of the Earth Appreciation Festival 2023.

If you've got WolfQuest on your wish list, this is a rare opportunity to save a few bucks. Gift it to a friend!

Lots of other great Earth-themed games are on sale too. Sale ends April 24.

The new AI system, which Tommi has been working on for quite awhile, is in in good shape now, so let's take a look at it.



First, to clarify: This isn't new AI for the animals -- it's a new version of our AI system, which Tommi first designed and built almost six years ago. It has served us well -- but after using it for all that time, Tommi decided that we needed a new, improved version to handle the kinds of wolf behaviors that we want to create in the Saga.* This new system makes it easier and faster to create new animal behaviors, and especially to create more complicated behaviors, involving interactions between animals.

This new AI system also has an important new feature for the Saga: experience levels for the pups as they grow up. In the old AI system, pups were pups, and behaved the same whether they were four weeks old, just emerging from the den, or two months old at the rendezvous site. Now, pups have eight experience levels and, as they grow and develop, they'll gain experience and level up -- with each new level unlocking new behaviors.

So when the pup first emerge from the den, they're in the Clumsy level, rather unsteady on their feet. But they're very curious about this new world they find themselves in, and they're exploring and pushing the envelope of their abilities (and their balance). In doing these things, they gain experience and will soon level up to the next level, where they'll have most of the behaviors they've always had in the game. And then, as they grow, pups will adopt new playful actions and the beginnings of a predatory drive. Eventually, in the fall, they'll begin learning how to hunt, leveling up through several tiers of hunting ability on their way to becoming a fully capable young wolf.

We have plenty of work ahead of now to develop the Saga, but the first phase shown in today's devblog (Clumsy) will be in the next game update. That update won't be for awhile, as we still have some work to do with this new AI. So stay tuned for more news!

* In the WolfQuest Saga, the game will continue on after the summer rendezvous site. Your pups will keep growing, learning how to hunt and then helping (in their own way) raise the next year's litter of pups, and eventually (in most cases) dispersing to form or find a pack of their own. We are deep in development of the Saga and do not have a release date for it. The Saga will be a free update.

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The WolfQuest saga will continue! Stay tuned for more news in upcoming devblogs about it and other new features!

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.

Our main focus right now is the new and improved animal AI system. After many months of work on it, Tommi merged that new codebase into the game project, and we've been busy debugging it. But while he works on that, we’ve also had time to dig into our backlog (a long list of minor improvements and enhancements) and get a few things done. Today's video shows eight of them that we think you will find enjoyable:

1) In the Find a Mate quest, once you finish the trial period, you'll have an option to stay in the fall season and hang out with your mate for awhile, before progressing onward to winter and establishing your territory.

2) More refinements to the high-elevation snow line. You might have noticed in the Lost River DLC map, there's still snow on the mountaintops in late spring, which really adds to the mountain feel. We've now set this up in Amethyst and Slough Creek, and Andrei expanded this functionality so I could also set it up in the fall season on all maps.

3 and 4) We've got an excellent new 3D artist, Damian Paterson, working on WolfQuest assets. Along with other things, he's created two new cottonwood tree models, which grow near the Lamar River in Amethyst. He also made a much better model of lupine flowers.

5) Susan has been having fun creating more than 80 new wolf dreams images, nearly doubling the number of main game dream images. What wolves make of these dreams is up to them -- and you.

6) Susan also scoured the National Park Service online photo galleries for more animal and Yellowstone images to use in the game's loading screens, and has been writing additional gameplay tips and Yellowstone factual tidbits to entertain and inform players while waiting for game scenes to load.

7) One thing that's been missing from Anniversary Edition is the observation airplane that occasionally flies overhead to check in on wolves with radio collars. Andrei is creating a new subsystem that brings that airplane back — and as with everything in AE, it's a big improvement on the old version. This airplane actually does track your wolf, honing in and circling around it, and even following your wolf if you're moving, for several minutes before moving on.

8) And, of course, the pronghorn, which we introduced in a recent devblog, have been on our list for a long time.

All these things will be in the next game update -- but that still won't be for awhile, as we have a fair amount of debugging still to do on the new AI, plus beta testing and tweaking all of these and other new features. We’ll share more about them in upcoming devblogs.

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The WolfQuest saga will continue! Stay tuned for more news in upcoming devblogs about it and other new features!

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.

Back in 2019 when we were preparing to release WolfQuest: Anniversary Edition into Early Access, we had to create some title graphics for the Steam store. We had plenty going on that month, so we whipped up a simple image of a wolf howling at sunrise. We always intended to be temporary, but it's taken us awhile to get back to this. But at last, it's ready! Created by longtime WQ player Rolin, we're just thrilled with it. (Rolin also created the "Welcome to Lost River" town sign in Lost River DLC map.) So don't be surprised when you see this new artwork on the Steam store. It is the same game!



We're also putting "WolfQuest Pastoral", as we are calling it, on various merch options on Redbubble. So, if you love it as much as I do, check that out!

We have plenty else in the works now, so stay tuned for game updates!
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The WolfQuest saga will continue! Stay tuned for more news in upcoming devblogs about it and other new features!

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.