We love reading players' comments and questions about WolfQuest -- and there are so many questions! So, for today's devblog, I thought I'd answer a handful of them. The text below has concise answers to each one, but please watch the video for more expansive answers.
Are there any plans to make territory hex colors customizable?
This is not a big task -- but we have a list of more than one hundred minor improvements that we'd like to make to the game, and it's a constant struggle trying to prioritize them. Which ones offer the most the bang for the buck? Which should we do now or soon, knowing that they'll take some time away from work on the Saga, and which should we set aside for the future? So, this one is on the list, but, honestly, it's pretty far down the list.
In the Saga, if all your pups die, will the year continue on rather than resetting you into the past like it currently does?
Yes, if all your pups die you'll just keep on playing. Time will continue to pass, through the seasons. If it's your first litter of pups that died, then you and your mate will just hang out and live the rest of the year hunting and exploring and whatnot. In subsequent years, you'll have your yearlings until the next pups are born in the springtime.
When the pups are older, there will be more emphasis on establishing dominance?
No. Wolf packs generally are a family unit, and they don't have intra-pack dominance challenges of that sort. I posed this very question to one of our advisors, Dr. Dan Stahler, wolf biologist at Yellowstone National Park, about this sort of drama -- a three-year-old offspring challenging a parent for the breeder role. But he reaffirmed that this is simply not known to happen. If they want to lead a pack, they disperse and look for a good situation.
Will the Saga be released in stages or all at once?
There are some aspects of the saga that we will be rolling out incrementally -- the courtship overhaul that we released last month was one of those. There will be others but much of the Saga consists of interlocking parts that don't work properly alone, so the bulk of the Saga will be released all together.
Will there be any new achievements when the Saga is released?
Yes!
Will there be collectible objects on the new Lost River map?
Yes!
Will i be able to bring my mate from Lost River to Slough Creek or Amethyst or vice versa?
No, for several reasons. One is that Lost River is some distance away from Yellowstone (though as a fictional locale, we don't know exactly where or how far). While wolves have been known to travel very long distances, generally those are solo wolves who are looking for a new place to have a territory and find a mate. But maybe more importantly, Lost River is its own world. Some weird things have happened there. Whereas we want to make the Yellowstone maps as realistic as we can, Lost River is an alternate universe where we can have some fun, and I don't want to connect it to the reality of Yellowstone.
Will there be a multiplayer mode where you can put players in different packs and have territory battles?
We have thought about this since starting work on Anniversary Edition. It sounds fun and certainly would be realistic in many ways -- but multiplayer has evolved in ways that make PvP much harder to implement properly. In addition to the usual measures necessary to prevent cheating, we would need to somehow handle special functionality like teleporting which has a legitimate use in the game, but could be abused by malicious players. So this still remain on the back burner, at least for now.
Will we be able to change who gets to be the host if the current host needs to leave?
This feature, called host migration, is obviously very desirable. It's also technically challenging, but we do plan to look into it sometime.
Where are the bighorn sheep?
We've been planning to add bighorn sheep for quite awhile but, because they spend their time up on and around the cliffs, we first need to improve the physics and IK and grounding functionality so they can navigate those areas nicely.
Where are the toads?
Years ago, a devblog showed a pup pouncing on a toad. We are still thinking of adding toads, probably as part of some new pup play and practice-hunting behaviors.
Are there any major parts of the game development process that often don't get shown in devlogs?
Good question! Yes, most parts of game development don't get shown on devlogs, because it's just not particularly interesting to watch our developers Tommi, Mikko, and Andrei coding on their computers. But that is the most essential work of all, of course. So you can get a glimpse of it in today's video.
What are the team's favorite and least favorite bugs?
For me, it's always the goofy graphical bugs that we've featured in many devblogs. Tommi likes bugs that are easy to reproduce and hard to solve. Mikko's least favorite is the Windows file system issue -- this is the main reason why games fail to load, because for for some mysterious reason, Windows can't find the save-game file that it just showed you 20 seconds earlier. And Andrei's favorite bug is from 2019: an enormous mule deer that fills the screen and has big bright eyes.
What's been your favorite part of developing the Lost River map so far?
I've been having a lot of fun developing it, setting up a lot of neat little locations -- but if I shared them here, I would have to delete this devblog before anybody saw. So you'll just have to wait!
In what ways has the community helped shape the game?
First of all, the game wouldn't exist without the community, which initially formed back in 2007 before the game was even released. And the fact that the community continued playing the game after development stopped in 2011 made me think in 2014 that maybe we should revive this thing. And then enough people bought WolfQuest 2.7 that I thought maybe we could start over and remake the entire game. So, fundamentally, the community is responsible for the game. But going beyond that, players have suggested many things that have truly informed game development. On top of that, public and private beta testers have helped shape the direction of all the new features and gameplay that we've been developing. So ultimately it's been a collaboration between the team and our ideas about what kind of game want to make, and wolf researchers who have published an enormous amount of knowledge about wolf biology and ecology, and our players who contribute their energy and ideas and suggestions about what kind of game they want to play.
What is your favorite place in Yellowstone?
Slough Creek, especially First Meadow, have been my favorite for awhile, but on our last visit in September, we explored a few new areas. We hiked up Bunsen Peak, which was spectacular. We hiked into a new (to us) area of the Northern Range, which is likely going to be another DLC map after Tower Fall. We're not ready to announce where exactly that is, but it has that combination of mountains and valleys and forests and grasslands and rivers and a couple special spots that will make an excellent map.
Are there more wolf coats coming?
Yes! We're now working on a new DLC pack which will have more new coats, which brings me to a question for you all: Would you like to nominate a Yellowstone wolf with a beautiful coat to be included in this next DLC? If so, please post that wolf's name in the comments below -- and if you have a link to a nice photo of that wolf, please include that. We will look them over and see what we can do!
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The WolfQuest saga will continue! Stay tuned for more news in upcoming devblogs. More maps and wolf customizations are also coming in 2022!
Once the game is completed on PC/Mac, we will turn our attention to other platforms.
We do not announce specific release dates. We will release them when they are ready.