WolfQuest

WolfQuest on Steam Deck

To be honest, releasing WolfQuest on Steam Deck was not at the front of our thoughts since we are so busy. We'd been following Steam Deck progress since Valve announced it last summer. I submitted a devkit request, but I figured getting the game running on Steam Deck was going to be a fair bit of work, so it would not be something we would tackle for quite awhile . (As you know, we are focusing on getting the game done for PC and Mac before considering other platforms. )

But then Valve sent us a devkit (a sample device) in January and we tried WolfQuest on it. We were pleasantly surprised that the game ran quite well right out of the box! There was definitely some work that needed to be done for the controller support and to manage the three different input types that the Deck offers (thumbsticks, trackpads, and touchscreen). That took Andrei a few weeks of work, but as of the latest patch, 1.0.8h, we are pleased that Steam Deck users can play WolfQuest.

We know a lot of you are probably thinking, Hey! What about mobile or console? Are you working on these too? The answer is still no, not right now. Those platforms all will require many, many months of development time from the whole team. So, not until the game is completed on PC/Mac, will we have time to turn our attention to other platforms.

We look forward to hearing how Steam Deck users find playing WolfQuest: Anniversary Edition. It does seem like a nice option for people who don't want to spend what it takes to get a computer that runs modern games well or just want a handheld gaming console that can play many or most games in their Steam library. If you want to learn more about the Steam Deck, here is Valve's website about it: https://store.steampowered.com/steamdeck

Watch the video about WolfQuest on Steam Deck: https://youtu.be/i8irCcTMbPo

Where No WolfQuest Has Gone Before

In case you missed it, we made a big announcement in this week's devblog! Watch the video: https://youtu.be/dx-X2fL-3oE

The Saga continues…

When we began developing the first version of WolfQuest way back in 2006, we imagined a three episode arc: Fall, Winter, and Spring. We had to collapse that into two, due to budget constraints, but that established the format: each episode focused on one or two seasons in Yellowstone, with certain quests and gameplay. So when we began working on what became Anniversary Edition five years ago, it felt natural to think about a third episode, Tower Fall, that followed the pack as the growing pups learned how to hunt. (We also had vague ideas for another episode after that, continuing the story into the deep winter, set in Pelican Valley.)

But as the game evolved, we realized that the game's potential went well beyond those months, and so our ideas for this next episode expanded substantially. Instead of folllowing the pack for a few more seasons, we would follow the pack over the course of years. Time just keeps going, the seasons keep passing by, and the pack has a litter of pups year after year, until the player-wolf dies.

And once we had that in mind, it felt increasingly weird for that to be DLC. It's not a DLC side quest, it's simply the rest of the game -- the rest of the wolf's life. Iany other game, without WolfQuest's unique development history, that's what it would be: the rest of the game. The problem with that, of course, is that our financial model for WQ:AE was based on Tower Fall being DLC. Someone who bought WQ 2.7 for $10 already got AE for free. That's a lot of people! And since we've had our hands full with all the new stuff we've now released in 2021, we bided our time, until now, when we need to make that decision. So here's the new plan:

* Tower Fall will be DLC: a new map that we hope lots of players will purchase. If you buy this map, you'll be able start a new game here,or move your pack to it anytime, as long as the pups are big enough (September through March in each game-year). And then you can move back to Slough Creek or even to Amethyst Mountain.

* The "rest of the game" -- your pups growing, learning to hunt, becoming yearlings as you the new pups of the year are born, then eventually either dispersing or staying with the pack for awhile to help raise the pups of the year, and so on -- all that will be part of the game, no additional purchase necessary. That will be the complete WolfQuest experience, available to everyone who owns the game.

We're really excited about this plan, especially with some of the twists and turns that can happen over the years with your pack. But this raises an interesting question: What do we call this "rest of the wolf's life"? For so long we've used the the map=gameplay model, where "Slough Creek" is shorthand for "raise pups," but that won't work anymore, since you'll be able to stay at Slough Creek if you like. Or start a new game in Slough Creek or Tower Fall. Or establish your territory and choose a den on Amethyst Mountain. With the entire saga playable on each map, there are so many possibilities!

So we're calling this the Saga: Life goes on, time goes by, pups are born, grow up, disperse, one generation after another.... It's the WolfQuest Saga. We think it'll be kind of epic!

The Saga is going to keep us busy for awhile and the game will remain in Early Access until it's completed and released, which means we won't be turning our attention to other platforms until that point.

In addition to Tower Fall, we plan to release more DLC in 2022: at least one more wolf customization pack, and of course the expanded Lost River map. If you start in Lost River, you won't be able to travel to the Yellowstone maps, but you will be able to play the entire Saga, raising pups year after year. We also have another Yellowstone map in mind. We want to give players more ways to enjoy the game -- and more ways to support game development. You can also support the game by gifting the game or DLC to friends, writing a review on Steam, and even donating to WolfQuest on Fundly.com/WolfQuest.

I'm sure that this will raise many questions for players, but this is all we have to share at the moment. Devblogs in the coming months will look at various aspects of the Saga. We are as eager as anyone to get this new phase of the game out there, but as usual, we have not set a release date. So stay tuned -- 2022 is going to be a another great year for WolfQuest!

2021 was a productive year for WolfQuest! We released:

* Yellowstone Coat Pack DLC
* Age Perks
* Ironwolf
* Beavers
* Achievements
* More wildflowers and forest vegetation
* Improved NPC pathfinding
* Innumerable bugfixes and improvements
* Slough Creek multiplayer!

Slough Creek for WolfQuest: Anniversary Edition released on Wednesday, December 30, 2020. We're so excited to get the product of years of work into your hands at last.

But this is only the beginning. Still to come while the game is in Early Access are beavers, bighorn sheep, achievements, Slough Creek multiplayer, and some new features that we haven't announced yet.

The game includes:

• Amethyst Mountain
• Slough Creek
• Lost River Classic
• Multiplayer (Currently for Amethyst Mtn. and Lost River Classic. Coming soon to Slough Creek)
• Classic WolfQuest 2.7 is also included in your purchase.

CHECK THE GAME REQUIREMENTS
Make sure your computer can run the game before purchasing it!

https://wolfquest.org/

We are making great progress with both Slough Creek and multiplayer,. and expect to release multiplayer before the end of the (northern hemisphere) summer! We don't have a release target date for Slough Creek, but it's really coming along as well, with an improved territory system, competitor animals attacking pups, and many new densites for players to choose from.

We post a weekly devblog, so be sure to subscribe to that if you aren't already, at http://www.youtube.com/WolfQuestGame

As 2019 draws to a close, we want to take a moment to thank all our amazing supporters! This past year has been a lot of fun and work getting the first episode, Amethyst Mountain, of WolfQuest: Anniversary Edition out at Early Access for PC and Mac and we are proud of how it is coming along. Currently, we are working hard on Slough Creek and multiplayer. After that, comes mobile and then The new episode, Tower Fall.

We hope you are following our updates on social media and at WolfQuest.org/blog Thank you all, for your generous financial support and enduring enthusiasm. We think 2020 is going to be a great year for WolfQuest.

Dave and the WolfQuest Team