Lost...and Found

[loboLoco]

Our main focus here at WolfQuest World HQ is to create a realistic and immersive game about the world of wild wolves...but we do like to have a little fun too. (I suppose that's why we make games in the first place.) The Lost River map in WolfQuest 2.7 came out of idle conversations that the project team had back in 2006-07: Wouldn't it be fun to put the wolves in a post-apocalyptic world? Of course, that was far outside our mandate with the original game, but when we began working on WolfQuest 2.7, it felt like a justifiable diversion.

And in that spirit, we recently decided to bring the Lost River map into WolfQuest: Anniversary Edition. Today’s devblog looks at this hybrid game map — it’s the original Lost River map with just a few upgrades, but wrapped in all the new game systems of WQ:AE. We’re calling this map “Lost River (Classic)”  Why? Because we also have many ideas for a bigger, expanded, improved Lost River map — one that’s equal to the scope and quality of Amethyst Mountain and Slough Creek. We plan to create that later this year and release it as DLC (downloadable content, for purchase).

But in the meantime, since Slough Creek won’t be ready to release for months, we thought it would be nice to add another map to the game, at no additional cost. And even better, Lost River (Classic) is coming soon! Get all the details in the video.
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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).

[elkhunter123456]

Wait, you are releasing lost river TOMARROW!!!
You didnt tell us that you were so close to releasing it! Or maybe you did but I didnt see This devlog is defenetly the most suprising devlog you have released so far, but I will look forward to exploring the new packs and elk herds of lost river! The winter season also coming tomarrow sounds sweet too.

[SophieTheAiredale]

Okay, a new devblog. I'll just go see what else is going on...Wait, WHAT. I was so surprised that this is coming out TOMORROW!
Anyways, this looks great! Me and my mom have been exploring the 2.7 map to see if we find anything new. (spoiler: we did! and expect our story soon.) And it's so great to see Floppy will be in the new game! I wonder if there is a way into BCE.
And the herds are named after rocks?


Keep up the amazing work!

[PearlyReborn]

Lost River (Classic) is really fun and pretty refreshing. I found myself having a lot of fun even though I've played through this map like a million times. Thank you for finally letting me go up the watchtower ;)

[DinoDogDude209]

The new Classic Lost River map is pretty fun to play on in the new game! Despite being almost exactly the same as the version from the old version of the game, it's very refreshing to have a different map to explore in the Anniversary Edition and this legacy version of the old map includes some great new little features that weren't in the 2.7 version, like the ability to climb onto the roofs of cars and actually climb up into the old watchtower, something players had wanted to do for a very long time (and the story-based easter egg up there is great too)! Honestly, I think I'm going to play on Lost River quite a lot in the Anniversary Edition. I like how the elk herds are seemingly named after different types of rocks too, that fits in well with Lost River's rocky terrain and also makes Lost River's elk herds unique from the ones in Amethyst Mountain.

However, there are a few things I think need to be added or changed in the map. First of all, I think the names of each location on the overhead map needs to be added to the map, just because these are included in Amethyst Mountain and new players who didn't play 2.7 might not know the names of each landmark in Lost River.
Second, I think that the dispersal wolf packs may need some new names in Lost River. They currently seem to be the exact same dispersal packs from Amethyst Mountain. Because Lost River is a fictional location whose distance from Yellowstone National Park is unknown, I feel like using the names of the same real world wolf packs from Amethyst Mountain doesn't fit the theme of Lost River all that well. Lost River is its own thing really, and I feel like the dispersal wolf packs encountered there should reflect that. And because the wolf pack names in Lost River for the three main packs seem to be fictional names, I don't see a reason why not to do the same thing with the dispersal packs in Lost River. I posted ideas regarding this very same topic a little while back in the Ideas for New Episodes/Future Updates thread, which was called "Ideas for naming things in LR" and included some examples of pack names that I think could fit quite well. I will quote the post below, which also includes some ideas for elk herd names that could potentially be used in the future expansion of Lost River that the team plans on doing, but I will leave those out here so that the team can go through and look at those separately if they want to.

Similarly, all of the dispersal wolves players find in the Amethyst map are from specific packs, which all seem to be named after real world wolf packs in and around Yellowstone. While this naming system helps to create worldbuilding and immersion, due to the fact that Lost River is a fictitious location whose proximity to Yellowstone is unknown, such a naming system would not exactly fit in well in the Lost River map. As such, I feel like some made up names that are still somewhat realistic sounding would be fitting. The static wolf packs in Lost River 2.7 were named somewhat similarly, so I think the following names would make decent names for them, as well as other, similar sounding names.
Revenant Peak Pack
Marshall Ridge Pack
Whitecliff Pack
Calamity Pack
Clearwater Pack
Wartooth Pack
Wormwood Pack (a reference to Lost River's similarities to Chernobyl, as Chernobyl roughly translates to Wormwood)

More creative names for things in Lost River and possibly more references to the team would make Lost River even more unique and seem even more special than it already was in WolfQuest 2.7.

[loboLoco]

Hmm, the dispersal wolves are supposed to have different names. Will check that. (And add placenames to the map, thanks for noting that.)