loboLoco's Letdowns

[loboLoco]

We get lots of player requests and suggestions for things to add to WolfQuest. Many are great ideas and often match items on our own extensive wishlist. But we don’t add everything to our list, and for today’s devblog, we thought players might be interested to hear about a few popular requests that won’t be coming soon (or at all) and some of our reasons why.  

Video screenshot by Kayla Ann.
_______________

To cheer you up, the WolfQuest Original Soundtrack and Music Extras is on sale this week -- 30% off -- for Steam's Lunar New Year Sale!
The soundtrack includes all the new music from Slough Creek as well as all the tracks from Amethyst and Lost River maps. Thats' 80 tracks in all and over two and a half hours of original music.
Also included: a 25-minute video featuring Tim Buzza talking about how he created the signature sound of WolfQuest and many memorable tracks in the game.
The sale runs through midday on February 15th:
* on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1207 ... ic_Extras/
* on Itch.io: https://eduweb.itch.io/wolfquest-music

_______________

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, Episode 2: Slough Creek, Lost River: Classic, and multiplayer mode in Amethyst and Lost River. (Slough Creek multiplayer is coming soon,.) 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!

[BlackMetal]

The way the game is, that's the way I like it. There are no extra features needed.

Keep safe and healthy!

[-Wolfdog-]

I totally get it! Honestly seeing personalities never mattered that much to me when rearing pups and being able to kill other pups is just.. really dark and definitely not fun or practical.

And I saw that beaver at the end of the video. I'm guessing they'll be released soon.

[DaniBeez]

I was today years old when I learned it's pronounced "Sloo" and not "Slow"

[-Wolfdog-]

I was today years old when I learned it's pronounced "Sloo" and not "Slow"

It took me forever to figure out Slough was pronounced as 'Sloo'. I use to pronounce it as 'Slug' lol.

[Neamara]

One thing I am curious about: why black bears? I know they were polled, but weren't they were the least popular vote? Not arguing against the decision or complaining or anything of the sort, I'm genuinely curious is all! That question aside, I trust in the development team's decisions regarding what to implement, and how it is implemented ... even if I do grumble about some things lol

I was today years old when I learned it's pronounced "Sloo" and not "Slow"

It took me forever to figure out Slough was pronounced as 'Sloo'. I use to pronounce it as 'Slug' lol.

Heh, the first time I heard Dave pronounce it in an earlier devblog, I had to rewind and replay. (Where I live in the UK, there is a place called "Slough", but we don't pronounce it "Sloo".) Up until now, I thought Dave's pronunciation was common in other parts of the world! Language is as interesting as it is confusing...

[DaniBeez]

There are a couple words like this that I apparently make stuff up for. While we're at it, I always read Amethyst as "Am-mee-thist" but I think it's supposed to be "Am-muh-thist"

Apparently "slaow" is also acceptable in this context.

Where did you get Slug from Golden, haha!

[DinoDogDude209]

I have to say, while I know why the team has decided against it, I really do think it would be very helpful to be able to see your pups' personalities at some point, to make it easier to understand how the personality system actually works. I know it seems a bit gamey, but I think it's kind of harsh to make the personality of the pups invisible even once they're grown up and are playable, because you can play through the entire Slough Creek story arc and still not have a very good idea what your pups' personalities are. I mean, when you're playing on the higher difficulty settings, you're probably going to be far more preoccupied with keeping your pups alive than trying to judge what their personality is. To end the game without giving the player any sort of closure as far as what their pups' personalities actually are, just sort of makes the story seem unfinished. Maybe there should be an indicator where the personality slider would usually be on the wolf customization screen, that just sort of tells you which side of the personality spectrum the pup leans towards and doesn't show you the exact arrangement of the personality sliders, just to at least give the player a general idea of the personality of the wolf that they can now play as.

Or maybe the personalities of your pups could be shown once you've played through the upcoming Tower Fall episode, to give the player more incentive to try to play through the game to completion. I don't know, ending the game as it is now without giving the player any solid indication at all as to what their pups' personalities are, just feels like a slap in the face to players who have spent countless hours trying to raise their pups and keep them all alive to see what they're like as adults, and in my opinion it makes the family tree system feel incomplete at best. I'm not trying to be disrespectful to the team here, but to me that decision just doesn't make sense, and I hope that the team is willing to reconsider it.

However, besides that topic, I do agree with most of the team's other decisions that were discussed in this devblog.

As for animals that could come to the game, I have to agree with Dave, Pronghorns would be really cool! They're actually the animal I want in the game the most. It would be very interesting to have a super fast ungulate in the game that is common in more open areas in the game like Lamar Valley, and their young fawns could add another small prey animal to hunt in Slough Creek.

In regards to Black Bears, I think they'd be a great competitor to have, their smaller and less aggressive status would be a nice change of pace from the ferocious and brutal Grizzlies that are currently in the game, and I feel like their iconic and widespread status in North America would definitely make them fit in the game quite well. As for the part about climbing trees... well, for the record, I've played a few games that have Black Bears in them, and they don't depict them climbing trees, probably for the same reasons that were mentioned in this video. The only game I've ever played that depicted climbing animals very well was Planet Zoo, and even with PZ the climbing mechanics are pretty rough. While tree-climbing mechanics would be amazing, they really aren't a "bear necessity" if Black Bears were to be added to the game (see what I did there? ). I think it would be perfectly fine if Black Bears were added to WolfQuest without the tree-climbing mechanics, just like how Bison were added to the game without any female or juvenile variants. Sure, it would be really nice to have Black Bears with tree-climbing mechanics, just like how it would be nice to have larger herds of Bison than the small herds of bulls, but it's not necessary to include those kinds of things, at least not when a species is first introduced to the game.