Wolves in WolfQuest

Your Wolf

A two year old gray wolf

You have left your family pack to find a mate, establish a territory, and raise a family in the Northern Range of Yellowstone National Park.

You can play as a male or female wolf.

You can name your wolf, write a bio, and customize your wolf, choosing coat, eye color, body options (e.g. ears, tail, radio collar) and two howls.

Friendly Dispersal Wolves

I do... do you?

You will meet NPC (non-player character) wolves, who have also left their family packs, when you are seeking a mate in single player. These dispersals may come from nearby rival packs or from packs further away, outside of the park. They may be relatively friendly, at least compared to rival wolves. However, if you are hostile, they will react negatively.

Dispersals travel alone or in small groups. They are generally 2-4 years old. Some opposite-sex dispersals may be interested in partnering with you, as indicated by their actions (and the affinity heart over their head). Same-sex dispersal wolves will show little interest but are not overtly hostile.

When you encounter a possible mate out in the wilderness, you can court them using emotes. Then agree to a trial period where you and your prospective mate spend some time together to get a better sense of each other’s personalities and capabilities before finishing the bonding process and becoming mates.

Genetic diversity is indicated by stars. To produce healthy pups, higher diversity (more stars) is better. Neighboring pack dispersals may be more closely related to each other (and thus have lower diversity). Coat color should also be considered: recent research has found that two black wolves tend to have smaller litters than two grays or a black and a gray.

During the courtship gameplay, your actions boost or lower their interest in you. If they find you appealing, you can then begin the trial period. Go hunting together and evaluate each other's abilities and personality. Through successful hunting, as well as more social interactions, you may fill your prospective mate's affinity meter (heart). Then you can decide whether or not you choose them as a mate. You can also decline and keep searching for a different partner.

Once you have chosen a mate, you will no longer encounter friendly dispersal wolves and all non-packmates will be rival wolves.

Each NPC dispersal has a personality (degrees of bold-cautious, energetic-lazy, social-loner). Spending time together interacting may provide clues to potential mates' personalities.

Your Mate

Until death do you part

Once you have chosen a mate, they will work with you to hunt and raise a family pack.

Your mate's coat color and personality, combined with yours, will be passed on to your offspring.

Once you and your mate are bonded, neither can choose another mate.

You can choose whether your mate can die in the game (and then you would be able to seek a new one). Unlike some animals, your new mate would happily raise your current pups with you (rather than kill them).

There are no NPC mates in multiplayer.

You will choose another friendly dispersal wolf to be your mate.

Rival Wolves

Your greatest enemies...

NPC rival wolves are your competition. Pack wolves will patrol and defend their territory across all maps and episodes. The deeper you go into a stranger pack's territory, the higher the risk. The map can be toggled to show pack territories (location and claim strength).

You may also encounter hostile lone wolves or small dispersal groups.

Rival wolves are dangerous to your pups, as they will seek to eliminate this future competition. Maintaining a strong territory will discourage rival wolves but not eliminate their forays into your territory. Your pups are safe when they are in your den.

Currently, there are no stranger wolf dens or pups to be found in the game.

You can fight stranger wolves, at your peril. A smart wolf avoids conflict when the numbers are not in their favor. You can monitor a rival's fight/flight meter to assess how ready they might be to battle or flee.

Pups

8-16 weeks old

Pups are the center of pack life. You and your mate are kept busy feeding, protecting, and teaching your pups to survive.

Pup coat colors are determined by you and your mate's coat colors, according to the game's behind the scenes genetic system. This also affects litter size, which varies. Pups have individual personalities.

Young pups require regurgitated food from their parents. Over time, pups gradually grow hungry, and it is possible for the entire litter to die if the adult wolves do not feed them. They must reach a certain weight to be ready for the journey to your summer rendezvous site.

Pups are naturally curious about their surroundings and playful with their packmates. Interacting with your pups builds pack affinity (which keeps them from straying) and gives them experience.

Competitors that can harm your pups are other wolves, grizzlies, coyotes, cougars and eagles. Death is permanent. Pups do not respawn.

Juvenile Pups

The Saga continues!

The story of your pack will continue in the Saga -- an upcoming expansion (free to anyone who owns the game) where you can live the entire life of your wolf. The seasons roll by as you raise a new litter of pups every year: feeding them, defending them from competitors, and helping them learn how to hunt big prey. Yearlings help with the new pups until they too may decide to disperse and join or form another pack. With tenacity and skill (and some luck), build your legacy of skilled hunters and pack leaders! Can you survive long enough to become a legendary wolf of Yellowstone?

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

Follow game developmentat WolfQuest.org/blog

Packmates

NPC in single player

Currently in single player, you do not have other adult NPC packmates in your family pack. Your pack is made up of you, your mate, and your pups.

It is not currently possible to recruit NPC wolves into your family pack nor is it possible for you to join a rival NPC pack.

In Yellowstone, packs can range from small families to up to 20 wolves (the average is about 10). Usually adult packmates are the grown offspring or possibly siblings of the breeding pair. Very rarely, a stranger wolf is able to join a pack – usually after one of the breeding pair has died and the remaining one is seeking a mate.

Multiplayer Packmates

Your pack of friends

WolfQuest multiplayer allows players to enjoy the online cooperative WolfQuest experience. Learn more about WolfQuest: Anniversary Edition multiplayer.

Player wolves can't harm each other. However, NPC rival wolves and packs are a challenge. In multiplayer, there are no designated player parents and NPC mates are not part of the multiplayer experience. Pups' coats are based on the participants in the session.