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one of my favorite games, wolfquest, just finally got its major update yesterday after years and years of development: the saga! so to celebrate, i'm blogging about it in the hopes that YOU, the reader, might check it out!
*this is like, very abridged. i could go on about wolfquest for everrrr
what is wolfquest?
"LIVE THE LIFE OF A WILD WOLF! Carve your path in single player, learning the ways of a wolf across a massive open world, or join your friends in co-op quests hunting elk and raising pups."
wolfquest is a game that released in december of 2007. it was developed first by the minnesota zoo and eduweb, and starting in 2013, eduweb took over sole development. in it, you start as a young wolf, a dispersal, who has just left its natal pack in yellowstone national park. your goal, as a wild wolf, is to survive, find a mate, reproduce, and raise pups.
but before you start, there's character customization!
you make your wolf, choosing coat and eye color, stats (strength, health, speed, and stamina), and other traits like howl, size, and some cosmetics (torn ear, snaggletooth, radio collar, etc). give your wolf a name, and maybe even a bio, and you're good to go!
back in 2007, the game was barebones, and not very realistic when compared to today's game. combat with stranger wolves was turn-based, hunting was way too easy, and there was no real progression.
here's the original title screen and wolf customization screen. i actually love how polygonal the wolves were LOL!
compare that to today's customization screen:
see how far we've come?!
after the demo released in october 2007, the first episode, amethyst mountain, came out in december of the same year.
the only real goal was to find a mate. that's it. and to qualify for that, you had to earn enough experience by hunting elk and fighting stranger wolves that you happened to run into. stranger wolves, potential mate or otherwise, would spawn in several different spots throughout the map, and wouldn't move until interacted with. depending on the sex of the wolf and your exp points, you'd either fight the wolf (or run away), or try to gain affection and become mates.
yep... turn-based combat. it was fun, because depending on how you played your wolf (eg submissive or dominant), and the stranger wolf's personality, you'd often end up with an epic battle of:
I'M BOSS, BACK OFF!
I'M BOSS, BACK OFF!
I'M BOSS, BACK OFF!
I'M BOSS, BACK OFF!
I'M BOSS, BACK OFF!
I'M BOSS, BACK OFF!
I'M BOSS, BACK OFF!
I'M BOSS, BACK OFF!
and now, in 2024?
wolf packs are dynamic! they move around their territory just as you do, and you might run into each other while hunting or patrolling. no more turn based combat, either. you very well could get into a full blown war with a neighboring pack who are angling to take yours out! it's your job to think like a wild wolf and assess the risk: is it worth it to fight for this bit of territory? both wolf competitors and other predators now have a fight or flight meter above their heads which you can use to gauge how serious they are. and you can use emotes (body language and vocalizations) to sway them one way or the other. a large pack will almost certainly have more fight than flight if it's just you and your mate, but if you stumble on a lone wolf, it might not be so quick to start something that it has less of a chance of winning.
see a couple of screenshots here, which show the rival wolves with the fight or flight meters over their heads. the player's packmates don't have them.
to say this game has come a really long way since it first dropped would be a major understatement. it's just about as realistic as it gets, with the devs always looking for ways to make it even better. they're passionate about wolf conservation and it shows!
so... back to 2007, episode 1, amethyst mountain... you've successfully found yourself a mate!... now what? well, according to the game, there are too many wolf packs in amethyst mountain to maintain territory and raise pups. okay, let's look at the map.
a bit... lacking... are you sure there's not enough space here..? well, that's what we had to work with back then. so what now?!
episode 2, that's what!
released in 2010, episode 2 introduced us to a new map, slough creek. finally, you could continue the story of your pack! in slough creek, you find a densite, claim your territory, and, at last, raise pups!
but there were still limitations. turn based combat was still a thing. hunting was still too easy. and your pups would only grow to a certain age before the episode ended. so, episode 3 was in the works...
but due to lack of funding and some other hiccups, development for episode 3 was shelved.
instead, they had a big idea that they'd been sitting on: anniversary edition (aka wolfquest 3)! when eduweb took over as sole developer in 2013, they were able to start putting their dream in motion, but were limited by funds. in the meantime, some updates came over the next few years in the form of wolfquest 2.7, released in 2015.
fast forward to 2017. the devs announced that something new and exciting was in the works!
"coming in 2018" it says...
yeah... the devs quickly realized that it just wasn't feasible for them to create the realistic wild wolf sim of their dreams in such a short time.
^ click the picture to watch the video (its silly ;3) ^
for development of anniversary edition, the game got stripped down completely to its most basic components. everything was getting upgraded: graphics, gameplay, quests, models, animations, maps, even the ai! so began their journey to create the most advanced wolfquest they possibly could.
released in 2020, anniversary edition was an unfinished game with a dedicated development team. bug fixes and regular updates, free and paid dlc, new features, all documented on their website and youtube channel for fans to watch, and i can't express the excitement i felt each time a new dev blog dropped!! watching the game i grew up with change over more than a decade before finally getting to play anniversary edition 4 years ago, at 26 years old... it was amazing. seriously, i don't have words!
but still, they weren't done!
sure we got better graphics, more quests and features, and it was much more realistic, but you could still only raise your pups up to about 6 months old. then, if you chose to continue with that save, you played the quest "endless summer", where you simply kept caring for your pups at the summer rendezvous site.
and while we were making new saves, new packs, new stories, waiting for the promised saga, the devs worked and worked and worked, giving us more devblogs, teasing new features, for four years, and now...
IT'S HERE!
^ click to watch the video!! ^
"The Saga is "the rest of the game," where pups continue to grow through the rest of the year and subsequent years, becoming yearlings when the next litter is born, and eventually dispersing. Time continues to progress through the years until your wolf dies — but then you can switch to play as your mate or offspring."
sound fun? if you love wolves and/or are into wildlife biology, i can almost guarantee that you'll also love wolfquest! you can get it on steam !! ^_^
classic (2.7) is also available for puchase!!
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