Persistent Packs

[loboLoco]

Our new persistent packs system is shaping up. Raul has been working on it for more than six months and just last week got it far enough along to merge into the main project, so we can really give it a workout and see what needs fixing and refining. This new system replaces the old static pack system, which I talked about in the last devblog "Saga Switchbacks." Now, instead of having hard-coded stats, rival packs are dynamic, with each member going through all the stages of life that you and your pack will go through in the Saga. Over time, packs will grow, shrink, and sometimes leave the game map or even disband entirely, creating a vacancy for another pack to move into.

While many of the features of this new system won't be functional before the Saga is released, we decided to add it to the game sooner, since it does make the eco-simulation substantially more naturalistic. You'll especially notice the effects of dynamic packs if you use the Jump Ahead option in Endless Summer, as that will carryover the current rival packs, with some changes for the skipped months, into the next year.

When designing this system, we had to decide how much detail was necessary. It's easy to get carried away and build a pretty complex system, only to find that with all those variables running simultaneously, the result isn't much different than simply rolling the dice periodically. For the player, it's all opaque, hidden away, and they don't benefit from all that complexity. But given how much, and how intently, many of our players play the game, we decided it was probably worth the effort to put a lot of detail into the system. We don't expect players to see or track much of the information that the game is tracking, but we do think that information will manifest itself often enough, and in interesting enough ways, to be worth the effort.

Persistent packs also includes the new wolf naming system. We wanted to base this on the actual method used in Yellowstone, but park biologists only give numbers to wolves who have had their blood sampled and DNA analyzed. That mainly means wolves with radio collars, though biologists do sometimes locate dead wolves and sample their blood as well, giving them a number postumously. Since only about 25% of wolves in the park have radio collars, this means that nearly 3/4 of wolves in the game would have no identifying number, which just isn't viable for us. We entertained a few other ideas but finally settled on the simplest one: every wolf gets a number when they are born. This is applied retroactively to existing wolves, so those who are now five years old get numbers in the 600-800 range, and so on, with the first litter of pups in a new game getting numbers starting at 1600. The names you may have given your mate and pups are now their nickname, which you can change at any time -- but their number is a permanent identifier that stays with them for their entire life.

Your packmates won't be the only wolves with nicknames. Now all NPC wolves have them, and if you encounter a rival wolf in a fight or a dispersal wolf in courtship, they'll be listed in the new Known Wolves panel, where you can give them a nickname if you like.

This is a pretty big new system in the game, and it'll take some time to work out the bugs and polish it up, but we do plan to release it in an update somewhat soon -- and definitely before the Saga (which won't be before next year). So stay tuned for more!

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The WolfQuest saga will continue! Stay tuned for more news in upcoming devblogs about it and other new features!

Once the game is completed on PC/Mac, we will consider porting the game to other platforms.

We do not announce specific release dates. We will release them when they are ready.

[Wind_Shadow]

I can't possibly express how excited I am about this update! It will be amazing to see rival wolves flow and progress through life like a fluid, functioning pack. I know for a fact that I will be tracking some of these packs very closely, especially using the Known Wolves feature. The nicknames will be very fun to use for both rival wolves and dispersals, especially ones that have been previously courted.
I am once again blown away by the dedication and imagination of the WolfQuest development team, and I can't wait to see what other incredible features will be added! Keep up the amazing work!

[Skrillning]

Hoo boy, am I excited for this update! Being able to name pack wolves is always something I've wanted to be able to do (and especially, I'd like to explore it in multiplayer, lol.) Watching the sort of run-through of all the mechanics of the packs and their fluctuating members was really amazing to see. I'm really interesting in naming mechanics and numbering and all that mumbo-jumbo, so it's safe to say that this update would appeal to me!

Excited for what the future has to hold. Thanks WolfQuest team!