Agreed! And with that, 2 year old white wolves do exist (though they’re more of a gray in color.), it’d be sad to see my “snow whites” leave if white coats are removed
Me too! I might love black coats more, but honestly the white coats that they make look so beautiful and fresh. My favorite white looking coat is White Lady. And even more so white looking coats are pretty rare, so I actually like the thought of a wolf having a full on white looking coat.
I do believe white coats should stay along with the choice to age your wolf or not, it gives players the ability to pick and choose their gaming style even with a survival game. The players will recognize that "Oh this goes against nature, _but_ this is how I like to play" and I as a player love when developers give options. Even weird, ridiculous, and unnatural options.
Honestly, sometimes you need to make sacrifices of realism to make a game more enjoyable. Players really enjoy having as many options of customization of their wolf as they can. As humans we find being visually distinct important and it's also just fun. Most people when using the white wolf fur coat probably aren't thinking "oh wow my wolf is old", they're thinking "I really like the contrast of the fur against the background!" Or maybe they just enjoy lighter colors. So I'd say don't worry about the fur. Just keep it as is. I know it's not very realistic, grey wolves dont really have white fur unless in rare cases or if they're just old, but it's neat and it's not that world breaking or anything in my opinion.
Omg yes scream it louder! I love white wolves, Two of my in game wolves are white and I use them for story making and Rps I'd be so crushed if the devs took them away. But to add on to the beginning of what you said, Yes I'd rather sacrifice some realism then the coats. Half the WQ community I play with only do Rp and not even half of them do Realism so I think its a fine line of I understand where the devs are coming from But they also have to keep in mind Half the community dose Rp. But I'd love to get just scar options I really don't like the coats with the scars.
Yeah! Maybe we can even think of these wolves as being their own thing, their own, slightly different world. A game world where white wolves don't equal older wolves. I don't know if I explained myself well but!
To make a wolf more “grisled”, maybe as they age you can slowly build up the “life is rough” scar textures over top of the base wolf texture, depending on how often a wolf character gets injured where. Say the player constantly gets jaw injuries; they would, as they age, get a scarred up or twisted jaw. Just an idea to make it simpler!
honestly, i really like this idea! But then you have the question of what happens if a player doesn't have the Building Character Pack where the snaggled jaw or blind eye comes from? Would your wolf simply not get those kind of injuries?
Oh thank goodness you guys are looking into redesigning how aged coats work. Nothing is more frustrating than aging up a pitch black pup and having it come out white as snow 😵💫
We agree. It just might be awhile before we can turn our attention to solutions. In the meantime, we will try to keep the paths open for improvement, as best we can.
I always prefer leaning into realism with this game but the white coats are a must in my opinion. Character customization is really personal and white wolves are just so pretty lol. Maybe their coat can just register as grey in the genetics?
The majority of white coats in-game are genetically gray! The primary exception to this rule is Cinderella's - she was solid black and turned solid white with age.
I think many people wouldn't like not being able to wear white coats. About the problem with realism. Perhaps, add a more complete description on these rare coats, to make it clear to players that the coat is not realistic, but they can wear it knowing that. And I would really like to see age marks on the wolves, I would find a change in texture in the fur interesting, or more discreet details that reveal their age. Your work is simply fantastic!!!
a solution to the "grizzled" look that you guys want with age could be something that players can add as a modification to their wolf like torn ears or crooked tails. not necessarily a feature that has to age check your wolf and add more over time, so that it wouldnt affect performance as much. this could come in the form of a couple different grizzled varieties like coat colours, such as white around the muzzle/eyes/brows etc. if you wanted it to be locked behind your wolf being a certain age, i'm sure it could be possible, but i think leaving it open to any aged wolf would be fine, as it is more of an aesthetic feature with this idea. can't wait to see what you guys come up with, and i'm very glad that you all take the opinions of your players into serious consideration (like perks and aging) when it comes to aspects of the game. it's something that players really value from developers!
alternatively, a modification slider that adds more and more grizzled overlay to your wolf or something, or multiple sliders for a couple different spots, so the player can adjust it manually as they want when they modify their wolf and therefore have their original coat and all that comes with it but with any particular amount of grizzliness. like maybe they want to have the grayed muzzle but not the scarring or whatever, or vice versa, etc. slider could solve that although i imagine it's similarly complicated
@@lexydakitten5102 agreed, this would be a really good way to give players unique customization. i do think that a body wide modification could cause some texture memory issues like were mentioned in the video, but a slider for the face could probably be implemented without too much trouble? not entirely sure. it will be interesting to see how they decide to implement physical aging aspects with the current obstacles.
OMG Yes I'd rather have this then being forced to age my wolf and them getting rid of the white coats WITCH I love !! Two of my wolves are white. But I also wish they"d add in more coat modifications Like why can't I have a wolf with dark brown face and paws but a lighter brown body? you know? I think the devs need to remember that some players Rp as well as story mode.
@@freeddolays there could also just be multiple small sliders, since it doesn't seem like performance struggles when you have a bunch of modifications already. we can already lighten our whole coats with the color sliders etc, so i imagine the primary focus of the grizzliness sliders would be face and legs. since most injuries ingame are at those areas. it'd be cool for something like a giant scar modification and the slider makes it more red to more gray since the aging of scarring can indicate somethings age usually too. not only would an older wolf be more scarred, they'd probably have a lot of grayer ones from old fights. doesn't have to be icky or anything. would satiate the roleplayers too i'm sure, who doesn't wanna play a wolf with sick scars lol? "my backstory is that i killed an entire family of bears a long time ago and this faded spot shows it" hopefully they see the op's comment and these replies though, we can brew up an easier solution for them haha
Im personally happy about keeping aging! It let's players choose how to play the game, and if they wanna make the timeline weird by not aging up, that's a choice:)
PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE THE WHITE COATS!!!! They are so beautiful like this beautiful game! This game is so beautiful and the dedication and effort put into it is truly spectacular! I have heard of these petrified wood stumps. I am wondering about them as I have noticed in game that they are a Silvery grey colour. In reality they are a beautiful red orange yellow and purple spectra of colour! I am wondering if there is anything going to be done about these. If not it’s ok just something I noticed! I massively respect and appreciate the developers of this game and I love it so much! Love from wales 🏴
I deeply appreciate you listening to player feedback about the age system. It would be very frustrating to want to continue playing my wolf and be forced to age them up, since when you hit a certain age in the game you die, and I think that would have been a point of contention whether it was never in the game or not. Players wouldn't ever have liked that. There's a good amount of Devs that wouldn't have listened and just removed it anyway. Genuinely, thank you. It warms my heart to see you listening. On that note, please please PLEASE don't get too caught up in realism. As others have said, if you get too caught up in being realistic you'll end up removing features that players enjoy, which you don't want to do. Most players aren't thinking too much about the logic of why their wolf is white. They just want a white wolf character. You have to make sacrifices to make the game enjoyable. Wolf Quest is probably one of the most realistic animal sims on the market, it doesn't hurt anything to have some slightly unrealistic things here and there. It's already frustrating that we can't go back and forth from Lost River for this reason, I would really hate for it to effect things like player customization as well. WolfQuest is a game at the end of the day. You can be educational while making room for fun gameplay. I do think that the age up coat system DOES need a tweak, but please do not remove the white coats.
Kind of puzzled about the description of choosing not to age up. Will the achievement for staying the same age for 3(?) year ls remain if this is something the game doesn't really want to encourage? That always felt like a bit of an odd achievement to me. Also, with stuff like wolves starting out with white coats at age two being unrealistic, it feels like no matter how much effort or thought you put into the game, some things are going to be unrealistic. For example, my success rate hunting on accurate as a lone wolf is almost 100%, and while this is not really accurate to reality, it'd be kind of frustrating for gameplay if you were set up to fail as often as a real lone wolf. All this to say, that seems like one of those compromises that isn't all that important in the grand scheme of things. The game is awesome whether or not wolf coats are entirely realistic.
Your dedication to realism in this game and staying true to how wild wolves live is undeniably admirable - y'all keep adding small details and features that I'd never have even thought of, and I love that! I feel like I've learned so much from the realistic aspects of the game. However; I do worry that the focus on realism may override the focus on the game itself. Life in the wild is HARD, of course, but it's also unpredictable - which is understandably difficult to simulate. While I understand the intent and desire to keep things real, I do feel it's important to remember that it is still a game. Functionality of the game should come before every nitpick of reality, otherwise it's just not as fun. Sometimes sacrifices need to be made for the sake of fun and smoother gameplay, and that's alright! It's why Lost River is by far my favorite map, too; since it's not a real place, you were able to get super creative and have fun with the build and locations. So, don't lose sight of the experience of playing a game! Don't get too stressed if you have to bend some rules for the sake of gameplay or creativity. Thank you for everything you do!
To be honest, I understand why freezing the ages may bother some people but I'm really glad the "frozen world" is an option. I have a wolf I always want to keep so I've never aged her up, but I've played through many of her pups, going from age two to eight, and I imagine I'd like to do the saga in the same way. Taking a wolf I don't mind eventually dying over my beloved remake of a classic Wolf Quest wolf of mine. I'd be really sad if playing new content meant getting her killed, considering while Wolf Quest is meant to mimic real life- it IS still just a game. The players should always have that option in their wolf carousel. You mentioned maybe removing or changing up the white coats, but I wondered this long ago in the past when aging from introduced. Would the saga consider greying variations to pre-existing darker coats? Like greys on the snouts, fur tips, etc. as we see our wolves get older? I understand this would likely be a difficult thing to properly implement, but I also remember never getting a direct "no", just an idea for the future. It'd be cool if that idea was still floating around on the "Maybe not now, but perhaps in the distant future." task board. ;3; Like a future saga update, after its final release, where more quality of life and polishing things may happen?
The new dynamic pack system sounds really cool! I can’t wait to see more about it. I like all of the point made in this Devblog, very reasonable, sounds good to me. Thanks for all of the hard work you all put into WolfQuest ❤❤❤
On realism, it could be pretty neat if, alongside a quest log, for discovering new animals/plants/locations/etc, you could provide a description with some little factoids about those things.
Yeah there are systems that bring out some confusion. I was thinking about the coats for example the other day. I like the idea of coats becoming more gray as time passes, it would encourage players to age up their wolves and unlock new looks for their particular coats. As for perks and aging, I've always felt like the system itself needed a bit more. More perks, to be more specific. That way people will be encouraged to age up and choose new perks. The older your wolf, the more experienced it will be, therefore the perks will be more impactful on your gameplay, despite it being physically weaker. It would be nice if your mate could have perks too which the player gets to choose for it or they are randomly chosen. It could create some interesting scenarios where you can still take advantage of an older perk whilst being younger yourself. Of course that would be complicated and tedious to make. But it's good to dream I suppose, haha. The current idea isn't so bad. It will allow you to extend the time you have with your pups. If all goes well, you could lead your pack of six or more wolves into hunts and such for as long as you want! Would help with achievements too. Great work as always! I can not express how much joy I feel everytime I see a new video!
Yes but Some of the WQ community does Rps so I think it's a line between sacrifices some realism then getting rid of white coats and the option of Not ageing your wolf.
i really wish we could keep perks through the years. it would feel more like my wolf is progressing and getting more experienced with age if she wasn't reset every birthday.
Much as I'd absolutely love to see all the coats in-game have a gradual change from young wolf to old experienced elder, I am going to express that the white coats may be best kept as-is if/whenever you get to addressing that part. Taking away customization options does not generally go well. I think the best route with them is to do it for all coats, but have it be a customizable slider in the wolf customization settings. All elderly coats can be naturally set to have the slider set to the far right to indicate that it's default is based on that point of the wolf's life, but then you give players the freedom on if they want to play that way or not. Gives them the choice on how 'gracefully' they age - not super realistic but it would demonstrate that wolves do kinda go gray just like people do. Sometimes pretty drastically! Would have this be editable on pups too for that same freedom.
We are not saying we are taking away the white coats. We are just talking about how we are looking ahead to how ways we might deal with aging coats if we ever get to that. :D
I am happy that you guys are allowing us to keep our wolves the same age! I would love to be frozen in time with a nice pack and just hunt stuff and live life like we did on amethyst with our mates before the pupdate ^^
I was so obsessed with this game when I was a kid even though my grandma's computer could barely run it. I cant believe people are still actively updating it, I wish yall the best of luck ❤
Hi there! I'm almost 30 years old and have been playing WQ ever since I saw it 'advertised' on Attack of the Show way back in 07. I have over 900 hours in AE and will keep supporting this game and the team for as long as I'm around. I think reworking the packs is a great idea given that YOUR pack is always dynamic, so it makes sense that they should be too. I also understand the frustration with aging and the white coats. This opens an idea that I've seen others present for some time now where maybe your young wolf can start black, and as they age they can start showing white ticking around the muzzle and feet like in real life. Of course, this would be a preset (and unchangeable to the player) feature and you would only need it to automatically adjust if the player chooses to age. I hope I'm making sense there. This would allow for realistic aging of a black coat into a much lighter coat that the game would essentially force as time goes on, but also keep it completely distinguishable from the white coats you can choose when you create your wolf. The "aging" white would not be something you can add via customization (nor take away) and would only change as you choose to progress in age. I think you guys have been doing a good job. It's amazing that you have been able to accomplish so much with such a small team and that is something to be proud of. I'd like to take a second to echo what a few others have been saying and I've been thinking for a long time now: sometimes you have to sacrifice realism for enjoyment. I don't think anyone will pass any judgement on you or the game for it. I don't mean "offer pink and blue coat colors for wolves" - I mean relinquish the idea that every tiny facet of the game HAS to be realistic and just allow some features to be there purely for the sake of fun. It is a video game, at the end of the day. I think it would make things a lot less stressful on the team if you did allow for a little wiggle room here and there so to speak. I just wanted to throw my two cents in 🫶🏻 Love you guys and appreciate everything that you do!
That photo of the Bright Angel Trail switchbacks immediately threw me backward to when I had to hike all the way up the rim from the bottom of the canyon. We were at the end of our river trip and had to hike up from Pipe Creek. I was so tired at the end of the trip, it took the whole daylight. But at least I was able to do it! Back to the wolves, the saga is going well! Keep on keeping on, and do what's needed to perfect the gameplay experience!
I was wondering recently about pack designations and pups aging up (in particular, how our existing pups would be handled in Saga). My 3yr old would be straight forward - just continue from Summer. But the 4 year old? Or others with 2 or more litters? Certainly alot to sift through for the team but glad to hear an update 😊. Setbacks happen The coats... the pups could continue with the changing coats and start at the darker end of the tint.... Players will want the white coats still - perhaps reduce odds on the white coats for pups? To balance realism and the pursuit of asthetics? When creating a wolf though it would be preferable to keep the white coat options. Of my *many* created wolves and packs there is only 1 creation that is white (couldn't resist 😂) and maybe 2 other created wolves that are light enough to argue white. Most are midrange to darker. It is nice to have the freedom to create that we do at this time. Plus the white coats can be interesting to tint darker. And vice versa. Waiting eagerly for future news about Hellroaring Mountain map and Saga progress ^^
I'M SO EXCITED AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA I think everything was handled the best way it possibly could. You guys are doing great and I'm so happy to see what's coming
I totallhy agree with how weird it is to freeze the time but im certian that quite a few players will keep their wolves aging- that being said I still think the option to freeze the time is good as it just provides another way to play your wolfs life! Even if wolf quest is meant to be a survival realistic wolf game that focuses on the realism I still think the little variations in the realism isnt a game breaker and adds other ways for the player base to enjoy the game. Im super excited for the saga- im going to try to have a elder iron wolf with a few generations on my side
Hello, I'm not sure if you still read the comments on this video as it's 10 days old, but I've been a longtime WQ fan ever since I was a small child, it has really shaped my life; a LOT as I'm now studying wildlife biology and planning to work in our national wolf conservation center.. WQ has changed my life a lot! I wanted to jump onto the discussion of aging wolf coats, since in my time of researching wolves I've found it very touching to see them change over time! My guess would be, like some other might've said already, to design a few dark overlays for coats. I guess there also could be a button to switch it off for players who don't want to play hours and hours on end to reach age 8 to get their white coat, and that could be a bit complicated.. Designing them could take quite a while to fully design an overlay for each light coat, but I don't think this should be a priority as of now! I have hundreds of hours on WQ and what I've simply been doing is starting out with dark tints and just, making it very light each year. For making a wolf more grizzled; your wolf could obtain nipped ears for example over the years, aging up your wolf could at a random injury to it. Of course, it could be customizable to simply turn off, like when you grow up a wolf pup to have a flopped ear or whatever, just simply turning it off or changing it. But honestly, these are all small things, as of now I'm assuming the priority is to get the games core mechanics done. But again, I've never gotten to told the WQ team but I am absolutely in awe of how much it's shaped my life, wolves have taken me out of a bad state in my life and now I have something to fight and to live for, all thanks to little me spending hours on end watching a little 3D wolf running around Slough creek. Thank you so much for the dedication to this masterpiece of a game, being a part of this journey it's astounding seeing how far you've come.
I like how you guys solve problems by compromiseng with them. I still have to get the forever young achievement so I'm glad I'm still able to. I'm going to love the Saga. ❤
I think these 'setbacks' are more a sign of growth of the game and the team! Also, may I add my two cents in terms of ideas/thoughts on some points mentioned? For the coats, could a possible solution be to have a transparent overlay of sorts that becomes increasingly "active" as a wolf ages up? As in, have an overlay for certain ages that is put over the existing fur layer? Not sure how that would work out in terms of memory and performance, but I thought this could be a solution to it. Also, I personally really enjoy the age perks, especially the clout ones (I've never chosen to not age up, though). For these, I think a nice implementation could be that players can choose one attribute bonus (maybe tied to how they performed that year, i.e., xp points or similar, maybe also depending on difficulty level) and one clout bonus, whereby the clout bonus stays for longer than a year (because I think it makes more sense that a wolf with the bonus of remembering territory markings doesn't lose this ability a year later). I know I've read somewhere that the choice was made not to stack them to prevent 'super wolves', but maybe the attribute bonus ones could be limited or "decay" over time, so that if a player chooses +1 speed at age 3, this bonus will decrease each year until age 5 or 6, where it is 'removed' again. This could further emphasize the aging of a wolf and provide an additional challenge for each subsequent year. I'm not sure how easily this could be implemented, but I think this would add a nice dynamic to the game and give a bit of an incentive to age up a wolf. :)
I appreciate that you’re keeping the option not to age! Sometimes I like to play a wolf until a certain age then mostly use that wolf for roleplaying, but sometimes I still want to play as that wolf in single player! Sure, I could just copy the wolf, but it just wouldn’t be the same! So thanks for considering not removing that feature!
i think a good rule of thumb is to aim as realistic as possible, not as accurate as possible. When something is realistic, it is able to be imagined as 'real life' where accuracy is well, 1 to 1 IRL counterpart. As an example alot of the CGI nowadays in fantasy movies, or horror movies are getting more and more realistic, but it is not accurate to science or real life etc etc. The customizing options should stay as is with REALISM in mind with just a dab of accuracy [like being taken from real wolves] i dont think things should be taken away in terms of customization as long as those customizing are not neon, unrealisitc coats. That and well the playerbase has spent money on said customizing that personally i wouldnt really take away or edit said things. At the end of the day, it really is a game. I totally support an accurate based game but having more realism with a hint of accuracy is much more player friendly and i think the community has shown with all these technical inaccuracies-we love the game we're here to stay because its still realistic and one of a kind game. Please dont mistake realism for accuracy as a game like this should have a balance between the two. accessibility and customizing are the backbone of story telling which in itself is a backbone to the game. As you've stated we played this game far more than you could have anticipated and those are two good reasons why. I digress, i love the game and its very realistic with some accuracy to buff it and i think its perfect the way it is with smaller things like customizing. ❤
I completely agree with this view and hope that the devs will see your comment! As a biologist, I love the game's realism and accuracy, but I don't mind the white coats. Maybe the wolf has some arctic wolf genes, or a mutation. Maybe it just turned white faster than usual. There are many explanations why young wolf could be white. And besides, I think I saw a Yellowstone wolf document where a recently dispersed wolf was already white.
first, thanks for the update, second that trail at 0:29 is crazy. terrrifying, it's a 100+ foot drop down a very steep hillside. the kind where you trip, you ded, and i distinctly remember that first turn because we saw a wheelbarrow there, like it'd been there since the trail was built.
I won't lie, I had a strong feeling this team would encounter many challenges. It seems like adding in a heavily AI-dependent feature has always been tricky in indie games. This is why I am SO excited for each update and hope the team takes the time they need! This can't be easy, it must be tons of work, and I'm grateful for their hard work!
I think the fur coats should be left to suspend disbelief territory. It's already commendable the amount of realism that is in Wolf Quest but not everything has to be held down by it. The age thing is a little weird but I'm a player that doesn't mind letting my wolf age per year. Additionally, I usually edit my wolf with scars or injuries based on how many fights I've dealt with per year before starting the next.
I think the best way to feature a wolf getting older would honestly just be gray/white hair overlays on the muzzle/legs or maybe very slightly lightening their coats, but not entirely getting rid of white coats all together.
My two cents is to not remove the white coats. Like many have said, players love customization and have preferences of play style. I think however it would be neat to have ‘physical aging’ something you can toggle on or off with your wolf. Everytime a player chooses to age up if they have the aging cosmetic toggle on, they will change slightly. One way to consider a physical change in wolves is how their faces seem to soften and droop a little. Old wolves may look a little sadder. Their face more full. But I think before adding physical aging features, a few things can be added to cosmetics. Like some variations to the wolf face, different eye and cheek bone shapes, and the ability to broaden or make more narrow the head. As wolf faces do have some variation. I’d also like to suggest the option to add scars from a selection, so that they aren’t solely linked to the Life is Rough coats
Love the idea of older wolves going white, as it is a lot more realistic and adds something else to the aging process. But could totally see how making it a gradual change would be extremely difficult to implement. It might feel natural to just get a lighter coat when choosing age perks at year 6, 7, and 8. You could maybe have limited options to choose from based on your age and whether your coat is gray or black.
Honestly I can understand your reasoning on everything. It is a bit weird to keep a couple things the same with how your changing it, but I have faith that you’ll do as you see fit! As for my personal opinion I think the white coats should stay because it doesn’t matter what age you are you can have white fur. Especially because of genetics and things like that. There are also actual white wolves as well- and even though you are focusing on wolves in yellow stone it would be nice to see you broad your range a bit to other places. Idk if that is doable but keep working your best and make sure not to overwork yourself. We can wait lol
I would really love it if you added a feature where you can ask your mate to go and hunt, and the mate coming back after like 5-10 minutes with a chance of having a rabbit or meat chunk, maybe rarely a small fawn, because that would make it so much easier bc I don't trust my mate with my pups Edit: I trust my mate with my pups now
XD Speaking from somebody who doesn't even know how to string a line of code; To solve the 'age up/stay the same age' issue, could be a matter of "Classic Saga" mode, and "Custom Saga Mode" or something if you want to keep them more separate, but still keep all playstyles available. Personally, as it is a game, I see nothing wrong with the white wolf coats. You could add a little fact blurb about it in the game to assure us. While it's wonderful that you're always super detailed with realism, I think when it comes to the visuals of our wolves, we can have a little leniancy. Else someone wants to play as the white wolf, but the coat only looks like that at the very end---that gives players a REALLY GOOD reason to want to hit 'stay this age' so they can enjoy the coat color. XD There are unique ways to go about it, having a year progressional change to each coat as the wolf gets older, stopping at age 8 or so. But then you'd want to show in the previews how they'd age, most likely. I did see someone suggest using the Life if Rough Packs on other coats as the wolf gets older as well, so that's another angle to consider. At the least, the Hunting Mission can easily just be changed to 'learn how to hunt on your own' and no further requirements needed. XD Sometimes simple fixes are allowed in the universe. At the end of the day, Wolfquest is a fun game about being a wolf. It's very realistic in its gameplay, and, very importantly, FUN. You strive for realism, and that's great, but always take into account when the realism is also SUBTRACTING from the fun. "Change the text blurb in the first hunting mission?" Makes it more realistic, and doesn't change the gameplay. "Change the stay same age protocol" Makes it more realistic, but changes the gameplay for certain players. Thus, adding a unique gamemode could be the easiet solution to fully separate the two into different modes. [If that would make you feel better. XD The players who don't touch it, don't touch it.] "Change the white coats" Makes it more realistic, but then limits the customization options to the players in some degree or another. I'd also be EXTREMELY careful if those white coats came in the packs we bought, because if someone bought a pack SPECFICALLY for one of those white coats, I think they'd be less pleased. ((Though, having a toggle for 'coat stays the same/coat changes as you age' could be a way to do it to appease all sides.))
I would really like to be able to keep the white coats. I think a good option if having an age progression coat is important would be to add them as a customization. Either along with the body customizations like the torn ears, having a few options for a more grizzled appearance, OR having a DLC pack like the Life is Rough pack that has a progressive grizzle effect. Like, have 10 "options" but it is really 2 unique coats, and 5 stages of grizzling that the player can choose to switch to year after year, but all of them are genetically the same coat so the pups will start at stage one?
Glad too see the aging system stay would hate to have players come down the line and not be able to get the hidden achievement that goes with not aging
I found the idea about staying the same age weird as well haha. But i'm glad you respect the community in what they want because changes like that can be rly hard for some people. But hwo you fixed the solution even tho you didn't really liked the idea is really great ^^
I put this reply somewhere else to but i figured id give it its own comment so other people can get an idea So knowing youre not removing any existing coats and are trying to work out how white coats would work with a greying out/aging system something I think could be done with the aging of coats is locking white coats as is- since they are already aged, so say you age the black coat by graying it out- graying in wolves happens on the base and some of the points such as the muzzle and tail and paws, ears and tip of the nose tend to grey out last from what ive seen. Basically instead of this happening to the already white coats, don't give them a grayed out version/cycle and lock them as they already are since they are technically already aged. Or- the opposite you could give the option of the non-grayed versions of those coats and allow players to gray them out naturally if they so choose Hope that makes sense, I've done this on a few game models in my game- I have a color generation system and I lock certain specific creatures in game to certain colors/texture patterns.
Man it would be very sus if the game development was going smoothly. There’s always SOMETHING wrong going on especially in the early stages. Y’all are doing great and I’m excited for this!
Please keep the white coats!!! Ik they aren’t 100% realistic but I feel it gives more character as many of us love role playing or just having the ability to customize to a good range! Having the spectrum from white to black can give us a lot of freedom with customization so please keep it!! I’d also just love to see more coats be placed in! Maybe even some wolf dog or wolf hybrid coats that look pretty close to a pure wolf coat! ❤❤❤
Perhaps regarding the grizzled scarring with age, the game could track injuries gained over the course of a year. If one location is injured, say, twice minorly OR once majorly that section could gain a scar or some sort of signifier.
Make the white coats EVEN WHITER as they age! I would absolutely love this feature. Or maybe you could make the eyes get more cloudy as they age? That would be cool, too. That way even if the lightening isn’t visible you can still see some change in appearance.
This would likely impact performance and not look very good, they would be better off doing a slider for a masked alpha texture in the alterations (like the ear sliders and stuff) This would cause the least amount of textural issues and the least impact on gameplay for players, It would also not effect fps, They could do a similar thing to the isle aswell (the scar system) where over time from a age indicator code (the age up menu would work as an indicator) a coat gets more grey
@@xxhoneystarzxx4950 you are proposing the exact same thing i did, just worded differently lol. plus, i doubt it would have that much of an impact. it would just need to run a check at the beginning of the game section (tutorial, raising pups) if wolf is x years old, and if matches, set mask to y greyness
I like the opinion of some other players, which is just because something doesn't happen often doesn't make it unrealistic to put in the game. If white coats aren't common, maybe make a way they have to be earned? Or just leave as is. Half the coats are light anyway. It would have to be a complete overhaul on every coat that isn't brown or black, which would be somewhat frustrating. And every wolf made that does have a light coat would have to be either changed when the player loads up existing games or start over. Also, I guess a thing to keep in mind is while realism is nice, there are a lot of players who don't play realistic. I do both on seperate game files depending on what mood I am in. I guess that kind of goes for aging up as well.
Maybe some of the white coats can stay and have new ones in a DLC purchase pack that at every age up changes to look older until it's mostly grey or white. So they'll be white or unique looking ones you have to age up to get to that point.
I really appreciate your dedication to satisfying as many players as you can, but please... Please, don't pull back on the game's development and potential for the sake of not disappointing anyone. Game development involves making decisions that need to better the game, sometimes at the expense of some players' wishes. The aging system that we currently have was designed around the game's current model, but in the future, it will not make sense to keep it as is just because some players may not like it being gone. Players need to be aware that the game will have to change as it grows. It happened with the whole WQ3 era. Players had to accept that the game cannot remain free if they want it to grow. They also had to accept that in order for the game to be more beautiful, system requirements will have to be bumped up. And people will get used to the fact that some features will be removed or will at the very least change in order to make the Saga work properly and logically. So, please don't stress too much about it. Preserving the game as it is right now is a great effort, but it should not stand in the way of its future development, by any means.
I know that this has probably been all over the devroom floor, but have you considered transparent overlay textures for scars and white fur? I think it could be an easier way to impliment hunting/battle scars and indication of age rather than making new coats entirely. Also, like many others are saying, lots of folks who play this game are playing it for the fantasy element of being a wolf, lots of folks think of the wolves they maks as characters with backstories set outside of Yellowstone. The coat progression thing doesn't really need to be extremely realistic! Debuffs for speed, health, and other things like that are very good indicators for the age of our wolves, I dont know if advanced coat shifts according to age would be necessary right now.
I think if u have a white wolf, it should start off grey and as u age up it gets lighter. And as for dark wolves, they should have old features too like white fur tips on their faces and such!
A lot of these do seem like confusing, complex and frustrating problems. I hope the devs aren’t under too much pressure right now. Best of luck to them as they work on the saga!
Maybe the white coats can have an age lock? Like the wolf has to be 5+ years to unlock certain coats for them or something like that? It would be more realistic as well as give an incentive for players to age their wolves
well no that sounds horrible! I"d rather have options then be forced to do something. I think the devs need to realize that some players Rp as well as storymode. I being such player would HATE being forced to age a wolf to 5 just for a white coat, And I love white wolves!
@blackmooncosplay9373 hmm, maybe a compromise can be that when creating a wolf, you can select any age. Only when creating one though, not ones born in game.
@@theincarnationofboredom207 But that still doesn't make since for when starting storymode...? I think the devs should just leave the age thing how it is maybe
@blackmooncosplay9373 I don't really see why it wouldnt make sense, considering even when you play as a 2 year old wolf you can find 4 year old, 5 year old etc dispersals to take as mates.
Would there be a possibility that dispersals could trespass and court your grown wolf pups? And if they do whenever there pack grows (or they could move locations) you would be able to run into them!:)
i agree with everyone's voicing on white coats staying-- but in regards to the idea of aging and coats changing/going white, if you guys *do* figure it out i want to say i think, outside of chosing not to age up, you should be able to check a box in the settings that say something like "aging changing coat color". options like that, along w the active choice of making white coats, i feel like are important for letting people chose how to play-- even if there is some minor issues with realism. because aging does come with some benefits, but someone may not want their wolf's colors to change still.
Honestly if a big project like this DIDN'T have setbacks, it would almost be suspicious. Things like this are meant to happen
Personally I think the white coats should stay- y’all spent so much time working on them and they look gorgeous! So excited to see more content!
Agreed
Agreed! And with that, 2 year old white wolves do exist (though they’re more of a gray in color.), it’d be sad to see my “snow whites” leave if white coats are removed
Yeah just bc it’s rare doesn’t mean they have to scrap it.
Aggreddddd
Me too! I might love black coats more, but honestly the white coats that they make look so beautiful and fresh. My favorite white looking coat is White Lady. And even more so white looking coats are pretty rare, so I actually like the thought of a wolf having a full on white looking coat.
I do believe white coats should stay along with the choice to age your wolf or not, it gives players the ability to pick and choose their gaming style even with a survival game. The players will recognize that "Oh this goes against nature, _but_ this is how I like to play" and I as a player love when developers give options. Even weird, ridiculous, and unnatural options.
Same I do rp as well as Story mode so I'd rather have more options then being forced to go one way.
I would appreciate if they put some kind of information cause most people definitely don’t know that
@@DustyHoney They do though? In the wolf customization part they give you a whole run down of genetics, this entire game is super informative.
Honestly, sometimes you need to make sacrifices of realism to make a game more enjoyable. Players really enjoy having as many options of customization of their wolf as they can. As humans we find being visually distinct important and it's also just fun. Most people when using the white wolf fur coat probably aren't thinking "oh wow my wolf is old", they're thinking "I really like the contrast of the fur against the background!" Or maybe they just enjoy lighter colors. So I'd say don't worry about the fur. Just keep it as is. I know it's not very realistic, grey wolves dont really have white fur unless in rare cases or if they're just old, but it's neat and it's not that world breaking or anything in my opinion.
Omg yes scream it louder! I love white wolves, Two of my in game wolves are white and I use them for story making and Rps I'd be so crushed if the devs took them away. But to add on to the beginning of what you said, Yes I'd rather sacrifice some realism then the coats. Half the WQ community I play with only do Rp and not even half of them do Realism so I think its a fine line of I understand where the devs are coming from But they also have to keep in mind Half the community dose Rp.
But I'd love to get just scar options I really don't like the coats with the scars.
Yes to both Coat and scars
Yeah! Maybe we can even think of these wolves as being their own thing, their own, slightly different world. A game world where white wolves don't equal older wolves. I don't know if I explained myself well but!
@@kiara_1043 ya but their are white wolves in real life Arctic wolves are white
I strongly agree especially with the coats
I can barely fathom how excited I am about the saga
EUUHHHHHHHHHEHEHEEHEHEHEH
Me too!
Yes!!
For real i can't wait!
Frrr
To make a wolf more “grisled”, maybe as they age you can slowly build up the “life is rough” scar textures over top of the base wolf texture, depending on how often a wolf character gets injured where. Say the player constantly gets jaw injuries; they would, as they age, get a scarred up or twisted jaw. Just an idea to make it simpler!
Bump
honestly, i really like this idea! But then you have the question of what happens if a player doesn't have the Building Character Pack where the snaggled jaw or blind eye comes from? Would your wolf simply not get those kind of injuries?
Oh thank goodness you guys are looking into redesigning how aged coats work. Nothing is more frustrating than aging up a pitch black pup and having it come out white as snow 😵💫
We agree. It just might be awhile before we can turn our attention to solutions. In the meantime, we will try to keep the paths open for improvement, as best we can.
I always prefer leaning into realism with this game but the white coats are a must in my opinion. Character customization is really personal and white wolves are just so pretty lol. Maybe their coat can just register as grey in the genetics?
The majority of white coats in-game are genetically gray! The primary exception to this rule is Cinderella's - she was solid black and turned solid white with age.
@@otterbells Yeah then I guess I really extra don't see a reason to get rid of them then lol
I think many people wouldn't like not being able to wear white coats. About the problem with realism. Perhaps, add a more complete description on these rare coats, to make it clear to players that the coat is not realistic, but they can wear it knowing that. And I would really like to see age marks on the wolves, I would find a change in texture in the fur interesting, or more discreet details that reveal their age. Your work is simply fantastic!!!
A description wouldn't be a bad idea!
a solution to the "grizzled" look that you guys want with age could be something that players can add as a modification to their wolf like torn ears or crooked tails. not necessarily a feature that has to age check your wolf and add more over time, so that it wouldnt affect performance as much. this could come in the form of a couple different grizzled varieties like coat colours, such as white around the muzzle/eyes/brows etc. if you wanted it to be locked behind your wolf being a certain age, i'm sure it could be possible, but i think leaving it open to any aged wolf would be fine, as it is more of an aesthetic feature with this idea.
can't wait to see what you guys come up with, and i'm very glad that you all take the opinions of your players into serious consideration (like perks and aging) when it comes to aspects of the game. it's something that players really value from developers!
alternatively, a modification slider that adds more and more grizzled overlay to your wolf or something, or multiple sliders for a couple different spots, so the player can adjust it manually as they want when they modify their wolf and therefore have their original coat and all that comes with it but with any particular amount of grizzliness. like maybe they want to have the grayed muzzle but not the scarring or whatever, or vice versa, etc. slider could solve that although i imagine it's similarly complicated
@@lexydakitten5102 agreed, this would be a really good way to give players unique customization. i do think that a body wide modification could cause some texture memory issues like were mentioned in the video, but a slider for the face could probably be implemented without too much trouble? not entirely sure. it will be interesting to see how they decide to implement physical aging aspects with the current obstacles.
OMG Yes I'd rather have this then being forced to age my wolf and them getting rid of the white coats WITCH I love !! Two of my wolves are white. But I also wish they"d add in more coat modifications Like why can't I have a wolf with dark brown face and paws but a lighter brown body? you know? I think the devs need to remember that some players Rp as well as story mode.
@@freeddolays there could also just be multiple small sliders, since it doesn't seem like performance struggles when you have a bunch of modifications already. we can already lighten our whole coats with the color sliders etc, so i imagine the primary focus of the grizzliness sliders would be face and legs. since most injuries ingame are at those areas. it'd be cool for something like a giant scar modification and the slider makes it more red to more gray since the aging of scarring can indicate somethings age usually too. not only would an older wolf be more scarred, they'd probably have a lot of grayer ones from old fights. doesn't have to be icky or anything. would satiate the roleplayers too i'm sure, who doesn't wanna play a wolf with sick scars lol? "my backstory is that i killed an entire family of bears a long time ago and this faded spot shows it"
hopefully they see the op's comment and these replies though, we can brew up an easier solution for them haha
Im personally happy about keeping aging! It let's players choose how to play the game, and if they wanna make the timeline weird by not aging up, that's a choice:)
PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE THE WHITE COATS!!!! They are so beautiful like this beautiful game! This game is so beautiful and the dedication and effort put into it is truly spectacular! I have heard of these petrified wood stumps. I am wondering about them as I have noticed in game that they are a Silvery grey colour. In reality they are a beautiful red orange yellow and purple spectra of colour! I am wondering if there is anything going to be done about these. If not it’s ok just something I noticed! I massively respect and appreciate the developers of this game and I love it so much! Love from wales 🏴
Yesss I love the white coats 😭 Two of my wolves are white
Aye. I bought one of the DLCs specifically for a white coat there, so I would be rather disappointed.
We are not removing the existing white coats. We are just discussing how they will present challenges to any future system of coat aging.
@@WolfQuestGame yay! I love white wolves
I deeply appreciate you listening to player feedback about the age system. It would be very frustrating to want to continue playing my wolf and be forced to age them up, since when you hit a certain age in the game you die, and I think that would have been a point of contention whether it was never in the game or not. Players wouldn't ever have liked that. There's a good amount of Devs that wouldn't have listened and just removed it anyway. Genuinely, thank you. It warms my heart to see you listening.
On that note, please please PLEASE don't get too caught up in realism. As others have said, if you get too caught up in being realistic you'll end up removing features that players enjoy, which you don't want to do. Most players aren't thinking too much about the logic of why their wolf is white. They just want a white wolf character. You have to make sacrifices to make the game enjoyable. Wolf Quest is probably one of the most realistic animal sims on the market, it doesn't hurt anything to have some slightly unrealistic things here and there. It's already frustrating that we can't go back and forth from Lost River for this reason, I would really hate for it to effect things like player customization as well. WolfQuest is a game at the end of the day. You can be educational while making room for fun gameplay.
I do think that the age up coat system DOES need a tweak, but please do not remove the white coats.
We are not removing the white coats. We are just discussing how early decisions sometimes present challenges to systems that are added later.
Kind of puzzled about the description of choosing not to age up. Will the achievement for staying the same age for 3(?) year ls remain if this is something the game doesn't really want to encourage? That always felt like a bit of an odd achievement to me.
Also, with stuff like wolves starting out with white coats at age two being unrealistic, it feels like no matter how much effort or thought you put into the game, some things are going to be unrealistic. For example, my success rate hunting on accurate as a lone wolf is almost 100%, and while this is not really accurate to reality, it'd be kind of frustrating for gameplay if you were set up to fail as often as a real lone wolf.
All this to say, that seems like one of those compromises that isn't all that important in the grand scheme of things. The game is awesome whether or not wolf coats are entirely realistic.
Yes, we are definitely always balancing real life with game fun and technical limitations :D
Your dedication to realism in this game and staying true to how wild wolves live is undeniably admirable - y'all keep adding small details and features that I'd never have even thought of, and I love that! I feel like I've learned so much from the realistic aspects of the game. However; I do worry that the focus on realism may override the focus on the game itself. Life in the wild is HARD, of course, but it's also unpredictable - which is understandably difficult to simulate. While I understand the intent and desire to keep things real, I do feel it's important to remember that it is still a game. Functionality of the game should come before every nitpick of reality, otherwise it's just not as fun. Sometimes sacrifices need to be made for the sake of fun and smoother gameplay, and that's alright! It's why Lost River is by far my favorite map, too; since it's not a real place, you were able to get super creative and have fun with the build and locations.
So, don't lose sight of the experience of playing a game! Don't get too stressed if you have to bend some rules for the sake of gameplay or creativity. Thank you for everything you do!
Yes, we are always keeping that balance in mind.
Yo great work so far Wolfquest team :]
I am SO HYPED I can NOT wait to raise my pups to hunt
To be honest, I understand why freezing the ages may bother some people but I'm really glad the "frozen world" is an option. I have a wolf I always want to keep so I've never aged her up, but I've played through many of her pups, going from age two to eight, and I imagine I'd like to do the saga in the same way. Taking a wolf I don't mind eventually dying over my beloved remake of a classic Wolf Quest wolf of mine. I'd be really sad if playing new content meant getting her killed, considering while Wolf Quest is meant to mimic real life- it IS still just a game. The players should always have that option in their wolf carousel.
You mentioned maybe removing or changing up the white coats, but I wondered this long ago in the past when aging from introduced. Would the saga consider greying variations to pre-existing darker coats? Like greys on the snouts, fur tips, etc. as we see our wolves get older? I understand this would likely be a difficult thing to properly implement, but I also remember never getting a direct "no", just an idea for the future. It'd be cool if that idea was still floating around on the "Maybe not now, but perhaps in the distant future." task board. ;3; Like a future saga update, after its final release, where more quality of life and polishing things may happen?
The new dynamic pack system sounds really cool! I can’t wait to see more about it. I like all of the point made in this Devblog, very reasonable, sounds good to me. Thanks for all of the hard work you all put into WolfQuest ❤❤❤
On realism, it could be pretty neat if, alongside a quest log, for discovering new animals/plants/locations/etc, you could provide a description with some little factoids about those things.
I actually really like this idea a lot
Yeah there are systems that bring out some confusion. I was thinking about the coats for example the other day.
I like the idea of coats becoming more gray as time passes, it would encourage players to age up their wolves and unlock new looks for their particular coats.
As for perks and aging, I've always felt like the system itself needed a bit more. More perks, to be more specific. That way people will be encouraged to age up and choose new perks. The older your wolf, the more experienced it will be, therefore the perks will be more impactful on your gameplay, despite it being physically weaker.
It would be nice if your mate could have perks too which the player gets to choose for it or they are randomly chosen. It could create some interesting scenarios where you can still take advantage of an older perk whilst being younger yourself.
Of course that would be complicated and tedious to make. But it's good to dream I suppose, haha.
The current idea isn't so bad. It will allow you to extend the time you have with your pups. If all goes well, you could lead your pack of six or more wolves into hunts and such for as long as you want! Would help with achievements too.
Great work as always! I can not express how much joy I feel everytime I see a new video!
Yes but Some of the WQ community does Rps so I think it's a line between sacrifices some realism then getting rid of white coats and the option of Not ageing your wolf.
I love hearing how much effort is going into this to make it not only realistic but still fun. Cannot wait for the saga!!
The devs are always so hardworking! Keep it up!
i really wish we could keep perks through the years. it would feel more like my wolf is progressing and getting more experienced with age if she wasn't reset every birthday.
thanks for keeping us up to date, I'm sure all of that is hard! you'll get there, we're all patient and excited!
I'm so excited!!! Literally dropped everything to watch the video :D
Frr
SAME
Same. I was literally watching a minecraft 100 players challenge and i was really into it but this snapped me out of it
0:50 yeah this is something i imagine the majority of us thought, i know i did when i first started
Much as I'd absolutely love to see all the coats in-game have a gradual change from young wolf to old experienced elder, I am going to express that the white coats may be best kept as-is if/whenever you get to addressing that part. Taking away customization options does not generally go well.
I think the best route with them is to do it for all coats, but have it be a customizable slider in the wolf customization settings. All elderly coats can be naturally set to have the slider set to the far right to indicate that it's default is based on that point of the wolf's life, but then you give players the freedom on if they want to play that way or not. Gives them the choice on how 'gracefully' they age - not super realistic but it would demonstrate that wolves do kinda go gray just like people do. Sometimes pretty drastically!
Would have this be editable on pups too for that same freedom.
We are not saying we are taking away the white coats. We are just talking about how we are looking ahead to how ways we might deal with aging coats if we ever get to that. :D
We love how transparent you are about development. Thank you for caring about our input
Oh wow, I really do not have words at the moment to excited!!!!!!!! 😆
I think that is a great compromise for the aging up, WolfQuest Devs never cease to amaze and inspire me🎉❤
I am happy that you guys are allowing us to keep our wolves the same age! I would love to be frozen in time with a nice pack and just hunt stuff and live life like we did on amethyst with our mates before the pupdate ^^
I was so obsessed with this game when I was a kid even though my grandma's computer could barely run it. I cant believe people are still actively updating it, I wish yall the best of luck ❤
Wolfquest content lets gooooo!
Hi there! I'm almost 30 years old and have been playing WQ ever since I saw it 'advertised' on Attack of the Show way back in 07. I have over 900 hours in AE and will keep supporting this game and the team for as long as I'm around.
I think reworking the packs is a great idea given that YOUR pack is always dynamic, so it makes sense that they should be too. I also understand the frustration with aging and the white coats. This opens an idea that I've seen others present for some time now where maybe your young wolf can start black, and as they age they can start showing white ticking around the muzzle and feet like in real life. Of course, this would be a preset (and unchangeable to the player) feature and you would only need it to automatically adjust if the player chooses to age. I hope I'm making sense there. This would allow for realistic aging of a black coat into a much lighter coat that the game would essentially force as time goes on, but also keep it completely distinguishable from the white coats you can choose when you create your wolf. The "aging" white would not be something you can add via customization (nor take away) and would only change as you choose to progress in age.
I think you guys have been doing a good job. It's amazing that you have been able to accomplish so much with such a small team and that is something to be proud of.
I'd like to take a second to echo what a few others have been saying and I've been thinking for a long time now: sometimes you have to sacrifice realism for enjoyment. I don't think anyone will pass any judgement on you or the game for it. I don't mean "offer pink and blue coat colors for wolves" - I mean relinquish the idea that every tiny facet of the game HAS to be realistic and just allow some features to be there purely for the sake of fun. It is a video game, at the end of the day. I think it would make things a lot less stressful on the team if you did allow for a little wiggle room here and there so to speak.
I just wanted to throw my two cents in 🫶🏻 Love you guys and appreciate everything that you do!
Thank you so much for all your hard work! I love seeing new videos :D
I'm glad you're keeping "time freezing". I like having that degree of control over my gameplay experience.
Man, it's bee YEARS since I've played this game. It's awesome how it's more alive than ever!
The devs have cultivated an active, engaged community who are always interested in seeing more ❤️
SO EXCITED!! keep up the good work!
You guys work so hard and I’m so thankful for that. You are doing great ❤
That photo of the Bright Angel Trail switchbacks immediately threw me backward to when I had to hike all the way up the rim from the bottom of the canyon. We were at the end of our river trip and had to hike up from Pipe Creek. I was so tired at the end of the trip, it took the whole daylight. But at least I was able to do it!
Back to the wolves, the saga is going well! Keep on keeping on, and do what's needed to perfect the gameplay experience!
I was wondering recently about pack designations and pups aging up (in particular, how our existing pups would be handled in Saga). My 3yr old would be straight forward - just continue from Summer. But the 4 year old? Or others with 2 or more litters?
Certainly alot to sift through for the team but glad to hear an update 😊. Setbacks happen
The coats... the pups could continue with the changing coats and start at the darker end of the tint....
Players will want the white coats still - perhaps reduce odds on the white coats for pups? To balance realism and the pursuit of asthetics?
When creating a wolf though it would be preferable to keep the white coat options.
Of my *many* created wolves and packs there is only 1 creation that is white (couldn't resist 😂) and maybe 2 other created wolves that are light enough to argue white. Most are midrange to darker. It is nice to have the freedom to create that we do at this time.
Plus the white coats can be interesting to tint darker. And vice versa.
Waiting eagerly for future news about Hellroaring Mountain map and Saga progress ^^
I'M SO EXCITED AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA I think everything was handled the best way it possibly could. You guys are doing great and I'm so happy to see what's coming
Yesssss I can't WAIT to see the devblog on the dynamic pack system!!! It's my absolute favorite upcoming feature :DDD
Jayplays and you has posted today best day ever.
I totallhy agree with how weird it is to freeze the time but im certian that quite a few players will keep their wolves aging- that being said I still think the option to freeze the time is good as it just provides another way to play your wolfs life! Even if wolf quest is meant to be a survival realistic wolf game that focuses on the realism I still think the little variations in the realism isnt a game breaker and adds other ways for the player base to enjoy the game. Im super excited for the saga- im going to try to have a elder iron wolf with a few generations on my side
Hello, I'm not sure if you still read the comments on this video as it's 10 days old, but I've been a longtime WQ fan ever since I was a small child, it has really shaped my life; a LOT as I'm now studying wildlife biology and planning to work in our national wolf conservation center.. WQ has changed my life a lot!
I wanted to jump onto the discussion of aging wolf coats, since in my time of researching wolves I've found it very touching to see them change over time!
My guess would be, like some other might've said already, to design a few dark overlays for coats. I guess there also could be a button to switch it off for players who don't want to play hours and hours on end to reach age 8 to get their white coat, and that could be a bit complicated..
Designing them could take quite a while to fully design an overlay for each light coat, but I don't think this should be a priority as of now! I have hundreds of hours on WQ and what I've simply been doing is starting out with dark tints and just, making it very light each year.
For making a wolf more grizzled; your wolf could obtain nipped ears for example over the years, aging up your wolf could at a random injury to it. Of course, it could be customizable to simply turn off, like when you grow up a wolf pup to have a flopped ear or whatever, just simply turning it off or changing it.
But honestly, these are all small things, as of now I'm assuming the priority is to get the games core mechanics done. But again, I've never gotten to told the WQ team but I am absolutely in awe of how much it's shaped my life, wolves have taken me out of a bad state in my life and now I have something to fight and to live for, all thanks to little me spending hours on end watching a little 3D wolf running around Slough creek.
Thank you so much for the dedication to this masterpiece of a game, being a part of this journey it's astounding seeing how far you've come.
I like how you guys solve problems by compromiseng with them. I still have to get the forever young achievement so I'm glad I'm still able to. I'm going to love the Saga. ❤
I think these 'setbacks' are more a sign of growth of the game and the team! Also, may I add my two cents in terms of ideas/thoughts on some points mentioned? For the coats, could a possible solution be to have a transparent overlay of sorts that becomes increasingly "active" as a wolf ages up? As in, have an overlay for certain ages that is put over the existing fur layer? Not sure how that would work out in terms of memory and performance, but I thought this could be a solution to it. Also, I personally really enjoy the age perks, especially the clout ones (I've never chosen to not age up, though). For these, I think a nice implementation could be that players can choose one attribute bonus (maybe tied to how they performed that year, i.e., xp points or similar, maybe also depending on difficulty level) and one clout bonus, whereby the clout bonus stays for longer than a year (because I think it makes more sense that a wolf with the bonus of remembering territory markings doesn't lose this ability a year later). I know I've read somewhere that the choice was made not to stack them to prevent 'super wolves', but maybe the attribute bonus ones could be limited or "decay" over time, so that if a player chooses +1 speed at age 3, this bonus will decrease each year until age 5 or 6, where it is 'removed' again. This could further emphasize the aging of a wolf and provide an additional challenge for each subsequent year. I'm not sure how easily this could be implemented, but I think this would add a nice dynamic to the game and give a bit of an incentive to age up a wolf. :)
Once again, I'm very excited for how this game is going to turn out in the end!!
it'd be so cute to have an elderly wolf with a powdered sugar face lol
I’m rlly exited for this thanks wolf quest team!!!
I'm just ready for the full game to come out, keep working on it.
I appreciate that you’re keeping the option not to age! Sometimes I like to play a wolf until a certain age then mostly use that wolf for roleplaying, but sometimes I still want to play as that wolf in single player! Sure, I could just copy the wolf, but it just wouldn’t be the same!
So thanks for considering not removing that feature!
i think a good rule of thumb is to aim as realistic as possible, not as accurate as possible. When something is realistic, it is able to be imagined as 'real life' where accuracy is well, 1 to 1 IRL counterpart. As an example alot of the CGI nowadays in fantasy movies, or horror movies are getting more and more realistic, but it is not accurate to science or real life etc etc. The customizing options should stay as is with REALISM in mind with just a dab of accuracy [like being taken from real wolves] i dont think things should be taken away in terms of customization as long as those customizing are not neon, unrealisitc coats. That and well the playerbase has spent money on said customizing that personally i wouldnt really take away or edit said things.
At the end of the day, it really is a game. I totally support an accurate based game but having more realism with a hint of accuracy is much more player friendly and i think the community has shown with all these technical inaccuracies-we love the game we're here to stay because its still realistic and one of a kind game. Please dont mistake realism for accuracy as a game like this should have a balance between the two. accessibility and customizing are the backbone of story telling which in itself is a backbone to the game. As you've stated we played this game far more than you could have anticipated and those are two good reasons why.
I digress, i love the game and its very realistic with some accuracy to buff it and i think its perfect the way it is with smaller things like customizing.
❤
I completely agree with this view and hope that the devs will see your comment! As a biologist, I love the game's realism and accuracy, but I don't mind the white coats. Maybe the wolf has some arctic wolf genes, or a mutation. Maybe it just turned white faster than usual. There are many explanations why young wolf could be white. And besides, I think I saw a Yellowstone wolf document where a recently dispersed wolf was already white.
We are not removing the existing white coats. We are just discussing how they will present challenges to any future system of coat aging.
first, thanks for the update, second that trail at 0:29 is crazy. terrrifying, it's a 100+ foot drop down a very steep hillside. the kind where you trip, you ded, and i distinctly remember that first turn because we saw a wheelbarrow there, like it'd been there since the trail was built.
i havent even watched the video yet but all i can say is im excited for the saga
I won't lie, I had a strong feeling this team would encounter many challenges. It seems like adding in a heavily AI-dependent feature has always been tricky in indie games. This is why I am SO excited for each update and hope the team takes the time they need! This can't be easy, it must be tons of work, and I'm grateful for their hard work!
I think the fur coats should be left to suspend disbelief territory. It's already commendable the amount of realism that is in Wolf Quest but not everything has to be held down by it. The age thing is a little weird but I'm a player that doesn't mind letting my wolf age per year. Additionally, I usually edit my wolf with scars or injuries based on how many fights I've dealt with per year before starting the next.
I think the best way to feature a wolf getting older would honestly just be gray/white hair overlays on the muzzle/legs or maybe very slightly lightening their coats, but not entirely getting rid of white coats all together.
My two cents is to not remove the white coats. Like many have said, players love customization and have preferences of play style.
I think however it would be neat to have ‘physical aging’ something you can toggle on or off with your wolf. Everytime a player chooses to age up if they have the aging cosmetic toggle on, they will change slightly. One way to consider a physical change in wolves is how their faces seem to soften and droop a little. Old wolves may look a little sadder. Their face more full. But I think before adding physical aging features, a few things can be added to cosmetics. Like some variations to the wolf face, different eye and cheek bone shapes, and the ability to broaden or make more narrow the head. As wolf faces do have some variation. I’d also like to suggest the option to add scars from a selection, so that they aren’t solely linked to the Life is Rough coats
We are not removing the existing white coats. We are just discussing how they will present challenges to any future system of coat aging.
Maybe you guys could add an 'unlocking' feature, where reaching a certain age unlocks new custom features, such as scars and white coats
Love the idea of older wolves going white, as it is a lot more realistic and adds something else to the aging process. But could totally see how making it a gradual change would be extremely difficult to implement. It might feel natural to just get a lighter coat when choosing age perks at year 6, 7, and 8. You could maybe have limited options to choose from based on your age and whether your coat is gray or black.
I would honestly really like if we got more unrealistic customization options, even if it feels weird.
Excited for this to be finished. No rushing perfection though
I can't wait for the saga! I do love the white coats
Honestly I can understand your reasoning on everything. It is a bit weird to keep a couple things the same with how your changing it, but I have faith that you’ll do as you see fit!
As for my personal opinion I think the white coats should stay because it doesn’t matter what age you are you can have white fur. Especially because of genetics and things like that. There are also actual white wolves as well- and even though you are focusing on wolves in yellow stone it would be nice to see you broad your range a bit to other places. Idk if that is doable but keep working your best and make sure not to overwork yourself. We can wait lol
If there is one thing the wolf quest fandom is good at its waiting! lol
@@sparklysprinkles5973 trueeee
I would really love it if you added a feature where you can ask your mate to go and hunt, and the mate coming back after like 5-10 minutes with a chance of having a rabbit or meat chunk, maybe rarely a small fawn, because that would make it so much easier bc I don't trust my mate with my pups
Edit: I trust my mate with my pups now
I’m so excited for saga!!!
Please keep the white coats though, they are my favorite
We are not removing the existing white coats. We are just discussing how they will present challenges to any future system of coat aging.
AAAAGH I love what I see here every time!!
XD Speaking from somebody who doesn't even know how to string a line of code;
To solve the 'age up/stay the same age' issue, could be a matter of "Classic Saga" mode, and "Custom Saga Mode" or something if you want to keep them more separate, but still keep all playstyles available.
Personally, as it is a game, I see nothing wrong with the white wolf coats. You could add a little fact blurb about it in the game to assure us. While it's wonderful that you're always super detailed with realism, I think when it comes to the visuals of our wolves, we can have a little leniancy. Else someone wants to play as the white wolf, but the coat only looks like that at the very end---that gives players a REALLY GOOD reason to want to hit 'stay this age' so they can enjoy the coat color. XD
There are unique ways to go about it, having a year progressional change to each coat as the wolf gets older, stopping at age 8 or so. But then you'd want to show in the previews how they'd age, most likely.
I did see someone suggest using the Life if Rough Packs on other coats as the wolf gets older as well, so that's another angle to consider.
At the least, the Hunting Mission can easily just be changed to 'learn how to hunt on your own' and no further requirements needed. XD Sometimes simple fixes are allowed in the universe.
At the end of the day, Wolfquest is a fun game about being a wolf. It's very realistic in its gameplay, and, very importantly, FUN. You strive for realism, and that's great, but always take into account when the realism is also SUBTRACTING from the fun.
"Change the text blurb in the first hunting mission?" Makes it more realistic, and doesn't change the gameplay.
"Change the stay same age protocol" Makes it more realistic, but changes the gameplay for certain players. Thus, adding a unique gamemode could be the easiet solution to fully separate the two into different modes. [If that would make you feel better. XD The players who don't touch it, don't touch it.]
"Change the white coats" Makes it more realistic, but then limits the customization options to the players in some degree or another. I'd also be EXTREMELY careful if those white coats came in the packs we bought, because if someone bought a pack SPECFICALLY for one of those white coats, I think they'd be less pleased. ((Though, having a toggle for 'coat stays the same/coat changes as you age' could be a way to do it to appease all sides.))
I completely agree with all of the points mentioned here, it would be a great way to solve the issues and make both sides happy
Thank you, it was odd to have my pack go through generations and the rival packs be immortal
I am really excited for the saga
I’m so excited y’all
I would really like to be able to keep the white coats. I think a good option if having an age progression coat is important would be to add them as a customization. Either along with the body customizations like the torn ears, having a few options for a more grizzled appearance, OR having a DLC pack like the Life is Rough pack that has a progressive grizzle effect. Like, have 10 "options" but it is really 2 unique coats, and 5 stages of grizzling that the player can choose to switch to year after year, but all of them are genetically the same coat so the pups will start at stage one?
Glad too see the aging system stay would hate to have players come down the line and not be able to get the hidden achievement that goes with not aging
I found the idea about staying the same age weird as well haha. But i'm glad you respect the community in what they want because changes like that can be rly hard for some people. But hwo you fixed the solution even tho you didn't really liked the idea is really great ^^
I put this reply somewhere else to but i figured id give it its own comment so other people can get an idea
So knowing youre not removing any existing coats and are trying to work out how white coats would work with a greying out/aging system
something I think could be done with the aging of coats is locking white coats as is- since they are already aged,
so say you age the black coat by graying it out- graying in wolves happens on the base and some of the points such as the muzzle and tail and paws, ears and tip of the nose tend to grey out last from what ive seen.
Basically instead of this happening to the already white coats, don't give them a grayed out version/cycle and lock them as they already are since they are technically already aged.
Or- the opposite you could give the option of the non-grayed versions of those coats and allow players to gray them out naturally if they so choose
Hope that makes sense, I've done this on a few game models in my game- I have a color generation system and I lock certain specific creatures in game to certain colors/texture patterns.
Man it would be very sus if the game development was going smoothly. There’s always SOMETHING wrong going on especially in the early stages. Y’all are doing great and I’m excited for this!
Please keep the white coats!!! Ik they aren’t 100% realistic but I feel it gives more character as many of us love role playing or just having the ability to customize to a good range! Having the spectrum from white to black can give us a lot of freedom with customization so please keep it!! I’d also just love to see more coats be placed in! Maybe even some wolf dog or wolf hybrid coats that look pretty close to a pure wolf coat! ❤❤❤
IM SO EXITED FOR SAGA
Perhaps regarding the grizzled scarring with age, the game could track injuries gained over the course of a year. If one location is injured, say, twice minorly OR once majorly that section could gain a scar or some sort of signifier.
The answer to all of these questions will always be that more options for players is better, not less.
woohoo!! yipee!! the saga will come eventually!! yipeee
I really hope the option to keep not aging remains, as well white pelts, I love them both.
Make the white coats EVEN WHITER as they age! I would absolutely love this feature. Or maybe you could make the eyes get more cloudy as they age? That would be cool, too. That way even if the lightening isn’t visible you can still see some change in appearance.
why not use a shader that gradually increases the white texture's visibility as your wolf gets older through masking?
This would likely impact performance and not look very good, they would be better off doing a slider for a masked alpha texture in the alterations (like the ear sliders and stuff)
This would cause the least amount of textural issues and the least impact on gameplay for players,
It would also not effect fps,
They could do a similar thing to the isle aswell (the scar system) where over time from a age indicator code (the age up menu would work as an indicator) a coat gets more grey
@@xxhoneystarzxx4950 you are proposing the exact same thing i did, just worded differently lol. plus, i doubt it would have that much of an impact. it would just need to run a check at the beginning of the game section (tutorial, raising pups) if wolf is x years old, and if matches, set mask to y greyness
I like the opinion of some other players, which is just because something doesn't happen often doesn't make it unrealistic to put in the game. If white coats aren't common, maybe make a way they have to be earned? Or just leave as is. Half the coats are light anyway. It would have to be a complete overhaul on every coat that isn't brown or black, which would be somewhat frustrating. And every wolf made that does have a light coat would have to be either changed when the player loads up existing games or start over.
Also, I guess a thing to keep in mind is while realism is nice, there are a lot of players who don't play realistic. I do both on seperate game files depending on what mood I am in. I guess that kind of goes for aging up as well.
Maybe some of the white coats can stay and have new ones in a DLC purchase pack that at every age up changes to look older until it's mostly grey or white. So they'll be white or unique looking ones you have to age up to get to that point.
I really appreciate your dedication to satisfying as many players as you can, but please... Please, don't pull back on the game's development and potential for the sake of not disappointing anyone. Game development involves making decisions that need to better the game, sometimes at the expense of some players' wishes. The aging system that we currently have was designed around the game's current model, but in the future, it will not make sense to keep it as is just because some players may not like it being gone. Players need to be aware that the game will have to change as it grows. It happened with the whole WQ3 era. Players had to accept that the game cannot remain free if they want it to grow. They also had to accept that in order for the game to be more beautiful, system requirements will have to be bumped up. And people will get used to the fact that some features will be removed or will at the very least change in order to make the Saga work properly and logically. So, please don't stress too much about it. Preserving the game as it is right now is a great effort, but it should not stand in the way of its future development, by any means.
I know that this has probably been all over the devroom floor, but have you considered transparent overlay textures for scars and white fur? I think it could be an easier way to impliment hunting/battle scars and indication of age rather than making new coats entirely.
Also, like many others are saying, lots of folks who play this game are playing it for the fantasy element of being a wolf, lots of folks think of the wolves they maks as characters with backstories set outside of Yellowstone. The coat progression thing doesn't really need to be extremely realistic!
Debuffs for speed, health, and other things like that are very good indicators for the age of our wolves, I dont know if advanced coat shifts according to age would be necessary right now.
I think if u have a white wolf, it should start off grey and as u age up it gets lighter. And as for dark wolves, they should have old features too like white fur tips on their faces and such!
is there any way to make wolf aging visual with something like how the snow appears on a wolf during weather but based on age?
A lot of these do seem like confusing, complex and frustrating problems. I hope the devs aren’t under too much pressure right now. Best of luck to them as they work on the saga!
In terms of the coat aging system how taxing would overlays and a masking layer be ?
Maybe the white coats can have an age lock? Like the wolf has to be 5+ years to unlock certain coats for them or something like that? It would be more realistic as well as give an incentive for players to age their wolves
well no that sounds horrible! I"d rather have options then be forced to do something. I think the devs need to realize that some players Rp as well as storymode. I being such player would HATE being forced to age a wolf to 5 just for a white coat, And I love white wolves!
@blackmooncosplay9373 hmm, maybe a compromise can be that when creating a wolf, you can select any age. Only when creating one though, not ones born in game.
@@theincarnationofboredom207 But that still doesn't make since for when starting storymode...? I think the devs should just leave the age thing how it is maybe
@blackmooncosplay9373 I don't really see why it wouldnt make sense, considering even when you play as a 2 year old wolf you can find 4 year old, 5 year old etc dispersals to take as mates.
Would there be a possibility that dispersals could trespass and court your grown wolf pups? And if they do whenever there pack grows (or they could move locations) you would be able to run into them!:)
I'm so excited for the Saga, can't wait to see more videos about it!
I really hope you keep the white wolf coat.
IM HERE WHAT DID I MISS?? and oml idc ANYMOREEEEE YOUR ALL DE BESTTT U DO ALL OF THIS FOR UR PLAYERS N FANS UR SUCH HARD WORKERS
@@Acc_deletedddddddd its a Himilton song
@@freyadoesitall ik lol im just being an idiot :>
This comment is 27 minutes ago... and the video, 14 mins ago WTF
@@Alienfrommars613 it isnt tho- my comment is 29 mins ato and vid is 30 mins ago
i agree with everyone's voicing on white coats staying-- but in regards to the idea of aging and coats changing/going white, if you guys *do* figure it out i want to say i think, outside of chosing not to age up, you should be able to check a box in the settings that say something like "aging changing coat color". options like that, along w the active choice of making white coats, i feel like are important for letting people chose how to play-- even if there is some minor issues with realism. because aging does come with some benefits, but someone may not want their wolf's colors to change still.