Dispersing Differences

Last month we released the Persistent Pack update — a big new feature and a key part of the Saga. As usual with a big new feature, after initial release there is some additional bug-fixing and clean-up work. In this case, the feature was big enough and the code had gotten messy enough over the final months of work that Raul decided to refactor the code — restructuring it to make it cleaner, better organized, and easier to maintain.

While he’s been doing that, the rest of the team has kept cranking away on other aspects of the Saga…and as part of that, I refreshed my memory about wolf dispersal….and came upon these graphs in the Yellowstone Wolves book by Doug Smith, Dan Stahler, and Dan MacNulty. There’s a striking difference in dispersal behaviors by male and female wolves: males are substantially more likely to disperse, while females are more likely to stay with the pack. (This is one of the things that suggests that wolf packs are matrilineal, with female offspring staying in the their natal pack in hopes of becoming a breeder someday.)

So I wondered: Should we incorporate this difference into the game? It’s accurate, and that’s always a core goal. But it also has real impact on gameplay. If your wolf is male, you’ll have a harder time finding a female dispersal and will have to venture into rival pack territory to find a courtable female. Is this the kind of accuracy that makes the game more interesting, or does it make it more annoying or confusing or less fun? After some discussion, we decided to do it. So as part of the Persistent Pack refactor, Raul is adding sex-based odds. Now males are more likely to disperse, and females are more likely to stay with their pack — but to counterbalance the dispersal shift, more females in each rival pack are more likely to be interested in courtship. We think this adds an interesting consideration when you’re creating your wolf and deciding whether it should be male or female. This change will be in the next patch later this month!

In the Saga, when your own pups are coming of age, this will also factor into their own decision about if and when to disperse. We have a lot more planned for this whole /”when your pups disperse/” stuff…but that’s a topic for a future devblog.

One final thing: Hold onto our hats, because I am finally finishing up Chapter 2 of our Wildest Dreams video about the history of WolfQuest. If you haven’t watched(or haven’t lately watched) the first chapter I encourage you to check it out! https://www.youtube.com/watch?vbDeA-0I7xjM&listPL3TIzEr0YgQd-vwpYsv_T3dp47du7eaxh

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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.

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