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Dec 14, 2023

ARK: Survival Ascended is on Sale!

ARK: Survival Evolved - complexminded

Don't miss your chance to experience the ultimate dino adventure! Click the link below and start your ARK: Survival Ascended journey today!

But hurry, this dino-mite deal goes extinct soon! ⏳

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2399830/ARK_Survival_Ascended/

Oct 25, 2023

ARK: Survival Ascended is available now!

ARK: Survival Evolved - ARK: Survival Evolved

Respawn into a new dinosaur survival experience beyond your wildest dreams… as ARK is reimagined from the ground-up into the next-generation of videogame technology with Unreal Engine 5! You awake on a mysterious island, your senses overwhelmed by the blinding sunlight and brilliant colors bouncing off every surface around you, the azure waters of a verdant Island lapping at your bare feet. A deep roar echoes from the misty jungle, jolting you into action, and you stand up – not afraid, but intrigued. Are you ready to form a tribe, tame and breed hundreds of species of dinosaurs and other primeval creatures, explore, craft, build, and fight your way to the top of the food-chain? Your new world awaits… step through the looking-glass and join it!

ARK: Survival Ascended has completely recreated and redesigned the artwork and worlds of ARK to take advantage of the latest in videogame technology, Unreal Engine 5, using high-end graphics features such as fully dynamic Global Illumination (“Lumen”), so that light bounces realistically of off surfaces and provides realistic reflections, and advanced mesh streaming (“Nanite”) of hundreds of millions of triangles for extreme detail.
Advanced new physics systems such as dynamic water so that every creature creates waves, ripples, splashes, and bubbles as they move through fluids, and fully interactive physical foliage where every blade of grass, bush, and tree reacts to characters, explosions, projectiles, and physics objects. Knock down a tree, and see it crash into other trees and disturb all the foliage on its way down to smacking into the grass below! Detect an enemy moving sneakily through the grass as it shifts and sways in response to their presence. Demolish a building and watch the pieces break apart realistically, interacting with the grass and water as they fall.
ARK: Survival Ascended includes access to all of ARK’s worlds, including Scorched Earth, Aberration, Extinction, ARK Genesis Part 1, ARK Genesis Part 2, and more. The Island is released now, with the subsequent expansion worlds to be added at no additional cost on a regular basis.
The definitive survival experience returns better than ever: design your Survivor, form a tribe, and tame, train, breed & ride dinosaurs within a living ecosystem. Watch your food, water, temperature, and weather patterns. Slowly expand outwards as you harvest, build structures, farm crops, customize your visual designs, and proceed to explore to uncover the true nature of The Island and the worlds beyond.
Thorough Quality of Life revamps in every area: redesigned User Interfaces, dynamic navigation for intelligent creature pathfinding, Wild Babies, Photo Mode, new Camera systems, new Map system, Tracking System, new Structures and Items, new Creatures, and much more.
Cross-Platform Modding: Download & play new custom content created by players, including new maps, creatures, items, and game modes, through a dedicated new Mod-bowser directly within the game! Enjoy an endless stream of new ARK content as the creativity and talent of the community is fully unleashed for the first time ever across gaming platforms!
Cross-Platform Multiplayer: form your online tribe across different gaming platforms as you work together to survive and thrive on the ARK!
Supports public online multiplayer for up to 70 players, private-session multiplayer for up to 8 players, and local split-screen for 4 players (Steam PC).

ARK: Survival Ascended is Available now!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2399830/ARK_Survival_Ascended/

Oct 20, 2023

Community Crunch 384: Dreadnoughtus Concept Art!

ARK: Survival Evolved - ARK: Survival Evolved

You will feel the earth quake as titanic Dreadnoughtus makes its way to Extinction. This behemoth is sure to shake up some strategies and make your enemies tremble in fear. As we gear up for the release of ARK: Survival Ascended, our friends at the Official ARK Wiki are also working on some exciting updates and brand-new skins for the website!

We're looking forward to the week ahead, it's gonna be a fun one! 😉

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Being an ARK survivor, it's probable that you've faced challenging situations, leading you to seek information about ARK's diverse game mechanics. Since 2016, the ARK wiki has functioned as an essential reference for countless players as they embark on their initial adventures on ARK. The extensive documentation, starting from the core gameplay to the expansions, presents a considerable undertaking. Even within our team, we've turned to it for guidance!

The ARK wiki is preparing to ascend as well!

SKINS: ARK wiki has four new skins for survivors to peruse the wiki in style!

The Island: a dark green theme
Genesis Part 1: Blue theme
Genesis Part 2: Purple theme
Extinction: a light theme
More skins are also in the works which will be inspired by the other DLCs.

Become an Editor: Help improve the wiki! Wiki’s are most successful when many community members contribute content and validate information.
Wiki’s are Worldwide: ARK players come from all around the world! We encourage non-English speakers to help make the ARK Wiki an even more valuable resource by contributing to the specific language wikis!
Share Your Feedback: As always, we want to hear your thoughts. Anything you want to see the wiki add in the future? Let us know in the Official ARK wiki feedback thread.

http://ark.wiki.gg

Fan Art Gallery | Screenshot Gallery | Artist Feedback Form

Creator: Phlinger Phoo
Phlinger goes on an epic search for poop, a medium crop plot, and dung beetles.

Creator: CHipZz
CHipZz attempts to beat Lost Island in 100 days without dying. Will he make it all the way to the Dinopithecus King?

Managarmr by BumpySlays22

Amazon and Kapro by Sai

Dimetrodon by Monster Encyclophedia

Ark Utah Raptor by Shadow81

Rock Drake doodle by Lumiixi

Untitled by Sumi

Parasaurolophus by PetitFlan

Screenshot by Yaldi

In search of adventures by coqui

Screenshot by ωσℓƒι ѕнιкαѕα

Enjoy your weekend!
Studio Wildcard

Twitter: twitter.com/survivetheark

Discord: discord.com/invite/playark

Reddit: reddit.com/r/playark

Instagram: instagram.com/survivetheark

Twitch: twitch.tv/survivetheark

Steam: steamcommunity.com/app/346110

Youtube: youtube.com/survivetheark

Facebook: facebook.com/survivetheark

Threads: threads.net/@survivetheark

Official Wiki: https://ark.wiki.gg/wiki/ARK_Survival_Evolved_Wiki

Oct 16, 2023

Smile! ASA certification builds have been submitted :)

ARK: Survival Evolved - ARK: Survival Evolved

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Hang in there! We can't wait for you guys to get your hands on ARK: Survival Ascended!

Oct 13, 2023

Community Crunch 383: Community-Voted Creature Recap and Community Corner!

ARK: Survival Evolved - ARK: Survival Evolved

The wait for the Dreadnoughtus reveal is almost over! Be on the lookout for the concept in the Community Crunch next week. We're bursting with excitement for the arrival of all the community-voted creatures in ARK: Survival Ascended. Your involvement and participation are shaping the world, and we can't wait to see them in action. Here's a recap of the community-voted creatures you can expect to see on ARK: Survival Ascended:

Fasolasuchus is a dangerous denizen of Scorched Earth. Their ambushes and sand-whirlpool attacks make them a formidable threat. Taming these creatures is a challenging task due to their resistance to narcotics, but those who succeed gain a powerful companion for traversing the scorching sands.

Click to view the dossier for Fasolasuchus

Gigantoraptor, despite its intimidating size, is a nurturing creature, fiercely protective of its young. While taming adults seems impossible, taming their young can be rewarding, as they grow up to care for your tribe's creatures, teach them to fight, and help locate orphaned animals.

Click to view the dossier for Gigantoraptor

Yi Ling demonstrates remarkable agility, clinging to walls, gliding short distances, and evading attacks. It preys on smaller creatures, launching barbed feathers at them and rapidly regenerating its protective plumage. Tamed Yi Ling serves various purposes, from scouting caravans to harassing foes, with its unique diet potentially influencing its combat abilities!

Click to view the dossier for Yi Ling

Shastasaurus, akin to the Ichthyosaur, exhibits a profound fascination with humans. Taming this majestic sea creature proved to be a remarkable experience. Some tribes have even equipped Shastasaurus with periscopes, torpedo bays, and cargo holds, turning them into fantastical aquatic vehicles reminiscent of a bygone children's cartoon.

Click to view the dossier for Shastasaurus

Browse August and September save games here

We be provided access to your PC saves and you are now also able to directly rent a server from Nitrado who can host your PC or console saves. Nitrado servers using the Official Save games are now available here.

You’ll be able to:

Access to all official save games for all platforms – PC, PlayStation, and Xbox.
Easily import the save game with one click using the web interface.
Have access to a comprehensive guide and FAQs telling you everything you need to know about hosting servers.
For more information, please visit this page.

Fan Art Gallery | Screenshot Gallery | Artist Feedback Form

Creator: Songbird Gaming
Songbird sings a parody of "Over the Rainbow," which we can't help but love.

Creator: KingDaddyDmac
KingDaddyDmac and his friends hunt down an alpha wyvern to assert their dominance on Monarky's The Hunted.

ARK Liopleurodon by @DW_ARK

Evolve by @WolfTek7

Dapper Royal Griffin by southern-sarcasm

Star Festival by laind004

An unconventional steed, indeed by whywishesarehorses

Griffin by @bonten_ARK

Evotyrannus from Paleo ARK mod by кал калыч

Exploring space on the back of a giant baboon by @Songbird_Gamer

The Original Wicked Ninja’s base by @TheWickedNinjas

I would like to meet my partner Megateri again at ASA by @makky_ark

Oct 6, 2023

Community Crunch 382: Official Server Saves and Community Corner

ARK: Survival Evolved - ARK: Survival Evolved

We're still recuperating after completing the Shastasaurus' saddle and dossier last week, but we are hard at work on the concept and dossier for the mighty Dreadnoughtus. Be on the lookout for the concept and dossier in the coming weeks!

We are thrilled about the arrival of all the community-voted creatures in ARK: Survival Ascended and can't wait to see how they integrate with the diverse wildlife on the existing maps!

Browse August and September save games here

Since yesterday, Thursday October 5th, we be provided access to your PC saves and you are now also able to directly rent a server from Nitrado who can host your PC or console saves. Nitrado servers using the Official Save games are now available here.
Order your server today and save an additional 10% discount using promo code: LEGACY

You’ll be able to:

Access to all official save games for all platforms – PC, PlayStation, and Xbox.
Easily import the save game with one click using the web interface.
Have access to a comprehensive guide and FAQs telling you everything you need to know about hosting servers.
For more information, please visit this page.
Promo code is not available for XBOX version.

Fan Art Gallery | Screenshot Gallery | Artist Feedback Form

Creator: Kenflyer
EpicARK's emotional goodbye to ARK: Survival Evolved over the magnificent music of Gareth Coker. Who's cutting onions?!

Creator: PSEUDO
Watch Vicious Tech and his friends celebrate their last moments on ARK: Survival Evolved's Official Server.

Meiana chilling by @ewo_zaur

Sinomacrops is baby by ark-erika

A selection of berries by @SoupAscended

Its her bug! by ArrowArtz

Thank you for everything, ARK by @DemonistraR

Memories by @WolfTek7

Hе-heh, knives.. by @ScutalTheLizard

Screenshot by AlphaExotic

The final goodbye by AKMIA

Screenshot by nikarel

Sep 29, 2023

Community Crunch 381: Sunsets on ASE, New Horizons on ASA and FAQ

ARK: Survival Evolved - ARK: Survival Evolved

As we stand on the horizon between the ending of an era and the dawn of the next, we'll take a moment to reflect on the extraordinary journey we've shared. Your exuberance, sense of community, and the vivid tapestry of experiences you've woven in the world of ARK: Survival Evolved have truly brought our creation to life. You’re the beating heart of our “little” dinosaur game.

Some might consider the upcoming transition a bittersweet occasion punctuated by a sense of loss and sadness. We feel otherwise. Unofficial ASE is in great hands. Yours.

But, as one chapter concludes, another unfolds – and again our stories will mix with yours to create something greater than the sum of two parts. Remember, it's not farewell, it’s “see you real soon” with more ASA news, reveals, gameplay and, ultimately, the launch of ARK: Survival Ascended near the end of October!
So, Survivors, thank you for eight incredible years and here’s to many more.

With heartfelt gratitude and dino-sized enthusiasm,
The Studio Wildcard Team

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Species: Shastasaurus carmentellum
Time: Late Triassic
Diet: Carnivore
Temperament: Curious

This odd variant of Shastasaurus seems as curious about humans as its distant relative Ichthyosaur. It sure got my attention when one of these sea monsters swam up to have a look at me! Luckily, its bulk turns out to be worse than its bite.

Shastasaurus has weaponized the ultrasonic chirps it uses for echolocation. It can focus those sounds into a tight cone that disorients prey, or widen the effect to blast apart a school of fish in a concussive wave.

Taming a Shastasaurus was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. I brought along some Ichthyosaur pals to entertain their larger cousin while I scraped some of its itchy barnacles off with a sickle. From then on, I had a gigantic escort in deep water.

Some tribes manage to kit out their finny friend with a periscope, torpedo bays, and even a cargo hold… Those Shastasaurs end up looking like something from the old kids’ cartoon with cavemen who turned dinos into cars and submarines!

Hey Survivors!
We’re going to recap some of the information we’ve shared regarding ARK: Survival Ascended in this crunch, along with touching on some topics that haven’t been covered and expanding on some that have!
If you’ve been following along for the last few months, you might already know some of this information, but we’ve seen a lot of questions lately, so let’s start with the basics before diving into some of the more frequently asked questions from the community.

IF YOU ALREADY KNOW ABOUT ASA, FEEL FREE TO SKIP THIS BIT :-)...

What is ASA?
ARK: Survival Ascended (ASA) is a next-generation remake of our beloved ARK: Survival Evolved, harnessing the power of Unreal Engine 5.

When is it launching?
The launch is just around the corner! We’ll reveal the launch trailer screenshots and set the game live near the end of October.

Where can you play it?
You’ll be able to play ARK: Survival Ascended on Xbox Series S/X, PlayStation 5, and PC (Windows/Steam).

Why are you doing it?
There are various reasons we’ve decided to take this approach. One is to refine the development team’s skills on UE5 and how far it can be pushed for next-generation titles (ARK 2).. Another factor is for business reasons. Developing a next-generation sequel while no longer releasing paid expansion packs has proven difficult for our Studio’s long-term survival, so we need to continue generating revenue while we develop ARK 2. And finally, the ultimate reason: whereas ARK2 is being designed as a Souls-like adventure, we want to provide the community with an evergreen classic-ARK experience, one that can continue to grow over time on a cleaned-up code base, leveraging new technological advancements not only in the industry but also what we’ve been working on with the ARK Franchise as a creative whole.

How are you leveraging the new technology?
Another question that could result in quite a mouthful of a response, so we’ll try to keep it simple. Here’s what’ll be coming with ASA:

ARK’s codebase has been rewritten, and its artwork recreated by hand to take full advantage of Unreal Engine 5, including its Lumen and Nanite systems.
Advanced graphics features such as dynamic water (Custom FluidNinja integration), complete interactive physical foliage, and more systems to create a beautiful, immersive, next-generation experience.
Cross-platform Modding: we’re working with Overwolf to provide an industry-first cross-platform modding experience, where mods created on PC are delivered directly to your consoles from a custom modding backend and in-game user mod browser. The modding capability for creators includes using the full power of Unreal Engine 5, including Blueprint, to create anything, any kind of new content or gameplay, within ARK.
Full Cross-platform Multiplayer

New content, QOL improvements, balance, and gameplay changes, including but not limited to:

Over time we’ll be releasing 11 Brand-new creatures (More than any previous DLC expansions)
New mini-map system (pan, zoom, pings, etc.)
New structures (display cases, smaller TEK Teleporters, building pieces) & major building-system overhaul
New Gameplay Items
Dynamic navigation mesh and creature pathfinding overhaul (AI pathfinding)
Total UI Revamp
Photo Mode
New camera systems for players and dinos, with the option to revert to the old systems.
New Player Character Assets with Revamped and Improved Customization
Gamepad virtual-cursor UI input system
New Dino-Manager system (view the real-time status and track-locations of all your creatures at will through one unified menu)
… and much more!

A key thing to remember is that ARK: Survival Ascended will include all its previously released DLCs and maps in its remastered form and will have its own content roadmap. This will include new story content for the game, its own gameplay/QOL changes, new DLC, seasonal events, and more (some things we’re not quite ready to talk about yet!)

Alrighty, it’s safe to start reading again!

Q: Will there be a preorder? Get access to the game early? Exclusive Content? Pre-loading?
We aren’t planning on making ARK: Survival Ascended available for pre-order. You can purchase the game towards the end of October when we reveal the trailer and related media.

There are no plans to allow anyone to access the game early; you will all have access to it at the same time, and no intentions to release exclusive content only available at launch.

As we intend to set the game live immediately when it’s ready to purchase, you cannot preload it.

Q: Tell us more about Crossplay? How will that work?
Okay, so we will have a 3-phase system for rolling out crossplay. This is because it allows us to iterate more rapidly after launching a fresh title and makes managing our operations much less complicated, allowing us to deliver you a better experience. Also, we’re waiting for updates on the engine/plugin side to enhance the experience further ;).

Phase 1: Launch - Time Frame: October
TLDR: Crossplay will be enabled for Xbox Series X/S, Windows PC, and PlayStation 5.
Crossplay will not work for Steam PC at launch.

Why? Frankly, when we launch the game, we’ll have to patch a lot because you’re going to find things we missed or break the game in ways we never identified, and we’d prefer to be able to patch the Steam platform very quickly to resolve these issues.

Once the game has passed the launch hurdles and has entered a more stable state, certifying builds on other platforms will be much quicker, and so, at that point, we’ll look into enabling full crossplay.

We’ll split Official Servers between the respective ‘crossplay’ platforms. We also intend to host some servers that are crossplay only between Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 to keep out the PC Master Race folks (namely, so you stop asking us about it on Twitter (X) :))

Phase 2: Full Crossplay - Time frame December (This is a Wildcard ETA ;))
TLDR: Crossplay is now enabled for ALL PLATFORMS. Meaning Steam can play with Xbox and vice versa.

At this point, we will be at a stage where the game can fully enable crossplay for all platforms.

What this means is that we’ll be aiming to patch all platforms simultaneously and keep them running on the same version, and it is at this point Steam users will be able to play on the same servers as their console friends directly.

This applies to both Official and Unofficial servers, but don’t worry; we’ll still have a separate Official network online that is restricted to just Xbox and PlayStation users (without PC)!

Phase 3: Cross Progression - Time frame: 2024
Cross Progression isn’t going to be enabled with Full Crossplay because we’ll need to integrate some forthcoming updates to the Epic Online Services system. We don’t have an exact timeframe for that because it’s out of our control, and the integration may take some time. Plus, we’re still working out the kinks for how we intend to enable cross-progression for existing accounts, so we’ll share more on that later.

Q: What changes have been made to servers?
So we’ve made a few changes to servers, first of all we’ve increased the stasis-replication range for structures (significantly) and dinos, by about +70%. This means you’ll be able to see them from further way before they “de-render”. Additionally, we’ll be making use of instanced rendering for all our structure tilesets (think building pieces), meaning bases are going to run a lot better!

At the moment, we’re still keeping the servers capped at 70 players. With a lot of the other changes we’ve made, we’ve had to make some trade-offs and right now the tech (nor hardware) isn’t quite there yet to increase the slot cap much higher. We’ll be evaluating this over time and see whether we can increase it as further engine upgrades and optimizations come through (either via Epic or us). Of course, player-run unofficial servers can increase to 100+ players, and that is highly viable if they reduce the stasis-replication range or lower the maximum dino counts.

Q: What content changes have been made for Day 1? Caves, Rafts, Cryopods, TEK, Giant Squirrels…?
This is a hot topic, and we wanted to clarify our intentions, but we wouldn’t be surprised if some things have slipped through the cracks.

Generally, we intend to release content based on the map it launched with. It doesn’t matter WHEN it launched; for example, the Rafts will be available on Day One and the Rhyniognatha on The Island; however, TEK creature variants and Cryopods will not be available.

We have done a pass on caves with some balance adjustments to choke points and improved the caves' internal appearance. We were hesitant to make dramatic changes to cave balance as, while the meta in ASE had flaws, we didn't feel a complete overhaul was wise. Between these changes and other adjustments throughout the game, we expect to see some shifts in the meta players create. We plan to monitor the impact of these moving parts in the hands of thousands of players and pivot as needed post-launch.

Honestly, there are a fair number of changes on the gameplay side:

Overhauled Building
Disabled leveling of movement speed on creatures and players on Official Network (Unofficials can change this via config, of course) -- we see the conversations, we already did it a while back 😜
Small Dino QOLs
Breeding Changes
This one sounds scary, we know. Our Product and QA teams were freaking out about it, but generally, our intention hasn’t been to change the strength of creatures but to make the implementation cleaner. Previously, mutations were based on a creature's wild stat multiplier, and now we’ve given it its multiplier. This has led to some creatures receiving some buffs/nerfs in particular stats, but we intend to rebalance this over time as we evaluate their roles in the meta. We’ll want your feedback on that :).
We have NOT FIXED getting more than 20 mutations, but we removed the 255 cap so that servers can specify a cap. We’ll leave it as is for our Officials (255), but it’s open to adjustments.

Of course, these examples cover only some of what you can expect to see redesigned in ASA. We could wax lyrical about the environment, water, sky, and how adorable wild babies are...but we'll let the game itself speak a thousand words really soon!

Q: Character Creation Overhaul
It was paramount to our art team that we overhaul the Character Creation system for ASA so that characters looked less survival-jank. And we successfully did that….but then we decided to say screw it and allow you to mess with all the bones and scalers anyway. So yeah, you can make something that feels nice and polished, or you could choose to make a character of questionable proportions that looks like it belongs to ARK: Survival Evolved (but next-gen).

Q: Is there new Gareth Coker music?
Sorry, in main menu, can't hear you over the new Gareth Coker music

Q: DLSS, RTXDI, and FRAMEGEN.
We’re working very closely with Nvidia on all the things. They’re actually in our game code themselves, doing all the things. You can read more about these systems on their site: https://blogs.nvidia.com/, but our goal is to launch with as much as we can or have it shortly after that.

Q: Unreal Engine 5.2? Why not 5.3?
Unreal Engine 5.3 is a relatively recent release, and we’ve been keeping up with all the changes that Epic is working on. It’s too soon for us to integrate it thoroughly, and quite frankly, quite risky so close to launch. For now, we’ve decided to cherry-pick some things from 5.3 that we like (such as Navmesh improvements, as well as the landscape), and over time, we’ll continue to upgrade the entire engine to 5.3 and beyond.

Q: GAMEPLAY WHEN?
You will 100% be able to see the game via a trailer/screenshots before you purchase the game in October. Not getting any more specific than that (right now..)

Q: What about cheaters?
We will still be working with an anti-cheat for ASA. We won’t be sharing any more information about Anti-Cheat as it doesn’t benefit anyone to do so. This anti-cheat will also work cross-platform, and we intend to create more systems to use in our live operations to battle against cheaters… which, again, we won’t talk much about because it’s better if we keep that close to our chest :).

We’ll be doing another bounty program with ASA, so you can look forward to making some money while making hackers cry as they lay in bed alone, with their parents disappointed in them.

Q: The Survival of the Fittest 5.0?
So, we’re going back to the name SOTF. It felt easier to say than TSOTF, but more importantly, SOTF will not be available at launch. We still intend to do it, but we’re putting all our time, resources, energy, sweat, and blood into remastering the game to make it as good as possible. After launch, we’ll be tackling remastering SOTF (as an in-game downloadable Mod) for a Winter Release!

Q: With no SOTF, will there still be a queue?
There will not be a queue system at launch, given that we intended to have it implemented with SOTF. We’re still weighing up the technicalities of implementing this and whether it’s worth it for the game -- depends on the direction we take SOTF -- but we hear the concerns about “queue botting”, and will make sure that it’s a server-side configurable that can be disabled (and will be on our Official PvP servers) as well as implement measures to prevent this (such as blocking from the same connection, hardware, etc).

Q: Events? Extra Life? ASA Content!
Yes, we’ll still be doing these. The first ASA event will be Extra Life, bonus rates ‘n all dat jazz, and then we’ll be doing our first content-related event in December with the launch of Winter Wonderland!

And just as mentioned above, ASA has its own content roadmap, but it’s too soon to talk about that ;).

Q: Creature Submissions, what’s the plan?
Honestly, it’s taken us so long to get the Shasta dossier done because of the design and tech investigation required to ensure it was viable for us to create that creature’s abilities without destroying the game. It’s a challenge, but we’re getting it done. This kind of threw a spanner in our calendar for doing creature votes. We might take a break because voter fatigue is creeping in. Plus, once ASA ships, the meta might establish a need for different types of creatures, and we want to give you some time before the next vote to think about that.

Q: Developer Q&As, blogs, vlogs, streams, etc.
We have intentionally been very quiet the last year as we’ve worked aggressively on shipping ASA; once the game is out the door, we intend to do a 180 and will become more directly engaged with the community (we’ve been reading and monitoring throughout, trust). This could include more Q&As, streams, etc., but the general idea is that our quiet days are ending with the launch of ASA and then you get to see directly what we’re cooking up!

Thanks for reading the Q&A, guys! It was great answering all of your questions. Please check out our new release, ARK: Survival Ascended, coming to a virtual video game store near you at the end of October!

Our Official PlayARK Discord will be one of our main social hubs during ASA launch and beyond. This is the only official Discord server run by Studio Wildcard (well, really, it’s run by our wonderful mods and admins so please say hi to them!) and, if you haven’t joined the incredible two hundred thousand ARK community members there, you may want to check it out!

On Thursday 5th, we’ll be providing access to your PC saves and you’ll also be able to directly rent a server from Nitrado who can host your PC or console saves. Nitrado servers using the Official Save games are now available for pre-order here.
Order your server today and save an additional 10% discount using promo code: LEGACY

You’ll be able to:

Access to all official save games for all platforms – PC, PlayStation, and Xbox.
Easily import the save game with one click using the web interface.
Have access to a comprehensive guide and FAQs telling you everything you need to know about hosting servers.
For more information, please visit this page.
Promo code is not available for XBOX version.

Fan Art Gallery | Screenshot Gallery | Artist Feedback Form

Monarky's newest season is still on going. This massive collaboration of over 30 content creators challenges them to work together or struggle alone as they battle through one of ARK's most challenging mod, The Hunted!

Welcoming seasoned and newer creators, Monarky's The Hunted is set to last until ARK: Survival Ascended's release at the end of October! Their goal is to celebrate eight wonderful years of ARK by creating a community network all in support of ARK content and pushing everyone's in-game survival knowledge to the very limits!

Peruse the list of all the content creators here.

You can also join Monarky's Discord to stay up-to-date with the event!

Creator: Raasclark
Raasclark and other content creators attempt to survive The Hunted, a brutally hard mod that changes dino behavior, taming, and survival. Can they live through it?

Creator: FirePumpkin
ARKitects' FirePumkin sings a sea shanty about the pirate life on ARK.

Ark Allo by @N4STYR4BBiT

Cute by @bonten_ARK

Let's all be stylish! by @rianeko_mabi

Spacewell by SirFritzM

ARK Plesiosaur by @DW_ARK

I will stand my ground by @CrimzonCurlz99

Snow Owl by @k3zk_627

Iguanodon by Haxxine

Vanaheim wonderfull by Powpiki

Construction of this castle started a month ago, and is still not done! by BlueSky

Sep 22, 2023

Community Crunch 380: Community Creature Winner, LiveOps Update, and More!

ARK: Survival Evolved - ARK: Survival Evolved

The desolate earth of Extinction will welcome a new titan when it releases for ARK: Survival Ascended. We are looking forward to sharing Shastasaurus' dossier as well as the concept for Extinction's winner in the coming weeks.

With over 30k votes, Dreadnoughtus will be the new creature added to Extinction for ARK: Survival Ascended. We are looking forward to sharing its concept and dossier in the weeks to come!

If you are interested in seeing exactly how the voting went, check it out here.

Official Servers will be permanently shut down on Saturday, September 30th at midnight UTC.
It's been a wonderful journey none of us could have expected way back in 2015 and we'll see you just around the corner in ARK: Survival Ascended!

We’ll be taking one last save snapshot from the Official Network and providing the files to you so that you can host your own server and continue the progress you’ve made on the Official Network.

The final save snapshot from the Official Network will happen on Saturday, September 30th (9/30) for both PC and Consoles, this process can take up to 12 hours and will start at midnight UTC.

Click here to see the date/time in your timezone
You will need to ensure your character is on its respective server, prior to the save taking place so we recommend making sure your character is there well before midnight UTC.
Your items, dinos, and characters that have been uploaded to the ARK cloud will not be included in the save! So, please make sure to download anything that you wish to keep from the cloud prior to the save on 9/30.

This final save snapshot will be provided on Thursday, October 5th (10/5).

Survivors on all platforms will be receiving an EVO Event! It will be active until the sunsetting of the servers.
All Official Servers across each platform will be undergoing this evolutionary change which includes:

*Note that these bonuses are multiplicative of the game's standard 1x rates.

Official Servers: 2x XP, Harvesting, Taming and Breeding (imprint, maturation, hatch/gestation), 0.5x Mating Interval, 2x hexagon
Small Tribe Servers: 4.5x XP, Harvesting, Taming and Breeding (imprint, maturation, hatch/gestation), 0.5x Mating Interval, 2x hexagon
ARKPocalypse: 5x XP, Harvesting, Taming and Breeding (imprint, maturation, hatch/gestation), 0.5x Mating Interval, 2x hexagon
Conquest: 5x XP, Harvesting, Taming and Breeding (imprint, maturation, hatch/gestation), 0.5x Mating Interval, 2x hexagon

Fan Art Gallery | Screenshot Gallery | Artist Feedback Form

Monarky's newest season is a massive collaboration of over 30 content creators, challenging them to work together or struggle alone as they battle through one of ARK's most challenging mod, The Hunted!

Welcoming seasoned and newer creators and, this weekend, the public community, Monarky's The Hunted is set to last until ARK: Survival Ascended's release at the end of October! Their goal is to celebrate eight wonderful years of ARK by creating a community network all in support of ARK content and pushing everyone's in-game survival knowledge to the very limits!

Peruse the list of all the content creators here.

You can also join Monarky's Discord to stay up-to-date with the event!

Creator: Second Wave Survivors
This video tells the story of the first survivors to arrive on the Island after the events of the lore have transpired. A man wakes up on a beach naked with no memory of how he got there and must figure out how to survive.

Creator: TheAxeMan
Axeman has another go at taming a Carcharodontosaurus, but this time he is armed with more knowledge on how to get that perfect tame!

Before the storm by @WolfTek7

Oviraptor by Pet1tFlan

Purple Raptor by SketchyFreki

Demonic Ovis From Primal Fear by korrigus

Audience with the Queen by @falco_luna

Forest Titan (1 year of work from stump to titan) by Lasaronen

I'm still in awe that I drew this by @naeriie

A pure white fluffy snow owl and a lively colored Argent by @banbeex1

Sundays were the best on ASE by @Freeza33

Yuti by @yuzu_tyubi

Sep 15, 2023

Community Crunch 379: ASA Cross-Platform Mod Preview

ARK: Survival Evolved - ARK: Survival Evolved

Check out the very first preview of user-generated content from ARK: Survival Ascended's Mod Program! Garuga123's magnificent creations will be accessible across all platforms, including consoles, for launch at the end of October 2023. Modded ARK content has always been popular with the ARK community and we're excited for our extremely talented modding community to get involved in the ASA Mod Program so that they can provide their amazing content to a much larger ARK community!

Download in full resolution

The conclusion of the Extinction Community Creature Vote is imminent, and the level of competition has been nothing short of thrilling. The creatures that have been submitted truly stand out! You still have the weekend to vote for which creature will make a new home on Extinction for ARK: Survival Ascended!

The second round of voting ends on Monday, September 18th at 4 PM Pacific.
The winner* will be announced in the Crunch of Friday, September 22nd, 2023.

Rank the creatures in order of most preferred to least preferred
The vote is limited to 1 submission per person (duplicate entries will be discarded)

Below are the candidates that have made it into the final 10. Find out more information about the creature by clicking on the hyperlink attached to the name. Cast your vote here.

Overview of all the finalists here.

* Note that once the winner has been determined, we'll be reading through these threads and using them as inspiration for how the creature will be designed; aspects suggested may change.

Official Servers: 2x XP, Harvesting, Taming and Breeding (imprint, maturation, hatch/gestation), 0.5x Mating Interval, 2x hexagon
Small Tribe Servers: 4.5x XP, Harvesting, Taming and Breeding (imprint, maturation, hatch/gestation), 0.5x Mating Interval, 2x hexagon
ARKPocalypse: 5x XP, Harvesting, Taming and Breeding (imprint, maturation, hatch/gestation), 0.5x Mating Interval, 2x hexagon
Conquest: 5x XP, Harvesting, Taming and Breeding (imprint, maturation, hatch/gestation), 0.5x Mating Interval, 2x hexagon

Fan Art Gallery | Screenshot Gallery | Artist Feedback Form

Creator: XxStevieLad87xX
Stevie built a brand new base on his Primal Fear server. Inspired by Aaron Longstaff, this tree house will make you wish you had one as well!

Creator: Simulation Survivor
Follow along as Simulation Survivor discovers the intricacy and chaos of a modded ARK!

Just some experimental stuff by @Riinartist

Untitled by @SoupAscended

ARK Yi Ling by @StudiosGoji

Opening of war by @falco_luna

ARK Adventure Diary 2 by @minimumemo_

Sunset by @WolfTek7

Blood wyvern by BonnieFoxxx

This Goat is on FIIRRRRRE by @Kittykatlapurr

Screenshot by hazard

Love the one you're with by PewPewCthulhu

Sep 8, 2023

Community Crunch 378: Extinction Creature Submissions, EVO Event, and More!

ARK: Survival Evolved - ARK: Survival Evolved

While we continue to work on ARK: Survival Ascended, we're enjoying watching how the community creature votes play out along with helping to create those creatures for our players to tame in ASA. There are a few days left to submit and vote for your favorite entries so jump on in if you'd like to contribute and see your favorite come to life in-game!

Our next Community Creature Vote winner will land on the corrupted earth, Extinction. Prepare your submissions for what we expect will bring out the endless creativity of our amazing community and you may find your creature making its debut with the release of the Extinction map on ARK: Survival Ascended!

Please note that this creature will be released for Extinction, so make sure your real-world submissions are in theme with that map! As previously stated, we’ll add an additional real-world creature for each expansion pack map release on ARK: Survival Ascended.

Check out the Creature Submission Guidelines for more information on the submission process, and hop over to the Creature Submission Forum to see the current entries. We are looking forward to seeing your ideas come to life!

The entry period will end at 1 PM Pacific on September 11th.
The voting will begin immediately after and end on September 18th at 1PM Pacific.
The winner will be announced in the Crunch of September 22nd.

Make sure to check our Twitter on September 11th for the RankedVote link!

*Note that the proposed features for the creatures from the submission entry are meant to inspire their design, but certain aspects may still be modified.

ARKpocalypse servers have been wiped today!

What are ARKpocalypse and Beginner Servers?

ARKpocalypse are monthly-wipe servers with higher than usual rates.
Beginner servers are wiped periodically to help provide a fresh beginner experience for new players.

Next (and final) wipe:

ARKpocalypse: September 30th 2023
Beginner: September 30th 2023

You can join them by searching in the server browser! Happy Surviving!

Customer Support for the official ARK: Survival Evolved networks will end on September 29, 2023, at 1:00 PM PST / 4:00 PM EST, in accordance with the scheduled sunsetting of Official Servers. We appreciate your support and engagement throughout the ARK: Survival Evolved journey. Stay tuned because we can't wait to see you surviving and thriving again in ARK: Survival Ascended

To recap previous announcements, we have taken save games from the Official Network and have provided the files to you so that you can host your own server and continue the progress you’ve made on the Official Network.
We have already taken one snapshot and intend to take another during the week of the Official Network Shutdown in September in preparation for ASA’s October release, with more details to come at a later date!
Browse August save games here

Survivors on all platforms will be receiving an EVO Event! It will be active until the sunsetting of the servers on September 30th.
All Official Servers across each platform will be undergoing this evolutionary change which includes:

*Note that these bonuses are multiplicative of the game's standard 1x rates.

Official Servers: 2x XP, Harvesting, Taming and Breeding (imprint, maturation, hatch/gestation), 0.5x Mating Interval, 2x hexagon
Small Tribe Servers: 4.5x XP, Harvesting, Taming and Breeding (imprint, maturation, hatch/gestation), 0.5x Mating Interval, 2x hexagon
ARKPocalypse: 5x XP, Harvesting, Taming and Breeding (imprint, maturation, hatch/gestation), 0.5x Mating Interval, 2x hexagon
Conquest: 5x XP, Harvesting, Taming and Breeding (imprint, maturation, hatch/gestation), 0.5x Mating Interval, 2x hexagon

Fan Art Gallery | Screenshot Gallery | Artist Feedback Form

Creator: Phlinger Phoo
My ARK Story series explores the world of ARK through the eyes of a survivor. Take a step back and relax as Phlinger and his pet monkey Phoo discover this new world they just stepped into.