Hi everyone,

Over the past few weeks we have been focusing our efforts on a new RPG element for the game, which is the trait and instincts system. Unlike skills where players would need to manually allocate a skill point every time the dinosaur levels up, traits and instincts will have to be earned and they will be allocated automatically when you earn them. Each trait and instinct have different ways of earning and will give out different effects, for example, a certain trait is earned by doing activities during the night, some requires the player to hunt certain dinosaurs, etc.

Due to the sheer number of things, it’s a bit difficult for us to list every detail that have been added for this system, because of this, we are going to just list out the general outline of this element and let you find out for yourselves in the game.

A bit of side note before we get into the general list of things, with the addition of traits and instincts to the game, we have decided to remove the class system for each dinosaur. We do this because the current functionality has enabled players to earn their way to become whichever class they choose to be based on their playstyle. We feel this is much less restrictive compared to the old method where the dinosaur class has been pre-determined in the character selection.

General outline:
• Added instincts and traits, two instincts and five traits for each playable campaign dinosaurs. Each instinct and trait have different effects and different methods of earning.
• Added new instincts and traits UI to the skills menu to help players keep track of their progression and help explain the different effects and earning methods of each instinct and trait.
• Class system removed. Class is now earned through instincts and traits based on the player’s playstyle.
• Highly toxic edible resources will deplete its nutrition when eaten.

Note:
Much of this functionality is still early and will be balanced later on.

Hi everyone,

This is the first part of updates that will be focusing on the campaign mode. Seeing the size of the campaign mode, we have decided to do split our updates into multiple parts, focusing on specific elements that would benefit the campaign mode. Doing this will not only reduce the amount of time between public updates, but also helps us focus on specific elements.

It must be noted, however, that differences between updates will not be too significant, coupled this with an additional devlab updates between public updates, the transition from update to update will be much less significant and more gradual.

As was established in our previous devlab branch (Version 0.1.2.1.S.1), this update mainly focuses on refining two major elements which are the AI and Combat system. In addition, three small areas have also been added to the map. At this moment, these areas are still very basic and would be further improved later on.

Combat Improvements:
• Action and reaction system added. The addition of action and reaction system makes combat look and feel more impactful as creatures are either pushed back or moving towards their opponent.
• Added weight and attack power. Weight determines how well a creature could withstand being pushed by others. Attack power determines how capable the creature is in pushing others.
• Added and improved Get-Hit animation. Now when attacked by a heavy attack, creatures will play the Get-Hit animation, making heavy attacks feel more powerful.
• Stationary Attack animations added. Stationary attack animations have been added to better support the new combat system.
• Attack cooldowns added. This helps smoothen attack transitions and pace.
• Movement and non-movement based attacks differentiated. Now creatures will play different sets of animation depending on their movement, so attack animations between moving creatures will be different compared to idle creatures.

AI Improvements:
• AI nutrition needs added. AIs will now grow hungry and look for edible resources.
• AI Roaring improved. AIs will only roar when they are at a certain distance from their opponents.
• AI Attack transitions and switching improved. AI attacks will now be more consistent.
• AI Cower behavior improved. Cowering AIs will now move randomly, making them more difficult to catch and hunt down.
• Significant rotation speed increase. This helps the AI move more fluidly.

General Additions:
• Three small regions added to the map which are the southern swamp, lake, and mountain lake.

General fixes:
• Camera Clipping Fixed. Decrease camera clipping distance with the terrain.
• Toxicity fixed. Highly toxic resources will not deplete health immediately when eaten, instead will deplete health overtime. The higher the difference between the resource toxicity and toxic resistance would result in faster health depletion. Nutritious but highly toxic resources would deplete health longer.
• Increase drinking restore rate. Drinking will now restore more health and regain more thirst stamina.
• Player Input fix. Player input would not be registered when the game is paused.
• Stamina depletion fix. Stamina will no longer deplete automatically when shift is held down while idle, stamina will deplete only when shift is held down while the player is running.
• Map borders and colliders fixed. Now map borders will look more natural and have more accurate colliders.
• Log and wood colliders fixed.
• Spawner region fixed.

Hi everyone,

Over these past few weeks we have been revising and improving the combat and AI for the game. We realized that our old combat system was a little too stationary, because of this we have implemented a new system that would make it more active.

In this new system, creatures in combat will be able to push or be pushed by others, we have also coupled this with an improved “Get-Hit” animation and stationary attack animations to make attack animations feel and look more powerful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikooHjKDK1g
Because of the ridiculous amount of time creating proper and fluid attack animations, we have decided to add and improve these animations much later on when all other core elements have been implemented into the game.

Another thing about the new combat system is that we have also differentiated between moving and stationary attacks.This made sure that moving creatures will play different sets of animation depending on their movement, so attack animations between moving creatures will be different compared to stationary creatures.

Aside from the combat system, we have also improved a bunch of things for the AI. One of the most noticeable one is that AIs will now have a need for resources, this means that AIs will eventually grow hungry and would need to look for resources.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DG4uDJjOJ8
Currently all of this is available in our DevLab branch (V.0.1.2.1.S.1). With the amount of things that have been added, we wanted to make sure that there aren’t any game breaking bugs before we go public with this update.

That’s currently it for this Devlog, more updates coming soon.

Hi everyone,

The Super Model Update (Version 0.1.1.0) is now LIVE for the public!

This update gives massive improvements to the overall look of the game, from the models, to the animation, to the environment and additional lighting elements such as volumetric lighting and clouds, we wanted to make sure that we pushed our boundaries and make this game look great.

Now let’s get into the details, we will be comparing this with our previous public build (Version 0.1.0.2).

Major Overhauls:
• Dinosaurs have been remodeled and reanimated. These new models have been successfully integrated are now available for both the adventure and campaign mode.
• Campaign Environment has been overhauled with the addition of better textures and foliage.
• Campaign Lighting has been revamped with the addition of volumetric lighting and volumetric clouds which significantly increase the quality and overall look of the game.
• The Campaign Character Selection scene has been greatly overhauled with the addition of an actual 3d environment and a newly updated UI.

Added:
• New Dinosaur models have been fully integrated into the game
• New terrain textures
• New foliage
• Volumetric lighting and clouds have been integrated, giving better and more accurate lighting to the scene
• Screen Fader added to both the campaign and adventure mode character selection scene
• Environment and Dinosaur Information have been added to the Campaign Character Selection Scene

Improved:
• Massive Image effect improvements: AO, AA, Bloom, color correction, and optimization.
• Player HUD for the campaign mode has been improved, now the player HUD for both the adventure and campaign mode will look more consistent
• Head Icons for the Skills menu have been changed, now the head icons will represent the current models
• Juvenile and Sub Adult Triceratops movement animations improved
• Attack Animations for all dinosaurs have been improved
• Utahraptor and Parkosaurus speed increased
• Adventure Mode Character Selection Background improved
• Adventure and Campaign Character Selection UI improved

Fixed:
• AI Cower behavior, Coward AIs will only cower if attack or if it sees a carnivore
• Navigation Area, AIs will not be able to walk through water
• Spawning Regions, AIs will not be spawned on (or under) water
• Spawning, AIs will now be spawned closer to the ground
• Wood, Log, and stump Collision
• Ambient SFX lowered
• Brightness lowered

Disabled
• Unique AIs (Temporarily Disabled)

Note:
The addition of new models and volumetric lighting and clouds has made the game more performance intensive to run. If you are playing on a computer close to the minimum system requirements, we strongly advised you to lower your graphics settings in the main menu.

Hi everyone,

We’re excited to let you know that the Super Model update (Version 0.1.1) is now LIVE!

We will provide further details with the update notes right after this devlog. Since our update to the devlab branch, we have been working on fixing some errors and bugs to make sure that we will have a build ready for the public branch. Aside from fixing errors and bugs, we’ve also added several new things to make it different and more unique compared to the current devlab build.

One of the most noticeable thing is the newly overhauled character selection scene for the campaign mode. We feel that the old character selection screen is a bit too basic and doesn’t really keep up with the new look of the overall game. So we decided to add an environment into it and completely revamped the UI.



The character selection now also gives information regarding the current dinosaur you have selected. This information gives an insight as to how the general build of the dinosaur is going to be and what to expect when playing it in the campaign mode.

With the environment added to the scene, the character selection scene feels much more natural and more connected to the campaign mode.

That’s currently it for this devlog, more updates coming soon!

Hi everyone,

As mentioned in our previous post, we are currently doing a complete overhaul of our models. This means that almost all of our models will be remade and reanimated from scratch, which takes a bit of time to accomplish. However, we wanted to let you know that we have finished remodeling our models and we will be showing them here in this devlog. Keep in mind, some of them have not been rigged or animated yet so the pose would be a bit off.








As some of you might noticed, currently our models are based on dinosaurs from Cretaceous (early to late) North America. We do this because of two reasons.

The first is that, doing this enables us to bundle additional dinosaurs based on their time period and location, which means that if we were to add additional creatures later on, unless they are from Cretaceous North America, we will not only give you the creatures themselves, but also an entirely new world, with a whole new ecosystem and challenges. The second reason is that, having a bundled approach to our creatures would make it much easier for us to balance the game because we know which role each creature takes, for example: Tyrannosaurus as an apex predator that hunts tanks, Parkosaurus as a small and easy prey, etc.

A bit of a disclaimer though, we are not looking to make a full representation of the prehistoric world, because of this we must strongly emphasize that the biomes are not and may not be a correct representation. In a nutshell, we wanted to have full artistic freedom for the environments and gameplay elements, but we wanted each environment to have a specific set of creatures.

Aside from the models, we have also done a minor overhaul of our environment so that they will not look disjointed with the new models. This includes better terrain textures, grass, image effects, and the addition of volumetric lighting. Here are a couple of screenshots of our models in the game.





Currently volumetric lighting is performance intensive, especially with a map of this size, so we need to optimize this a bit further.

The next step for us is to animate the remaining models and integrate them into the game. If everything goes accordingly, by the time our next post is up, the major update would have been live. This major update would be called the “Super Model” update.

That’s currently it for this devlog, more updates coming soon!

Hi everyone,

We’re excited to let you know that the long anticipated Rhino Update (Version 0.1.0.2) is now Live! There is a lot of features being added to this version, and to reduce ambiguity, we will only be comparing this with our previous public build (V.0.0.10.12).

Compared with previous public build (V.0.0.10.12):

Minor animation overhaul:
Several dinosaur animations have been remade, such as walk, run, dying, and more. Almost all playable dinosaur animations have been remade.

Added:
• New playable dinosaur! The Triceratops. Juvenile, Sub Adult, and Adult Triceratops have been integrated into the game and are now available to be played in the campaign mode.
• Population dynamic integrated for Triceratops in the campaign mode.
• Unique AIs. Unique Utahraptor, Chilesaurus, and Ankylosaurus have been added to the campaign mode.
• New XP Contributor. Edible Plants will now give XP points when eaten by herbivores.
• Adventure mode. A linear based experience centered around missions and objectives.
• New Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops model is now playable in the adventure mode.
• Environment Settings and weather side effects for the adventure mode.
• Execution system for combat in the adventure mode.
• Get hit animation implemented. Cowering AIs will now play a hit animation when attacked.

Fixed:
• AIs will not go through terrain when dead.
• Weather transition will be longer and less abrupt.
• Each weather will now be longer.
• Rain will now be less common.
• XP boosted for all AIs, AIs will now give more XP when killed, making it easier and faster to level up.
• Major speed increase for several creatures.
• AI will not be able to go through redwood logs.
• AI Navigation. AI will continue to seek path even if player is outside of walkable area.
• AI stamina will now deplete and regenerate according to the AI’s activities.
• AI Reaction. AI is more stable and will react accordingly.

Improved:
• AI will regenerate stamina when stopping and when walking. AI will only be able to run again after stamina has been fully replenished.
• Saving system: progress for each dinosaur is stored automatically for each individual dinosaur so you don’t have to start a new game if you want to play as a different dinosaur. Because of this you can play as a tyrannosaurus, quit the game or to the main menu, and play as a triceratops without losing any progress for both of them.

Removed:
• AI attack stamina usage

Note:
For this Version (Version 0.1.0.2), The New Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops models are only available in the adventure mode. All models in the game will eventually be replaced in future updates. Adventure mode is currently performance intensive, make sure to lower your settings in the options menu before going into the adventure mode. Further optimizations will be implemented in future updates.

Hi everyone,

We have a lot of very exciting things to show, so sit tight because this is going to be a lengthy post.

After months of work and improvements, we are finally confident to say that the rhino update will be live for the public very soon. This update allows players to play as our second playable character, the Triceratops, from juvenile to adult in the main campaign.



Just like the Tyrannosaurus, the Triceratops will also be faced with unique challenges for each growth stage, making each growth stage unique and offer diverse challenges to the player.

Aside from the Triceratops we are also working on something very special, very ambitious. After a few weeks consulting internally, we have decided that we will do a complete overhaul of our models. At first we plan on doing this in the polishing stage once everything has been set in place. But throughout development, it is clear that this must be done early due to the amount of restrictions we faced with the old models and things that would potentially pile up later if left unattended. We have taken steps to remodel our models and so far everything is going rather smoothly.



The slight caveat of a complete model overhaul is that it is very time consuming. Because of this, rather than completely reworking on our models and giving a massive update once it’s done, we have also decided to use some of our newly finished models and use them in a new, smaller mode, the adventure mode.

With a new, smaller, much linear mode in place, we have the ability to experiment new mechanics much quicker and showcase not just our models, but several mechanics and how we plan for the game to look visually later on. Currently the adventure mode features our new adult Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops.



At this moment, only the new Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops have been implemented to game and are only available in the adventure mode as the rest are still in the works. Once all of them have been finished we will take steps on implementing them not just to the adventure mode, but to all modes in the game.





Aside from the models and visuals, we have also implemented several new mechanics and gameplay elements for the adventure mode. The first is environment settings and weather effects. The character selection for the adventure mode allows players to customize how they would like the environment to be, such as choosing weather type, time of day, etc.



These will have an impact during gameplay, if we were to look at a much milder example, choosing heavy rain or light rain will resulted in edible plants to regrow much faster but carcasses to decay quicker, or if we were to look at a much more extreme example, choosing storm will resulted in higher water levels that causes flooding, which then resulted in several edible resources to not be accessible.





The comparison between the two pictures above shows how extreme weather effects could impact the environment. The top picture shows that water level is stable. This is visible if we look at the rocky pathway, which is dry. The bottom picture shows that water level has increased. This is visible when looking at the rocky pathway that has been flooded.

Because of this, players would be able to customize their own challenges through the environment rather than through a difficulty settings.

The second thing that we have been working on is execution. This new mechanic allows players to execute a target when the target has low health.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3b0iRjtgT6s&feature=youtu.be
Currently the execution mechanic is still very limited and only available for the adventure mode. We will expand this functionality as we develop the game.

That’s currently it for this devlog, we are looking forward to hear your thoughts about this new update once it’s live.

More updates coming soon!

Hi everyone,

For a couple of weeks we’ve been focusing our efforts on integrating the triceratops to the game, and we’re excited to say that it has been successfully integrated to the game. However, at this moment, we’re not confident enough to set this live to the public branch as it still needs a bit more testing and tweaking, mainly the animation and population system. Because of this, we have made the triceratops available to the devlab branch through Update 0.1.0.1.S.1. Find out more about this update in the DevLab Info and Discussion. We’re really excited to hear your thoughts and feedback regarding our newest character before we set this live for the public.



Aside from the triceratops, we’ve also made some new things to help differentiate its playstyle with the tyrannosaurus. One of this is that edible plants will give out XP points when eaten, with plants having higher toxicity level giving out more XP points, this will make the playstyle of triceratops less aggressive and more defensive compared to the tyrannosaurus.

We’ve also integrated unique AIs. Unique AIs are rare variant of a species native to the region. They are extremely rare and when killed they will give more XP points compared to their casual counterpart, however, they are much stronger so be cautious when engaging them in combat.



That’s currently it for this devlog and more updates coming soon!

Hi everyone, we’re excited to let you know that Version 0.0.10.12 (Nature Update) is now Live!



There is a lot of features being added to this version, especially if you’re comparing it with the previous public build (V.0.0.9.11), however, for some of you who have played the tester’s branch (V.0.0.10.12.S.1), the improvements may not be as significant. Because of this, we’ll be comparing this version with our previous public build (V.0.0.9.11) and the current Beta build (V.0.0.10.12.S.1) for better clarity. Let’s get started:

Compared with previous public build (Compared with V.0.0.9.11):

Major Overhaul:
• Map/Environment. The map has been greatly overhauled, from the addition of weather system, day and night cycle, dynamic shaders, and the inclusion of several new biomes such as the redwood swamps, conifer forest, and more!

Added:
• Weather system. Weather has been added to the game.
• Day and night cycle. Day and night cycle has been added to the game.
• AI Stamina system. AIs will now get tired after chasing a target for a period of time.
• Edible Plants. Edible plants have been added and integrated with population dynamic.
• Carcasses. Carcasses have been added and integrated with population dynamic.
• Plant life report. Population report has been updated and now will be able to report edible plants in the scene.
• Resource trend report. Population report now shows resource trends.
• AI Stats UI, shown when the AI is being tracked by the player.
• Save button (pause menu). Players can now save the game manually in the pause menu without having to quit the game.

Improved:
• Environment Lighting.
• General Shader improvements. Objects will now respond to weather changes, for example, trees will get wet during the rain, and will dry up when the rain stops.
• AI Spawners. AIs will be spawned in more naturally.
• Tracking. Tracking can now be used to highlight both AIs and resources, highlighted AIs will show their stats UI while highlighted Resources will show their resources UI
• Skills menu. The skills menu has been reworked, making it more compact. This still needs a bit of tweaking so will be improved later on.

Fixed:
• Borders and navigation area fixed. AIs will not go through map boundaries.
• Bug while loading fixed.
• Bug when AI dies but still stands up fixed.
• Redwood log collider fixed. Players will not be able to go through fallen redwood logs

Removed:
• Fur Shader.


Compared with tester’s build (Compared with V.0.0.10.12.S.1):

Added:
• Heavy rain and storm added.
• Day and night cycle added.
• AI Stats UI, shown when the AI is being tracked by the player.
• Carcasses. Carcasses have been added and integrated with population dynamic.
• Plant life report. Population report has been updated and now will be able to report edible plants in the scene.
• Resource trend report. Population report now shows resource trends.

Improved:
• Optimization, the game will now run smoother and faster.
• Tracking. Tracking can now be used to highlight both AIs and resources, highlighted AIs will show their stats UI while highlighted Resources will show their resources UI.
• Skills menu. The skills menu has been reworked, making it more compact. This still needs a bit of tweaking so will be improved later on.
• Edible plants integrated with population dynamic.
• AI Spawner system. Increased number of AIs spawned and further alignment with population dynamic, now rare AIs will be rare and common AIs will be more common.

Fixed:
• Resources UI is now disabled by default.
• Redwood log collider fixed. Players will not be able to go through fallen redwood logs.
• Weather volume has been decreased.
• Second island flowers shortened.