ARK: Survival Evolved

Ark: Survival Evolved launched in early access on Steam in June this year, and within a month had sold a million copies. Now, as reported by Studio Wildcard co-founder Jesse Rapczak in a Reddit AMA, Ark has sold two million copies.

The game hasn't escaped controversy, however. For those concerned about the technical performance of Ark, which is something that has come up in the comments on previous articles, some of the answers on that AMA may be of interest. For instance, when asked if Studio Wildcard is holding back on a DX12 update for AMD, Rapczak said:

DX12 is a new technology and it's very complicated even for the largest teams to get everything working smoothly. We care greatly about this but want the experience to be extremely polished and exactly what people expect. The DX11 technology the engine is built on is extremely mature and DX12 just isn't ready for us yet for a variety of reasons.

Other answers cover upcoming features, like the team's plan to implement group and hierarchy-based behaviours for some creatures. There's also important info on hatching and raising baby dinosaurs.

Ark: Survival Evolved is set to receive fewer updates as it nears proper release, though only last week the game was updated with two new biomes. If it's already managed to sell two million copies in four months, how many will it have sold before it comes out of early access next year?

ARK: Survival Evolved - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Joe Donnelly)

ARK: Survival Evolved [official site] plans to include over 100 unique prehistoric pets by the time it’s ready for full release. During a Reddit AMA last night, developers Studio Wildcard confirmed it hopes to introduce a century of habitat-specific creatures once the game is done with Early Access, after introducing us to winged beast Quetz earlier this week. Furthermore, ARK’s upcoming Halloween update will give players the chance to tame otherworldly monstrosities that will carry over into the main game. Scared? Me neither. Hop inside for more. Go on, you first.

… [visit site to read more]

ARK: Survival Evolved - Jat


ARK: Fear Evolved

We have an exciting late-October special event in the works for all ARK Survivors, so fun that we just couldn’t wait to give you a brief preview. For about a week toward the end of October, the ARK will be undergoing a brief seasonal change where the air becomes cooler, the days shorter & the nights longer, the moon a certain shade of red, bats and other nasty creatures appearing above-ground, carvable pumpkins sprouting up, rumors of powerful undead beasts roaming the land -- and emerging from the mists, the mythical Dodorex makes its appearance at last astride an army of bloodthirsty zombie Dodos, with limited edition treats for those Survivors brave enough to take on the many tricks of ARK: Fear Evolved! What a run-on sentence, phew! More details and media will be unveiled as we approach our favorite time of the year, happy hunting Survivors :)



Dino Dossiers

We have no new favorites to introduce to you guys today, but don’t worry, we’re not done yet! We’ll still be releasing Dino Dossiers however as we approach our final number of over 100 creatures, we’ll be cutting down the rate at which dossiers are revealed. So from this week onwards we’ll only be showcasing one dossier per week, on Monday! And we’ll generally do news drops plus other development tidbits on Wednesday with the ARK Digest.

ARK Digest!

Welcome to the eighteenth issue of the ARK Digest! For those who missed the previous issues, check out the Announcement forum section on the Steam Community Hub and be sure to catch up with what you’ve missed as there is tons for you to catch up on!

Alienware Modding Contest



Hope you guys haven’t forgotten about the epic modding contest we’ve got going with Alienware! We encourage any and all survivors interested in modding and currently working on their own version of the ARK to submit their mods to the contest! We’ve got loads of prizes up for grabs and are super excited to see your envisions of ARK come to life!

We’ve also recently extended the original deadline, so check out this thread for all the extra details!

Survival of the Fittest: The Last Stand

Just a reminder Survivors that we’re still running our Survival of the Fittest: The Last Stand open preliminary qualifications! We’ve got a mega-thread on the progression of the tournament, including updates, rules, server-status, and patch notes that will be regularly updated when things happen which need to be brought to your attention. The next preliminary sessions will continue tomorrow at 12pm Eastern Time through 8 pm Eastern, so we encourage everyone to join up then and have your Tribe enter the competition, show the world what you’re made of! More details here:

Survival of the Fittest: The Last Stand

Reddit AMA!

Tomorrow at 1PM PST / 4PM EST, One of our Co-Founders and the Co-Creative Director, Jesse Rapczak will be conducting an AMA on www.reddit.com/r/games - be sure to check it out and grill him with what you’d like to know about the ARK!

Community Crunch Contests

Be sure to check out our two-weekly running contests! ARKitect and ARKArt where we check out the best bases and the best pieces of art in the game! If you’d like to submit your base or something you’ve created in the game, you can check out the entries thread here which will fill you in on all the rules too!

Community Crunch Contest Submissions

ARK Digest Q&A

And now for the Q+A!

Boom.. boom… boom..

ARK: Survival Evolved - Jat


ARK: Fear Evolved

We have an exciting late-October special event in the works for all ARK Survivors, so fun that we just couldn’t wait to give you a brief preview. For about a week toward the end of October, the ARK will be undergoing a brief seasonal change where the air becomes cooler, the days shorter & the nights longer, the moon a certain shade of red, bats and other nasty creatures appearing above-ground, carvable pumpkins sprouting up, rumors of powerful undead beasts roaming the land -- and emerging from the mists, the mythical Dodorex makes its appearance at last astride an army of bloodthirsty zombie Dodos, with limited edition treats for those Survivors brave enough to take on the many tricks of ARK: Fear Evolved! What a run-on sentence, phew! More details and media will be unveiled as we approach our favorite time of the year, happy hunting Survivors :)



Dino Dossiers

We have no new favorites to introduce to you guys today, but don’t worry, we’re not done yet! We’ll still be releasing Dino Dossiers however as we approach our final number of over 100 creatures, we’ll be cutting down the rate at which dossiers are revealed. So from this week onwards we’ll only be showcasing one dossier per week, on Monday! And we’ll generally do news drops plus other development tidbits on Wednesday with the ARK Digest.

ARK Digest!

Welcome to the eighteenth issue of the ARK Digest! For those who missed the previous issues, check out the Announcement forum section on the Steam Community Hub and be sure to catch up with what you’ve missed as there is tons for you to catch up on!

Alienware Modding Contest



Hope you guys haven’t forgotten about the epic modding contest we’ve got going with Alienware! We encourage any and all survivors interested in modding and currently working on their own version of the ARK to submit their mods to the contest! We’ve got loads of prizes up for grabs and are super excited to see your envisions of ARK come to life!

We’ve also recently extended the original deadline, so check out this thread for all the extra details!

Survival of the Fittest: The Last Stand

Just a reminder Survivors that we’re still running our Survival of the Fittest: The Last Stand open preliminary qualifications! We’ve got a mega-thread on the progression of the tournament, including updates, rules, server-status, and patch notes that will be regularly updated when things happen which need to be brought to your attention. The next preliminary sessions will continue tomorrow at 12pm Eastern Time through 8 pm Eastern, so we encourage everyone to join up then and have your Tribe enter the competition, show the world what you’re made of! More details here:

Survival of the Fittest: The Last Stand

Reddit AMA!

Tomorrow at 1PM PST / 4PM EST, One of our Co-Founders and the Co-Creative Director, Jesse Rapczak will be conducting an AMA on www.reddit.com/r/games - be sure to check it out and grill him with what you’d like to know about the ARK!

Community Crunch Contests

Be sure to check out our two-weekly running contests! ARKitect and ARKArt where we check out the best bases and the best pieces of art in the game! If you’d like to submit your base or something you’ve created in the game, you can check out the entries thread here which will fill you in on all the rules too!

Community Crunch Contest Submissions

ARK Digest Q&A

And now for the Q+A!

Boom.. boom… boom..

ARK: Survival Evolved - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Joe Donnelly)

Following last week’s rather extensive update, ARK: Survival Evolved [official site] has welcomed a new species of dinosaur to its shores – a “massive flying battleship” creature identified as Quetzalcoatlus that goes by the synonym Quetz.

Although I’d have to question the physical plausibility of this particular beast – something we’ve put to experts in the past – hopping aboard a Quetz and taking to the skies does look like fun, if the trailer below is anything to go by.

… [visit site to read more]

ARK: Survival Evolved - Jat


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lV4E3-UDUCA

Spotlight: Quetzalcoatlus!

From afar, it’s hard to believe that Quetzalcoatlus is one of the largest avian on the island. It shares a similar silhouette with the Pteranodon, and nests near the absolute highest peaks. Upon closer inspection, though, Quetzalcoatlus is an enormous creature of tremendous power.



Known to his friends simply as “Quetz” this gigantic creature has a very specific role on the island. Too slow to be an efficient local transport, and too weak to be an effective warbird, the tribes we’ve encountered tend to employ it as a mass carrier. Quetzalcoatlus is primarily used by these masters of the skies to safely carry vast quantities of supplies, creatures, and human cargo from one base to another without tiring. Some tribes have been known to build upon their saddles and forge giant moving bases and epic battle fortresses! Update your games and scour the skies to locate the rare beast flying among the clouds!



Midweek Madness!

For those of you who have yet to visit the island, you can start your epic adventure with ARK: Survival Evolved during our limited-time sale through Thursday on Steam for $19.99! That’s a 33% discount off the regular game!

We’re hoping to see you guys in game and in the skies, manning these powerful beasts and roaming the skies with your tribe!



Survival of the Fittest: The Last Stand

Our epic Last Stand tournament will continue today at approximately 3:30PM EST. We are excited to announce that we’ll have some fantastic new changes in this version with the arrival of ALL THREE BOSSES, 6-PLAYER TRIBES and FREE WARPAINT! So get excited and get ready to do battle guys!

Be sure to follow this thread for all the latest updates: http://steamcommunity.com/app/346110/discussions/0/517142892053063533/
ARK: Survival Evolved - Jat


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lV4E3-UDUCA

Spotlight: Quetzalcoatlus!

From afar, it’s hard to believe that Quetzalcoatlus is one of the largest avian on the island. It shares a similar silhouette with the Pteranodon, and nests near the absolute highest peaks. Upon closer inspection, though, Quetzalcoatlus is an enormous creature of tremendous power.



Known to his friends simply as “Quetz” this gigantic creature has a very specific role on the island. Too slow to be an efficient local transport, and too weak to be an effective warbird, the tribes we’ve encountered tend to employ it as a mass carrier. Quetzalcoatlus is primarily used by these masters of the skies to safely carry vast quantities of supplies, creatures, and human cargo from one base to another without tiring. Some tribes have been known to build upon their saddles and forge giant moving bases and epic battle fortresses! Update your games and scour the skies to locate the rare beast flying among the clouds!



Midweek Madness!

For those of you who have yet to visit the island, you can start your epic adventure with ARK: Survival Evolved during our limited-time sale through Thursday on Steam for $19.99! That’s a 33% discount off the regular game!

We’re hoping to see you guys in game and in the skies, manning these powerful beasts and roaming the skies with your tribe!



Survival of the Fittest: The Last Stand

Our epic Last Stand tournament will continue today at approximately 3:30PM EST. We are excited to announce that we’ll have some fantastic new changes in this version with the arrival of ALL THREE BOSSES, 6-PLAYER TRIBES and FREE WARPAINT! So get excited and get ready to do battle guys!

Be sure to follow this thread for all the latest updates: http://steamcommunity.com/app/346110/discussions/0/517142892053063533/
ARK: Survival Evolved - Jat


Dino Dossier

A new Dino Dossier has been revealed, this one is everyone’s favorite bouncing beast of burden, the Procoptodon!
ARK: Survival Evolved - Jat


Dino Dossier

A new Dino Dossier has been revealed, this one is everyone’s favorite bouncing beast of burden, the Procoptodon!
ARK: Survival Evolved - Jat


Dino Dossier

A new Dino Dossier has been revealed, this one is everyone’s favorite skittish diving companion, the Diplocaulus!

Survival of the Fittest: Warpaint & Character Appearance Saving!

This Saturday we’ll be adding Warpaint to Survival of the Fittest with unlimited painting colours! This means you’ll be able to don your survivors, items and dinosaurs with your fearsome designs as you charge into battle to kill your opponents! Hoping to see some epic tribe-crests on the victors of the games :)



And something else that we’re also working on is the ability to save your characters and creatures appearances! This means that you’ll be able to spend some time customizing how you would like your characters and creatures to look, and in the future when you decide to play another round of SoTF, you’ll be able to load up that appearance right away!

Survival of the Fittest: The Last Stand Preliminaries

We’ve got our preliminaries opening again tomorrow from 12PM EST to 9PM EST! Keep your eye out for the servers when they launch and you can stay up to date on all the latest information in our Survival of the Fittest Mega Thread and don’t forget to tune in on our twitch channel, SurvivetheARK!

Good luck Survivors!
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