https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wl5VmPb5frI

ARK Survivors can now experience the one-week-only "Eggcellent Adventure" Event! During this limited-time event, players can collect special "Bunny Eggs" across the ARK, which they can paint or use in special recipes to craft bunny-themed items such as Bunny Ears, or even a Bunny Costume for the Procoptodon! Though Survivors should beware the ferocious Bunny-Dodorex that will roam the ARK throughout the week!



Patch 237 also introduces the much anticipated challenging new Swamp and Snow Caves, which are heavily-geared towards High Level Survivors, containing high-end loot, advanced artifacts, and more clues towards the mysterious Origins of the ARK!



Be warned though survivors, these caves are no easy feat and keep an eye out for those Yetis!



For those asking: the entrances for the new caves, GPS coords are: 29,31 for Snow & 62,37 for Swamp. There may be slight structural changes around those areas (entrances) however the far majority of the caves are new areas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wl5VmPb5frI

ARK Survivors can now experience the one-week-only "Eggcellent Adventure" Event! During this limited-time event, players can collect special "Bunny Eggs" across the ARK, which they can paint or use in special recipes to craft bunny-themed items such as Bunny Ears, or even a Bunny Costume for the Procoptodon! Though Survivors should beware the ferocious Bunny-Dodorex that will roam the ARK throughout the week!



Patch 237 also introduces the much anticipated challenging new Swamp and Snow Caves, which are heavily-geared towards High Level Survivors, containing high-end loot, advanced artifacts, and more clues towards the mysterious Origins of the ARK!



Be warned though survivors, these caves are no easy feat and keep an eye out for those Yetis!



For those asking: the entrances for the new caves, GPS coords are: 29,31 for Snow & 62,37 for Swamp. There may be slight structural changes around those areas (entrances) however the far majority of the caves are new areas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56SvsV6Pb6E

We are excited to announce that ARK: Survival of the Fittest is now available as a totally free, standalone, ‘Multiplayer Online Survival Arena’ built for eSport gameplay!

SotF originated as a spin-off mod which came to be with the release of our ARK: Survival Evolved development kit. The mode was first available as a ‘Total Conversion’ and debuted worldwide with a 70-person slaughter fest of a tournament. Following the success of the game mode, tournaments, and feedback from the community, SotF has been refactored into its own competitive game including four new modes, a robust ranking system, massively boosted performance, cosmetic-tiered rewards, lobbies/parties/on-demand-matchmaking, and constant iteration. That’s not all though! On top of releasing as a free game, SotF will also be awarding cash prizes for the top players in each ‘Survivor League’, so ARK survivors can start playing their favourite game at a professional competitive level!



Survivors can form one to six person Tribes with the options to choose Unofficial (Player-Hosted) and Official (Ranked) servers, and a variety of game-lengths and sizes in which to play. Players will start in the base forest environment introduced in the original ARK: Survival Evolved, with new environments and creatures introduced as the game evolves. Dedicated eSport rankings, matchmaking, reward, and upcoming Tournaments make ARK: SotF readily accessible to all players and after each month we’ll be awarding over $50,000 to the Top-10 Ranked Players in each of the four game modes, referred to as the ‘Survivor League’!



The 'Survivor League' is a LIVE feed of in-game data to see who are the current top ranked players in each game mode!

SotF is balanced for intense competition, contestants begin in a neutral staging area where they can communicate pre-game, strategize, or talk trash. After a countdown, they dramatically descend from the sky onto the ARK in a circular formation via beams of light. There is a cache of valuable items in the center – do survivors dash for the goods and fight it out, do they run into the forest and hide, search for Dinosaurs to rapidly build their army, or do they freeze up from the sheer terror of death? A continually shrinking “Ring of Death” forces contestants ever closer together over time. The hunt is on!

• Free, Action-Packed Core Survival Gameplay
  
• Fully functional spectator system, including First Person Spectator!
  
• 75+ Creatures to Tame and Ride at full launch
  
• Multiple Official Game Modes (FFA, 2 Player Tribes, 4 Player Tribes, and 6 Player Tribes)
  
• Game-Changing Tameable Super Creatures (Dragon, Giant Ape, Brood Mother)
  
• Mysterious “Evolution Events”
  
• Arsenal of Weapons, Traps, Armor, Structures and other Items from
• Primitive to Modern Tech Tiers
  
• Official Ranked and Unofficial customized player-hosted servers
  
• Upcoming Mod Support
  
• Robust Ranking and Tournament System
  
• Exclusive SotF Cosmetic Items that can also be used in ARK: Survival Evolved
  
• One-to-Six Player Tribes
  
• Custom-Painted “War Banners” enable Tribes to show off their team spirit on Flags across their army of Dinosaurs, and are also broadcast on the gigantic billboards during game events. Just don’t draw anything offensive!
  Top-ranked players are listed dynamically on SurviveTheArk.com as the ‘Survivor League’, and provided with over $50,000 in monthly cash prizes!
  
• A custom soundtrack written by award-winning composer of "Ori and the Blind Forest", Gareth Coker!

It would not be what it is today without the support of its very passionate fanbase, which has truly shaped the game. We've had great success with ARK: Survival Evolved being in early access has allowed us to streamline the way we design, develop, and test. We look forward to having SotF enter into Early Access, using our past experiences, working together we’ll be able to take this game to the next level!

We’re launching SotF into Early Access absolutely free with no monetization, however you will get the benefits of a fully-supported game. There will be constant communication and a team working on the project. Band together with your friends and compete for a chance to win exclusive, unique, and fun cosmetics - not to mention bragging rights!



Prepare yourself for the ultimate dinosaur competitive experience. SotF has been developed with passion and love for the genre and the hopes to make this the #1 entry in the category. Come and be a part of history in the making. Tribe up and let’s see who the fittest survivor is!


Some more exciting news for our Asian players! Starting today we will now be allowing purchases for ARK using RMB (China) and NTD (Taiwan)! And with the arrival of these new currency purchasing options, we will be launching a block of new Asian servers hosted throughout Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan. You’ll find this listed on the Official Server filter through Asia 506 to 514, including 3 PvE servers! And there is more where that came from ;)


Last month we had launched a global-testing server to gather feedback and research into how effective hosting these special servers would be. We would like to let you know that this test server will be wiping within 3 months and closer to the time we’ll providing you with a more specific update! Thank you to those of you who have contributed feedback and played on those servers as the information has been very valuable!


If you haven't had a chance to try out ARK yet, consider picking us up as we'll be on Steam's Midweek Madness sale for 40% off!

Thank you survivors for your ongoing support and we really hope you enjoy the game! Don't worry survival fans as we'll be bringing some epic content to you very shortly

All the best,

Wildcard Jat & The ARK Survival Evolved Team

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56SvsV6Pb6E

We are excited to announce that ARK: Survival of the Fittest is now available as a totally free, standalone, ‘Multiplayer Online Survival Arena’ built for eSport gameplay!

SotF originated as a spin-off mod which came to be with the release of our ARK: Survival Evolved development kit. The mode was first available as a ‘Total Conversion’ and debuted worldwide with a 70-person slaughter fest of a tournament. Following the success of the game mode, tournaments, and feedback from the community, SotF has been refactored into its own competitive game including four new modes, a robust ranking system, massively boosted performance, cosmetic-tiered rewards, lobbies/parties/on-demand-matchmaking, and constant iteration. That’s not all though! On top of releasing as a free game, SotF will also be awarding cash prizes for the top players in each ‘Survivor League’, so ARK survivors can start playing their favourite game at a professional competitive level!



Survivors can form one to six person Tribes with the options to choose Unofficial (Player-Hosted) and Official (Ranked) servers, and a variety of game-lengths and sizes in which to play. Players will start in the base forest environment introduced in the original ARK: Survival Evolved, with new environments and creatures introduced as the game evolves. Dedicated eSport rankings, matchmaking, reward, and upcoming Tournaments make ARK: SotF readily accessible to all players and after each month we’ll be awarding over $50,000 to the Top-10 Ranked Players in each of the four game modes, referred to as the ‘Survivor League’!



The 'Survivor League' is a LIVE feed of in-game data to see who are the current top ranked players in each game mode!

SotF is balanced for intense competition, contestants begin in a neutral staging area where they can communicate pre-game, strategize, or talk trash. After a countdown, they dramatically descend from the sky onto the ARK in a circular formation via beams of light. There is a cache of valuable items in the center – do survivors dash for the goods and fight it out, do they run into the forest and hide, search for Dinosaurs to rapidly build their army, or do they freeze up from the sheer terror of death? A continually shrinking “Ring of Death” forces contestants ever closer together over time. The hunt is on!

• Free, Action-Packed Core Survival Gameplay
  
• Fully functional spectator system, including First Person Spectator!
  
• 75+ Creatures to Tame and Ride at full launch
  
• Multiple Official Game Modes (FFA, 2 Player Tribes, 4 Player Tribes, and 6 Player Tribes)
  
• Game-Changing Tameable Super Creatures (Dragon, Giant Ape, Brood Mother)
  
• Mysterious “Evolution Events”
  
• Arsenal of Weapons, Traps, Armor, Structures and other Items from
• Primitive to Modern Tech Tiers
  
• Official Ranked and Unofficial customized player-hosted servers
  
• Upcoming Mod Support
  
• Robust Ranking and Tournament System
  
• Exclusive SotF Cosmetic Items that can also be used in ARK: Survival Evolved
  
• One-to-Six Player Tribes
  
• Custom-Painted “War Banners” enable Tribes to show off their team spirit on Flags across their army of Dinosaurs, and are also broadcast on the gigantic billboards during game events. Just don’t draw anything offensive!
  Top-ranked players are listed dynamically on SurviveTheArk.com as the ‘Survivor League’, and provided with over $50,000 in monthly cash prizes!
  
• A custom soundtrack written by award-winning composer of "Ori and the Blind Forest", Gareth Coker!

It would not be what it is today without the support of its very passionate fanbase, which has truly shaped the game. We've had great success with ARK: Survival Evolved being in early access has allowed us to streamline the way we design, develop, and test. We look forward to having SotF enter into Early Access, using our past experiences, working together we’ll be able to take this game to the next level!

We’re launching SotF into Early Access absolutely free with no monetization, however you will get the benefits of a fully-supported game. There will be constant communication and a team working on the project. Band together with your friends and compete for a chance to win exclusive, unique, and fun cosmetics - not to mention bragging rights!



Prepare yourself for the ultimate dinosaur competitive experience. SotF has been developed with passion and love for the genre and the hopes to make this the #1 entry in the category. Come and be a part of history in the making. Tribe up and let’s see who the fittest survivor is!


Some more exciting news for our Asian players! Starting today we will now be allowing purchases for ARK using RMB (China) and NTD (Taiwan)! And with the arrival of these new currency purchasing options, we will be launching a block of new Asian servers hosted throughout Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan. You’ll find this listed on the Official Server filter through Asia 506 to 514, including 3 PvE servers! And there is more where that came from ;)


Last month we had launched a global-testing server to gather feedback and research into how effective hosting these special servers would be. We would like to let you know that this test server will be wiping within 3 months and closer to the time we’ll providing you with a more specific update! Thank you to those of you who have contributed feedback and played on those servers as the information has been very valuable!


If you haven't had a chance to try out ARK yet, consider picking us up as we'll be on Steam's Midweek Madness sale for 40% off!

Thank you survivors for your ongoing support and we really hope you enjoy the game! Don't worry survival fans as we'll be bringing some epic content to you very shortly

All the best,

Wildcard Jat & The ARK Survival Evolved Team

https://www.twitch.tv/survivetheark

Further details to come later ;)

Everyone's favourite larger-than-life slaughter machine, the Giganotosaurus has undergone a transformation! And it's not the only thing... ;)

Everyone's favourite larger-than-life slaughter machine, the Giganotosaurus has undergone a transformation! And it's not the only thing... ;)

What an intriguing discovery survivors, can you guess what creature it is?

and that's not all...

MysteriousMysteries

What an intriguing discovery survivors, can you guess what creature it is?

and that's not all...

MysteriousMysteries

Recently we picked up Complexminded, an ARK Modder, to act as the new Community Mod Liaison. I recently had a chat with him about his new position, what it'll mean for the ARK Community and his mod, Primitive+.


Hey Jat!

We’re starting off with expectations already Jat? Nice welcome eh :) ? I have some really exciting ideas for mods in general and things we can do to organize the modding forum a bit but what I’m really interested in what the community wants out of a mod. Not only do I want to focus on the development side, but I’d also like to focus on the consumer side. Maybe we can give Drake that tornado he’s been wanting.

More importantly, I want to give people the same opportunity I had. Just a couple of weeks ago I wasn't working at a place that I never thought I'd have a chance to work with. It may sound silly, but that's due to a mod and the help of the modding forum and community. I hope to work with the mod community to figure out what makes sense and fill in the gaps with educational material where needed. There are already some helpful modders in the forums and I'd be looking to put them on an official team to help spread the knowledge and inspire other modders out there! There are also some things I know modders have asked for in the dev kit and I’ll be able to put a little pressure on the team :)

I'm also a big fan of modding and visit the workshop to try new mods. I'll be spotlighting things and talking with various mod authors because, let's be honest, I can learn too! I'm inspired by a lot of things I see and I love finding out the inspiration for some of the mods I see, particularly maps. Ideally, I'm here to be the voice, so it's about what the community wants.

On the Primitive+ side, it's going to be much of the same aggressive development cycle. It's a constant iteration. As the team adds more content into vanilla ARK, I will look to find primitive alternatives for accomplishing the same thing. It will continue to grow even as official content winds down. My hope is that the following and support for the mod grows which will allow me to make it the best primitive experience ever!




Lot's has happened since the last time we chatted. Shortly after entering the contest, that crazy thing we call life happened. I had a lot going on personally and at my job which took me away from Primitive+ and the community. While there are some things I know I should have done differently, thank you for all those who hung around. I think anyone who followed the mod before knows that I am very active and dedicated to the idea I'm trying to convey.

Winning the contest was unbelievable! There was a lot of good content and I'll be completely honest, I didn't think I would win. I really didn't! Actually I wouldn't have found out I won for a while. A co-worker was following the contest and asked me if I heard anything. It wasn't a few days later until they said "look in your spam folder", and there it was! I'd like to thank everyone who supported and now I get to support the next winner!

I always had plans to continue after the contest and the original mod was in the workshop before the contest was an idea. During the reboot of the mod outage I starting talking to Studio Wildcard about a position for the mod community and here I am! I'm excited to be a part of what's going on here at Wildcard and I can't wait to continue working on Primitive Plus.




The biggest thing I get is "This is primitive.... with guns???" Yes, this IS primitive with guns :) Keep in mind that this mod isn't based in a medieval era or a specific technology age. The premise looks at what would be possible with present day knowledge and the resources that ARK provides. What would be possible? You'd be amazed how things, like electric, that can be made with primitive resources. I started this mod looking for a more immersive and realistic experience. While in some ways it may feel more "grindy" than a traditional experience, it counterbalances that by the added immersion of the character you are playing.

Before I add content I do a considerable amount of research and think how it adds value to the mod and if it would be realistic. My friends laugh when they come over and see me watching some documentary about present day indigenous tribes that still live a primitive lifestyle.

Primitive+ is very similar to traditional primitive in terms of weapons and tiers of material, It's aimed to create an economy and a trade system by using specializations. Every additional resource or object relies on another "specialization" offered in the mod. You will find in Primitive+, that original ARK items have different art, names, or just work differently than you would expect. I'm constantly tinkering and re-thinking things based off the feedback I'm getting and educational material I review. At this moment, there are over 100 custom items, resources, and objects for you to explore and personalize your experience with!

Recently, we launched some official servers for Primitive+. That means you WILL be able to find me on official servers playing and getting feedback in person. My first time loading into the official server I announced myself and got punched in the face I'll take that feedback too!!

I would like for all those joining to keep in mind, that this mod will continue to grow and change much like the traditional content. There will be bugs and issues so be sure to check the workshop page and report what you are seeing. I make mistakes, but I also fix them. Usually ;) I have a lot of things in store for the future of Primitive+ (wagons, electric, more meals/seeds, lights, etc). More importantly, the fans know that a lot of these ideas came from them! Keep submitting your experiences!



For those of you who would like to give Primitive+ a shot, we've launched some Official Servers for you to play with!

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=504360469

He'll also be creating a thread on both UE4 Forums & Our Workshop to keep you guys posted on all the latest news surrounding Primitive+, as well as the possibility for Official Supported mods!