The time has finally arrived - Prehistoric Kingdom is now available in Early Access for $29.99 USD! Thank you to everyone who has shown their support along the way, we can’t wait to continue this amazing journey with you all.
Feature Overview
Prehistoric Kingdom's Early Access release offers 23 prehistoric animals, 3 playable maps, animal welfare, basic economy management and more!
As this is an Early Access title, the game will require a number of large updates before it’s ready to leave the program. Like stated on the store page, we currently expect 18-24 months of ongoing development after launch to get the game up to its full potential.
To start, you can find out what’s in store for the next year of Prehistoric Kingdom by visiting our official Trello page. Though everything is subject to change, we highly recommend checking in to see what is on the horizon.
Major Updates (Quarterly) Arriving at the start of every quarter, Major Updates can include new animals, large gameplay systems and new, exciting locations to build your next park in.
These are the biggest updates during our time in Early Access and will add the most significant content to the game experience.
Minor Updates (Monthly) Arriving once a month, Minor Updates bring quality of life improvements, new items and small features to the game. We intend for these updates to act as supplementary content drops while we develop the larger updates in the background.
You can see how this scheme fits into the rest of 2022 below:
Q2 2022 April: Early Access Launch (Today!) May: Minor Update June: Minor Update
Q3 2022 July: MAJOR Update August: Minor Update September: Minor Update
Q4 2022 October: MAJOR Update November: Minor Update December: Minor Update
It’s important to note that this update scheme does NOT include hotfixes! The team will be working to resolve pressing issues and bugs where we can to improve the games stability.
Known Issues
If you are experiencing issues or would like to leave constructive feedback, please let us know via our Github page here. We will be releasing hotfixes over the next week to address a number of issues present in the game.
Critical
Saving the game CAN fail as a very rare occurrence! We've added an auto-save feature, but PLEASE create multiple saves or backups during a play session.
Performance
FPS may drop randomly during a play session. This can be resolved with a restart, but the team is actively investigating the issue.
Animals
Animals may get stuck sometimes. Moving the animal to a new location can help them.
Guests
Guests can be prone to various pathfinding issues when removing paths or modular pieces.
Gameplay
There is currently no undo/redo for paths.
There is currently no undo/redo for painted foliage.
Mini-Exhibit animals do not currently save.
Animal Nursery incubation does not currently save.
Loan repayment does not currently save.
Modular
Modular prefab icons may load up white. This is purely icon related and does not affect the prefab itself.
Deleting multiple pieces can sometimes leave unselectable “ghost” pieces behind. Saving and reloading will remove them.
Visuals
Selection graphics when selecting pieces do not render correctly, resulting in an x-ray like appearance.
The wait is almost over! Prehistoric Kingdom Early Access release offers 23 prehistoric animals, 3 playable maps, animal welfare, basic economy management and more!
Before we delve into what’s available, we’d like to remind everyone that this is simply the start of our journey through Early Access. There’s a lot of exciting content yet to come and we hope you’re eager to see what comes next!
Mammals: Coelodonta (Woolly Rhino), Smilodon and Mammuthus (Woolly Mammoth).
Mini-Exhibits: Archaeopteryx and Microraptor.
Listen in awe as these amazing beasts each have their own sounds harmonising throughout the park. Every animal is unique in its size, variation and saturation value with various animations for every species. Watch them bring life to your park as they: walk, run, graze, sleep, eat, drink and even poop! Some animals like the Psittacosaurus even have alternate species to find and collect.
That's not all, folks! Additional animations and interactions between animals will be included in notable updates after Early Access launch, and the animal menagerie will continue to expand as more remarkable species join Prehistoric Kingdom.
Maps
Each map has specific tailored soundscapes, colour grading and ambient lighting so that players can enjoy the different environments in each of their parks around the globe!
Game Modes
Challenge Take the role of Park Manager and grow your economy by developing the infrastructure to care for your animals. Maximise your potential Exhibit Score by improving the state of habitats to increase Science Points production and park donations from guests.
Breed new creatures and revisit old ones to hear a variety of facts delivered by Nigel Marven - your park supervisor and head of zoological developments!
Science Points can be collected passively at each enclosure and are based on the current Exhibit's Score. Use these points to unlock new dig sites and animals to showcase at your zoo.
(You can unlock animals in the Excavations Menu, found in the Management Dashboard.)
Sandbox Modify the game settings to your liking or reach your full creative potential and design your dream park with no limits.
(More options will be added to Sandbox as new mechanics are introduced.)
Scenario A fully narrated Tutorial by the wonderful Nigel Marven is available to play and can be accessed via the Main Menu. Although intended for newcomers to the game and genre, this helpful guide is a joyful park managing experience for all players!
Developing these goal-driven features has been a great introduction for the team to apply narrative-based game objectives to Prehistoric Kingdom, with more Scenarios to follow in the not so distant future.
Build
Build and decorate your dream park using an array of powerful creative tools.
Terraforming Grow jungles, carve rivers and raise mountains across the enormous playable area that each map has to offer using the Terraforming Suite.
Carve terrain with six distinct tools to shape the land: raise, lower, level, erode, roughen & smooth.
Get your feet wet with up to three paintable water materials: calm, rough & muddy
Adjust the water depth intensity to your liking to carve shallow rivers or form monumental lakes across the map.
Paint terrain and forests with 6 paintable biomes: Tropical, Wetland, Scrubland, Temperate, Coastal and Boreal.
Use the brush intensity to create subtle and stylish gradients between textures to add more realism to your park.
The Desert and Grassland biomes are still in the works and will be added in future updates!
Paths & Fences Choose from 15 fences and 11 path materials using an intuitive spline-based construction system and enable terraced fence placement to create a uniquely staggered look!
Modular Items Get custom with over 600 modular items including: wall structures, roofs, doors & windows, lights, props, scenery items, trees, shrubbery, plants, rocks, sticks, and even VFX fire, smoke and water). A selection of modular shapes are also available to create fully custom pieces in your park.
If that’s not enough, ALL decorative modular pieces can be scaled to increase or decrease its size, allowing for more creative customisation!
Custom Modular Prefabs Players can save their creations for repeated use around their park or in other saves. Though it is not yet linked to the Steam Workshop (coming soon), prefabs can be shared locally by finding them on your computer and uploading them online or in our Discord. We can’t wait to see what you make!
Manage
Animal Welfare Every species in your park has needs, and it's up to you to care for them!
They require ideal fencing, paddock size, water, forest & cleanliness! You can view these stats by clicking on the Habitat category in the Animal Info box.
Your prehistoric animals will poop after eating, lowering the cleanliness of the habitat! Place a Dung Beetle Nest near poop piles to automatically clean them or select the clean command from the bottom of an exhibit’s menu.
Much like regular animals, Mini-Exhibit species will soon have welfare needs too. This will be introduced in a later update, but for now, you can still place and build a habitat for your beautiful aviary creatures.
(Tip: To remove the fencing around the Mini-Aviary, simply select the exhibit and click “Edit Group”. Use the Styling Toolbox to remove the shell or create your own!)
In the future, low animal welfare will lead to illness and eventually... death. These repercussions will be introduced in a later update.
Exhibit Score, Donations & Science Points Players can improve the state of habitats by watching out for animal welfare and working to maximise their potential Exhibit Score. This will increase passive science points production and park donations from guests.
Soon we’ll be looking into guests interacting with buildings. For now, we've added a simulated economy for amenities and exhibit donations that will add some complexity to the economy management in your park.
To find your Exhibit Score, simply select the perimeter fence of a habitat.
Science Points are used to unlock new dig sites and animals. Players can collect science points passively by each enclosure, based on the enclosure’s current exhibit score.
Basic Power Management Certain infrastructures will need electricity! In the Park Infrastructure category, utilities such as; solar panels or wind turbines can be placed next to buildings to power your park.
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What Can You Expect to See in the Next Few Months?
Early Access is a huge achievement, but by no means is it a finished game. With continued development and support, many more features are expected to be released in future updates so that players can truly build the ultimate prehistoric zoo of their dreams!
If you’re interested in seeing what’s in the works for Prehistoric Kingdom, you can visit our Trello page to view the biggest content updates coming in the next few months.
Kickstarter Backers & Crytivo Buyers
If you are an eligible Kickstarter Backer, please make sure you have set up a Crytivo account using the exact email you used to back the game on Kickstarter to ensure you receive your Early Access key on time.
For those of you who purchased Early Access via the Crytivo store, you will be receiving new Steam keys upon Early Access release. Any existing keys you may have used will be revoked as new ones are going to be automatically assigned to your account.
If you have any further questions, please be sure to contact Crytivo’s support at support@crytivo.com or get in touch with us through Twitter, Facebook or Discord.
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We started this game as a small-scale project all the way back in 2014. After all this time, we must thank our wonderful community once again for their outstanding support over the years! We hope you all enjoy what we have so far.
Bring extinct creatures back to the world with PREHISTORIC KINGDOM Early Access, arriving APRIL 27TH 2022! Featuring 23 animals at launch, 3 playable maps & an array of powerful creative tools to build the park of your dreams.
This update has taken longer than we initially expected. We wanted to make sure we could reasonably polish new game mechanics while working on Early Access release features, and marketing in parallel. We apologise for the delay and hope you all enjoy the new update.
Features
NEW: Challenge & Sandbox Mode
Challenge and Sandbox are now separately available through the ‘New Game’ button within the main menu. Players are also able to create and set completely custom Sandbox games.
A map selection screen has been added under the ‘New Game’ menu.
NEW: Animal Welfare
Animals will now poop after eating, lowering the Cleanliness of the habitat.
Animals now require ideal paddock size and crowding, water, forest, biomes and cleanliness.
NEW: Exhibit Score, Donations & Science Points
Improve the state of your habitat by watching out for animal welfare and working to maximize its potential Exhibit Score, increasing donations and science points production.
To find an exhibit’s score, simply select the perimeter fence of a habitat.
Science points are used to unlock new dig sites and animals. You can collect them passively over time. Improve your habitats to improve science points production.
NEW: Habitat Maintenance
Place a Dung Beetle Nest (found in Animal Care > Enrichment) to automatically clean paddocks.
Manually clean habitats by selecting the perimeter fence of an exhibit and pressing the clean action at the bottom of the menu.
Additions
Animals
NEW ANIMAL:Iguanodon
NEW ANIMAL:Brachiosaurus
Added new additive animations to all the existing rigs
Brought back sleeping, grazing, broadcasting and running behaviors for all animals
Levels
Added a new playable temperate map set in the UK
Buildings & Scenery
Added a new wooden fence: Tropical Bamboo
Added 1x1, 1x2 and 1x4 wall pieces
Added pillar wall pieces
New Prefab: Large Planter Modern 1 - found in Modular Pieces > Gardening
New Prefab: Large Planter Natural 1 - found in Modular Pieces > Gardening
New Prefab: Large Planter Natural 2 - found in Modular Pieces > Gardening
New Prefab: Large Planter Tropical 1 - found in Modular Pieces > Gardening
New Prefab: Animal House Backstage - found in Animal Care > Housing
New Prefab: Large Animal Stables - found in Animal Care > Housing
Foliage
Arrowwood (x1)
Field Elm (x2)
Oak (x2)
Paper Birch (x4)
Construction
Added the Path replacement feature
UI/UX
Added state icons tied to various gameplay elements (e.g. lack of power in the park, animal placement, etc.)
Added ability to set the park name through the Management Menu, in the Overview section
Clicking on a biome icon in the animal habitat menu or enclosure habitat menu will automatically open the Landscaping Menu with the right biome settings
Audio
Added night and dawn chorus ambience to the Scrubland map
Added Elephant family sounds to Mammoth
Additional vocal sfx and foley for Sauropods
Additional vocal sfx variation for Protoceratops
Additional modular sfx variation for wood materials
Music
Added dynamic layering to certain music tracks; layers will come in or out based on the time of day, construction frequency, and animal proximity.
Options
Added Anti-Alias Options: Off, FXAA, SMAA, TAA and CTAA
Added a ‘Controls’ section to the options menu, allowing users to set custom key bindings for the game’s controls
Changes
Animals
Reduced vitality needs drain speeds for most species
Buildings & Scenery
Adjusted vegetation color for plant feeders
Adjusted Concrete Path coloration
Adjusted emissive sign brightness
Foliage
Painted foliage now adapts to terraforming changes, aligning to the underlying terrain
Every click or brush stroke will now place at least 1 foliage element
Adjusted amazonian and water lily colors
Adjusted kapok colors
Adjusted translucency of birch, sabal palmetto, coconut palm, kapok and samanea trees
UI/UX
Overhauled game economy - decreased structure build and upkeep costs where applicable, while tying in exhibit donations and amenity income to the overall park balance. Hopefully these changes are going to make running a Challenge mode park a much more enjoyable experience
Players can now carry terraforming operations while having items selected
Improved animal navmesh visuals
Improved background visibility for the Options Menu
Slowed item scrolling speed in the building toolbox
Added a smoothing effect to the start of item rotation, allowing for finer degrees rotations
Canceling a spline (fence/path) action while building a segment doesn’t completely disable the action, but instead will start a new action for a smoother experience
Removed ability to select modular pieces from separate groups while editing a group - only the pieces within the edited group are now selectable
Saved games can now load the correct month progress, which was previously overwritten
Reworked progress bar logic on the loading screen. This should more accurately display how close you are to finishing loading
Rendering
Generally improved ambient coloring and color grading - color grading especially is now map specific, with the default scrubland level receiving a much warmer overall coloration
Vastly improved night and sunset rendering
Vastly improved shadow quality at most quality settings
Improved SSR Scaling at lower settings
Improved water depth interpolation - dramatically reduced sharp lines on the water’s surface where it shines, and in shallow water
Warmed up default sunlight colors
Tweaked quality presets to improve perf/quality balance
Increased post-processing vignette
Increased grass brightness in shaded areas
Improved loose rain streaks appearance when overlaying water shores
Rolled grass graphics back to Alpha level (purely a cosmetic change, with no major impact to gameplay or performance). Grass graphics are something we’re still playing with, so expect these to change and improve over time
Auto exposure now updates regardless of time scale, resolving over-exposed shots
Rocks now get glossier during rainfall
Improved glass fence reflectivity
Audio
General mix adjustments
Entity sounds while in Management View are now louder with flatter dynamics
Time speed up audio cue now fades away
Updated sfx for small and medium plant placement
Updated sfx for dead, medium and large tree placement
Random bird calls on modular tree placement are now based on level biome
Input
Re-binded right click drag to camera panning, whereas it was previously set to camera rotation
Bug Fixes
Critical
Fixed a save/load bug that caused save times to always default to Year 1
Animals
Fixed Camarasaurus not being able to eat from the tall pole feeder
Foliage
Fixed selectability for Scots Pine 2 and 3
UX/GUI
Fixed several selection graphic events conflicting with management view
Fixed nursery menu scrollbar defaulting to lowest available position
Fixed main board GUI sliding animation issues
Fixed a new game initialization issue that prevented the help menu from showing up
Fixed a bug that caused the animals to not play their walking animation within the nursery preview
Fixed nursery menu sort order, now displaying the nursery menu in front of any selected GUIs
Disabled access to incomplete land value management view
Fixed water intensity always defaulting to its max value, now the landscaping intensity slider will remember the last set amount
Fixed Loading Menu masking issue with loading buttons
Fixed spelling mistakes on various text elements and tooltips
Fixed a coloring menu issue where copying a color into the hex input field would result in a slightly different color
Fixed an indexing issue that caused the management overview menu’s labels to break after the first year
Fixed main menu GUI scaling issues
Fixed excavations world map jitter issues
Audio
Fixed sky wind audio not looping
Fixed group placement audio not including foliage sounds
Fixed Camarasaurus not playing walking growls
Fixed Camarasaurus not playing foley while eating
Fixed Deinocheirus not breathing while sleeping
Fixed rain impact layers playing on animals not near the camera
Fixed Edmontosaurus and Lambeosaurus Nursery audio
Fixed action canceling sound event only triggering for modular actions
Music
Fixed nursery theme not playing while in the nursery menu
Performance
Massively optimized fence rendering
Significant GPU optimizations for prepass rendering
Small CPU optimizations for selection rendering
Slight CPU optimizations for general rendering
Fixed GUI related bug that caused massive lag spikes at certain times of day while having a group selected
Slight rendering optimization for rain particle effects
Considerable optimization for guest AI calculations
Optimized sunset and sunrise rendering speed
Notes
If you are working with an OLD SAVE, please read the following:
Due to the addition of exhibit statistics, old paddocks will need their perimeter fencing rebuilt
A new navmesh has been added for giant animals like the Brachiosaurus. Old saves do not have this mesh which will result in giant animals walking through visually innaccessible areas
Brachiosaurus can have issues drinking. We are looking into this.
A number of additive animations and returning behaviours do not have audio. This will be addressed in hotfixes and the launch update
There is a known issue that unrealistically lowers the game to 10-15 FPS. If this occurs, please restart the game.
There is a known issue that causes prefab icons to load empty or white (this does not affect the actual prefabs!). If this occurs, please restart the game.
A hotfix patch will be arriving in a few days to address various issues.
Save the date, Park Managers! PREHISTORIC KINGDOM stomps into Early Access April 27th 2022, available for $29.99 USD!
The full Early Access trailer will premiere next week on April 21st, narrated by the one and only Nigel Marven. Showcasing all the prehistoric animals featured in the upcoming release and our 3 playable maps, you won't want to miss this long awaited overview of Prehistoric Kingdom’s Early Access! Keep a look-out on our socials for the big reveal.
In this month’s post we’ll be sharing some new features that will be introduced before Early Access launch, and briefly discussing some technical challenges we’ve had to overcome before the next update is released.
State of Development
Due to unfortunately-timed technical issues over the last few weeks, we had to delay the long-awaited poop update.
Most of the content for the patch is now finished and currently being tested. We've merged the next two main updates together, but some final implementations will still need to be completed before the patch and new features are ready to go live. Closed Beta players can expect this update shortly, before Early Access is released in April.
If you weren’t already aware, a public roadmap highlighting some of our upcoming plans can be found over on Trello and has been updated to align with our current plan for Closed Beta and Early Access launch.
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The Beta 0.4 Update
Let’s take a look into some of the headlining features coming in the Closed Beta 0.4 update. Like all patches, the full changelog will be available on Steam upon its release.
Animals
Coming to Closed Beta is Brachiosaurus! This colossal creature will certainly draw plenty of guests to your park to witness its towering scale.
Big thumbs up for Iguanodon! Even with its unconventional looks, we think this classic duck-billed herbivore will become a fan favourite in every park.
A number of new additive animations have also been included for all the animals in Beta. These play while wandering around and add a bit more life to the creatures.
Animal Welfare & Poop
In 0.4, the first wave of animal welfare will make its way into your parks. Players will need to tend to the unique habitat requirements of each species and ensure they have access to food sources.
With food there must also come poop, a detractor in habitat cleanliness and score. You can read more about poop mechanics in our previous blog post.
Failing to care for welfare will lower a paddock’s exhibit score and the park rating, making it harder to make money and science points.
In the future, poor animal welfare will lead to illness and eventually death.
Science Points & Exhibit Score
By clicking on a habitat's perimeter fence, players can view its Exhibit Score and Habitat statistics. It’s here that you’ll find information on how well designed a paddock is, how large it is, and more.
At the beginning of each month, players will be rewarded the total worth of Exhibit Score in the park via Science Points. This resource can be spent unlocking animals or skins in the Excavations menu.
Temperate Map & Additional Foliage
Bring prehistory back to the United Kingdom with the all new Temperate map. 9 new foliage variants have also been included to expand the visual diversity of our Temperate line up.
Temporary foliage cover.
You can also see our recently added State Icons in the image above, communicating facilities or paddocks in need of attention.
Sandbox Mode
Beginning in Beta 0.4, players will be able to start a Challenge or Sandbox game from the updated New Game menu. Customizable settings available in the patch include:
More options will be added to Sandbox as new mechanics are introduced. All previous saves will be converted to Sandbox mode upon the arrival of Beta 0.4 for compatibility reasons.
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Upcoming Developments
Tropical Map
Set in the sunny paradise of Costa Rica, the upcoming Tropical map provides stunning scenery and deep, humid forests perfect for your prehistoric menagerie. This locale will be available at the launch of Early Access.
Psittacosaurus
Like we teased last month, Psittacosaurus will be coming to Early Access with three distinct species; each donning various facial horns and spikes. Today, we’re revealing the biggest species, P. sibiricus!
Of course, it’d be a missed opportunity to not give you all another look at the smallest parrot lizard, Psittacosaurus sp. The team hopes you’re just as excited as we are to watch these little gremlins wander their habitats.
Tutorial
You asked for help. We listened. An introductory tutorial will be included with the Early Access launch and narrated by the legend himself, Nigel Marven. This tutorial will be a masterclass in Prehistoric Kingdom basics; from Animal Welfare to Turning A Profit - you’ll be an expert Park Manager in no time!
Speaking of Nigel, at launch, he’ll also be providing players with an assortment of facts (over 90 lines!) for all your newly bred species. Occasionally, he may even pop up when revisiting old species to provide more information.
Below you can hear an early preview of meeting our lovely Parasaurolophus for the first time, featuring one of three facts. There’s a bunch of audio processing and effects yet to be done, but we thought we’d showcase a little bit of the dialogue before the game’s release next month.
In time, we’ll be expanding the dialogue to include alerts and pointing out potential problems with the park.
The team’s very interested in creating additional characters for Prehistoric Kingdom and developing playable scenarios beyond the initial tutorial, so we hope you enjoy your first taste at what could be!
New Trailer
Finally, we’re very excited to share that the release date for Early Access will be announced in a new trailer coming out next month! We want to thank everyone for their patience and assure you all that Early Access is still scheduled to be released in late April 2022, so keep an eye on our socials for the new trailer premiere!
Created by Mrs TeaRex.
Created by Warpath.
Created by Mr.Mugman.
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Thank you for reading March’s dev diary!
We hope you’ve enjoyed this month's development update. Our team has been working incredibly hard in the lead up to Early Access as we eagerly await the next chapter to Prehistoric Kingdom that can be shared with everyone worldwide!
In today’s post we’ll be exploring parts of our next Beta update and delving into what our busy team’s been working on. If you weren’t already aware, a public roadmap highlighting some of our upcoming plans can be found over on Trello.
Modular Items
Extra wall pieces and pillars will soon be added in our next update, allowing for new shapes and wall combinations. In addition to pillar pieces for all the wall materials, players will also be greeted to 1x1, 1x2 and 1x4 panels to create more intricate parts in their builds.
As you can see above, there are a number of unique pillar models depending on their assigned material.
Animal Welfare
In our next update, players will need to consider the welfare of their animals and the quality of their habitat. Beyond expected necessities like food and water, Exhibit Cleanliness is a new and important feature with big consequences for your overall exhibit and zoo rating.
While pooping, animals will drop small dung particles onto the ground and create mounds. While the particles disappear after a short amount of time, dung mounds will build up over time as animals continue to poop nearby. Players can minimise poops by supplying High Quality feed to their creatures.
Excessive faeces can greatly detract from a paddock’s Exhibit Score and will begin to make animals unhappy.
To manage Exhibit Cleanliness, players can either schedule a habitat for cleaning or employ some very lovable friends; the Dung Beetles! Found within the Animal Care category, the Dung Beetle Nest is a small item that will automatically clean piles of poop within its radius.
Exhibit Score
Park Managers wanting to operate large income zoo's will need to pay attention to their Exhibit Scores, a new value used to keep track of how attractive a habitat is to visitors. Higher scores lead to better donations and collectable science points.
UI Concept Art with placeholder numbers.
To maximise Exhibit Score, players have a number of options at their disposal:
Total Animal Ratings: the collective value of all animals in the habitat.
Decorations: the number of decorative scenery objects in the habitat.
Ecology: housing animals from the same time period and country.
These perks can be offset by poor exhibit management, however. Visible dung, carcasses and repeated species found elsewhere in the park will drop the overall Exhibit Score.
Players must also attempt to maximise the Total Welfare and Visibility of a habitat to secure the best possible Exhibit Score.
State of Development
With Early Access just around the corner the team continues to collect important feedback, improving gameplay experience through updates and prepping for Early Access launch. It’s been wonderful to see the community grow over the last few months and we can’t wait for everyone to have access to Prehistoric Kingdom!
We’re currently looking for additional animators to join the team and help further develop Prehistoric Kingdom. If you’re interested in working on creature animation, please send your portfolio over to us on Twitter via DMs or to our email address (info@prehistorickingdom.com).
Upcoming Developments
So, what’s coming beyond the next update? Right now, our environment team is hard at work on the upcoming Temperate map (British, ‘innit). 9 foliage variants will be arriving alongside the new locale, offering more variety for the temperate biome.
We’re also very pleased to finally unveil the long awaited Psittacosaurus redux. These little critters will be available in one of our final updates before launching into Early Access, arriving with three alternate species. We can’t wait for you to meet them all!
Created by SimplySavannah.
Created by Warpath.
Created by So_Bad.
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Thank you for reading February’s dev diary!
We expect the next update for Closed Beta to launch in Early March, with Early Access scheduled for a late April release.
Welcome to the December & January Development Update!
Happy New Year, 2022! In this combined Dev Diary we'll be discussing December’s Closed Beta improvements and some exciting future developments for upcoming major game updates.
After our short holiday break, the team is back preparing new content that’ll be ready to drop during February.
Animals
While we work on introducing Animal Welfare into the game’s current beta build, new animal feeders (Blood Pumpkin & Fruit Block) provide enrichment for the animals at your prehistoric zoo.
Modular Items
There are a number of new additions to building items for creative builders to expand their guest facilities. Additional doors, lights, tables and chairs have now been included as Modular Pieces.
Boreal Biome
Enjoy more trees and plants with the new Boreal Biome and all its substrates: Snow, Withered Grass, Gravel & Rock. This new scenery addition inspired many Winter Wonderland parks over the festive season.
This update also saw the addition of the Douglas Fir, Alaskan Cedar, Alpine Currant and Alpine Bearberry.
State of Development
The PK team is expanding! In December we welcomed new members to the team to speed up production and to increase our social media presence. With Early Access in April (only a few months away!) we’ll continue to provide regular content updates to get direct feedback and thoughts from the community that have Closed Beta access.
Upcoming Developments
Animal socializing and behaviors will play a big part in managing a successful zoo and keeping your prehistoric animals happy! We're very eager to introduce our animal welfare mechanics in the lead up to Early Access and continue to flesh out their presence in the park.
As a start, the team’s currently working on exhibit management features such as dung. Everybody poops, and your prehistoric animals are no exception.
Some herbivore dung. This is some crappy work!
In terms of gamemodes, we’ve begun creating dedicated Challenge and Sandbox experiences alongside our new map selection screen. From here, players will pick where in the world they want to build their Prehistoric Kingdom and how they want to play.
Finally, Prehistoric Kingdom will soon be greeted by a returning species that our animal artists have taken extra care in developing. Players with access to the Closed Beta can look out for this creature in one of the upcoming major game updates before Early Access launch.
Weird looking cat.
Created by Warpath.
Created by Bumbee.
Created by Draco Agamicus.
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Thank you for reading December-January’s dev diary!
We’d like to thank all of our current players for providing their feedback in this crucial stage of development. We have many exciting weeks ahead, and we can't wait to share everything with you!
