Hey Super Animals! You might have noticed that we've been quieter than usual, and that this patch is taking longer than our typical 3–4 week update schedule. We haven't been on a break: in fact we've been hard at work on one of our biggest updates yet. Early this spring, we took a step back to plan out our long term roadmap for the game and decide how we wanted it to improve and expand the world of SAR the coming months and years. This latest development cycle is finally bringing the first batch of those longer term designs to the game!

The upcoming update targets 3 critical areas of improvement for the game:

• Better free version of SAR. We're making the game accessible to more players with a free version that's more generous and feature complete, while also offering new optional, purchasable cosmetic items. At the same time, we're turning the current "full version" into the "Super Edition" which we'll continue to add value to over time.
  
• Progression system overhaul. We're making big improvements here, reducing randomness, adding new ways to earn items, and expanding/improving popular features like Super Milestones.
  
• Major gameplay additions. We're adding new gameplay modes to keep things fresh and fun for longterm players (us included!), and new tutorial/teaching content aimed at helping new players get oriented.

We want your feedback on all of these changes before we release them publicly so we're going to be opening up a Public Test Realm (PTR) at the beginning of October so that you can all let us know what you think before we release this major update later in the month!

And we're also hosting an AMA tomorrow (Friday) at 5pm PDT on the r/AnimalRoyale Subreddit (click here to see the event time converted to other timezones) to give us all of your feedback.

We've written a detailed dev blog post all about the changes coming to the game, which you can read right here:

Read the full post

We're so very hoppy that you could join us for this presentation of the winners of the first-ever Super Art Contest, hosted by esteemed art critic, Rabbita Smith! Watch to see who will be the first winner of the Golden Paintbrush.

We were originally planning on only selecting the Top 10 pieces, but we received so many amazing submissions that we felt that we had to increase it to recognize the Top 20!

Congratulations to all of the winners! View all of the art on the contest website:


https://artcontest.animalroyale.com/

Things are about to get a bit squirrely in Super Animal World: SAW Researchers have made a breakthrough and are bringing Super Squirrels to the Research Lab!

Not to be outdone by the Labs, Thomas Sledison has cooked up two new weapons in his Workshop, with medieval outfits to match. He’s also made a host of other changes to SAW weaponry including scopes for snipers, so read on for the full rundown.

Super Squirrel
Unlock the base Super Squirrel at level 10, plus 3 additional breeds in the Research Lab:

• Super Gray Squirrel
  
• Super Black Squirrel
  
• Super Vanilla Squirrel

New Milestones + Cosmetics:

• Brown Archer Outfit (track players with Sparrows 5 times in a single match)
  
• Green Archer Outfit (track players with Sparrows 15 times in a single match)
  
• Archer Hat (track players with Sparrows 25 times in a single match)
  
• Target Gravestone (shoot a gallery target with a bow during a match)

SAW has made an exciting breakthrough in live ammunition, with genetically modified Sparrows that provide unique benefits:

• Track enemy Super Animals through the fog of war for a limited period of time (5.5-10 seconds depending on the weapon’s rarity and type).
  
• Sharp beaks also provide some piercing damage through body armor, but the armor will still absorb 40% of the Sparrow’s damage per hit.

Thomas has constructed two new weapons to take advantage of the new Sparrow ammunition: the Bow & Sparrow and the high tech Sparrow Launcher:

Bow & Sparrow

• What better way to launch a bird through the air than with a longbow? Simply pull back the string and let your Sparrow fly.
  
• Pulling back all the way before letting go will give you the most range, speed and damage with your shots.
  
• Available in uncommon (green) and rare (blue) varieties. The uncommon bow tracks enemies for 5.5s and the rare bow tracks for 6s.

Sparrow Launcher

• Thomas has outdone himself with this crossbow: its cage magazine can hold 4 Sparrows at a time and it can fire a new Sparrow every 0.5s.
  
• The Sparrow Launcher can be found in epic (purple) and legendary (gold) varieties. The epic variant tracks targets for 7s and the legendary variant tracks targets for 10s.
  
• Legendary Sparrow Launchers are only available in the mole crate.

Thomas has also been busy refining some of his existing weapons:

New Sniper Zoom

• Creep with the Hunting Rifle for a 10% zoom out.
  
• Creep with the Sniper Rifle for a 15% zoom out.

Other weapon balancing:

• Max carrying capacity for Sniper ammo and Poison Dart Gun ammo is now 30 (up from 25 for both).
  
• Minigun base damage increased by 3.
  
• Hunting Rifle reload time lowered to from 0.8s to 0.7s.
  
• Hunting Rifle & Sniper Rifle bullet speed increased for each rarity from common up to legendary tier: 240/250/260/270/280 to 250/258/266/274/282.
  
• Sniper rifle has slightly faster recoil reset while idle or creeping.
  
• Magnum & Deagle have also had slight bullet speed increases.
  
• Deagle base damage reduced by 3.
  
• Skunk Gas Vial no longer prevents poison damage (we found this was too powerful against the Poison Dart Gun). Instead, it will simply prevent poison death (maximum poison damage will bring you to 1 health, but not kill you).

We’ve been hard at work reviewing and re-redesigning SAR’s metagame systems since early spring and have made some exciting progress behind the scenes. A huge thanks to all of you who have been providing feedback in Discord on what you like and don’t like about our progression systems and what you’d like to see added to the game. These systems are super important so we’ve wanted to make sure to take our time with them and get them right.

We’ll be sharing more of our plans and looking for your feedback in the weeks ahead, and are aiming to get v1 of the new systems in place for beta testing by the end of the summer. You can join the SAR Discord or follow us on Twitter and Facebook to get the news first and provide your feedback.

In the meantime, we’ve already made some improvements to our Daily Challenges system that are ready for release today:

Daily Challenges Improvements

• Rather than earning 1 new daily challenge per day, you’ll now get 2 new challenges every day.
  
• Daily challenges will refresh every 24hrs regardless of whether you’ve completed them or not, so you’ll always have two to work on until they’re complete.
  
• Since they refresh every 24hrs and you always get two new ones, you’ll no longer be able to accumulate 3 at a time.
  
• Challenges refresh at exactly 00:00 UTC and we’ve added a handy timer so you can clearly see when they’ll refresh.
  
• Some challenges have been adjusted or removed to make sure they’re all attainable in one day.
  
• Rerolling a challenge won’t ever give you the same challenge type (previously it was possible to reroll a challenge only to end up with another challenge of the same type).

Game and UI Improvements:

• Quick chat ground markers will now snap to the edges of the screen.
  
• Can ping your guns in your inventory to say "Need [ammo]."
  
• Can ping either Super Tape or Armor in your inventory to say "Need Super Tape."
  
• Can ping health juice in your inventory to say "Need healing."
  
• Can ping Giant Emus and Hamster Balls.
  
• You can now see the weapons & gear HUD for players who you’re spectating.
  
• Ghost spectators in private matches will now see the kill count of the person they are viewing (in the top left).

Additional Changes:

• Minor map changes: adjustments to the bramble near the middle of the map, and a small change in the south by a campfire.
  
• All long body characters like the Super Sloth have been changed to standard Super Animal size for consistency and to help with technical requirements of supporting so many unique animals.
  
• Beard styles updated.
  
• Decreased gas cloud particle texture size. May improve performance.
  
• Fixed Banana Forker tooltip.
  
• Fixed a bug where lobby weapons were sometimes visible during the match in private games.
  
• Various translation fixes.

Super Summer has arrived on the island and the animals are kicking things off with a new limited-time event from June 25 to July 19!


Collect Fruit Baskets until July 19 that you can redeem for 9 new limited edition event items! You'll find baskets scattered around the island, and will also earn them automatically after each match based on your survival time. Fruit baskets that you find on the island will give you 20hp when you eat them (and yes Giant Emus can snack on them too). The Delivery Mole has also included 3 Fruit Baskets in every Mole Crate.

9 new Super Summer Royale event items

• Blue Sport Sunglasses
  
• White Bermuda Shorts
  
• Blue Polo Shirt
  
• Yellow Plastic Shovel
  
• Vintage Round Sunglasses
  
• Vintage Floral Swimsuit
  
• Badminton Racket
  
• Vintage Floral Dress
  
• Orange Pastel Overalls

8 2019 legacy summer items
25% chance of dropping a legacy item that you don't own yet.

• Fish Swim Shorts
  
• Straw Umbrella
  
• Lifebuoy
  
• Fruit Skewer
  
• Yellow Lei Hula Skirt
  
• Popsicle
  
• Duck Floatie
  
• Fruit Hat

2 new Super Animal breeds
Create 2 new Super Animal breeds in the Research Lab!

• Super Pineapple Hedgehog
  
• Super Watermelon Skunk

4 2019 legacy summer items are being added to the general drop pool
We decided that these 4 items from last year’s Super Summer Royale event were general enough in theme that it would be best if everyone had an opportunity to earn them (we don’t want to deprive any would be chefs of their aprons) so we’ve made them regular drops.

• White Apron
  
• Floral Swimsuit
  
• Hot Dog Fork
  
• Meat Skewer

Super Pool Noodles
4 color variants of pool noodles have also been added to the item drop pool, and if you use the coupon code "SUMMER" you'll unlock a pool noodle of a random color!

The event ends at 11:59pm PDT on July 19th, but you'll still have until July 22nd at 11:59pm PDT to redeem your final Fruit Baskets before they expire!

New Rainbow Love Items
We’ve added two new rainbow items to the item drop pool (and if you haven’t already, use coupon code "LOVE" to score a rainbow baseball cap and umbrella).

• Rainbow Headband
  
• Rainbow Dress

Our quick chat / ping system has finally arrived to help you communicate with your teammates!

• Hold the [Z] key to bring up a radial menu of 6 different messages.
  
• A quick tap of [Z] will show the regular paw marker.
  
• You can also use the Quick Chat Wheel when you have the map open, to ping further away locations.
  
• In duos and squads you can ping weapons and items with the [Z] key.

• Visual clarity of guns with shorter ranges has been improved by removing bullets that have reached a damage falloff of 85% (they’ll now despawn rather than traveling the remaining 15% of distance where they would have done very little damage).

Note: Previously, armor was not removed once a bullet reached 85% damage falloff because the amount of damage it was doing was so miniscule that it felt unfair to remove a full tick of armor. This won’t change gun balancing in any significant way, but makes it much clearer when a bullet will do meaningful damage or not, and brings the visual in line with how armor removal already works.

• Chonk Emu’s health has increased from 170 to 190 hp.
  
• Skunk Gas Vial now also provides poison immunity (from poison dart gun and others using the vial, but not from skunk bombs).
  
• Banana Forker has had its banana eating distance increased, and healing has been increased from 15 to 25 hp.
  
• Increased footstep volume slightly, and increased roll and running footstep audible distance (which increases the benefit of creeping or using Ninja Booties).
  
• Standardized the shotgun's spread to be 15° whether idle or running. Previously it was 15° while idle and 19° while running.
  
• JAG-7's spread adjusted to be 17.5° while running. Previously it was 18.5°.
  
• Increased the magnum’s bullet speed slightly.
  
• Magnum and Deagle have both had per-shot recoil lowered, and recovery time is now slightly faster.
  
• Damage falloff for the Uncommon/Rare SMG and the Thomas Gun has been increased slightly.
  
• Initial bullet spread for Thomas Gun increased by 0.5°.

We've added several new commands for hosts of private matches (see the full list on the SAR Wiki):

• /ghost can now make someone else a ghost by specifying a player number (ie /ghost 14).
  
• /gun can now include rarity while spawning a gun (ie green pistol would be /gun0 1)
  
• /ammo# # command to spawn ammo type with specified amount.
  
• /armor# command to spawn armor (value can be 1 to 3).
  
• /gason can now include a number in order to set a delay (in seconds). For example, to set a 5s delay, you’d use the command: /gason 5.
  
• /gasspeed # command to set the speed multiplier of skunk gas. Value can be from 0.4 to 3.0.
  
• /gasdmg # command to set gas damage multiplier. Value can be from 1.0 to 10.0.
  
• /allitems can be used to toggle all item spawns on/off. This includes enabling/disabling the Delivery Mole, Mole Crate loot and grass loot.
  
• /guns can be used to toggle gun world spawns on/off.
  
• /hamballs can be used to toggle hamster ball spawns on/off.
  
• /emus replaces the old command to toggle emus spawns on/off.
  
• /moles can be used to toggle the Delivery Mole on/off.
  
• /armors can be used to toggle armor spawns on/off.
  
• /throwables can be used to toggle spawns of all throwable items on/off.
  
• /utils replaces the old command to toggle powerup spawns on/off.
  
• /bulletspeed # command to set the speed multiplier of bullets. Value can be from 0.5 to 2.0.
  
• /flight command can be used in the pre-game lobby to regenerate the Giant Eagle’s flight path.
  
• /god # to set god-mode on a player with ID #. Applies only to damage from other players.
  
• /onehits command to toggle one-hit kill mode. Doesn't apply to grenades or gas.

In addition:

• Ghost spectator cam now moves faster when zoomed out.
  
• Fox soccer ball can now be spawned during the match, not just in the lobby (still only possible for developers, mods, and private match hosts to spawn the ball).

• Added new sound effects for when teammates eject from the Giant Eagle.
  
• Fixed markers on the minimap not sticking to the edges at the proper angles (thanks to user, BatoSoupo, on r/animalroyale for this one!)
  
• Fixed an issue with guns poking under campfires.
  
• Fixed issues with Minigun aiming up close.
  
• Fixed map markers briefly displaying in the wrong position.
  
• Fixed bug with disconnected players on emus.
  
• Skunk Gas Vial no longer cancels the melee-only victory milestone.
  
• Main menu's region selector no longer uses LT/RT on controllers.

New Super Mod Items
2 new items celebrating our super moderators are being added to the item drop pool!

• Oyqy's Earbud melee weapon
  
• TaMa's Banan Hat

Hope you all enjoy the update and have some fun in the sun. See you on the island, Super Animals!

The Super Roadrunner and Super Coyote have arrived in the Research Labs, so start saving your Bluejay DNA and Wolf DNA to create them! You can unlock them at level 10 and level 40 respectively after you’ve unlocked the Super Bluejay and Super Wolf. They’ve also brought with them 5 new ways to foil your foes, with the all-new Super Powerups.



Super Powerups are a brand new category of item that grant your Super Animal passive abilities. You’ll find them scattered around the island but can only hold one at a time, so choose wisely.

Claw Boots:
Cut every blade of grass you walk through, no chopping required. These sharp kicks double as crampons, so you won’t slide on ice.

Banana Forker:
Health slipping? This sweet cutlery turns a dangerous banana into a tasty snack that restores 15 health instantly. I mean, how could you possibly eat bananas without a fork and knife? You’re not an animal, you’re a Super Animal. Just don’t let your bananas rot in the skunk gas or they’ll turn into inedible mush.

Ninja Booties:
Be as quiet as a ninja with these soft-padded paws. You’ll walk 50% quieter, creep 12% faster, and creep-roll without making a sound.

Skunk Gas Vial:
Make your stab a little stronger (and stinkier). With this damage enhancing vial, your melee attacks will deal 30 poison damage over three seconds on top of their regular damage.

Cupgrade:
This wide-mouthed gold commemorative cup lets you chug health juice at borderline disgusting speeds. Heal 25% faster and impress your dorm mates.



The Giant Emus you know and love have been balanced this update, and S.A.W. scientists have also released 3 rare new breeds onto the island.

Giant Emu handling has been improved by reverting back to our original control style with immediate acceleration, but to compensate the common Giant Emu has had its health/peck damage reduced a bit to make it slightly less deadly. Giant Emus are, however, now 100% more deadly to tall grass which you can finally peck to reveal the items hidden within.

Giant Emu
The original Giant Emu has average speed, defense, and attack, which means you might be tempted to call it “average,” but be warned it much prefers the term “well-balanced.”

Chonk Emu
A thick, fatty hide provides extra protection against bullets, but also slows the poor chunker down.

Speedy Emu
A slim build makes this Emu super speedy, which is good, because if you manage to hit the bugger, it goes down fast.

Battle Emu
The rarest breed of all, Battle Emus boast the ultimate combination of damage, health and speed. The knife secured to its bridle adds an extra sting to its pecks, and enables its woodworking hobby.



You’ve been asking for them for a long time, so we’re excited to finally be able to bring Private Matches to Super Animal Royale! During the beta, we’re limiting hosting ability to select community members who will be able to organize tournaments and events, but we’ll open it up more as we continue testing and building upon the feature.

“PRIVATE” now appears as a 4th game mode option in the main menu, and pressing play will open the private match screen. To join a private match, you’ll need a code from an event organizer. Simply enter a valid match code and you (and your party) can join the private match.

We’ve created a new #events channel in the Super Animal Royale Discord server where you can find tournaments, scrims and other events to join, or submit your own events for consideration. Join the Discord to learn more and participate!

Super Animal Breeds

• New Super Bluejay Breed: Super Roadrunner
  
• New Super Wolf Breed: Super Coyote

Super Powerups

Find Super Powerups throughout the island that provide passive bonuses.

• Claw Boots: Cuts grass automatically and increases grass loot drop rate by 2x. Also prevents sliding on ice.
  
• Banana Forker: Turn bananas into tasty, 15 health snacks. Just don’t let them rot in the skunk gas or they’ll turn into inedible mush.
  
• Ninja Booties: Be as quiet as a ninja with soft-padded paws. Walk 50% quieter, creep 12% faster, and creep-roll without making a sound.
  
• Skunk Gas Vial: Make your stab stronger (and stinkier) with 30 poison damage over three seconds on top of its regular damage.
  
• Cupgrade: Heal 25% faster and impress your dorm mates with your chugging skills.

New Emu Breeds & Balancing

• Giant Emu: Overall health and damage of the original Giant Emu has been reduced from 150 hp and 45 damage to 140 hp and 35 damage.
  
• Chonk Emu: 170 hp, 35 damage, 85% speed.
  
• Speedy Emu: 110 hp, 35 damage, 115% speed.
  
• Battle Emu: 150 hp, 45 damage, 110% speed.

More Giant Emu Updates

• Controls reverted to original style where acceleration is instant. We felt that this was more comfortable for gameplay and prevents getting stuck on corners as frequently.
  
• Emus can now cut grass with their pecks.

Private Matches Beta

• "PRIVATE" now appears as a 4th game mode in the main menu. Pressing "PLAY" will open the private match screen.
  
• Simply enter a valid match code and you (or your party) can join a private match.
  
• At the moment, only a few select members of the community and event planners have hosting capabilities. Be sure to check out the new #events channel in Discord to find custom games and tournaments!

Gameplay Updates

• Creep-walking is now fully silent.
  
• Idle and creep-walking have slightly faster recoil reset delay (0.16s instead of normal 0.20s).
  
• Almost all weapons upgraded to have less firing recoil while standing still or creeping.
  
• SMG and Thomas Gun have more starting spread and more recoil per shot.
  
• AK & M16 will not slow movement as much while firing, but they have slightly more firing recoil while running.
  
• Hunting rifle & Sniper will slow movement less while firing.
  
• Poison Dart Gun tick damage increased from 8 to 9, but number of ticks reduced from 5 to 4. This puts it back at a 3-shot kill, but still maintains decent DPS.
  
• The final gas circle now takes 8s to close (previously 7s).
  
• The final gas circle does 14.2 damage per tick (up from 12).

Other changes/fixes:

• Can now scroll chat with mouse-wheel (while typing is active).
  
• Updated to latest version of Unity 2018.4. Ideally this will fix the recent crash issue for AMD card users.
  
• Updated Unity engine to use .NET 4.x runtime.
  
• Updated controller plugin (InControl 1.8).
  
• Server engine tick rate increased from 24fps to 30fps.
  
• Server processes incoming network packets faster.
  
• NPCs will display an exclamation mark above their head if you haven't completed their milestone yet. As well, after completing their milestone. They'll also show a small [...] icon above them to indicate additional dialogue.
  
• Fixed an animation glitch for NPCs when the Skunk Gas hits them.
  
• Matchmaker fixes ("Game already started" bug should be squashed).
  
• Fix for dropping weapons from inventory causing your selected weapon to always change.
  
• Fixed some loot spawns inside Dogna's lab.
  
• Fixed an occasional desync bug where a player's roll animation was different on their screen versus other players.

Hey there, pups! Life’s ruff sometimes, you know? I mean, one minute you’re dancing in the party bush...and the next minute you’re dropping into a war zone. It’s enough to make you want to call a doctor.



Doctor Jennifer Dogna, the most renowned Lab Lab of the renowned S.A.W. Labs Lab Labs*, has traveled to the S.A.W. Welcome Center to share some interesting findings with you. So why not drop in for a chat and see what she has to say?

*Super Animal World Research Laboratories Laboratory Labradors.



Visit Super Saharaland today to explore the Super Pyramid and Super Sphinx! The Egypt-inspired land celebrates the Super Skullcat, although the star of the show seems to have been missing since Super Animal World closed its doors to the public…

If you investigate closely you might just find that not everything is quite as it seems, and that the new region’s labyrinthine halls offer clues to Super Animal World’s history.

We’ve implemented a new NPC dialogue system in this update as an experiment worthy of the laboratory labradors themselves, so we hope you'll give us feedback on it! We've been writing a deep(ly ridiculous) backstory for Super Animal World since the beginning of development, so we're very excited to explore this new way to share more of the story with you beyond Super Animal Royale Tonight and the points of interest you can explore on the island.

The trusty S.A.W. scientists wouldn’t debut any land without genetically modified mascots to match, so if you visit the Research Lab you’ll now be able to create 3 legendary new Egyptian breeds:

• Super Bastet (Super Cat breed)
  
• Super Horus (Super Hawk breed)
  
• Super Anubis (Super Wolf breed)

New Egyptian cosmetic items have also been added to the drop pool, and will drop with higher frequency for the next 3 weeks after the update:

• Khopesh
  
• Ankh Staff
  
• White Pharaoh Costume
  
• Red Pharaoh Costume
  
• Lily Flower (Hat)
  
• Atef Crown
  
• Crown of Hathor
  
• Hieroglyph Umbrella
  
• Fez

We’re debuting an entirely new system for NPC dialogue and storytelling in this update! We'll avoid spoiling the details here so you can experience it for yourself, but it was a really big project for the team so we can't wait to hear what you think of it and how you'd like to see it expand. The content included here only scratches the surface of what we'd like to do in the future, but it establishes many of the systems that we'll need for future content.

The Highlights:

• NPC / storytelling systems + Super Saharaland quests/milestones.
  
• Super Saharaland now contains three sub-biomes: the S.A.S.R. Camps, Emu Ranch and the new Super Pyramid region. Make sure to explore it carefully to discover its mysteries!
  
• New animals available at the Research Lab: Super Bastet, Super Horus, and Super Anubis.
  
• New cosmetic items: Khopesh, Ankh Staff, White Pharaoh Costume, Red Pharaoh Costume, Lily Flower (Hat), Atef Crown, Crown of Hathor, and Hieroglyph Umbrella.

Additional Updates:

• Emus will now heal 10hp per coconut eaten.
  
• Rain frequency has increased, but banan rain is more rare.
  
• Sniper kills daily challenge lowered to 2/4/6.
  
• Adjusted swamp mist to improve performance on low-end systems.
  
• Bots will re-acquire closer enemies more often.
  
• Bots will not pursue targets that have gone out of vision as aggressively.
  
• Bots will switch to melee less predictably in up close combat.
  
• Game engine updated to Unity 2018.4, which should provide some fixes for certain bugs and crashes.
  
• Bug with floating cave candles should be fixed.

We also have some additional new Super Animal breeds in store for the coming weeks, so watch our Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for those!

Before we get started on today's patch notes, Super Animal World's celebrated researchers have asked us to pass along a message of caution. Storm clouds have been brewing above the island, strange chanting has been heard coming from a cave in the northeast, and most regrettably, a researcher has dropped his lunch into the S.A.W. Nano-climate machines. We're not quite sure what will happen, but it's likely to be stormy for the next 36 hours.

To help you weather the storm, we’re handing out limited-edition banan umbrellas until April 5th at 11:59pm PDT (8am GMT on April 6th). The giant banan melee from 2019 will also be dropping during the same window, so make sure you play to collect both.



Earn Super Eggs Until April 19th at 11:59pm PDT
Play games until April 19th to earn Super Eggs and redeem them for 9 new limited-edition event items! Once the event ends, you'll have until our next update to redeem your Super Eggs.

• Flower Crown
  
• Flower Glasses
  
• Easter Sun Hat
  
• Eggshell Hat
  
• Red Plaid Dress
  
• Easter Suspenders
  
• Chocolate Bar melee weapon
  
• Easter Dress
  
• Easter Suit

As a bonus, 2019's Super Easter items (+ 2 new bows) have also returned and will randomly drop at the end of matches.

The new Super Chick breed has arrived in the Research Lab and last year's Super Chocolate Bunny has also returned!

Glide further with your umbrella or put it away to fall faster:

• If you're feeling brave, you can now put away your umbrella and watch your Super Animal plummet faster towards the ground. Use the same hotkey (default is E) to switch between umbrella and freefall.
  
• Freefalling allows for a faster descent, but be careful of smacking the ground! You won't take damage, but it'll cause your Super Animal to be briefly stunned.
  
• Your regular umbrella can now glide further, to allow for further flying away from the Giant Eagle, and more exploring of the far corners of the island.
  
• Three new milestones/cosmetics have been added related to freefalling.
  
• Bots will partake in the free falling fun as well!

Thanks to all your feedback, we've made a bunch of improvements to Giant Emus:

• Giant Emus can now eat coconuts to heal (in addition to still being able to heal with campfires).
  
• The Giant Emu's health is now displayed in a bar on its saddle.
  
• Armor now partially protects against pecks. Each peck will remove one tick of armor, but the Super Animal will still receive 15 damage through the armor. Peck damage without armor is unchanged at 45.
  
• Movement now has minor acceleration/deceleration.
  
• Giant Emu displays healing effects now when at campfires (in addition to the rider).
  
• Audible range increased by about 10%.
  
• Short delay added on shooting when dismounting a Giant Emu.
  
• Rapidly mounting/dismounting an Emu will result in a temporary block on mounting.

Gun balancing:

• Poison Dart Gun now applies 5 ticks rather than 4 (but same total damage). Also it is able to poison Giant Emus now.
  
• Epic M16 removed from the Mole Crate, since it is a world spawn. Legendary M16's chance was increased slightly to compensate for this change.
  
• Slightly increased Legendary Sniper's chance in the mole crate.
  
• Movement speed with Hunting Rifle increased slightly.
  
• Increased recoil reset speed of Sniper when not moving.

More updates:

• New milestone "Dancing in the Rain"
  
• To celebrate the start of Spring, we've added 5 flower hair pins into the drop pool.
  
• Adjusted camera zoom during parachute so that it accelerates as you get closer to ground.
  
• Fix for Giant Emu reins sometimes being incorrectly colored.
  
• Fix for a revived player entering a Giant Emu and being glitched.
  
• Fixed laggy players being able to peck despite dismounting a Giant Emu.
  
• Fix for Giant Emus being heard in the game lobby.
  
• Improved issue of Giant Emus being able to be pushed into tight corners.
  
• Fixed (for real this time) players sometimes not appearing to roll.
  
• Reload is canceled when entering a Hamster Ball or mounting a Giant Emu.
  
• Founders name color is a bit brighter to help it pop off the Welcome Center ground more.
  
• Removed a few explosive barrels that were breakable through walls.
  
• Translation fixes.

The strange weather patterns look like they'll be strongest for the next 36 hours and will drop in frequency after that.

Crikey, it looks like Super Saharaland has a new point of interest to explore, and it has arrived along with a herd of Giant Emus to ride!

Up to two Super Animals can hop on the back of a Giant Emu: the front rider controls the Giant Emu and its peck attack, while the back rider uses a jockey whip to trigger a speed boost.

• Peck attack deals 45 melee damage through armor.
  
• Giant Emus have 150 health points and change visual state as they take damage.
  
• Heal your Giant Emu by using a campfire.
  
• Giant Emus will absorb most damage for the player, but explosions and skunk gas will still harm each rider.
  
• Giant Emus can be found in forests and will roam short distances when they don't have a rider.

Make sure to explore Giant Emu Ranch, as seen in the Super Special Report!



To celebrate St. Pawtrick's Day 2020, you'll be able to earn 4 new items, and 3 returning items from 2019's event. Every match you complete gives you a 25% lucky chance to earn an item until March 29th at 11:59pm PDT!

Event Items to Earn:

• Lucky Bow
  
• Lucky Dress
  
• Lucky Shirt
  
• Lucky Hunting Rifle
  
• Lucky Beard (2019 item)
  
• Lucky Top Hat (2019 item)
  
• Lucky Suit (2019 item)

New Super Animal Breed:
The Super Lucky Lion is now available in the Research Lab once you've unlocked Super Lion DNA at level 40, and is a permanent addition to the game (not exclusive to the event).



Thomas Sledison watched the Giant Emu escape footage last week, so as a precaution, he’s been hard at work creating a new weapon.

The Hunting Rifle is a break-action weapon, so it only has a single shot before needing to reload, but is accurate for each shot. It fills the role of an entry level sniper rifle, and as such can be found in common (grey), uncommon (green) and rare (blue) tiers.



Highlights:

• Check out the Giant Emu Ranch in the southeast corner of Super Saharaland.
  
• Hop on a two-player rideable Giant Emu.
  
• Earn the new Rancher Hat and the Rancher Outfit through two new milestones for getting kills with the Emu.
  
• New weapon: the Hunting Rifle, a break-action sniper (available in common, uncommon and rare tiers).
  
• The original Sniper is now only available in epic and legendary tiers. The epic version still spawns in the world, at the same rarity chance as an M16, and its bullet speed has been increased slightly.
  
• The Super Lucky Lion is now available in the Research Lab and will be available permanently.
  
• St. Pawtrick's items have a 25% chance of dropping after each match played until March 29th at 11:59pm PDT (4 new 2020 items + 3 returning 2019 items).

Weapon Balancing:

• The regular Pistol's clip size is now 10 (previously was 8).
  
• Magnum & Deagle bullet speed increased.
  
• Poison Dart Gun does 10 damage per poison tick (up from 9). This means that two shots with poison darts can kill a full health player (unless they manage to heal to save themselves).
  
• AK & M16 now do slightly less damage at further ranges (increased damage falloff).
  
• AK & M16 per-shot recoil decreased, but total maximum recoil increased.
  
• Uncommon/Rare AK bullet speed reduced by 1% and 2% respectively, and Epic/Legendary M16 bullet speed reduced by 2.5% and 3.5% respectively. These changes distinguish the AK and M16 more from snipers, which have the best bullet speed. It also reduces the amount of bullet speed variance between rarity tiers.
  
• Skunk Bomb's damage per tick increased from 13 to 16, and total time from 5.4s to 8.4s.

Additional changes:

• The amount of bounce in the Spectator Ghost's animation has been reduced to make it less distracting.
  
• Fixed the map's flight arrows glitching when changing screen aspect ratio.
  
• Fixed in-game chat allowing the typing of more characters than permitted.
  
• The "Vehicle Kills" statistic has been renamed to "Hamster Ball Kills" and a new stat has been created for "Emu Kills"

BREAKING NEWS: Unidentified, giant specimens have been spotted on the island. Whatever they are, if you see them in our next update on Friday, March 13th, do not attempt to feed, pet, bludgeon or especially ride any escaped S.A.W. intellectual property.

Please warn your fellow Super Animals via Twitter, Facebook, or Super Carrier Pigeon:

https://twitter.com/AnimalRoyale/status/1235988594923368448

https://www.facebook.com/animalroyale/videos/136951940998988

The Super Hippos have arrived and they're hungry for battle. They've also brought with them a full platter of game updates, including mobility updates (heal and tape while slowly moving), weapon recoil adjustments, and further improvements to the inventory system.

The Super Hippo is a Super Animal of epic proportions, so it's unlockable in the Research Lab at level 70 alongside the Super Hyena. There's also 4 additional hungry hungry breeds to unlock on top of the base hippo:

• Super Hippo
  
• Super Periwinkle Hippo
  
• Super Orange Hippo
  
• Super Lime Hippo
  
• Super Rose Hippo

This update we've focused on polishing aspects of gameplay relating to movement and gunplay:

• You can now move (albeit slowly) while healing or taping. This allows you to make slow progress away from the skunk gas, or recover a bit of armor/health while repositioning behind cover in a fight.
  
• Movement on ice is more smooth now, and actions like reloading or healing won't cause instant slowing.
  
• You can now heal and tape while sliding on ice.

Weapon recoil changes:

• Aside from the Shotgun, all weapons now have minimal spread while moving and rolling. Since SAR is a mobility-focused game, we wanted to maintain that with aiming, and reduce randomness.
  
• Each gun has a unique move speed slow-down while shooting. Previously all weapons had the same move speed while firing, but now certain guns like the Pistol and SMG will be able to move faster.
  
• AK and M16 are now more accurate per shot and have less maximum spread.
  
• Sniper now has much greater recoil per shot, and increased maximum spread. Recoil also resets faster while standing still.
  
• Deagle and Magnum have a slower recoil reset rate, due to having less base spread and no spread from rolling.

We've continued polishing our upgraded inventory system that we debuted last update based on our tests and your feedback in Discord:

• Sounds have been added for open/closing your backpack (zip!), dropping items, and swapping the order of your weapons.
  
• Animations have been added for open/closing inventory that act as a clearer visual cue for when you have your inventory open/closed.
  
• The backpack icon is larger and has been moved down in-line with the top row of inventory, and changes between open and closed states.
  
• Visual separation has been added between the inventory items you can activate (Health Juice and Super Tape) and the ones you're holding (ammo and armor). Ammo and armor are now faded out when inventory is closed to draw attention to Health Juice and Super Tape.
  
• When inventory is opened, ammo and armor fade in and become selectable.
  
• Increased the size of the top row of items and text so it's easier to see how much ammo, Super Tape and Health Juice you have.
  
• Selected weapon now animates up when selected, and all weapons animate up when inventory is opened to indicate that you can interact with them.
  
• Selection of weapons with the mouse now handles the buffer space between weapons better so that dragging them is more reliable.
  
• Added a character animation for dropping an item.

Inventory tooltip improvements:

• Added power bars, which make it easier to compare stats between different weapons.
  
• Added stars to denote rarity (in addition to the colors).
  
• More stats have been added for certain items, including the effect a weapon has on move speed.

We've also made other subtle adjustments throughout the game, including raising the level cap and animating the spectator ghost:

• The account level cap of 999 has been lifted. Players at the max level will continue to use the same gem from level 999 but can continue to increase their account level. We plan to allow gem selection (from all your unlocked gems) in a future update. Congrats to F8 for being the first player to reach level 999!
  
• The spectate ghost's design has been improved and it is now animated!
  
• Two new mod items are now available in the item pool: Plumfiggle's Plumbrella and Mango's pizza slice (worn as a hat)!
  
• Chopsticks melee weapon now has a custom sound.
  
• World spawn rate for the M16, Thomas Gun, and JAG-7 are now half of the previous rate, to better match their "epic" rarity. You can get lucky finding epic versions of these guns in the wild, but your best bet for getting your hands on one is the Mole Crate (which is also the only place you can get the legendary varieties)!
  
• Poison Dart Gun now has no damage falloff (previously had a very tiny amount).
  
• Shotgun reload sound shortened.

Fixes:

• Fixed an invisible collision from shipping containers on the map.
  
• Fixed a bug where sometimes players who were rolling didn't display the rolling animation to other players and looked instead like they were still running.
  
• Fixed a bug where equipping an item on the endgame screen would not take effect upon returning to the main menu.
  
• Fixed dresses stretching while taping.
  
• Fixed some labels for Chinese, Korean and Japanese not using bold style.
  
• Additional Translation fixes.