Welcome to April’s development update!
The past month has been highly productive for the PK team! As always, there is much gameplay and art to cover, as well as more animal showcases than usual thanks to a certain theropod, so let’s dive in!
Development Progress
Development continues to advance at a steady pace, with a lot of the work being put into the terrain system and modular editing. We’ve also managed to get started on cool new features, like rudimentary guest AI!
We hit an important milestone within the modular system, implementing a gizmo-based editing tool. Soon enough this complex, yet useful feature will be completed, allowing us to occupy more of our development time on the game’s management aspects. Water painting also progresses wonderfully, and we can’t wait to show what’s in store in the next few devlogs.
Visitor Crowds
With character models in the pipeline, Matt began experimentation with visitor pathfinding and instancing. So far, results have been promising! Although they have no true AI or needs at the moment, we were able to get up to 10,000 entities navigating our test levels with a minimal hit to performance.
Since our playable area is so large, we’ll be working to provide an optimal balance between guest simulation and crowd population so that they don’t take computing resources away from other areas of the game when playing on bigger parks.
If you’re questioning their bizarre aesthetic, don’t worry! The guests won’t all be yellow drones (unless some of them really want to). We are excited to be working with a talented character artist to help bring the humans of Prehistoric Kingdom back to life. Stay tuned for more news on this front in the coming months!
Modular Building
Mau integrated the 3D editing gizmo into the modular building system, supporting the addition of beams, pillars, rocks and foliage! As one of the core components, we’ve added a variety of additional tools to the gizmo to help streamline the construction process.
There’s also dynamic moss that will always point towards the sky - neat, huh?
Continually increasing its state of usability, we’ve recorded some footage showcasing some of the opportunities available to creative players in Prehistoric Kingdom. Here’s a short demonstration video of an animal house being built!
With the arrival of the mighty Tyrannosaurus and two of our biggest sauropods, we’ve reached the end of our species spotlights! Thank you to everyone who stuck with us for all 50 profile reveals. We can’t wait to bring you new content overviews in the future!
Animation
Large and elegant, Lambeosaurus was a giant hadrosaur that roamed Cretaceous Canada, most distinctively known for its hollow, hatchet-like crest. Like the other duck-billed dinosaurs, Lambeosaurus features the option to switch between a bipedal and quadrupedal stance.
The feisty Protoceratops was a small ceratopsian from Mongolia, best characterized by its large neck frill and lack of pointed horns. With muscular jaws capable of powerful bites, this quadrupedal dinosaur gave the most determined predators a run for their money.
To top it all off, enjoy a teaser of our T.rex’ in-game run animation, slowed down for dramatic effect. We will be showcasing more of its animations in the classic format in the coming months.
Screaming and screeching in an adorable fashion, everyone’s favourite quilled ceratopsian potentially takes the cake for the cutest animal in the game! Although small, the stout Psittacosaurus could deliver a painful bite to any unsuspecting threats.
Previous sound updates and music can be found on Byron’s Soundcloud, here!
The recent trend of animal updates extended to some of the most popular species in the game, as their need for anatomical and graphical improvements became more apparent.
The absolute largest dinosaurs in the roster underwent major design changes: while Brachiosaurus mostly kept the color schemes from its previous iteration, its general proportions and underlying tissue changed in order to fit a more classical view. On the other hand, Argentinosaurus evolved far more drastically, as our portrayal of this massive sauropod made better use of the limited knowledge we have on the matter. Most notably, it sports a more impressive row of osteoderms on its flanks, as well as a more accurate neck posture and head shape.
Last in our line of hadrosaurs to be improved, Edmontosaurus received a new default skin design to reflect the project’s higher artistic standards, over the obvious anatomical improvements, including the trademarked toe hooves.
Finally, Tyrannosaurus was granted some much needed love. Besides its touched up, more accurate physiology, we modified some of the head characteristics to better match the style and personality we strive to achieve with this formidable theropod. Moreover, Tyrannosaurus now features a more diverse feathered design, while its default skin introduces rex’s Asian cousin, Tarbosaurus!
We are very proud of the result, as it reaches a good compromise between a realistic portrayal and a more iconic look.
Created by Draco Agamicus.
Created by Toth's Hippodraco.
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Thank you for reading April’s Devlog!
The eventual release of the game is getting ever closer, and we’re excited to bring more goodies to the table come May. Keep an eye on our social media for any announcements or new information!
Until next time,
- The PK Team
