Updates

[Exhibyte]

I'll post information about upcoming updates and newly released updates here.

[Exhibyte]

Update 0.2.50.2
Underwater Swimming (Part 1)
(STATUS: Live)

The player's amphibious and aquatic dinosaurs can now swim under the water's surface. If your dinosaur is swimming at the surface of the water, press the 'Spacebar' key to dive underwater. If your dinosaur is underwater and near the surface of the water press the 'Spacebar' to switch back into surface-swimming mode.

The player's dinosaur now turns the direction the camera is looking. The 'A and D' keys are no longer used to turn the player's dinosaur.

The camera's Y-axis offset is now half as high from the base of the dinosaur as it was previously. It seemed like too much of the dinosaur was at the bottom of the screen.

[Exhibyte]

Update 0.2.50.3
Reduced Dinosaur Unlock Cost
(STATUS: Live)

Greatly reduced the evolution points required to unlock dinosaurs so players can get in there and test out them all out. This will most likely be changed back in the future. Until then, have fun with testing all the dinosaurs!

[Exhibyte]

Update 0.2.50.15
(STATUS: Live 9/28/2020)



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Game Settings:
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Refresh Rate is no longer a setting you can change in the graphics options menu, which should prevent some freezes and crashes from occurring.

Windows BSOD should no longer happen when changing the display resolution.

Game audio volume levels can now be adjusted in the game's options menu. You can adjust music volume, footstep volume, call/roar volume(combat slider), and ambience volume.



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Dinosaur Balance:
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The compsognathus' hatchling size has been increased from 0.125 to 0.25, which is double the previous size. The juvenile's base size has increased from 0.25 to 0.5, which is double the previous size. The sub adult's base size remains unchanged. The adult's base size remains unchanged.

Archelon no longer guard their nest. Once hatched archelon will leave their nest and will not try to return to fend for it or to protect their young.

Dinosaur turn speed has received a tuning pass!



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Environment:
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The ground's grass texture has been replaced with a dirt texture.

The game's lighting and post processing effects have received some adjustments.



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Mechanics:
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Turning your dinosaur left and right with the 'A and D' keys has been added back to the game. The only difference is that you can't use them to turn your dinosaur while moving. Turning your dinosaur while moving is done while looking with the mouse. This method of turning is only usable while stationary.

Dinosaurs can no longer walk backwards.

Dinosaurs now have a separate turn speed for land and for water.

Adjusted the camera's Y-axis offset to be slightly higher. It is now halfway(0.75) between its old offset(1.0) and its last offset(0.5).

Updated the in-game instructions.

[Exhibyte]

Update 0.2.51.7
Oxygen Gauge
(STATUS: Live 9/29/2020)



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Mechanics:
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Dinosaurs now have oxygen which is used for staying underwater. While your dinosaur is swimming, the oxygen gauge becomes visible over where the thirst gauge was. Oxygen depletes while underwater. If a dinosaur stays underwater after their oxygen fully depletes they will start losing health every second until they either die or resurface for oxygen. Older dinosaurs have more oxygen capacity than younger dinosaurs.

Terrestrial dinosaur AI now has a 25% chance to accept a wandering destination that would make them stop in water, down from 100%. Terrestrial dinosaurs were enjoying swimming a little too much. Aerial dinosaurs no longer accept wander destinations that would make them stop in water. Amphibious dinosaurs can wander in and out of water freely. Aquatic dinosaurs will only wander within the water.

Food now floats and moves with the surface of the water.

Dinosaur corpses now float and move with the surface of the water.


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Bug Fixes:
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Fixed a glitch where amphibious dinosaurs would go back and forth between the surface of the water and the ground really fast if the water they were in was very shallow.

Fixed a glitch where dinosaurs lost their target but were still in the chasing state. This was causing the dinosaur to walk without playing the walk animation.

Fixed a glitch where dinosaurs that did not thirst (sarcosuchus and archelon) were not regenerating health passively.

Fixed a glitch where dinosaurs that were idle were moving.

[Exhibyte]

Update 0.2.52.1
Graphical Upgrade
(Status: Live 10/1/2020)



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Improvements:
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Upgraded the graphical quality of the game.
Please refresh your graphics settings in the options menu.


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Bug Fixes:
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Fixed a case of dinosaurs not restoring oxygen while swimming on the surface of the water.

[Exhibyte]

Update 0.3.53.4
Improved Starting Experience
(STATUS: Live 10/2/2020)



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Improvements:
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The user interface is now overlaid with text that labels each of the icons and buttons so the player has an easier time figuring out how to play the game. This overlay can be toggled on and off by pressing the 'F3' key.

Now when a random dinosaur spawns passively around another dinosaur it has a 5% chance to ambush and attack the dinosaur it spawned around, down from a 100% chance. This should give the player the upper hand with random spawns and when they would like to engage them.

The player's passive random area dinosaur spawns happen every 15 seconds as a hatchling, every 30 seconds as a juvenile, every 45 seconds as a sub-adult, and every 60 seconds as an adult. This should help the area around the player feel a little more active the longer the player stays in the area.

Now when a dinosaur spawns from another dinosaur making a call for help it has a 10% chance to ambush and attack the dinosaur it spawned around, down from a 100% chance.

The chance for AI to have a random dinosaur spawn around it when calling for help has been decreased from 10% to 5%. This should help a little with some overcrowding issues when dinosaurs call for help a lot.

[Exhibyte]

Update 0.3.53.10
Player Collision
(STATUS: Live 10/2/2020)


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Improvements:
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The player now has collision with trees and rocks. A couple of trees in the jungle are being used as large plants and as such have no collision.

The jungles have been made less dense with vegetation so its easier to navigate through.

Random dinosaurs no longer spawn around the player while they are swimming.

Now there is only a chance for one dinosaur to randomly spawn at a time around the player, instead of 1, 2, or 3 dinosaurs.

The hatch timer has been removed for the time being, now the player can play immediately after selecting a dinosaur species.



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Bug Fixes:
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Fixed a case of dinosaurs with an attack delay resetting their attack before their damage had been dealt.

[Exhibyte]

Update 0.3.53.15
Fixes and Improvements
(STATUS: Live 10/3/2020)



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Improvements:
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Dinosaurs are once again able to walk backwards, slowly, at a quarter of their speed.

When attacking, the player's dinosaur now attacks the closest dinosaur instead of any dinosaur that was close enough to attack.

When eating, the player's dinosaur now eats the closest piece of food instead of any piece of food that was close enough to eat.



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Bug Fixes:
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Dinosaur corpses should now turn into a pile of flesh at the correct time, when half of their flesh has been eaten.

Smelling is now showing dinosaur and food outlines correctly.

[Exhibyte]

Update 0.3.54.3
Flying
(STATUS: Live 10/3/2020)



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Mechanics:
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The player's aerial dinosaurs can now fly. The pteranodon is currently the only aerial dinosaur in the game.

Press the 'Spacebar' to jump into the air and begin gliding. If your dinosaur is older than a hatchling then while gliding you can flap your wings by pressing the 'Spacebar' to fly higher and faster. You can fly faster by flapping your wings until you reach your desired speed, but there is a maximum speed you can accelerate to. Press the 'W' key to accelerate and lose altitude. Press the 'S' key to break and lose your accumulated acceleration. Press and hold the 'Control' key to lose altitude without gaining speed.

You need stamina in order to jump into the air. You also need stamina to flap your wings. Both jumping into the air and flapping your wings costs stamina.



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Improvements:
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The bloody screen effect that overlays the screen when the player's dinosaur loses health is half as bloody as it used to be, resulting in an easier time seeing through it at low health.

Dinosaurs now passively gain growth points over time. You can still eat to speed along your dinosaur's growth.



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Balance:
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The pteranodon is now twice as fast on land as it was previously.

[Exhibyte]

Update 0.3.54.5
Fixes
(STATUS: Live 10/4/2020)



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Bug Fixes:
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Fixed a case of pteranodons being able to fly through the terrain.



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Improvements:
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When flying, the player no longer collides with trees.

[Exhibyte]

Update 0.3.54.7
Minor Changes
(STATUS: Live 10/4/2020)



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Improvements:
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Made landing while flying smoother.



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Balance:
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Pteranodon are now social dinosaurs and will come to the aid of other pteranodons.

[Exhibyte]

Update 0.3.54.8
Terrain Collision Fix
(STATUS: Live 10/4/2020)



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Bug Fixes:
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Fixed some cases of terrain collision not working properly for some dinosaurs, this includes the pteranodon.

[Exhibyte]

Update 0.3.54.16
Improvements, Changes, and Balance
(STATUS: Live 10/5/2020)



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Improvements:
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The nest the player spawns at now spawns more insects.

Nests now spawn an insect twice as often, every 15 seconds.

Hatchling herbivores can now eat insects.



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Changes:
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Insects no longer turn into a pile of meat when half of their flesh is eaten.



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Balance:
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Aerial dinosaurs now have a two second delay from when they either jump into the air or flap their wings before they start falling.

Aerial dinosaurs now fall at half their previous fall speed while gliding so they can go twice as far without flapping.

Dinosaurs get hungry and thirsty 66% faster than previously.

Attacking now causes half as much hunger than previously.

[Exhibyte]

Update 0.3.54.19
Fixes
(STATUS: Live 10/6/2020)



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Bug Fixes:
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Fixed a case of dinosaurs dropping food under the terrain.

Fixed a case of shadows flickering on the terrain.



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Changes:
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Changed the ocean color.

[Exhibyte]

Update 0.4.56.14
Map Remake
(STATUS: Live 11/1/2020)

The game now features a new, better looking, and much larger map! This new map is approximately 256 times larger than the current in-game map. There should now be plenty of room for many more dinosaurs, more exploring, and for the future growth of the game.

The map features 6 different biomes which are all home to different dinosaur species. Beaches, meadows, deciduous forests, coniferous forests, jungles, and badlands.

The new map will be improved as development continues.

Random dinosaurs now spawn around the map when the game is started. These dinosaurs will roam the island until they die or the player resets the map. When one dinosaur is killed another one will take its place somewhere else.



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Improvements:
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Any dinosaur, regardless of age, can eat insects.

Dinosaur AI older than a hatchling no longer try to eat insects unless starving.

Insects now grow up to twice their previous size.

Insects now have a 100% chance to spawn around the hatchling player every thirty seconds instead of a dinosaur spawning.

Insects now have a 100% chance to spawn around the juvenile player every two minutes instead of a dinosaur spawning.

Dinosaurs no longer randomly spawn around other dinosaurs.



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Changes:
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There is now a 30 second delay before you can click the main menu's 'Singleplayer' button after hatching as a new dinosaur. This was necessary to reduce the amount of possible memory usage spikes when hatching as dinosaurs repeatedly in different locations.



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Bug Fixes:
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Insects are once again not giving kill counts.

Fixed a case of edible trees and plants not being de-spawned when fully gathered.