[07/02/15] Community Crunch Issue #8

[Jat]

Greeting Survivors!

Welcome to the eighth issue of the Community Crunch! To those unaware this is a topic which primarily consist of content to share, made by the community, for the community! As well as any little changes I want to make survivors aware about, which happen within our community ;).

1 Million Copies!

We’re super chuffed to say that earlier today we hit 1,000,000 copies sold on Steam’s Early Access! It’s been an absolutely overwhelming experience and it’s safe to say we are blown away by all the support we’ve received from everyone across the board! We’re so happy you’ve chosen to play our game, stream our game, make content and mods regarding it! It’s great and as we progress through early access it’s only going to get better which we’re super excited about!

Workshop Spotlight

For this Community Crunch, we’ve got something special planned! We’re going to be introducing a new feature, hopefully it’s something that happens regularly but it’s of course based on you guys ;). Since the release of the dev-kit, we’ve been actively keeping an eye on the workshop to see what you guys have come up with. We expected it to be a while before people really get dug in and start playing around with it, however we’ve been pleasantly surprised! You guys have already gotten started producing maps, mods, plugins and even introducing your own dinosaurs! It’s super great to see and we hope it continues. For the first edition of the Crunch’s spotlight, we’d like to present……..

Apako Islands!

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=474066035

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=474066120

Gorgeous, right?

The Apako Island is a custom map created for ARK Survival Evolved by Kimmykix! It’s an incredibly large map focused around islands, with different biomes spread across it. Something different about this map is the vast amount of ocean, really adds another layer of beauty to the map, we’ve quite enjoying exploring it and seeing what there’s in store!

We reached out to Kimmy for a little interview and here’s what they had to say!

Hello Kimmy! Thanks for spending some time to answer some questions for us regarding Apako Islands! Would you like to introduce yourself and share your experience with modding?

Well I'm Kimmy, also known as Kimmykix online, and I'm a mapmaker! I've been making map/terrain mods for a lot of games over the years, the earliest I can think of, is back when I used to make maps for Doom 2 and Zdaemon. Mapmaking is really a passion of mine, and whenever I come across a game that has some sort of map editor, I instantly jump onto it and see what I can do. Unfortunately a lot of time it involves learning how to use an entirely new piece of software or SDK, but luckily I am a fast learner. One day I hope to be able to actually turn my mapmaking skills into a job for a game company :)

Well definitely keep it up and we can see that happening! What motivated you to create a map for ARK: Survival Evolved? Did anything inspire you?

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=474080067

Well I've always loved the idea of having a terrain consisting of many small islands, because it really adds a new dimension to gameplay. Instead of being able to just run around the entire map in an hour and exploring it all, you have to work towards getting some sort of water mount to be able to scale the treacherous waters so you can explore the islands out in the sea. You also can take over an entire island to build a really cool base on, and I really can't wait to see some awesome island bases people make on Apako.

It definitely does add a new dimension of gameplay, we’ve spent some time on the map travelling around and were pretty impressed with how different the game was by introducing a lot more ocean. So what exactly are the Apako Islands?

Well the Apako Islands are a series of both small, and fairly large mountainous islands that are in a tropical and temperate climate. Some islands may be harmless, while some may be more dangerous than you imagine. It's all out there for you to explore!

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=474080067

So loads of Islands with different levels of danger and climate, how about all that ocean? Are you planning on focusing the game a lot on the underwater features?

Well currently the map is in its alpha state, so the underwater world isn't very developed YET, but I very much plan to expand on it, and make a whole new world to explore underwater!

That’s fair enough, cannot wait to see what you’ve got in store. What do you think of our new marine friends! Had a chance to play with them yet?

Well every day has mostly been dedicated to bugfixing and developing Apako, so I haven't had much chance to play on the vanilla map, but I have however watched both Bikeman and 5hizzles livestreams of them checking out the new Plesiosaurus and Ichthyosaurus and they look awesome! I can't wait to be able to add them to Apako!

Ahh the life of someone who works on games, not much time to play! I hear you there ;P. We noticed the ruins in the screenshot! I wasn't able to come across them in the game, but does that mean players can expect some sort of story or lore to go with the mod?

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=474066065

Yea, unfortunately I'm currently dealing with a strange bug that is causing the ruins objects to not show up in game unlike all the other objects, so for now they're kind of "invisible" I guess you can say lol, but once I am able to fix the bug, I definitely want to add a lot more ruins to explore throughout the map!

As far as lore goes, I am still following the main lore of ARK, thus why the 3 obelisks make an appearance in Apako, but as everyone knows, much of the main lore of ARK is still a mystery, so not even I fully know! But what I DO know, is that the existence of ruins in Apako means that the current-day characters weren't the first human settlers on Apako. The question of what happened to the old natives is still to be discovered!

Ah yeah, the mystery of ARK’s lore… players can expect to find out more about that throughout the summer ;) happy to hear you’re going to be sticking to it somewhat with your own elements adding in of course :). Seems like this can really keep you busy, how difficult was it to develop this map, and roughly how long have you spent on making it so far?

Well I'm VERY happy that ARK is developed on Unreal Engine 4, because it is such a powerful, and easy game engine to work with! Before modding in ARK, I only messed around with the UE4 editor a bit when it was announced that UE4 was free, so Apako is my first big project I've ever done in Unreal Engine. Luckily UE4 has made developing mostly a breeze, but as with anything in the game developing/modding world, there are PLENTY of bugs that can get in your way! I currently have about 65-70 hours of work put into Apako, and many more to come!

Whoa, 60-70 hours! That’s a lot already, do you plan to keep updating the map?

Of course! Since the map is still in its alpha stage, that means I have a LOT more features planned for the map that I haven't implemented yet, and thus there is a LOT for players to look forward to!

Can’t wait to see it all :), we’ll definitely have a chat again in the future about how it’s all progressed! What advice would you give to community members that want to learn how to mod and create maps for games like ARK?

Well my biggest piece of advice I can give to any other modder, is to take the time to teach yourself how to use the SDK /map editor you're working with. If you just jump right in and try turning your ideas into reality without having knowledge in the tool you're working with, you're going to be tripping over yourself, and sometimes completely stuck, because you did something wrong, or don't know how to implement something.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=474066083

Those are some of Kimmy’s #workshoptips! And finally, what would be your favorite part of the Islands? Anything players can look forward to checking out?

Well surprisingly the ruins aren't my favorite part of the map. On the large island in the southwest is a huge grassy valley that is split by a windy, shallow river. There is a large cliff on one end of it that looks out over the savannah, and it really is a beautiful place. :)

Well that’s something we’ll definitely look out for then, I don’t think I’ve come across yet so I’m going to go have a swim around looking for it :) Thanks again for taking part in the interview Kimmy and keep up the great work!

Thanks for featuring Apako! ^-^

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=474066019

[Jat]

ARKItect

And we’re back again with another ARKitect feature! This time thought keeping in line with the recent 180 changes and it’s emphasis on the marine world, we’ll look at water-bases! This week I’ve actually got two to show off, as they were both fantastic and fit in perfectly for this week’s crunch!

The first base we came across was an underwater base by PricieGaming, we discovered it through a FrankieOnPC video which you can check out here.

After seeing how cool that base was from PricieGaming, we asked for some screenshots to get a closer view!

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=474088998
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=474089626

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=474089932

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=474090075

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=474090349

..It’s an underwater base… with automated turrets and a FARM. How cool is that? seriously. Great job Priciegaming!

and this week’s second #ARKItect would be GreySmoky, following the marine-theme bases, theirs is above the water though part of it is submerged and with the use of the painting system, they’ve created a masterpiece!

Here are some snapshots of how it progresses, the underground basement pool and their back porch fitted with a Coel pond plus a Plesio!

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=474093087

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=474093164

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=474093289

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=474093370

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=474093497

Keep up the great work guys! Looks fantastic, can’t wait to see next week's ARKitects!

and last but not least….

Native

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_BpILzH43I

This is from the group Vengeance Studios who often take pictures of their ARK Gameplay. You may have seen their epic Plesio and Spino shots featured in other ARK-posts! Now we get to look forward to their Epic Tale based on our game! Can’t wait <3

That’s it for this week’s Community Crunch guys! If you’ve got anything to share please get in touch and be sure to follow us on Twitter at @survivetheark, Facebook at www.facebook.com/survivetheark and Reddit at www.reddit.com/r/playark!

Thanks everyone!

All the best,

Your Community Manager Jat and the ARK Survival Evolved Team

[Jat]

Thanks for reading everyone! And thanks for the interview Kimmy. Pardon the late post guys, been solving some issues with tribes and going to be heading back to that now!

[Mad Mackey]

I'm really looking forward to this Apako Islands map, going to be awesome trying out a brand new area! I'm going to have to brush up on my base building skills as well, those are some nice builds.

[Писюнчик]

Originally posted by Jat Community Manager:

Thanks for reading everyone! And thanks for the interview Kimmy. Pardon the late post guys, been solving some issues with tribes and going to be heading back to that now!

About them ruins will the game it self have stuff like this ^_^?

beside mods..

[Pricie]

@Jat - Thank you very much for featuring our Underwater Base as seen on FrankieonPC's video! It's taken a huge amount of work from myself and the rest of the Vodka Villains! We're all extremely happy with the result and its still a work in progress :)

[papay]

Please forgive me for my bad English.
I hope you pay attention to this message.

1. Make Additional mods please run through the server configuration (for example server.sfg) rather than the command line.

2. Russian language in the game?

[EightSeven6]

Originally posted by hardcore( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°):

Originally posted by Jat Community Manager:

Thanks for reading everyone! And thanks for the interview Kimmy. Pardon the late post guys, been solving some issues with tribes and going to be heading back to that now!

About them ruins will the game it self have stuff like this ^_^?

beside mods..

That would be cool! Maibe secret chambers in caves too!

[Писюнчик]

Originally posted by EndR20:

Originally posted by hardcore( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°):

About them ruins will the game it self have stuff like this ^_^?

beside mods..

That would be cool! Maibe secret chambers in caves too!

haha yeah exactly ;D

[-_- I'm No Pro]

Originally posted by Jat Community Manager:

Greeting Survivors!

Jat can u pls help us on server Eu pve 277? made an post in the forum about this, pls read this! Forum post is '' We need help , any manager or develpoer that can help us? Eu PVE server 277''

[IvoryTemplar]

I'd love to know when carry weight is going to be fixed so that it accurately reflects how much you can carry before you get over encombered. Plus it would be nice if the spino wouldn't stay overencombered even after you've dropped down below the already skewed limit.

[Onevy]

Sweet.

[Crusen]

me game crashing when a trying to log in like admin on server and error saying unknownmodule!unknownfunction (0x00000000000000000) + 0 bytes [unknownfile:0]