ARK Digest - Issue 6

[Jat]

Hello Survivors!

Welcome to the sixth issue of the ARK Digest! For those who missed the previous issues, check out the Announcement section on the Steam Community Hub and be sure to catch up with what you’ve missed there is tons for you to catch up on!

It’s been officially two weeks since we’ve launched and the game has continued to grow tremendously. The amount of support that the community have shown is absolutely unreal. We’ve now got a peak player count of over 80,000! Very close to breaking the top-10 of all time on Steam! Hopefully with your continued support we can reach that milestone together! And speaking of milestones, the amount of hours played has kept on soaring. We’re now at over 15,000,000 hours played between all accounts since launch! Already rivaling some of the biggest games out there, and it’s only been two weeks! You guys are INSANE!!!!!! And we love you deeply for that <3

Jurassic ARK

Last week we celebrated the release of the movie Jurassic World by hosting a week full of events, including introducing two new limited edition cosmetic items to celebrate the film, as well as our launch and continued success!

We held daily competitions and had hundreds of entries, the winners walked away with gift cards to see the movie as it launched in cinemas worldwide! And this is just the beginning, as you guys are supporting us through Early Access, we’ll do our best to support you too. We’ll be hosting loads of competitions throughout the process, as well as have many fun events for you guys to participate inside the game! We’ve got something massive in store for everyone in the community, coming up fairly shortly ;)!

Your questions, Our answers!

Survivor, H4X Col Kurtz asks, “What do you plan to do, if anything, about the megalodons owning the ocean? PS Have you thought about boats?”

Answer:

As we progress through Early Access you’ll see a large change in the number of Dinosaur spawns that currently exist. Right now you may see an over abundance of Megalodon in the sea, or Triceratops on the mainland - this is because they’re acting as a placeholder for numerous other species and simulating the server load of all of them. Once we have more of our other species created and in the game, which we’ll be doing a rapid and regular pace, these numbers of any one species will significantly reduce and you’ll see a much more diverse and lifelike ecosystem.

Also in regards to the power of Megalodons, well I suppose currently they're the undisputed champion of the ocean however they definitely aren’t the only sea creature you’ll see, or the largest sea creature. Soon you can expect to see the Plesiosaur and the even more intimidating predator Mosasaur enter the game. These two will definitely have an impact on who owns the seas! Providing both another aspect in terms of attack, defense, as well as the option of basing and building underwater strongholds as true scuba gear is added to the ARK. There is definitely going to be a large number of creatures of all different types populating the underwater regions and it’ll be interesting to see what really ends up owning it per se, is it going to be the Mosasaur, Plesiosaur, Megalodon.. or perhaps something else? ;)

And.. seeing as you’ve mentioned boats… well this is something that we are considering, along with other vehicles such as jeeps and helicopters. However none of it is certain, it’s just being conceptualized at the moment and we’ll have to see where development takes us, we’ll have more to reveal in regards to this at a later date :).

Survivor, Dazrix asks, “Will you guys ever make Rex's destroy trees/rocks whilst they are aggrod?”

Answer:

Yes! Right now the AI is fairly basic, we’ve got proximity based aggro set up, chasing and fleeing depending on the temperament of the Dinosaur and the attack/movement animations. As we progress through EA and have more resources to allocate onto things such as AI you’ll see massive improvement. Dinosaurs will no longer get stuck in trees or in between rocks, willing that they’re strong enough - they will instead smash rocks and knock down those trees. Some of the functionality already exists, it just needs to be implemented onto the A.I - and it will be, just might take a little while as we’ve got some more pressing matters!

Survivor, Tamaalethan asks, “Do you plan on releasing more building materials? So far Thatch is useless other than getting a quick hut up so you don't instadie the first night and wood is so weak you spend more time repairing it than actually building or harvesting. Something beyond Wood but before Metal would be nice (Stone/brick?)”

Answer:

This is important question and something we’ve been keeping our eye on in terms of community feedback. We know how important structures are in survival game and that there needs to be a correct amount of tiers and balance. Whilst we’re not going to say yes that there will be another tier being added, we’re not going to say no either. Right now it’s still a wait and see whilst we get more feedback. However we are going to be adding in other structure options to help fortify your base, recently we implemented a metal spike structure and now we’re starting to work on a wooden spike structure. This will be a cheaper and weaker version than the metal one, but it will help progression and provide some extra defense early on.

As for the purpose of thatch. Thatch is used as a primitive resource, we know it isn’t great as a tool of defense, but that’s because it isn’t meant to be - it’s for beginners and it’s thatch! The purpose of the thatch structure is meant to teach players the importance of building, the utility they provide and allow progression to the upper tiers. If you’re new to a game like ARK, you’re likely to start off building thatch and you’ll quickly see how useful it is to have a structure, the protection it provides against the elements, as well as the dangerous creatures that roam the night.

Though we understand that due to balance reasons we will need to fiddle with numbers, get the durability right, the cost of materials to make the buildings and etc! Which is one of the reasons we’re in early access! To see which direction to take and receive feedback upon our design decisions. So what you see now with buildings in terms of durability, material cost and possibly how they’re built - could change down the line as early access provides us with more data and facilitates us in developing the game.

All that said, we’ll be add Stone Walls soon, and they’ll require thatch within the mortar as well :)

Survivor, M4R3. DonMare asks, “Will the game support SLI when DirectX12 and Windows 10 come out?”

Answer:

Yes! We’ve actually been keeping up with this internally and we’ve got SLI working with DX12 already. There are a few tiny issues to work out and we’re going to wait for the release of Windows 10 before we roll out with DX12 and SLI support ourselves, but you can definitely look forward to it!

Survivor, XithylTheScrub asks, “Caves are blocked off on most official servers, creating a bottle neck of crystals to the rest of the players. With five reasonable cave systems to get to, do you plan to add smaller caves or an alternative source of crystal?”

Answer:

Yes! We understand that there is some hesitation regarding the idea that players are able to block off caves, however this is an intended mechanic and we’re hoping it can lead to some awesome territorial battles for particular caves! As for whether you’re able to get the materials elsewhere, we plan on adding crystals deep down in the ocean, plus once do some more work on our mountain biome you’re likely to find some more metal and crystals up there too. We’ll try not to limit players from resources, however as always there are going to be more optimal spots in particular areas of the map and if you want to farm there, you’ll need to make sure you’re prepared to handle what comes at you, be it the creatures that dwell in the cave, or the players who want to maintain the territories.

Survivor, XithylTheScrub asks, “In the future will there be options for colorblind players? We're out there and I know it's hard to determine a yellow from a green supply drop or which end on the compass is red.”

Answer:

Of course! We want to sure that everyone is able to play our game to the fullest and enjoy it as much as possible, whilst we may not have it right away we will introduce the options to help those who need it! We’re also going to be looking into adding more functionality to our controllers so that players who are unable to use a keyboard and mouse aren’t held back by limitations and that they’re free to customize their controllers.

Survivor, Do No Harm asks, “Can you guys add metal storage containers?”

Answer:

In an upcoming patch we will be introducing a new type of structure, a Reinforced Steel vault. This will help you store a large amount of items with maximum security! You can expect this relatively soon ;)

Survivor, Plouf Lillium asks, “Is there going to be other equipment except for saddle available on the dinosaur, like torch equipment, or bag equipment?”

Answer:

Certainly! You can definitely expect to see this sometime through Early Access! We’re considering having armour for Dinosaurs, as well as extra attachments, this could include torches, storage, standing platforms for multiple players, and potentially weaponry, but we’ll see ;) it’s still in the planning phase at the moment so who knows what we’ll end with :)

Survivor, Deatharrow asks, “are the french language and other localisation of course planned or we will play only in english ?”

Answer:

Yes! We’re planning on having the final release to be in French, German, English, Spanish and Italian. Of course with the release of our ARK Dev kit, players will be free to mod their own languages if they want to!

Survivor, Index154 asks, “Have you planned to make creatures like Raptors, Trikes or Stegos actually appear in packs or herds to make it more realistic?”

Answer:

Without a doubt! We want this to be a truly representative of an actual prehistoric… sci-fi ecosystem! Right now we’ve just got the basics in with some minor grouping/herding/territorial/protective mechanics on our Dinosaurs and other creatures, however as we progress through early access you will see this grow and advance into a fully fledged ecosystem, with Dinosaur AI interacting with one another and their environment in more natural manner depending on their disposition.

Survivor, Nightshriek asks, “Okay, so this actually isn't something to do with a game mechanic, but what is your turnaround time on a creature? Like, from once you decide on a species to release in game. So that would be:
1. Decide creature species
2. Concept art
3. Designing the model
4. AI and animation
5. Internal testing and stat setup
6. Release”

Depends on how much the pipeline is backed up with other work, but if it’s a clear pipeline, it can be as little as 3 weeks from idea to in-game completion. Typically about 1 day to decide on a creature, about 3 days for the concept, about one week for the model, about another week for animation and I, and a few more days for balance iteration and testing! Usually it’s not that straightforward though because we have a long queue of creature concepts (like… 100+....) that are in the pipeline to be implemented, so the dino team is non-stop busy… but occasionally we’ll jump a new one to the top of the queue when we are inspired on a special day… Indominus Rex anyone? Ha ha :)

Dino Dossier!

A new Dino Dossier has been revealed, this one is everyone’s favorite enormous flyer, the Quetzalcoatlus!

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=463503006

That’s it for this week’s ARK Digest! Thanks for tuning in and hopefully you’ve walked away learning something new ;). Thanks for all the support, engagement, and feedback so far!

All the best,

Your Community Manager Jat and The ARK Survival Evolved Team!

[Chiefo]

Very sweet!

[Imposter Chief]

Do indominus now... if its legally possible. lol

[HUSTLER]

Add a machete to gather fiber easier!!!

[JasonB]

Yeap looks like theyre will be an Indominus Rex in the game (under a different name of course), will probably be able to camoflage as well that would be awesome.

[DeftAnesthetik]

Adding the ability to turn off controller vibration would be GREATLY appreciated.

[satanicmechanic77]

please dont add jeeps and helicopters, Dinos should fill these roles, not machines, even boats should be very costly and primitive, more like rafts than speed boats

[DogburtJunior]

Do you have any tips for people who are having frame rate issues? I have mainly experienced them when I am fighting a creature and it gets to the point where I can barely move, and not with large creatures, I get it when I attack Dodos, Dilos, and raptors.

[Lisugh]

I keep loading all the way into the game, and then my screen goes white again, then black and then back to the main menu screen WTH?

[Tenshi Kirai]

we know there are not cheaters. when that action will be taken?
There is a large Brazilian public, I wonder if there will be translation, and server in Brazil

[EtTuNick]

Do you think there will be a que list for people trying to get on servers. Something where it tells you that you are 4th in line to join and once its your turn you have 10 seconds to click accept or it goes to the next person in line.

[Deathlyhand]

i have a strange glitch right now, when i open my inventory all i see is a black outline of my character so in other words i dont see my guy at all just a dark outline, i hope this guys ficed soon

[Nissalee]

Thanks for answering these questions! I won't lie, I was really hoping you would've tackled egg and breeding info. Maybe next time!

[Creative Cryptid]

Glad they didn't answer anything important..

[B4ShzjEah]

Originally posted by wyattmilkman:

Glad they didn't answer anything important..

^^ yeah i was a little bit dissapointed too, but to be honest some of the questions were ok. Maybe its also cause they didnt choose one of mine :D

I rly wanted to know if some of the mechanics like "taming" are placeholder till they got time for something new

[Alexander]

Originally posted by satanicmechanic77:

please dont add jeeps and helicopters, Dinos should fill these roles, not machines, even boats should be very costly and primitive, more like rafts than speed boats

I full agree on this. What the hell is the point of a dino over a jeep or helil, aside perhaps stealth or being cheaper (food vs metals/gas); cause let's face it, any tribe that can make either of those will have no issues keeping them up and running, and then it just kind of voids out the use of dinos.