Hey, Survivors! Welcome to the latest edition of the Community Crunch!

We've got some critical news to share with you all today; it's going to be a roller coaster of emotions as there's a bit of disappointing news, but worry not as you've got a lot to look forward to as well!

Let's address the mammoth in the room. Official Release. As of today, ARK has completed its Gold Master and certification for retail release. This process took a little longer than expected and as a result, our release date has been pushed back to August the 29th. We're deeply apologetic for those who were negatively affected by the delay; it sucks, it wasn't what we had wanted, nor planned but where we currently stand. We wanted to address this sooner but did not want to make any statements until we were completely sure of what was going to happen.

Now you're probably wondering what this means for the next few weeks and how does it change our current plans?

Free DLC: Ragnarok

Ragnarok's new release date on console and upcoming PC update will now also be the 29th of August. This extended time will allow further development of the map and you guys can expect a gigantic update, even bigger than we initially thought.

On the date of release, the overground of the world will increase by approximately one quarter, which is near-enough a 'TheIsland-sized' expansion; the update will feature new biomes, a coastal Wyvern canyon, an epic boss encounter, new engrams, and something secret the Ragnarok team are cooking up! We will also be adding their custom creatures to our main game, which will allow players to transfer them via the CrossARK system, so you'll be able to bring over your Ice Wyverns to The Island, The Center, and Scorched Earth!

Development plans: immediate, mid-month, and going forward.

Over the next few weeks, you will see a lot of priority placed on the PC and multiplayer versions of the game, now that we're completely wrapped up with our gold master. We are planning some immediate patches to take care of community concerns, as well as some mid-month goals and more going forward.

First of all, there will be a lot of focus on PC Performance this month (don’t worry console-users, you’ll be receiving these updates too!). We will be porting over a lot of the improvements we made on console, as well as working with our industry partners to bring up that PC performance to get you the best possible experience.

Secondly, we will be immediately (as I type this the engineers and gameplay programmers are working on the update) showing some love to these aspects of the game:

Multiplayer Bosses; let's face it, they're ridiculous, we know why and we're going to fix it. You'll soon be able to enter the boss arenas and fight bosses at reasonable difficulty, it'll still be a challenge, just no longer a monumental/near-impossible task.

The Baby-to-Juvie-Stasis issue; that's also getting fixed. For those not familiar, this is the problem where baby-creatures are entering stasis which (sort of) prevents them from ageing, and therefore they're not eating from troughs which result in death.

The Center & Under the Mesh; we're going to be implementing a technical solution to stop jerks from going under the map and raiding people. This one will take a little bit longer, but we'll have it in as soon as possible.

That's not all though! We will be releasing a major version update in the middle of the month which will significantly assist with DDoS mitigation, resolve the exploit which has allowed players to dupe, and of course not to be forgotten, but allow players to rent PC-dedicated Console Servers! We're also going to create an option to stop creatures from following you with their big heads (we'd do this one sooner, but it requires a major version update, so we thought it best come with the other significant changes mentioned above :p).

Not to mention, we'll be taking care of server crash-exploits as and when they happen, working on server performance so that you will have a smoother and stable experience.

Thank you so much for your patience the past few months and all the support! We will make sure that ARKs launch is a successful one and the game is in a healthy state. It's going to be a hectic few weeks ahead, and we're very excited! We still have a lot more planned for ARK, and even after release, the journey will continue!

We've started a thread to collect questions for our next ARK Digest, so if you've got something you want to ask - let us know and we might pick it out in the next post!

Community Contests!

Player Procedurally Generated Maps!

The Procedurally Generated Map system allows players to make their own ARK maps by determining a myriad of landscape options from the heights of mountains, depths of valleys, and the number of lakes, rivers or oceans, to the kinds of each biome they want, and more! Let's check out the entries for this weeks contest! This week's contest winner is...

Kepler-186f by F1r3flycc!



http://imgur.com/a/VPuPi

PGMapName=Kepler186f PGTerrainPropertiesString=MapSeed=555;LandscapeRadius=1.0;Water Frequency=5.0;Mountains Frequency=7;Mountains Slope=1.8;MountainsHeight=1.25;Turbulence Power=0.0125;Shore Slope=1.0;WaterLevel=-0.72;GrassDensity=1.0;JungleGrassDensity=0.02;ErosionSteps=5;TreesGroundSlopeAccuracy=0.5;DepositionStrength=0.5;ErosionStrength=0.75;OceanFloorLevel=-1.0;SnowBiomeSize=0.3;RWBiomeSize=0.075;MountainBiomeStart=-0.55;MountainsTreeDensity=0.01;JungleBiomeStart=-0.65;IslandBorderCurveExp=4.0;MaxSawnPointHeight=0.1;SnowGrassDensity=0.25;MountainGrassDensity=0.05;SnowMountainGrassDensity=0.15;UnderwaterObjectsDensity=0.5;SnowMountainsTreeDensity=0.01;TreeDensity=0.03;JungleTreeDensity=0.66;RedWoodTreeDensity=0.35;SnowTreeDensity=1.0;RedwoodGrassDensity=0.1;ShoreTreeDensity=0.05;SnowShoreTreeDensity=0.025;DeepWaterBiomesDepth=-0.24;InlandWaterObjectsDensity=0.5;ShorelineStartOffset=0.01;ShorelineThickness=0.0015;MountainGeneralTreesPercent=0.1;TerrainScaleMultiplier=(X=1.0f,Y=1.0f,Z=1.0f);SnowBiomeLocation=(X=0.2f,Y=0.2f);RWForestBiomeLocation=(X=0.5f,Y=0.5f);NorthRegion1Start=(X=0.25f,Y=0.0f);NorthRegion1End=(X=0.416f,Y=0.5f);NorthRegion2Start=(X=0.416f,Y=0.0f);NorthRegion2End=(X=0.582f,Y=0.5f);NorthRegion3Start=(X=0.582f,Y=0.0f);NorthRegion3End=(X=0.75f,Y=0.0f);SouthRegion1Start=(X=0.25f,Y=0.5f);SouthRegion1End=(X=0.416f,Y=1.0f);SouthRegion2Start=(X=0.416f,Y=0.5f);SouthRegion2End=(X=0.582f,Y=1.0f);SouthRegion3Start=(X=0.582f,Y=0.5f);SouthRegion3End=(X=0.75f,Y=1.0f);EastRegion1Start=(X=0.75f,Y=0.0f);EastRegion1End=(X=1.0f,Y=0.333f);EastRegion2Start=(X=0.75f,Y=0.333f);EastRegion2End=(X=1.0f,Y=0.666f);EastRegion3Start=(X=0.75f,Y=0.666f);EastRegion3End=(X=1.0f,Y=1.0f);WestRegion1Start=(X=0.0f,Y=0.0f);WestRegion1End=(X=0.25f,Y=0.333f);WestRegion2Start=(X=0.0f,Y=0.333f);WestRegion2End=(X=0.25f,Y=0.666f);WestRegion3Start=(X=0.0f,Y=0.666f);WestRegion3End=(X=0.25f,Y=1.0f)

If you'd like to learn more about PGMs, please check out our quick start guide:

ARKVideo!

This contest is open to all types of video be they funny, epic, scenic, stories, whatever inspires you. Just a general reminder that they should remain safe for work, think of the children!

And without further ado, the ARKVideos for Community Crunch 98 are...

ARK: Survival Evolved - OpenWorld!

and...

MAN OR MANTIS - Rise of the Achatina (Episode 4) by LameWolfProductions!

ARKitect!

This is an award given to Survivors to celebrate the amazing structures you build. These bases are judged based upon a number of different factors such as their creativity, uniqueness, how fun of a base it is, the difficulty of building it, the functionality it provides and much more!

The ARKitects for Community Crunch 98 are…

ARK Pixel Box Art by Lusaka6!

"Center Tower Caste" by SNK & Bob!

Sphinx by Valoule

Ragnarok Tek Retreat by F1r3fly

CASTLE BLACK BUILD, ARK SURVIVAL EVOLVED by ThePilgrim

If you'd like to check out the submissions from the rest of the entrants, you can do so here:

Fan Feature!

The Castle [4K 60FPS] [Cinematic/Showcase] by EXFIB0

Awesome Small ARK Treehouse! :: Exploring ARK Ragnarok Official Map :: Awesome ARK Base Locations!

Log Cabin 3 :: Ark Building Tutorial :: How To Build a House in Ark Survival Evolved | UniteTheClans

Ark: Survival Evolved || STEAMPUNK CITY || Ragnarok by Squidge Meister

Game of Thrones inspired build on Ark Survival Evolved Castle Black by ArkTLC 138

|RAGNAROK| Top 5 PvP Base Locations [ PvP Tips & Tricks] by EXFIB0

PIMP MY HOME, RAGNAROK STYLE by ranger1presents

Exploring Ragnarok Ice Cave (2 of 3) [IronMine Ragnarok] [8] by MonkeyManTV

Exploring Ragnarok - Griffin Taming w/WitMan by MonkeyManTV

Big Flag build by ArkTLC 138

[4th of July][Jerboa Parade, Firework Rocket Launchers!!] by SevenFootPIGMAN

Big Floating Ship Base Build PVE Ark Survival Evolved by ArkTLC 138

Forest base build tour | Modded ARK Survival Evolved by Ampersam

Rainbow Base! Ark Survival Evolved Build by Ampersam

ArkLifeRP - Chili Night at T&A Ranch with Cowboy Poetry by Smokie780

Ark Survival Evolved - Caution wet paint (PART 60) by GeeKy gAMer no1 & gOOgly Owl

ARK ICE WYVERN ❄️VS ? FIRE WYVERN!! ICE WYVERN VS ALPHA WYVERN!! Ark Survival Evolved Dino Battles by Fresonis

TURTLE & JERBOA BREEDING - JERBOA EXPLOSION! by The Lime Inc.

How to Tame a Griffin ARK:101 feat. RamFace by YodysseusIV

Explore the Ark #12: How to Handle Allo Packs by MrWhitehearth

My Dodo, By Clay (Polymer Clay Art by Naila) by ClayOnOrDieTrying



Source: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=971091523

Two barys by Plazmo Xen



Source: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1092739006

Kids will be Kids by Violet



Source: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=966185164

Survivor Card by Violet



Source: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1052870491

Partnership by 神 Laila ☯ Ai 愛



Source: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=970409870

Indominus Rex (Redraw) by Neon



Source: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=969784671

이구아나와 이구아노돈 by iguana12345678



Source: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1088235178

The Spelunker by Dead Nitr0th3Edg3l0rd



Source: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1090027421

Concours Dessin ! by Stipik



Source: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1083763728

Concours Dessin ! by Stipik



Source: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1083765134

Tiger attack 2 by TiMs



Source: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1073033042

New realistic Dilophosaurus by milokamilo



Source: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1092745521

New Albertosaurus by milokamilo



Source: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1091543789

Milo's Smilo by milokamilo



Source: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1088612627

Primal Mammoth by Sharkcat



Source: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1089618710

Snow Camo Hyenadon by Sharkcat



Source: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=970916508

Desert Camo Hyenadon by Sharkcat



Source: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=970917363

Forest Camo Hyenadon by Sharkcat



Source: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=970915316

Scooby-Doo Hyenadon by Sharkcat



Source: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=970625197

Additional Creatures Official Dossier: Achillobator by Shadlos



Source: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1086709861

Hydra Dossier by Crimson



Source: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1085552573

Additional Creatures Official Dossier: Amphicyon by Shadlos



Source: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1083416235

The REAL Brontosaurus by Nemo Namikaze



Source: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1078980587

The REAL Triceratops by Nemo Namikaze



Source: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=972947078

Zygophyseter Custom Dossier by Helena



Source: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=957120127

Stalker Dossier by Dead Nitr0th3Edg3l0rd



Source: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=955211817

That's it for this post guys! As always if you’ve got anything to share please get in touch and be sure to follow us on:

Twitter: twitter.com/survivetheark

Facebook: facebook.com/survivetheark

Reddit: reddit.com/r/playark

Instagram: instagram.com/survivetheark

All the best,

Studio Wildcard