The designer of ARK: Survival Evolved‘s The Center map took to a Twitch livestream Thursday where he showed live development of the new Redwood biome for the stunning world. Ben Burkart, the map maker for the official mod to the PC and Xbox One open-world dinosaur survival game, shared details on the upcoming addition as he demonstrated his design skills.

As previously covered, the Redwood Biome is planned to hit the PC version of ARK: Survival Evolved next week with the 243.0 update. This will convert the Grand Peak Island on The Island into the new biome. The Redwood trees themselves cannot be harvested, but players can build treehouse-style bases in them complete with retractable rope ladders. It provides an element of verticality plus a relatively safe place to build a base.

[Image via Studio Wildcard]

The Center update with the new Redwood Biome will be released to Steam as an early beta at the end of next week. This will give Burkart the chance to get feedback on changes to The Center, take suggestions on possible improvements, and squash any bugs. There is no release window for the Redwood Biome to be released on The Center yet, but it took the designer approximately four months of work to create the entire map as it is known today.

It is the largest and “most ambitious” biome Burkart has made yet, according to his comments in the Twitch stream. It is an all new island that will be added to the south of the existing Jungle South island and runs from approximately to the east of Skull Island and the Tropical South island all the way to the waterfalls that go off the edge of the west side of the world by the Snow South biome. The existing map for The Center has been extended by 100 percent to accommodate the new land mass, which Burkart says is about 10 times bigger than players will expect.

[Image via Twitch / Studio Wildcard]

There will be a land bridge connecting the South Snow biome to the Redwood Island. This bridge is actually past the location of the waterfalls where it heads directly south before cutting east towards Redwood Island. Those Survivors already scheming to block the land bridge should know Burkart stated it is possible, but would take “a ton of behemoth gates.” It is very much a work in progress at this point as the Studio Wildcard developer currently only has an outline of where it will be placed.

Expect to find new caves and ruins in the Redwood biome along with some stunning new vistas. There are towering cliffs, split waterfalls, hidden alcoves, and running rivers. It isn’t clear what animals will spawn here yet as there is still much work to do on the Redwood Island.

A boss arena is also being added at the top of the gigantic cliffs on the mountain. The arena is above the world and players will only be able to reach it via teleportation using one of the three Obelisks on The Center. The monstrous cliffs actually tower past the top of the world boundary, so you can’t reach them otherwise.

‘ARK: Survival Evolved’ The Center To Get Bigger With Redwood Biome Addition [Image via Twitch / Studio Wildcard] ARK: Survival Evolved - The Center Redwood Island (PC, Xbox One) [Image via Twitch / Studio Wildcard]

[Image via Twitch / Studio Wildcard] ARK: Survival Evolved - The Center Redwood Island (PC, Xbox One) [Image via Twitch / Studio Wildcard]

[Image via Twitch / Studio Wildcard] ARK: Survival Evolved - The Center Redwood Island (PC, Xbox One) [Image via Twitch / Studio Wildcard]

[Image via Twitch / Studio Wildcard] ARK: Survival Evolved - The Center Redwood Island (PC, Xbox One) [Image via Twitch / Studio Wildcard]

[Image via Twitch / Studio Wildcard] ARK: Survival Evolved - The Center Redwood Island (PC, Xbox One) [Image via Twitch / Studio Wildcard]

[Image via Twitch / Studio Wildcard] ARK: Survival Evolved - The Center Redwood Island (PC, Xbox One) [Image via Twitch / Studio Wildcard]

[Image via Twitch / Studio Wildcard] ARK: Survival Evolved - The Center Redwood Island (PC, Xbox One) [Image via Twitch / Studio Wildcard]

[Image via Twitch / Studio Wildcard] ARK: Survival Evolved - The Center Redwood Island (PC, Xbox One) [Image via Twitch / Studio Wildcard]

[Image via Twitch / Studio Wildcard] ARK: Survival Evolved - The Center Redwood Island (PC, Xbox One) [Image via Twitch / Studio Wildcard]

[Image via Twitch / Studio Wildcard] ARK: Survival Evolved - The Center Redwood Island (PC, Xbox One) [Image via Twitch / Studio Wildcard]

[Image via Twitch / Studio Wildcard] ARK: Survival Evolved - The Center Redwood Island (PC, Xbox One) [Image via Twitch / Studio Wildcard]

PC players that are interested in the beta of The Center for ARK: Survival Evolved should take a look at the Steam page. Burkart is currently testing changes to the existing caverns, but will update the beta with the new Redwood biome later.

What do you think of how the The Center’s Redwood Island addition is shaping up for ARK: Survival Evolved? Sound off in the comments section below.

[Image via Studio Wildcard]