Welcome to October’s development update!

It’s time to get extra spooky as we delve deep into another content filled DevLog! We have some important information and updates to share this month, so get ready to read!

We reached out to our Kickstarter backers earlier in the month to clarify the state of development and answer a few questions regarding our release.

To provide a brief summary of the discussion, we mainly focused on talking about our unfortunate reliance on third party assets and software (such as SpeedTree and Unity) to update before we can proceed with certain elements like fully integrating our new foliage rendering system.

Our progress is better illustrated on a monthly basis through a milestone graphic to maximise transparency. The graphic below will be updated every update to clearly reflect where we are with core gameplay systems so that everyone has a solid understanding of the game’s overall progress. We feel that this is an honest way of presenting the current state of development and also illustrates the importance of completing certain components against other tasks.

A lot of us take on multiple jobs or responsibilities within the team, so we thank you deeply for your patience.

Sadly this month we don’t have much to show on the programming front, as most of the work being done is laying the foundations for the future management systems. On the other hand, we are experimenting more and more with the spline-based path and fence systems while we are waiting on third-party assets for some terrain system fixes. All in all, progress is most definitely being made, albeit slowly.

For October the art department decided to get extra spooky and make a whole bunch of new assets!

Building Concept Art and Models

Finally, we are down to the last few pieces of concept art for our Early Access structures.

Counting all building models shown off in the past and this month, we are currently 53% of the way through the modelling of the Early Access structures that will be included in the initial release! If you’d like to send our building modeller some love, check out his other work on his ArtStation page!

The last two animal feeders were also modelled this month in addition to a plethora of enrichment objects that will be a welcomed exhibit accessory for many animals.

Visitor Models

This month we began to create the first set of visitor models that’ll be wandering your park. Using a basic facial shape of six different meshes and texture sets a lot of the variation will stem from clothing items worn by guests.

Here is the first look at the youngest of our three guest demographics; the teenagers!

Younger and more full of life than their older counterparts, teenagers have a need for excitement and will more often than not insist on an abundance of attractions to visit.

Animation

Smilodon received a few of its basic locomotion movements this month and this is certainly one kitty that you don’t want to touch!

Music

Our composer’s back at it again with a finished version of the snippet shown last month! The Island is another playful track that will play in the background as players build or look over their parks. Featuring some more world instruments such as the shakuhachi, this piece takes on flourishes of colour and interest from various cultures while incorporating variations on some familiar themes.

For every piece of ambient music written for Prehistoric Kingdom an additional “ambient mix” will be created: a lighter and more minimalist version of the main track. This way we can create trigger points within a player’s game that tells the music how to behave. So, for example, if it’s night time or the player has a limited number of guests in their park the game will decide to play the light version of any given track. Once your kingdom is bright and bustling the complete orchestral score kicks in!

Enhancements and new iterations continue as our UI designer brings our old interface elements back up to our new post-Kickstarter standard.

The options menu received a most needed amount of loving with a new coat of paint and expansive list of togglable features.

The interface settings allows for customization over the UI scale for larger screens and colour options for the main HUD/coloured panels. For those who experience difficulty reading text, the opacity of the colour can be manually changed to suit the individual needs of a player.

We’ve looked into features that older games of the genre have been missing and found that many users often try to replace or add new music files from popular films and television shows. While our composer quietly sits in the corner, we’re offering full flexibility over the frequency of ambient music and the ability to add brand new tracks to the game’s existing playlist!

Animal Nursery

After many iterations the team finally agreed on the best way to display our expansive animal list within the Animal Nursery whilst offering a lot of flexibility for sorting or finding a certain creature.

As a standard we’ve now split every animal into distinct family groups that can be easily distinguished and identified without the need of excessive horizontal scrolling like in the demo. Players can also find a new set of parameters depending on a creature’s environmental and social needs.

New Creatures

Along with spooky, scary fossils, October also brings the final four species – Daeodon shoshonensis, Hyaenodon gigas, Megatherium americanum and Paraceratherium bugtiense!

Almost There!

After many months of hard work we’re incredibly delighted to say that every animal in our launch lineup has their model, rig, ontogeny, and default skin set done with at least half the animals having all of their alt. skins completed! Next up on our list is texturing all remaining alternate skins for our Kickstarter creatures to completely finalise every critter but until then please enjoy this render featuring every animal coming to Prehistoric Kingdom.

You can support our animal artist’s hard work by checking out her ArtStation page here!

Much like our previous development updates we’ll continue to produce group renders of some our different extinct families. Although they aren’t exactly scaly murder birds, our mammals are sure to be a hit amongst your guests!

Ontogeny Sequences

Our scientists have observed new mammalian ontogeny processes in the park – most notably recording the angry piglet, not-a-hyena, sloth, and one lanky boi.

Alt. Skins

Similar to Tyrannosaurus, the equally loved Triceratops will receive a visual update since it’s one of our oldest creatures. Keeping inline with the colour palette used in some of our other iterations of Triceratops, this month we present four brand new skins given to our horridus and prorsus alternate species.

For a better look at the detailed art, you can check out each design concept individually here!

We’ll be discussing some recent additions to our game plan regarding visitors and their effect on your park, bringing in some rather exciting gameplay opportunities. If you’d like to check out our last post featuring Visitor Needs from August, click here!

Visitor Types

Originally intended to be a purely cosmetic change, Prehistoric Kingdom features three main age demographics within its core visitor gameplay: teenager, adult, and elderly.

We felt that including different age groups would immensely add to the management experience as players work to create a park that appeals to their target audience and public perception. Whilst offering a way to make crowds look more diverse, the three age groups also come with unique gameplay variables:

Seasonal Management

Proficient park managers will be sure to regularly check the time of year to maximise their profits!

The holiday season (November-January), for example, is capable of providing huge amounts of income through guest influx around certain months. With a range of teens, adults, or elderly coming to visit the park it’s extremely important to ensure that your park has the appropriate facilities and attractions ready to facilitate their needs.

In a future development update we’ll touch on the advertising system and its effect on guest demographics!

Thank you for reading October’s development update!

We’re hoping to make November more eventful in the programming department and of course continue chopping away at our more than extensive list of art assets as we push the game further along. It’s a very big project that is going to take a lot of time but it will all be worth it over the coming months!

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