Dev Diary: November 2021
Welcome to November’s Development Update!
In today’s post, we’ll be discussing some of Beta’s day one content and how to access it. Prehistoric Kingdom’s Closed Beta will be arriving on December 6th with an expected launch time of 1PM PST.
If you are an eligible backer or early adopter who does not yet have Prehistoric Kingdom in their Steam library, please make a Crytivo account with the EXACT email you used to back the game on Kickstarter. You will be given a Steam key on December 6th.
If you already own Prehistoric Kingdom in your Steam library, the game will automatically update to Beta on December 6th.
Animals
14 Animals
Archaeopteryx, Camarasaurus, Deinocheirus, Edmontosaurus, Lambeosaurus, Microraptor, Nasutoceratops, Pachyrhinosaurus, Protoceratops, Parasaurolophus, Torvosaurus, Tyrannosaurus, Styracosaurus and the Woolly Mammoth.
Basic Needs
Animals need to eat and drink! Provide them with feeders and water sources to stop them from going extinct. Again.
New Pathfinding & Animations
Animals now turn dynamically as part of their wandering behaviour, introducing noise and variation to their walking patterns.
A handful of animals such as the Tyrannosaurus also have new additive and idle behaviours like scratching, sniffing and many more. These behaviours will be given to other animals over time to expand their liveliness.
Creative
Modular System Rewrite
The modular system has been completely rewritten from the ground up with efficient render optimizations and feature flexibility in mind.
Our previous iteration could not support the full scope of our planned additions, especially when concerning prefabs and performance. Though modular performance on day one may not feel that different from alpha, it’s far more scalable in the long term.
Modules
Modules are new modular pieces that provide function and utility within the park. These can include guest kiosks, dynamic animal statues, animal nurseries, power generators and more.
With 10 Modules available in Beta, fully custom and interactive buildings are now a reality for Prehistoric Kingdom.Modular Prefabs
Build and create modular prefabs for easy use in your park and other saves! Share with your friends by uploading your builds online (Steam Workshop support coming later).
Official prefabs are also available for those who are less creatively-inclined. We’ll be expanding and improving official prefabs as more pieces are added to the game.Modular Styling Improvements
Styling has been reworked for better use and reliability. Contextually swap themes, materials and mesh variants at the click of a button!Modular Recoloring
Show your inner artist with modular recoloring! A staggering amount of items are recolorable, with many including multiple masks and patterns. The world is truly your canvas.Modular Point Snapping
Place pieces on or within modular grid corners with the new point snap utility. Perfect for railings, pillars, beams and more. We think a lot of builders will take a quick liking to this feature!Modular Foliage Painting
Thanks to community feedback, the foliage brush has been completely overhauled. Featuring snazzy new painting and removal animations, players can now paint modular trees directly onto the terrain. Move, scale and rotate to your heart's content!
Depending on what trees are toggled in the UI, players can selectively remove certain plants from their painted environments without the fear of destroying everything - very useful for dense scenes like forests.New Themes, Styles & Items
Over 150 new items have been added to Beta (500+ total!) along with over 60 different styles found across a number of modules and customizable pieces. There’s a lot of content to sink your teeth into and this number will only continue to grow throughout Beta and beyond.Undo/Redo
With undo and redo, no mistake is permanent. Fences, paths, terrain, water and the modular system all support this much needed feature.
Management & Progression
Finances
On the surface, the financial management isn’t too dissimilar from Alpha, though the groundwork for future gameplay integrations with loans and exhibit donations has been laid out. It’s there, but it’ll see more substantial use as Beta improves.
Excavations
Use science points to unlock new animals and genetic skins with excavations! Discover new dig sites by increasing the park’s rating.Basic Science Points
Passively accumulate science points over time to unlock new species. This system will receive a large update during beta once exhibit scoring has been implemented.
Thank you for reading November’s dev diary!
We hope you’re just as excited as us to begin the journey into Beta. We’ll be providing the community with a follow-up post on December 6th, so stay tuned for that.
Until next time,
- The PK Team
