Dev Diary: February 2022
Welcome to the February Update!
In today’s post we’ll be exploring parts of our next Beta update and delving into what our busy team’s been working on. If you weren’t already aware, a public roadmap highlighting some of our upcoming plans can be found over on Trello.
Modular Items
Extra wall pieces and pillars will soon be added in our next update, allowing for new shapes and wall combinations. In addition to pillar pieces for all the wall materials, players will also be greeted to 1x1, 1x2 and 1x4 panels to create more intricate parts in their builds.
As you can see above, there are a number of unique pillar models depending on their assigned material.
Animal Welfare
In our next update, players will need to consider the welfare of their animals and the quality of their habitat. Beyond expected necessities like food and water, Exhibit Cleanliness is a new and important feature with big consequences for your overall exhibit and zoo rating.
While pooping, animals will drop small dung particles onto the ground and create mounds. While the particles disappear after a short amount of time, dung mounds will build up over time as animals continue to poop nearby. Players can minimise poops by supplying High Quality feed to their creatures.
Excessive faeces can greatly detract from a paddock’s Exhibit Score and will begin to make animals unhappy.
To manage Exhibit Cleanliness, players can either schedule a habitat for cleaning or employ some very lovable friends; the Dung Beetles! Found within the Animal Care category, the Dung Beetle Nest is a small item that will automatically clean piles of poop within its radius.
Exhibit Score
Park Managers wanting to operate large income zoo's will need to pay attention to their Exhibit Scores, a new value used to keep track of how attractive a habitat is to visitors. Higher scores lead to better donations and collectable science points.
UI Concept Art with placeholder numbers.
To maximise Exhibit Score, players have a number of options at their disposal:
Total Animal Ratings: the collective value of all animals in the habitat.
Decorations: the number of decorative scenery objects in the habitat.
Ecology: housing animals from the same time period and country.
These perks can be offset by poor exhibit management, however. Visible dung, carcasses and repeated species found elsewhere in the park will drop the overall Exhibit Score.
Players must also attempt to maximise the Total Welfare and Visibility of a habitat to secure the best possible Exhibit Score.
State of Development
With Early Access just around the corner the team continues to collect important feedback, improving gameplay experience through updates and prepping for Early Access launch. It’s been wonderful to see the community grow over the last few months and we can’t wait for everyone to have access to Prehistoric Kingdom!
We’re currently looking for additional animators to join the team and help further develop Prehistoric Kingdom. If you’re interested in working on creature animation, please send your portfolio over to us on Twitter via DMs or to our email address (info@prehistorickingdom.com).
Upcoming Developments
So, what’s coming beyond the next update? Right now, our environment team is hard at work on the upcoming Temperate map (British, ‘innit). 9 foliage variants will be arriving alongside the new locale, offering more variety for the temperate biome.
We’re also very pleased to finally unveil the long awaited Psittacosaurus redux. These little critters will be available in one of our final updates before launching into Early Access, arriving with three alternate species. We can’t wait for you to meet them all!
Created by SimplySavannah.
Created by Warpath.
Created by So_Bad.
Thank you for reading February’s dev diary!
We expect the next update for Closed Beta to launch in Early March, with Early Access scheduled for a late April release.
Until next time,
- The PK Team
