Hello, everyone.
We wanted to give you an update on our progress with game content updates we're working on!
Alaskan Tundra Ecosystem
First, we're working on a brand new biodome DLC, with the Alaskan Tundra Ecosystem!
We decided to do this one because when you look at the biomes of the world, arctic tundra represents a gap in our current offerings and is a unique experience. It's been requested a few times, although the Savannah is more often requested -- and we REALLY want to get to that too, but we thought rounding out the biome representation first was a good idea.
Plus, we'll be releasing this in late December alongside the winter holidays, so it's great timing! Here's a few of the Alaskan Tundra animals we've already created: Arctic Fox, Arctic Ground Squirrel, Polar Bear, and Arctic Hare.
Twice as Cute, Just as Delicious
We have been looking forward to adding "real" babies into the game for some time now -- the current ones are scaled down versions. But as we all know, actual baby animals are adorable for their big faces and eyes and well, just have a different proportions.
We don't have a release date on this one as we'll be working on babies alongside our other work. We basically have a huge backlog starting with the babies we think gameplay will benefit from most, such as the bigger animals or ones that look unique to their parents (have you ever googled a baby tapir?!).
Annnddd birds.
We also have no promised date for birds, but one of our awesome interns, Michelle, decided to tackle this as her own project. Once she finishes, we still need to do a lot of integration and testing to make sure it goes into the ecosystems well. Birds are surprisingly challenging, as we have mentioned on the forums, because of figuring out how the AI will work to allow them to get eaten sometimes, where they go to sleep rather than just passing out on the ground like our other animals, etc. It requires a lot of new work and some more complicated behaviors than we currently have, but will be really exciting when we're able to do it!
Plus, we are really excited about the incredible golden eagle!
We'll keep you updated as we go, as always!