Welcome to the August Development Update!
To kick things off, we can confirm that the final support patch for Update 17 is very close to release! After one last round of testing, it’ll be released shortly to improve stability and add new partner animations to 7 different animals (Mammuthus, Nasutoceratops, Pachycephalosaurus, Panthera, Smilodon, Styracosaurus and Velociraptor).
In the meantime, if you’d like to further support Prehistoric Kingdom on the road to full release, we’d really appreciate if you could check out our recently refreshed Patreon page. We post updates nearly every week that provide exclusive progress reports and insights into our development plans. Since sales can vary month to month, having a Patreon has been a great source of stability for the team. We’d be extremely grateful for any extra help!
Throughout the month, we were able to spend a good amount of time cleaning up code and fixing bugs for U17. It ended up turning into a bit of an optimization rabbit hole, but many areas of the game’s code should be more stable and run faster.
In terms of U18, we’ve been working on some fun stuff! In addition to the things that we’ll discuss shortly, we began implementing DLSS 4 for extra performance and improved a few of our in-house tools. One of these tools is a new pipeline that allows our artists to quickly render icons for fences, paths and pieces from a consistent angle using in-game lighting. What was previously a time consuming and manual process for thousands of items can now be performed in a single click, giving the building toolbox a more consistent and pleasing look. It’s already saving us a lot of time!
We also managed to make huge progress on an unannounced U18 feature. While it’s very functional, we’re going to hold off on showing it until the final art assets are ready in September. If you’d like to get a sneak peek at the prototype before then, you can find it over on our Patreon!
Going back to the management view improvements from last month, we’ve since implemented the new UI and added a ‘clay’ rendering mode. This renders nearly everything in the game as a flat color and makes it much easier to spot highlights at a glance.
As part of the updated ‘animal needs’ view, players will be able to see the nature coverage of their entire park. We’re still working on the colors, but it’s cool to see how different plants contribute to each factor in real time.
Areas with aquascape become highlighted in blue!
Thanks to the new nature coverage mechanic, we’ve been able to improve a variety of aspects relating to plants.
To start, painted foliage will now have proper density limits and will not continually place trees in the same spot over and over again. Depending on the shape and size of a tree, they basically claim an area and prevent others from growing if there’d be too much overlap. As a result, forests will look much more realistic without having more trees than necessary!(Of course, players can also add extra trees manually if desired.)
Painting with wide trees like the revamped Samanea can create especially nice looking forests as palms or other tall vegetation are allowed to grow in the spaces between.
Next, we’ve added a replace foliage mode that will paint new plants whilst destroying ones that are not part of your current selection. This is quite helpful when trying to figure out an enclosure’s ideal nature coverage. However, if you’d prefer to mix and match plants like the current PK, you can always turn this off!
Lastly, our sound designer (and blog post writer) can rest easy. After years of requests, the new nature coverage system has finally allowed us to expand our ambient soundscape with more immersion and detail than ever before!
As you move through the park, the game’s ambience will change depending on whether the camera is in a forest, an open field, on bare ground, or even near shrubs. Insects audibly flutter around bushes while birds sing from dense trees, surrounded by wooden creaks and the rush of whispering leaves. Stay in the forest and you might notice increased reverb as you place items and listen to animals call.Each map has a unique selection of audible wildlife that changes depending on the time of day. You can hear some of the results on the temperate map below!Note: Best experienced with headphones and YouTube’s ‘Stable Volume’ turned off.
In addition to the new Wetland plants coming in U18, the Tropical biome will be expanding, too! The Açaí and Acuri palms offer splashes of both height and groundcover with a total of 18 variations.
But they’re not all! We heard you liked Big Tree(s), so the Samanea will be returning to the foliage brush with a fresh look and 5 variants. We especially love the flowering version!
And finally, the Wetland biome will be receiving water hyacinths to expand your aquascape roster. There’ll be 6 variants, including flowered and non-flowered versions.
Taking a break from foliage, our 3D artist, Nathan, has been busy making a plethora of pieces to make your habitats even more natural. These pieces include restylable leaves, sticks, logs, stumps, roots and reworked versions of the ivy and vine pieces. As a bonus, we’ll also be adding dedicated faux mudwalls and riverbank pieces (both of which are fully recolorable).
All the rockwork in this enclosure was done with the new faux mudwall pieces. Recoloring makes them super versatile!
In U18, players will be able to help manage their park from first person! Simply walk up to a feeder or shop and instantly refill it in exchange for cash. The same can be done when cleaning dung or animal carcasses.
As polish, we would like to eventually add little animated buckets or brooms depending on the action.Constantly managing your park like this will be more expensive in the long run, but if you feel like getting some work done, you’ll soon be your very own zoo keeper!
To close out this Dev Diary, we’d like to reveal the second skin for Baryonyx! This speculative design depicts the fish eater with a tight coat of feathers, giving it an appearance not too dissimilar from aquatic birds. Tune in next month to see Baryonyx with its full 3D model!
Created by booksandsnakes
Created by Sena Hyeleth
Created by Duck
Created by crazycatmyri
Created by VirosArts
Thank you for reading August's dev diary!Next month we’ll be focusing more on some of the mechanics coming in Update 18 as well providing your first look at Baryonyx in-game. Until then, keep eye on our socials to learn when the next support patch is dropping!- The PK Team