Monthly Development Update
K.Digi
- Manager
August was one of those months where a lot was happening behind the scenes, at least from my end!
We had a few changes in team availability, so quite a bit of my time went into reshuffling work and making sure nothing got stuck because of it. That meant going through outstanding tasks, checking in with the team about what they could realistically take on, and moving things around without creating new bottlenecks. Thankfully, we managed to keep our priority creatures moving.
I also spent a fair amount of time on budgeting and planning. I updated our forecasts based on where production actually stands now and broke down more of our costs creature by creature. It's given us a much clearer idea of where the bigger expenses are and where we need to be smart with priorities as we work toward Early Access.
We made some good progress with animation too, including starting to put a longer-term arrangement in place with one of our animators. Having more consistent animation capacity should make a big difference as more creatures move through the pipeline.
Our content side is also taking shape. We've added some extra help with gathering development screenshots, videos, community content and stream highlights, so hopefully we'll be able to share more of the smaller behind-the-scenes moments that usually don't make it outside the team.
And one of the bigger things I'm excited about this month: Our Public Roadmap is now live! You can now follow our progress as it happens, including our Early Access goals, playable creature progress, sneak peeks and the latest project commits. The roadmap is synced with our current production state, so it should give everyone a much better window into what we're working on and how things are progressing behind the scenes.
So, not necessarily the flashiest month from my side, but definitely a productive one...and now you'll be able to keep a much closer eye on that progress yourselves! So if you haven't checked out our awesome website yet, I suggest you head over there right now!
Watch the DevBlog on YouTube:
M_Z
- Audio
I've been creating impact sounds for when the dino hits the ground!
I made sounds for each size, Large, Medium, Small, and Tiny, to enhance the atmosphere and improve the game's quality. I've also been planning to create a few more ambient sounds. Also I did sounds for some of the Purussaurus attacks, placing a strong emphasis on sound quality and the ideal personality for this large crocodilian.
AirSickLowLander
- Level Designer
Hey everyone!
This month I’ve been continuing what I have been working up to since our upgrade to Unreal Engine 5.7, and have finally gotten to implement some of those goals. I have been in the process of replacing some of our foliage with Nanite Assemblies, which is a lightweight way to render foliage that performs very well with Nanite! Instead of being a single model, foliage is broken up into parts that are instanced repeatedly on the tree. This dramatically reduces the storage requirements and rendering cost of foliage, while also allowing for a tree to have more dense foliage than before. As more foliage is replaced with this setup, the benefits will be clearly visible!
Alongside that, I have been focusing on eliminating hitching from streaming in the world as you explore. Many of the actors on the map will now transform their location instead of being an entirely new instance to render, which helps massively with stutters. While this is enabled map-wide, some actors will need to be manually configured for this so I’m going over each and every one of them to ensure they’re compliant. More shaders will be pre-cached as well, in order to prevent the player from having to compile them at runtime. This is the biggest source of stutters, and once it is done it will be greatly beneficial. I will continue to add new map features very soon, but optimization is a top priority that everyone will benefit from so I’m making sure it gets the attention it needs! You will also find some areas on the map with improved lighting, as well as a few new locations on the map.
I’ve also been working on fixing up some of the rivers and making them more interesting visually. I’ve made some very big improvements to the water material as well,
Minizep_Wolf
- Programmer
Hey!
This month I've been working on the animations needed for us to be able to equip one-handed items and I was able to get the pieces needed for walk and jog speeds completed. Stay tuned!
Arrived
- Artist
This month I completed the weave clothing sets, as well a bow with stone and bone arrows.
RAR
- Artist
Not too much to report this month. I've been away for my move to California.
However now that things have started to settle I'll be getting back into the swing of things. I'll be finishing up the fish required for the Puru update and moving onto various other concepts and finishing up models for the hygiene system.
Bohuslav_Salo
- Artist
Hey everyone!
This month I've finalised the first texture for the Pachycephalosaurus.
Chikangia
- Programmer
This month, I focused on laying the foundation for more advanced combat while continuing to improve the inventory, container, and crafting systems.
Global Damage System: I implemented the new Global Damage System, which lays the groundwork for our Advanced Combat system. Attacks can now trigger different reactions on enemies, such as staggering or stunning them, giving us much more control over combat interactions.
Inventory & Crafting Improvements: I continued expanding and improving the inventory, container, and crafting systems. As part of this, I completely reworked the InventoryComponent and made it much more modular, allowing it to be used by anything that needs to store or process items.
Network & Replication Improvements: I also completely overhauled the replication of the InventoryComponent. Inventory data is now only replicated to clients that are currently relevant. For example, when interacting with a chest, its inventory is only replicated to the players currently interacting with it. This significantly reduces unnecessary network traffic and should make the system much more efficient, especially in multiplayer scenarios.
With these changes, we now have a much more flexible and network-efficient foundation for inventory management and the upcoming Advanced Combat system.
Void
- Artist
This month hasn't happened much from my side.
My main focus was creating footprint UI for the Puru and make sure they're easy to tell apart in the wild. Next up is Ourano and Eochar updated footprints!
FuriousSmaug
- Programmer
Hello again!
This month marks 3 years of development!
Having been a part since the beginning, it’s incredible to see how much the team has grown, how much we’ve learned, and how much our community has supported us.
3 years ago if you told me we would have had a successful demo made, a kickstarter that succeeded well above expectations, already completed as much as we had, and that I would still be here (and full time!), I’d be shocked. I’m extremely proud of what we have accomplished and I can’t wait to see what the next year brings for us.
Progress these past few months has been the fastest we’ve ever seen, with puru nearing completion in such a short time frame. With the need for a new rig, we didn’t get to start working on it fully until March or April, making this the fastest species completion to date after the model was finished. Alongside that, crowd control abilities will be completed in the next several weeks to fully bring not just puru, but also ourano and eocar up to the standard that has been set for our dinosaur combat. Finally, some much needed enhancements have been made to our gore system to bring it up to date with the rest of the projects standards. 
This also brings in wounded textures, better allowing players to see when they and their opponents are low on health.
Kleiner
- Animator
This month, I completed several new animations for Purussaurus, including Alt Attack Forward, Alt Attack Right (45°, 90°, and 135°), Pick Up Item, Talk, Flinch, Rest, and Sleep.
I’m currently working on the remaining directional Alt Attacks: Right 180°, and Left 45°, 90°, 135°, and 180°.
Kouga
- Artist
Started researching how would the evolutions be displayed for the player.
There's a small space so it's imperative that the UI remains small as well. Decided to start with a tier system, exotic evolutions will be displayed first if available. You will be able to click them to expand, showing more information. All of this is WIP and is subject to change
Soundrynx
- Audio
This month I have worked on completely completing the Tropeo adult's sounds, and working on new sounds for Puru!
The process was more interesting because i had to make bone breaking sounds, lunging and deeply preparing to lunge. I offered Tropeo a surrender call, hurt call, speaking and ultimately, death.
Storm
- Animator
This month I completed a few attack animations for Puru, including lunge and grab attacks. I also completed a full new set of Eocar alt attacks, as well as a new version of the threaten animation. 
Vittoria Leto
- Artist
This month, I finished and refined the final details I wanted to change on Kael Stormrider, Chief of the Tidewalkers.
The main idea behind Kael was to create a dynamic and practical character who lives in close contact with the water. His design is strongly inspired by the sea and coastal life, incorporating natural elements such as seaweed, shells, teeth, bones, fishing nets, ropes, and other materials collected from the ocean.
His clothing and accessories are designed to feel handmade, functional, and adapted to his environment. His asymmetrical silhouette and flowing elements help convey a sense of movement, while his tattoos and ornaments reinforce his cultural identity and connection to the sea. His weapons and equipment are also conceived as practical tools for hunting, fishing, navigation, and survival.
I wanted Kael to feel like someone who is constantly moving and adapting to his surroundings, a character shaped by the unpredictable nature of the ocean.
For the final presentation, I developed his turnaround, expression sheet, and material sheet, along with the final character design and additional details to further establish his visual language and personality.
This month, I also started working on the next character, Darius Gravewarden, Chief of the Boneclad.
I gathered visual references and created the first sketches to begin exploring his design, silhouette, and visual language. He will have a very different identity from Kael, and I am starting to explore how to visually convey the themes of bones, death, and Boneclad culture.
Yaroslav
- Artist
This month I have been busy working on Pattern designs for Pachycephalosaurus, as well as various Juvi skins for the majority of the dinosaur roster.
