Animals that were made but didn’t make into the roster

[nutrit]

Have you ever wondered how many animals were made but finally didn’t make into the roster?

We know only about a few and I have always wondered how many still lies there on the Frontier secret servers.

We know about the Lord Howe stick insect from the Australian pack that was replaced with the skink. We have existing game art that can prove that:

I have also heard about the Painted terrapin that was replaced by the Diamondback terrapin in the Aquatic pack and mentions of the painted terrapin were found in the game code by modders community.

I’ve also wondered if there were any species that were planned for the first year anniversary and since they plan the DLC’s way ahead if there was a forth pack planned for 2020 but then discarded because of the covid?

 

[biggest_dreamer]

I doubt they would have scrapped a pack outright. Perhaps if covid hadn’t complicated everything we would’ve gotten Australia earlier in the summer, Aquatic in the fall, Southeast Asia in the winter (or even vice versa on those two). Worst case, even if there had been a unique pack planned for fall 2020 that got de-prioritized between the heavier hitting Australia and Aquatic packs, I have little doubt that every animal in it has been used by now.

As for the two species you mentioned, we don’t exactly have any evidence they were really made, do we? They were obviously planned, and in the former’s case had prop assets created, but we really have no idea if they ever truly made it that far past the drawing board. Even the references in the game files could be nothing more than placeholders or very early stage tests for all we know.

 

[nutrit]

I doubt they would have scrapped a pack outright. Perhaps if covid hadn’t complicated everything we would’ve gotten Australia earlier in the summer, Aquatic in the fall, Southeast Asia in the winter (or even vice versa on those two). Worst case, even if there had been a unique pack planned for fall 2020 that got de-prioritized between the heavier hitting Australia and Aquatic packs, I have little doubt that every animal in it has been used by now.

As for the two species you mentioned, we don’t exactly have any evidence they were really made, do we? They were obviously planned, and in the former’s case had prop assets created, but we really have no idea if they ever truly made it that far past the drawing board. Even the references in the game files could be nothing more than placeholders or very early stage tests for all we know.

Good insight. You could be right.