Now that we have confirmation of "Claire's Sanctuary" DLC slated for release on the 18th along with the 1.8 update, I wanted to direct everyone's attention to something small that I feel isn't really being discussed. For a while now I have been closely watching what Frontier has been doing and some of the stuff they add may have a bigger impact than people think. Naturally, we all have really big aspirations for what we want out of the game, but the approach Frontier has been taking does appear to be working up to that.
Specifically, I would like people to look at how they release a couple of new animations with every release. It shows Frontier is working on incremental improvements that will apply to all species. Model size adjustments for medium carnivores, varying degrees of sizes for small carnivores, and new animations for certain rigs. I found it particularly interesting that they were adding odd sized dinosaurs that didn't fit into the large or small category. The rigidness has been slowly eroded and broken down almost as if in preparation for different dinosaur sizing categories like Medium and Miniature. Knowing their range of sizes and tweaking animations for the species of those odd sizes will make it easier to create a new category to throw them into at some point.
Next, I wanted to direct your attention to the Carnivore Pack and specifically the Acrocanthosaurus' new combat animation. One way to improve the combat in the game is to vary the attack animations and it shouldn't be hard to take the work applied to the Acro and apply it to other select large carnivore species. To me it seems like there is evidence Frontier is doing this incremental approach all over the place to different species which serve as a reference point they can later apply to future dinos. It helps cope with the burden of having to make so many unique animations by breaking it up over time and then retroactively applying the results to those species which may later need them.
The idea of incremental improvement should be something everyone understands now. Moving ahead with that I wanted to direct everyone attention to the vegetation you can grow in the Greenhouse. As some have already pointed out not all of those items look like they can be applied to a feeder. This got me to thinking what kind of gameplay would you actually get out of this DLC when the time spent on Sanctuary Island is supposed to be for dinosaur rehabilitation. Just researching and growing vegetation only for a Ranger to resupply a feeder quickly loses its shine, becomes tedious, and there is scant little gameplay you can actually get out of that. Taking all of that into consideration, I have a suspicion that some of those items are more unique than they are given credit.
One very much looks like a log and at least two others appear to be growing on rocks. To me this clearly signaled that Frontier can use the Greenhouse to push new gameplay in more non-obvious ways. Sure some of the berries and plants will just be added to a regular feeder, but some might require separate action. That log might be a low-key decorative piece that doubles as a source of food. You can create environmental objectives when combining the terrain tools with the Greenhouse and lets not even get started on all the potential to expand and make sick & diseased dinosaurs more interesting. For fans of JP:OG and its Site B Mode, well, Frontier may have found a workaround to address some of your requests. They have essentially created "natural feeders" where your herbivores can graze from and thanks to the existing Sandbox option you already have unlimited feeders, so a Site B Mode looks like it might finally be ready.
Specifically, I would like people to look at how they release a couple of new animations with every release. It shows Frontier is working on incremental improvements that will apply to all species. Model size adjustments for medium carnivores, varying degrees of sizes for small carnivores, and new animations for certain rigs. I found it particularly interesting that they were adding odd sized dinosaurs that didn't fit into the large or small category. The rigidness has been slowly eroded and broken down almost as if in preparation for different dinosaur sizing categories like Medium and Miniature. Knowing their range of sizes and tweaking animations for the species of those odd sizes will make it easier to create a new category to throw them into at some point.
Next, I wanted to direct your attention to the Carnivore Pack and specifically the Acrocanthosaurus' new combat animation. One way to improve the combat in the game is to vary the attack animations and it shouldn't be hard to take the work applied to the Acro and apply it to other select large carnivore species. To me it seems like there is evidence Frontier is doing this incremental approach all over the place to different species which serve as a reference point they can later apply to future dinos. It helps cope with the burden of having to make so many unique animations by breaking it up over time and then retroactively applying the results to those species which may later need them.
The idea of incremental improvement should be something everyone understands now. Moving ahead with that I wanted to direct everyone attention to the vegetation you can grow in the Greenhouse. As some have already pointed out not all of those items look like they can be applied to a feeder. This got me to thinking what kind of gameplay would you actually get out of this DLC when the time spent on Sanctuary Island is supposed to be for dinosaur rehabilitation. Just researching and growing vegetation only for a Ranger to resupply a feeder quickly loses its shine, becomes tedious, and there is scant little gameplay you can actually get out of that. Taking all of that into consideration, I have a suspicion that some of those items are more unique than they are given credit.
One very much looks like a log and at least two others appear to be growing on rocks. To me this clearly signaled that Frontier can use the Greenhouse to push new gameplay in more non-obvious ways. Sure some of the berries and plants will just be added to a regular feeder, but some might require separate action. That log might be a low-key decorative piece that doubles as a source of food. You can create environmental objectives when combining the terrain tools with the Greenhouse and lets not even get started on all the potential to expand and make sick & diseased dinosaurs more interesting. For fans of JP:OG and its Site B Mode, well, Frontier may have found a workaround to address some of your requests. They have essentially created "natural feeders" where your herbivores can graze from and thanks to the existing Sandbox option you already have unlimited feeders, so a Site B Mode looks like it might finally be ready.
Last edited: