I'd like to stress this being for a JW: D update right off the bat, in line with what was done for the release of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. I'm of the opinion that locking new movie content, and more likely than not an extension of the campaign, behind a paywall would be draconian. I already feel that way about the Camp Cretaceous pack, and taking that approach with the next big movie would be even worse. I'll also readily admit that this is more likely than not futile to put out there, given that the content dump in question is almost certainly already being prepared, be it as an update or as a paid add-on.
With that out of the way, let's jump in: how would I introduce Jurassic World: Dominion content to Jurassic World Evolution 2?
Probably the biggest factor that would come from a deluge of Dominion content would be its additions to the roster. Including potentially-prologue exclusive creatures that I don't see any reason for Frontier to exclude, the brand new creatures would be:
However, new creatures aren't the only creatures in Jurassic World: Dominion bearing new designs. Several dinosaurs in the movie have (sometimes very) distinct designs from their game incarnations, namely the Allosaurus (also appearing in Battle at Big Rock), Giganotosaurus, Iguanodon and Dreadnoughtus. Though I'm sure I'll get flak for saying this, and I myself would definitely miss the old designs for the Iguanodon and Giganotosaurus if they were to do this, but I would not make them variants: I would make the Dominion designs replace the old ones outright. They're the hard canon designs now. They should have priority over the designs from the first game. Making them one-skin alternate models for the non-canon designs would be ridiculous.
An alternate solution that could keep the old designs would be to fully flesh out the Dominion designs in the same way the basic designs are, with patterns and alternate colors and all that jazz, and to simply give them priority over the old, now-irrelevant designs.
On the note of updating existing creatures, it's worth bringing up that Dimorphodon is making its grand(?) return to the big screen, and there's reason to believe that, as in its last appearance, Jurassic World, it will be depicted with pycnofibers (I don't know why they're naked in CC either). What better time to update the ingame dimmy to account for this?
And, of course, there are proper variants for existing creatures to consider, which could safely be added in the same way that the Return to Jurassic Park and Camp Cretaceous Dinosaur Pack variants were added:
Another potential highlight of a Dominion update would be how it would more likely than not round out loose ends that were left untied by the base game's launch. Though one final Chaos Theory scenario to fill the gap in the menu is a safe bet, worth bringing up is that what we have of the campaign is probably not the full experience as it was initially planned. Keep in mind that the movie was delayed by a year, and the game was either delayed by six months or was supposed to be released six months after the movie before the delay; chances are that a lot had to be kept out of the initial release to avoid spoiling the movie. Tied to these additions is that the update would more likely than not introduce new maps to the game: Malta (desert?) and the BioSyn facility (alpine?) are safe bets for inclusion, as are more locales across North America (I personally like the idea of a tropical Florida map).
More safe bets are scenery items with a BioSyn theme, perhaps some new vehicles/vehicle skins and the addition of Jurassic World: Dominion characters to the Jurassic World Database. There's no telling what QOL additions and changes the next update will bring, so I won't speculate on that front, nor will I speculate on what the hypothetical DLC to accompany the update would entail (assuming this isn't the DLC, which, as I've already stated, is a nightmare scenario).
With that out of the way, let's jump in: how would I introduce Jurassic World: Dominion content to Jurassic World Evolution 2?
Probably the biggest factor that would come from a deluge of Dominion content would be its additions to the roster. Including potentially-prologue exclusive creatures that I don't see any reason for Frontier to exclude, the brand new creatures would be:
- Moros
- Quetzalcoatlus (please make it able to walk on land and hunt somewhat large prey)
- Oviraptor
- Lystrosaurus
- Pyroraptor
- Therizinosaurus
- Dimetrodon
- Atrociraptor (could benefit from the approach taken with the CCDP new species - four premade skins for the "Atrocity Squad" or whatever they're calling it and a customizable design with striking markings and colors)
- Microceratus
However, new creatures aren't the only creatures in Jurassic World: Dominion bearing new designs. Several dinosaurs in the movie have (sometimes very) distinct designs from their game incarnations, namely the Allosaurus (also appearing in Battle at Big Rock), Giganotosaurus, Iguanodon and Dreadnoughtus. Though I'm sure I'll get flak for saying this, and I myself would definitely miss the old designs for the Iguanodon and Giganotosaurus if they were to do this, but I would not make them variants: I would make the Dominion designs replace the old ones outright. They're the hard canon designs now. They should have priority over the designs from the first game. Making them one-skin alternate models for the non-canon designs would be ridiculous.
An alternate solution that could keep the old designs would be to fully flesh out the Dominion designs in the same way the basic designs are, with patterns and alternate colors and all that jazz, and to simply give them priority over the old, now-irrelevant designs.
On the note of updating existing creatures, it's worth bringing up that Dimorphodon is making its grand(?) return to the big screen, and there's reason to believe that, as in its last appearance, Jurassic World, it will be depicted with pycnofibers (I don't know why they're naked in CC either). What better time to update the ingame dimmy to account for this?
And, of course, there are proper variants for existing creatures to consider, which could safely be added in the same way that the Return to Jurassic Park and Camp Cretaceous Dinosaur Pack variants were added:
- The prologue's feathery Tyrannosaurus
- 2022 Parasaurolophus; might need A, B, C variants and so on to account for the variations
- The "demon" Carnotaurus with the broken horn
- 2022 Dilophosaurus
Another potential highlight of a Dominion update would be how it would more likely than not round out loose ends that were left untied by the base game's launch. Though one final Chaos Theory scenario to fill the gap in the menu is a safe bet, worth bringing up is that what we have of the campaign is probably not the full experience as it was initially planned. Keep in mind that the movie was delayed by a year, and the game was either delayed by six months or was supposed to be released six months after the movie before the delay; chances are that a lot had to be kept out of the initial release to avoid spoiling the movie. Tied to these additions is that the update would more likely than not introduce new maps to the game: Malta (desert?) and the BioSyn facility (alpine?) are safe bets for inclusion, as are more locales across North America (I personally like the idea of a tropical Florida map).
More safe bets are scenery items with a BioSyn theme, perhaps some new vehicles/vehicle skins and the addition of Jurassic World: Dominion characters to the Jurassic World Database. There's no telling what QOL additions and changes the next update will bring, so I won't speculate on that front, nor will I speculate on what the hypothetical DLC to accompany the update would entail (assuming this isn't the DLC, which, as I've already stated, is a nightmare scenario).
