More species: why?

[Silvertongued]

A common request, from my perspective, is to add more species to the roster. I understand the immediate desire for more content in this regard but I think it's a bit of a fool's errand - more species slapped on to the same skeleton is not helping the game improve. You just have slightly different-looking versions of dinosaurs you already have. You can have a dozen different theropods but they're not going to differ a whole lot from one another because there are only so many archetypes you can work with.

With JWE this request-frenzy resulted in just that: a whole slew of dinosaurs that were basically carbon copies of one another, after a certain point. Minimal growth of mechanics but hoo boy you better believe you got a lot of skins for those dinosaurs.

So I have a suggestion: less focus on "more species" and more focus on a handful of unique species and deeper mechanics. That is, more behaviours of the dinosaurs. More personality traits. More types of interactions. More ways - like the new hatchery set up - to get the player involved and attached to their creations.

Instead of asking for Sauropod #382 we could get a Therizinosaurus, for example. A meaningfully different entity with radically different aesthetics and potentially distinct behaviour. Instead of getting a new slew of skins we could angle for better environmental elements for the Lagoon. We could get 'toys' for the dinosaurs, much like actual zoos employ. We could expand the fundamental game's mechanics - the thing that actually keeps us playing - rather than focusing on the immediate gratification of having more surface-level content that we will only appreciate for a game or two.


I don't know, maybe I'm completely off my rocker. What do you think?

 

[Phenom7503]

A common request, from my perspective, is to add more species to the roster. I understand the immediate desire for more content in this regard but I think it's a bit of a fool's errand - more species slapped on to the same skeleton is not helping the game improve. You just have slightly different-looking versions of dinosaurs you already have. You can have a dozen different theropods but they're not going to differ a whole lot from one another because there are only so many archetypes you can work with.

With JWE this request-frenzy resulted in just that: a whole slew of dinosaurs that were basically carbon copies of one another, after a certain point. Minimal growth of mechanics but hoo boy you better believe you got a lot of skins for those dinosaurs.

So I have a suggestion: less focus on "more species" and more focus on a handful of unique species and deeper mechanics. That is, more behaviours of the dinosaurs. More personality traits. More types of interactions. More ways - like the new hatchery set up - to get the player involved and attached to their creations.

Instead of asking for Sauropod #382 we could get a Therizinosaurus, for example. A meaningfully different entity with radically different aesthetics and potentially distinct behaviour. Instead of getting a new slew of skins we could angle for better environmental elements for the Lagoon. We could get 'toys' for the dinosaurs, much like actual zoos employ. We could expand the fundamental game's mechanics - the thing that actually keeps us playing - rather than focusing on the immediate gratification of having more surface-level content that we will only appreciate for a game or two.


I don't know, maybe I'm completely off my rocker. What do you think?

I agree 100%

 

[Jura Arena]

You're right but many people want to see they're favorite species, so there is ever a person who's crying for his species

I'm personal would be fine with 30 species if every of them have 3 or more social and the same number of diferent fight animations than same skeletons with other skins

 

[Phenom7503]

You're right but many people want to see they're favorite species, so there is ever a person who's crying for his species

I'm personal would be fine with 30 species if every of them have 3 or more social and the same number of diferent fight animations than same skeletons with other skins

While I wouldn’t be fine with 30 more like 50 I agree that every species needs way more social stuff

 

[TheMightyMegalosaurus]

I wasn't aware that this was a "We can only have one or the other" choice.

 

[Jura Arena]

I wasn't aware that this was a "We can only have one or the other" choice.

Somewhere compromises have to be made. The number of available employees will also have its limits at Frontier and their salaries must also be paid. If the game cost three times as much, such considerations would be more realistic but nobody would buy the game for such prices.

 

[Phenom7503]

I wasn't aware that this was a "We can only have one or the other" choice.

Huh?

 

[TheMightyMegalosaurus]

Somewhere compromises have to be made. The number of available employees will also have its limits at Frontier and their salaries must also be paid. If the game cost three times as much, such considerations would be more realistic but nobody would buy the game for such prices.

It doesn't take every employee to model, texture, and rig a dinosaur. That's the job of the specific team that does that kind of work. The people who work on mechanics and programming are a separate team, as is the sound department, etc.

 

[Silvertongued]

It doesn't take every employee to model, texture, and rig a dinosaur. That's the job of the specific team that does that kind of work. The people who work on mechanics and programming are a separate team, as is the sound department, etc.

Certainly it doesn't require every employee - what I'm saying is I would prefer those visual artists to work on lower-programming-impacting stuff like structures/environmental elements while more programming is put into the animals themselves and the mechanics surrounding them.

Like, yeah, we're going to eventually get more species and some of them are inevitably going to be built on the same generic skeleton/using the same animations as existing ones. I just want more resources allocated to making the game deeper, rather than wider, in that respect.

 

[Jura Arena]

It doesn't take every employee to model, texture, and rig a dinosaur. That's the job of the specific team that does that kind of work. The people who work on mechanics and programming are a separate team, as is the sound department, etc.

yeah... and they don't want to get payed or are slaves?
I can't quite follow your gossips

 

[Phenom7503]

I’m with silvertounged

 

[TheMightyMegalosaurus]

yeah... and they don't want to get payed or are slaves?
I can't quite follow your gossips

I'm having difficulty understanding your claim that them doing their jobs means they aren't being paid and are slaves.

Certainly it doesn't require every employee - what I'm saying is I would prefer those visual artists to work on lower-programming-impacting stuff like structures/environmental elements while more programming is put into the animals themselves and the mechanics surrounding them.

Like, yeah, we're going to eventually get more species and some of them are inevitably going to be built on the same generic skeleton/using the same animations as existing ones. I just want more resources allocated to making the game deeper, rather than wider, in that respect.

I like how you either forgot or are ignoring that the DLC dinosaurs for the first game had animations and behaviors unique to each of them.

 

[Jura Arena]

I'm having difficulty understanding your claim that them doing their jobs means they aren't being paid and are slaves.

just want to say that any kind of improvement of the game in the end of the day will depend on the saled copies.

I like how you either forgot or are ignoring that the DLC dinosaurs for the first game had animations and behaviors unique to each of them.

Some of them had unique animations but also remembering Dr. Wu's DLC with spinoraptor, ankylodokus, stegoceratops, olorotitan and troodon. 4 of 5 species has no unique animation.
next cerateous pack. carcharadontosaurus, dreadnoughtus, Iguanodon. 2 of 3 species without new animations.
I could go on with the other dlc but you'll see there are nearly the same.

 

[Oxythief]

I would say Dion DLC is way more acceptable as a market practice than Mechanic DLC and I would also hazer a guess that programmers that build the in-game mechanics are more on the game engine side of the build rather than the animators and artists who bring the dinosaurs to life. I also think a portion of the team had already been moved to JWE2 adding new mechanics we wanted to it as opposed to trying to crowbar those features into JWE DLC. My very limited experience with coding has repeatedly shown me it is way easier to add a feature at the "start" of a project as opposed to the end.

So my guess is you get way more out of a small animation team adding new dinos, skins, and cosmetics to the game than a similar-sized team trying to crowbar in features that could add a bunch of new bugs as well as possibly alienate a portion of your player base. For example, a new dino is met with either excitement or indifference from the player base. While suddenly now having to clean the poop out of enclosures is met with excitement, indifference OR annoyed aggravation.

Is there a "mechanic" you feel is essential to the game the devs have missed?

 

[South Tyrant]

Is there a "mechanic" you feel is essential to the game the devs have missed?

Breeding (canonical to movies) they did it for PZ also, swimming dinosaurs, defecating

 

[South Tyrant]

A common request, from my perspective, is to add more species to the roster. I understand the immediate desire for more content in this regard but I think it's a bit of a fool's errand - more species slapped on to the same skeleton is not helping the game improve. You just have slightly different-looking versions of dinosaurs you already have. You can have a dozen different theropods but they're not going to differ a whole lot from one another because there are only so many archetypes you can work with.

With JWE this request-frenzy resulted in just that: a whole slew of dinosaurs that were basically carbon copies of one another, after a certain point. Minimal growth of mechanics but hoo boy you better believe you got a lot of skins for those dinosaurs.

So I have a suggestion: less focus on "more species" and more focus on a handful of unique species and deeper mechanics. That is, more behaviours of the dinosaurs. More personality traits. More types of interactions. More ways - like the new hatchery set up - to get the player involved and attached to their creations.

Instead of asking for Sauropod #382 we could get a Therizinosaurus, for example. A meaningfully different entity with radically different aesthetics and potentially distinct behaviour. Instead of getting a new slew of skins we could angle for better environmental elements for the Lagoon. We could get 'toys' for the dinosaurs, much like actual zoos employ. We could expand the fundamental game's mechanics - the thing that actually keeps us playing - rather than focusing on the immediate gratification of having more surface-level content that we will only appreciate for a game or two.


I don't know, maybe I'm completely off my rocker. What do you think?

Yeah, new creatures are welcome, but the focus on new mechanics would be better

 

[Oxythief]

Breeding (canonical to movies) they did it for PZ

Breeding I have my fingers crossed for Dominion DLC (They may not want to step on what will be more fleshed out cannon in how it works). They may have planned to do it at launch but due to dominion delay also delayed it.

swimming dinosaurs

I'm guessing you mean more so than what they have done so far requiring volumetric water so we can have T-rex drink from the Plesasoras lagoon?

defecating

Why? I would say this is a feature I'm glad is not there.

 

[Silvertongued]

Is there a "mechanic" you feel is essential to the game the devs have missed?

I offered some possibilities in my post - but generally speaking what I want out of the game is for the dinosaurs to behave more and more like living, breathing animals. Playing, fighting, being affectionate towards one another. Maybe some (like Maiasaurs) would even desire things like fake egg nests, alluding to the big fossil finds.

I'm not necessarily wanting them to add completely new systems onto the old ones - just to expand the ones they currently have. More behaviours, more interactions, even more customer elements. Could throw in a bit of trouble event-wise as a couple of idiots sneak into a low-security pen, for example. I don't know - the possibilities are endless. That's why I love the premise of the game.

 

[South Tyrant]

Breeding I have my fingers crossed for Dominion DLC (They may not want to step on what will be more fleshed out cannon in how it works). They may have planned to do it at launch but due to dominion delay also delayed it.

I really want this to be added in the future, it would be great!

I'm guessing you mean more so than what they have done so far requiring volumetric water so we can have T-rex drink from the Plesasoras lagoon?

Swimming animations would be exclusive to ceratopsids, spinosaurids, hadrosaurids and small ornithopods. Medium and large terrestrial carnivores could not swim, nor the sauropods (sauropods could enter where depth allowed them to stand)

Why? I would say this is a feature I'm glad is not there.

Defecating would be beyond something aesthetic. It would work that way...where dinosaurs defecate, naturally plants will grow, which consequently will serve as food for herbivores. It would be a natural organic cycle

 

[Oxythief]

Swimming animations would be exclusive to ceratopsids, spinosaurids, hadrosaurids and small ornithopods. Medium and large terrestrial carnivores could not swim, nor the sauropods (sauropods could enter where depth allowed them to stand)

Would be cool but not sure it would add much depth personally.

Defecating would be beyond something aesthetic. It would work that way...where dinosaurs defecate, naturally plants will grow, which consequently will serve as food for herbivores. It would be a natural organic cycle

So not Defecating so much as having the Dino be able to interactively change the terrain in their enclosure. This would be cool, but also has the opportunity to be super annoying (IMO) if you kept having to go in and remake part of the enclosure cause the Dinos keep messing it up. So definitely interested but also not attached personally. Cool Idea.