Primal Carnage: Extinction News

Our latest community art contest concluded recently, now we're unveiling the winners!

This time the theme was Spring Chickens, featuring the Oviraptor and/or Novaraptor in springtime. There was a range of styles and vibes in the pieces submitted, the community is full of artists so it's always fun to see what you guys come up with!

We'll be running more contests later this year, but let's quit stalling and get to the good stuff...


[h2]Grand Prizes:[/h2]

[h3]WINNER Third Place:[/h3]
(BadPlague)



We really like this one, even if the vibe feels more autmnal to us than spring. The quality of the actual drawing and wonderful use of lighting still makes it an excellent piece.

[h3]WINNER Second Place:[/h3]
(Chillonia)



A lovely serene scene of two vicious predators just relaxing in the forest. The flowers are bursting with colour and alive with wildlife, really hitting the sprintime theme.

[h3]WINNER First Place:[/h3]
(bullsh*t101)



You couldn't get much greener if you tried, but the overall feeling of a jungle in spring is really nice and the red flowers really pop against the sea of greens.

The dinosaurs in the scene blend with their surroundings beautifully and the composition is superb, with some actual chicken-sized compys thrown in for good measure - this one has the honour of top prize in the Spring Chickens art contest!


[h2]Honorable Mentions:[/h2]

It's always hard narrowing things down to find the overall winners, here are a few we also really loved but didn't quite make it into the grand prize category...

[h3](WhatTheShrimp)[/h3]
A raptor taking a nice spring stroll through the undergrowth gets a little surprise!



[h3](Domstrya)[/h3]
Novaraptor seems to be after those eggs... which are why we couldn't quite justify this as a winner. While the colours are beautiful, the multi-tone clutch of eggs is just a tad too Easter-y.



[h3](ShamroknRoll)[/h3]
A last minute entry, this one again doesn't quite hit the spring theme, but is a great depiction of a bearded feathered nova.



[h3](BBQ)[/h3]
Chonky birb meets butterfly. Adorable!


[h2]Congrats to all who took part![/h2]

We'll be reaching out to the grand prize winners to arrange their rewards soon! And if you missed this contest, keep an eye out for future competitions over on Discord...

It's (apparently) National Dinosaur Day on June 1st, and we're here to celebrate with a preview of 3.0 and some special codes for you all...

[h2]Evolution = 3.0[/h2]

We've been mainly hyping up the PlayStation relaunch lately, as ye olde PS4 version has gone nearly 8 years without an update. While it will be a massive rework for the console players who are still stuck in 2017, we still have numerous changes and improvements coming to Steam with 3.0!

Extinction PS4 vs. Evolution...
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
The "before" shots in that video might be a little nostalgic for some - they are already ancient history as far as PCE on PC is concerned. However, you can see that even compared to the current Steam version there are some sizable layout and lighting adjustments present.

We're calling it the Evolution Update (the game's still keeping the name Extinction on PC).
This will be a FREE update for Steam players, as a thankyou for your continued support.

PC players will essenially be receiving around two year's worth of overhauls with 3.0; from large scale improvements for all maps, to major overhauls in terms of optimization, effects, audio, and HUD.

[h3]Nighttime Map Variants[/h3]
Several maps including Docks, ForestChasm, UtilityBase and Transfer will be receiving nighttime variants to play on, moving the ambience to dark and misty moonlight.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Ubase Night takes place just after a rainstorm, with water dripping from the plants, minor flooding and thunder rolling in the background. Transfer's giant acid storage tanks cast a dangerous glow after dark and the central flaming column projects deep red shadows below.

Thanks again to our community mappers for helping bring these new alternate maps to life!

[h3]Announcer & Skillshot System[/h3]

The Announcer is a classic feature of many FPS games, and we're happy to be bringing it to PCE with 3.0! Commenting on gameplay events as they unfold, the Announcer adds a special flare to your matches. That said, he will be set to Off by default (because not everyone can handle such levels of awesome).

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

A complementary feature of the Announcer is the Skillshot / Skillmove system. By pulling off special moves or kills you will trigger skill notifications, awarding yourself some bonus EXP. And if you've enabled the Announcer, he'll shout out your accomplishments as well!

Skill actions range from Skyjacker - catch a human dropped by another Ptera, to a literal Trick Shot - killing a dino with a bounced grenade, and the ever-lovely Boned - melt an enemy as a Spitter. There will be well over 80 to pull off in total!



[h3]Expanded Soundtrack[/h3]

If you've been following our YouTube channel you might have seen some of the previews for our newly expanded OST! The evolution update will feature new soundtracks for every subclass, both light and heavy action tracks for each of them. Take a listen below...

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Our new composer Lyndon Kwan has been working hard to fit the new pieces into the same thematic genre as the original soundtrack, mixing both real instruments and electronic elements. The goal was to make music that sits alongside the classic Gareth Coker tracks but with a slight twist.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

There's also new dynamic musical stingers that play for events like being pounced, grabbed, or achieving a killstreak. We hope you enjoy the new tracks as much as we enjoyed creating them!

[h3]New Story Elements[/h3]

As of 3.0, you will find new story details throughout the game world. These can be minor details or major in-your-face billboards, which shed light on the greater universe of Primal Carnage.



In the months between the dinosaur outbreak and the mercenary team being sent to contain it, the unfortunate survivors left their mark. Scrawls from these "remnants" hint at a deeper backstory, while their journals are part of a larger set of collectible Intel documents.

Over 100 written diaries and articles delve deep into the history of Phoenix International, how the dinosaurs were brought back, and what led to the ultimate downfall of this secretive project.



[h3]Expanded Dialogue[/h3]

Every human mercenary will have hundreds of new dialogue lines that will trigger based on what's happening in the game. From getting taxi'd by a Ptera to being the last one standing in Survival, the mercs now have a lot more to say. Your chopper pilot will also be feeding you more details over the radio, and has around 300% more ways to complain about his job now.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

There's also new voices coming from the world. Embedded loudspeakers will play public service messages from Phoenix International, though usually mundane they will sometimes provide hints as to what happened on the maps before you got there. Our vending machines will also spout one-liners to you in different voices, each having their own personality in addition to some snazzy new visuals.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Aside from dialogue, the Tons of Gun, Wealth of Health and SpeedGreed machnes will also be getting some mechanical tweaks - new multi-tiered upgrades are planned! The first wave will start you with a restricted default loadout, with the weapons machine offering the option to either continually upgrade your starting loadout or swap it out for different weapons using Survival cash.

[h3]Tutorial Screens[/h3]



We realize many of you are no doubt veterans at this point, but for new players there's a lot to take in with PCE. To coincide with the PlayStation relaunch which will bring in a lot of new blood, we're making a series of helpful little tutorial screens that detail some of the important but less obvious class abilities.


These will be viewable from a special How To Play area located on the main menu, and will also show on the Class Select screen when choosing what to play as.

[h3]More Options & Customizability[/h3]

The 3.0 Evolution Update will feature expanded accessiblity settings, and many more options in general to help tweak elements of the game such as the HUD to your liking.

Naturally there'll be updates to controller support backported to PC with the overhauls we've been doing on PS4, with additional control schemes and full button remapping.

We'll be sharing more about the other changes and improvements for 3.0 soon!

[h2]New Merch & Store Sale[/h2]

As part of National Dinosaur Day, get 20% off your order on the merch store with the code: DinoDay24 (single use per customer) Visit store.primalcarnage.com and enter the code at checkout!



Several new item variants are now live on the official merch store, from epic posters to shirts and mugs. Our dinosaur portrait series recently featured the spitter classes, and will continue soon with Carnotaurus.



[h2]In-Game Item Codes[/h2]



We've got a new special celebration code to use on the in-game store too! Open the store and click the redeem key option, then enter the code below to receive some classic goodies for free:

1852-2922-5163-5123

The code expires in a couple days, so don't miss out. Remember to include the dashes!

By the way - if you weren't around at the time, you might not know you can get even more free items by redeeming the anniversary code:

2012-2015-2022-0010

We'll be back again at the end of June with the Meltdown Update, featuring a sizzling selection of new looks. Our hope is to have the 3.0 beta available to test on Steam around then or soon after. Stay tuned.


[h2]Join us on Discord[/h2]

If you'd like to get all the latest Primal news & previews first, or take part in our regular community contests and polls, join the Official Primal Carnage Discord channel!



[h3]Have a great Dinosaur Day![/h3]
-The Primal Carnage Team

A new patch is now available for Primal Carnage: Extinction on Steam, this patch fixes a few issues found with the most recent update and aims to fix a couple of exploits.


[h2]Patch Changelog:[/h2]

• fixed heavy assault cannon having incorrect damage types applied when scoped vs unscoped
  
• assault cannon now does 1.3x crit damage when fired from the hip, 1.5x crit damage when scoped
  
• fixed assists not being awarded when hitting enemeis with sniper rifle hipfire
  
  
• both sniper rifles now have a splitsecond delay before crit damage is enabled when aiming, to prevent unfair quick-scoping.
  
  
• made human sprint animation blending more responsive
  
• if Hold Sprint option is enabled - sprinting humans that fire their gun will now automatically start running again when they stop shooting (if the sprint button is still held down)
  
  
• adjusted gravity scaling on trapper nets, shouldn't fly quite so long distance now
  
• flyers killed in midair should no longer pop into the flight animation if their ragdoll hits a wall after death
  

[h3]Thanks for playing![/h3]
-The Primal Carnage Team

Our latest patch for Primal Carnage: Extinction on Steam sees further bug fixes and balance improvements, as we continue working through our backlog of issues reported by the community.

These changes are just the tip of the iceberg compared to what is coming with 3.0 later this year, but we'll keep getting all the fixes we can out to you guys while that is still cooking in the background.

See the highlights below and read about the latest community events, or scroll to the bottom for the full changelog...

[h2]When Bugfixing = Balance Overhaul[/h2]

PCE is getting quite long in the tooth these days - our codebase is around 10 years old, and the engine is even much older than that. As we've been resolving bugs on the road to 3.0 we've often been fixing things that in the past had negatively affected the game's balance...



[h3]Tupa Sprint Exploit[/h3]

This latest patch resolves longstanding problems with the Tupa's attack cooldowns in flight, finally preventing it from being able to easily land double hits on enemies. Flyers can be exceptionally dangerous in the right hands, and this "sprint exploit" that reset Tupa's headbutt was a painful issue.

[h3]Sniper Rifle Hipfire[/h3]

The scientist's sniper rifle no longer deals insane crit damage when not scoped in. A while ago we separated scope damage and hipfire damage, however it was still possible for the scoped multiplier to get added when shooting from the hip. This fix makes the sniper rifle less overpowered in close quarters.

[h3]Tranqs & Armor[/h3]

Other balance changes that come from bugfixes include resolving an issue where dinosaurs couldn't get health back from kills or corpses if they had been tranqulized, and fixing the armor buff from the tranq pistol stacking with Pyro's chainsaw damage mitigation. Angus is enough of a tank already.

On that note, the flamesaw now only blocks 30% of incoming damage while revving instead of 50%... we'll be watching to see how this plays out in the live game, but halving all damage has ultimately felt a bit too much in practice.

[h3]Bruiser Adjustments[/h3]

One last balance consideration worth mentioning is we have adjusted the health pools of two Bruisers after seeing them in action lately. Ceratosaurus now has 100 less HP, it also has a slightly slower primary attack now but makes up for this with better sprint acceleration and turn speed.

Pachycephalosaurus has been granted an additional +50 HP to help it out a little. This shoud let a full health Pachy survive a double barrel shotgun blast with both barrels, rewarding Pachy players that have managed to stay undamaged but still making such a hit lethal if they have seen any combat.

In addition to the above, there are many other small but meaningful tweaks this patch which hopefully remove a bit of friction and aggravation from gameplay. Hopefully!


[h3]Next Retro Store Rotation[/h3]
[h2]Flyer Week[/h2]



In the lead up to Summer Meltdown we're cycling through some classic cosmetic collections in-store, featuring different classes each week. For all you Flyers out there, Pteranodon and Tupandactylus will have their moment in the sun starting Tuesday!

Dozens upon dozens of classic mutations, skins, taunts and bundles for our flying fiends will be back with time-limited discounts, so get them before they fly away!

[h3]Art Contest[/h3]
[h2]Spring Chickens[/h2]

Just a reminder - our latest comunity art contest ends this Friday!



If you'd like to take part, simply post your artwork on the Official Primal Carnage Discord server under #Art-Contest-Chat for a chance to win in-game prizes and a physical raptor poster grand prize!

Just make sure your creation fits the contest theme of Raptors in Springtime. For full contest details and rules see pinned messages of the Art Contest chat on Discord.

We'll be running more of these throughout the year, so keep an eye out!

[h2]New Spitter Merch[/h2]
The official merch store will be getting a set of new spit-tacular items starting tomorrow!



Featuring new artwork of the Dilo and Cryo created by Aram Papazian, this is the latest in our dinosaur portrait series and will be available as a high quality poster, plus mugs and T-shirts. Elsewhere, our most recent Royal Acro portrait will start appearing on more merch as well in the coming days.

Visit store.primalcarnage.com to browse all our physical merchandise, new designs will continue to be added throughout summer!

[h3]Version 2.9.54[/h3]
[h2]Full Changelog:[/h2]

[h3]Balance Tweaks[/h3]

• Increased health of Pachy from 750 to 800
  
• Reduced health of Cerato from 1600 to 1500
  
• Improved turning speed and acceleration for Cerato
  
• Slightly longer interval between Cerato bite attacks
  
  
• Prevented immediate re-use of Tupa charge attack after hitting a human - fixes "Tupa sprint exploit"
  
  
• Dart debuff effects should no longer stop dinos getting health from kills or eating corpses
  (unless they are in the fully overdosed / "marked for death" state)
  
  
• Pyro chainsaw armour now gives 30% protection while revving instead of 50%
  
• Tranq pistol armour buff on Pyro no longer stacks with chainsaw damage mitigation
  
• Reduced tranq pistol buff duration from 20 seconds to 15 seconds
  
  
• Fixed broken sniper rifle hipfire damagetype, no longer causes 2x critical hits when un-scoped
  
• Netgun nets are now smaller with a tighter collision radius
  
• Net projectiles have higher gravity, reducing their flight distance
  
  
• Humans now auto-cancel sprint when they initiate an attack
  
• Reduced time needed to reach max charge of stungun
  
• Stungun auto-discharge when not releasing the trigger now takes 8 seconds instead of 5
  (more time to avoid hurting yourself)
  

[h3]Bug Fixes:[/h3]

• Fixed it being possible to get idle kicked if currently capturing an objective
  (if kick warning shows, stepping on an unclaimed control point should reset the idle kick timer)
  
  
• Survival: fixed Hunt Nova AI still being able move when netted / stunned
  
• Survival: fixed Hunt Nova AI not being insta-killed if hit after being netted
  
• Survival: fixed AI dinos that are on fire being able to extinguish themselves by going into water
  
  
• If using a taunt that hides your weapon as Pyro, the flamesaw will now hide its pilot light flame
  
• Fixed inspect animation triggering if you tap reload with ammo in the clip but no reserve ammo
  
  
• Fixed netgun flight projectile particle getting "stuck" rotating on the spot
  
• Fixed assault rifle grenade effects vanishing on low detail mode
  
• Fixed netgun having a muzzle flash light
  
  
• Optimizations to master human shader
  
• Fixed incorrect fx mask being used for Kestrel Ovi skin
  
• Fixed lighting issues with Precursor Spino and Spring Rex skins
  
• Fixed a few T.Rex skins with mismatched head and body shading
  
• Fixed corrupted glow effect on Andromeda Rex skin
  
• Fixed glow sight effect of Nighthawk Spaz skin applying to the whole gun, no longer looks "green"
  

[h2]Just Warming Up[/h2]

We hope you enjoy this latest update!
Our annual Meltdown Event will be here on June 27th, with a sizzling selection of new looks...



The new PlayStation version is advancing towards release now, so this June you can expect a closer look at the major improvements and additions coming with the Evolution Update (3.0) for PCE on PC.

We've been hard at work on the console side for about two years, not just bringing the many updates PCE has received on Steam to PlayStation but taking things way futher.

Expect massive overhauls to level design, new lighting, subclass music, hundreds of new dialog lines, VFX updates, HUD improvements, major optimizations and brand new gameplay features!

There's no official release date just yet, but we're looking at running a Steam beta for 3.0 this summer.
Stay tuned...

[h3]Thanks for playing![/h3]
-The Primal Carnage Team

Today's patch marks the end of our special Easter Event, bringing a selection of various fixes and quality of life improvements to the game. Our major focus today though concerns:

[h2]Changes to Challenges[/h2]

This update we have modified dozens of challenges and their requirements based on community feedback. Over 200 people responded to the challenge survey we ran a while ago, and we've taken on board some of the suggestions from that along with what we've been reading in the official Discord.

[h3]Lowering Frustration[/h3]

Many challenges that were previously lower tier have been upgraded to either Silver or Gold because of various factors that can affect their difficulty, be it limited access to a certain class or mode or some requiring tricky timing.

On the other hand - some challenges have had the opposite. Several tasks have been downgraded to lower tiers since they do not require as much skill and can be accomplished without strict conditions.

Specific requirements for a handful of particularly annoying challenges have been changed to be easier, such as killing a Pachy with an armour piercing headshot. Challenges for playing as Tyrants have lower requirements in general. We also removed the Cerato challenge for defending GTTC control points, because there is another challenge that is basically identical and doesn't require a specific class.

[h3]Future Challenges[/h3]

Hopefully things feel fairer with this update, but we will be monitoring feedback in the next few weeks to see how these adjustments play out and will make additional tweaks if needed.

There are just over 60 challenges currently active in the game, and we'd love to add some more this year. Please let us know over on our Challenge Suggestions channel if you have any ideas!

[h2]Retro Store Rotation[/h2]

In the lead up to Summer Meltdown we'll be cycling through some classic cosmetic collections in-store, featuring different classes each week. The first of these is Tyrant Week starting today...

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

We've also recently made a bunch of skin bundles available permanently in-store, along with many older items that will now be sticking around in the Browse section.

Note that as of a few updates ago, the most recent cosmetics are shown first on the store instead of the oldest. We're looking into adding a couple more store features in future such as more advanced filtering and potentially a Search function, but that's a little while off.

[h3]Version 2.9.54[/h3]
[h2]Full Changelog:[/h2]

• Changed requirements and rarities for many challenges based on community feedback
  
  
• Non-Tyrant dinosaurs now spawn with only a 50% roar cooldown
  
• Expanded roar popup notification with Roar Ready message when cooldown is over
  
  
• Set a longer air ram attack cooldown for Tupa
  
• Fixed a missing bone in the Tupa strongpoint list, Tupa's head should now be entirely armoured
  
• Added variation to Flyer idle glide animations
  
• Added alternate flight camera style option
  (enable this to stop flyer moving in direction of camera while gliding)
  
  
• Modified spit and other particle trail effects
  
• Fixed trails ending early for some particles
  
• Fixed some projectiles getting "stuck" in midair
  
• Possible fix for spit blinding effect getting stuck onscreen
  
  
• Reduced recoil and spread of double barrel shotgun (single shot mode)
  
• Adjusted reload end times for all guns, no longer need to wait for entire animation to complete
  
• The "unstuck bump" now only triggers every 3 seconds when stuck instead of over and over again
  
  
• Big update to master human shader and pretty much all human skins, optimizing texture usage
  
  
• Fixed name and description tags not showing anything to use them on if selected from the Tools tab in the inventory
  
  
• Fixed missing ponytail on Monarch Scientist skin
  
• Fixed incorrect texture used for Cerato swirl spray
  
• Updated Pachy slide attack kill icon
  
  
• Disabled double EXP in CTE mode post-easter
  

[h2]New & Upcoming Official Merch[/h2]
The official Primal Carnage Store has a new poster just added, featuring the Royal Acrocanthosaurus!



This is another in our ongoing dinosaur portrait series, talented artist Aram Papazian is already working on the Classic Acro poster which is up next, followed by portraits for the remaining classes this summer.



Other recently added items feature designs from our community contests, such as new mugs, shirts, stickers and pins. Feeling creative? Post your own merch ideas and art for consideration over here!




[h2]Onwards to Summer[/h2]

We hope you enjoy this latest update! Outside of the game itself, there will be more community contests throughout the year. You can get involved by joining our official Discord...



Our annual Meltdown Event arrives at the end of June, with an epic collection of seriously hot new looks! We're still cooking the 3.0 overhaul and will be running an open beta for it this summer. Stay tuned...

[h3]Thanks for playing![/h3]
-The Primal Carnage Team