DinoSystem News

But starting a new game is always recommended.




FULL CHANGELOG





The system now uses W, A, S, D (default keys) to move the character directly towards the direction of the related key (or key combination), just like in the game "Notrium", this means that there is no longer the need to use A and D to turn the character, and direction change is instant. Also, character body always faces the mouse position, so you can keep attacking in a particular direction while moving in another.

In "Normal" difficulty you can now sprint while facing the opposing direction of your movement, but in "Realistic" difficulty, you still can't sprint backwards. While moving backwards, attacking or jumping give you a chance to stumble, depending on your Athletics skill and other factors; meaning you no longer stumble just for moving backwards, but only if attacking or jumping while doing so.

In addition to this, an option has been added in the controls settings screen to change the movement direction from "Absolute" (using directly the keys), to "Relative" (moving towards the mouse position, like the the old "Mouse Turn" system, but improved).



There are also many minor improvements to the movement animations and mechanics. This should finally solve one of the main problems most players have with the game, that is pointed out in many reviews (both negative and positive) and that really prevented some users from enjoying DinoSystem!






Added a new option in the Settings screen (enabled by default) that automatically names map zones as you explore them in Survival Mode (you can always rename them later). To allow new characters enjoy this feature, a new option has been added in the character creation screen "Reset Zones" (disabled by default) that allows to reset all map zone names when starting a new Survival adventure in an existing game.




Also, the previous "Map Names" option in the new game screen has been renamed to "Map Zones", and can be set either "Unexplored" or "Explored", the latter only selectable if starting in God Mode.

There are many minor improvements to the Map Zones system, like new zone names (if the auto-name option is enabled) and new fixes.






A system has been implemented (only in Survival Mode) that prevents generating tree canopy sprites when they're too far from your view: this should improve the performance, because the game won't have to calculate all island tree canopies with their wind movement and fake-3D parallax (variables and tree "biology" is in the "shadow" sprite, so no worries!).

Many minor optimizations have been done to try improving the performance, but should be counter-balanced by the increased depth of the game mechanics.






As always, there are many additional tweaks, improvements and fixes in this update, check the full changelog for the complete list!




Dan

Hello survivalists!


I feel that time has come to change the way movement controls work in DinoSystem's survival mode.

Several players reported that the current system is very unintuitive in the forums and youtube videos, also most of the negative reviews point that out.

Frankly, that's something I've always wanted to tackle, the problem was I never felt confident enough to try reworking it and replace it with something better, but no more!

There is one problem: the new system will fully replace the old one, so the few players who are fine with the current movement system will have to adapt.




Should the new system be like Notrium (a survival game very similiar to DinoSystem)? Some players suggested me that, and as a big fan of that game I'm inclined to agree.

Please give me ideas and feedback so I can take the best decision; this is an important change and I totally need as much feedback as possible to avoid repeating the same mistakes.


Thank you!


Dan

But starting a new game is always recommended.


FULL CHANGELOG






This is a feature I've always wanted to add to the game, and, although it was not a priority, I decided to invest some time into it anyway, and I don't regret it!

Basically, you can now name any zone of the island: just press N (you can change the key in the settings menu), type a name in the textbox and left click on the map area you want to assign that name to. This is especially useful in Survival mode, as you may want to give important zones a name to remember them when you come back, considering they could change drastically during the game.



Also, when starting a new game, you now have the option to give all map zones a default name defined by its distance from the sea (sea, coast, midland, inland), you can always change them later if you want to.








Finally, the character can now hold multiple items in each hand, including non-weapon items in the left hand (the hand previously used just to hold and use weapons). The number of items each hand is capable of holding depends on the item size, but this aspect will be expanded in future updates, with the addition on the item weight system.








The character can now get hurt by performing some actions with sharpen or blunt tools (such as Axe, Sharpstone and Stone).
Now, some of you could complain the game is already unforgiving as it is, but consider this: the chance to get hurt is, by default, very low, and is gradually reduced by the skill related to the performed action (lvl 100 skill, no chance). Also, when triggering, the hurt event is not very severe, it could give a -3 Health hit and 30% Bleeding at max (only when using the Axe, otherwise it's always lower). Getting this low Bleeding can help increasing the First Aid skill, which previously was very hard to skill up, considering that Bleeding was obtainable only by fighting with dangerous dinosaurs (which would lead to death in most cases)!



So yeah, this addition, although seems making the game harder, should in fact make it more balanced, especially considering this update already makes changes that decrease the difficulty (holding more items with hands).






As always there are several additional tweaks, improvements and fixes in this update, check the full changelog for the complete list!






Last month (24th and 25th June) I've been in Genova, Italy, to attend to the "Game Happens!" event for indipendent videogames. It has been a great experience for me, considering I've been all alone in my little room developing DinoSystem during the last 2 years, and meeting other people who share my same passion is extremely rare in my every day life!



I'm looking forward to be part of more events in the future, as I've got great feedback and it has been an awesome experience.




Dan

FULL CHANGELOG


This is a minor update to expand the newerly added Taming system and make some additional improvements, tweaks and fixes. It's much smaller than what you're used to, but I'm going to be once again fully operational soon, as I'm back to Capri from my trip!




Tomorrow 24th and Saturday 25th June I'll be in Genova to attend to "Game Happens!" and present DinoSystem. I'll have the chance to finally meet other developers and players, instead of interacting with then exclusively from the internet as I did in the last 2 years from my little room!
I can't hide this is really exciting for me and I'm looking forward to show my project, in which I put so much effort and expectations in the last years and in the future to come.



If you're interested in the event, here you will find all the info about it. I hope to see some of you in Genova soon! (please let me know down in the comments if you're coming!).





Daniel

FULL CHANGELOG




To tame a baby Troodon, drop a meat nearby and wait, if your Zoology skill is high enough and other conditions are met, it will be tamed, you can check the ingame guide for more info, as a new guide section has been added explaining how taming works.

This new system is very basic, but will be expanded in future updates with the ability to use the tamed animals for hunting and other activities. Also, only Troodons can be tamed for now.









AI patterns have been improved to make animals more responsive to both environment and player actions. For example, when a Triceratops eats, it will quickly check what is its next priority instead of staying still for a while, same when player attacks.

Predators prey-hunt priority is also reworked to allow them to select preys based on prey population, instead of going for the nearest/easiest prey. They also hunt youngs of their species if they're over-populated. This means they will effectively act as a population regulation agent, instead of leading animals to total extinction.

Along with the AI improvements, there are some vegetation reproduction changes that should improve the long-term plant eaters-vegeration balance as well.





As always, there are several little additional improvements in this update that you can read in the full changelog.

This update is smaller than usual and also the next one will probably be: reason is this is a bad period for me for personal reason, so I decided to go to Milan and stay there with a friend to distract myself. I'm still working on the game and I will return to full time development as I'm back to Capri (where I live) next month. Please do not think even for a moment I'm losing interest in the game, as it's and will be my focus for many months to come, at least until it's complete (and even after that)!



Dan