The Isle News

Hey Islanders,

In this small patch we've introduced a rework to the vomiting mechanic and introduced a "sickness" status effect. The patch notes contain a more detailed breakdown of these additions. We are aware of and continuing to investigate the ping issues affecting our Official Servers. We will keep you informed as soon as we have more information available.





[h2]Additions[/h2]

• Expanded upon the existing vomit system. Vomiting now has a variable cooldown as to prevent players from becoming "vomit locked" when attacked by groups of ceratosaurus', which would stop them from fighting back. Whenever a player vomits, they will also incur a vomit sickness state that lasts 5 minutes. While this state is active, nutrients cannot be gained from eating and there is a chance to vomit again while eating/swallowing food. Additional vomits during this time will cause the vomit sickness state duration to stack and increase. As before, stamina/hunger/thirst max values are decreased after vomiting, and interacting with a salt lick can remove these negative effects more quickly.
  

[h2]Enhancements[/h2]

• The vomiting animation will be prioritized over abilities and sprinting, but will still allow the player to walk/trot. This is to ensure that players can be seen visually vomiting instead of just suddenly receiving the debuff.
  
• Adjusted the vomit revert value proportion over time.
  

[h2]Bug fixes[/h2]

• Fixed vomit decal trace.
  

[h2]Filipe - Lead Programmer[/h2]
This month I have been working on several different things across various days/weeks, so I will mention the most important topics below:

• Reworked the thrash abilities mouse detection, as there were issues with certain resolutions that prevented it from triggering.
  
• The mutation system is in progress and new mutations have been implemented as their design has been approved. Alongside this, new UI alerts, panels and QOL messages are also being added.
  
• Reworked the pachy headbutt hit detection for more accurate bone fractures, it was almost impossible to hit certain animals, especially the head.
  
• Setup new SickState, from vomit, it now applies different rules making this a more robust mechanic, not only decreasing some statuses - This is being applied as a patch to the public, which you’ll learn more about in a future announcement..
  
• Helped set up new playable dinosaurs with animations and made specific code changes necessary for some abilities to function properly.
  
• Added Banana trees with bananas to be part of the new diets in Gateway.
  
• New Locational Effects. These are new shader effects that are applied by the environment, such as being wet when entering water or during rain, mud, duckweed from swamps, dirt, dust, blood, etc. It is a complex system that allows those effects to dry, transition between and be fully dynamic.
  
• Destructible fences. If the animal is big/strong enough, fences can be destroyed to create new entrances. These are different from the Physics Doors that you can push.
  
• Pouncing. Besides some improvements and different methods of latching the attacker to the victim, I've also been working on a transition from Pounced to Pinned, with a variant in the middle for very big animals, more details soon.
  
• Added skin variation to the saving and export button in the skin system, it was intentionally not added before, but by request we did now.
  
• Balance changes implementations and several bug fixes.
  

That is it, see you guys next time.


[h2]dmIV - Programmer[/h2]
Most of my month was spent working on herrerasaurus improvements and fixing climbing behavior in some of the more uncommon scenarios. It is now more reliable to latch on to the wall without aiming accurately and a proper landing indicator was set up instead of the testing visuals.

I also added a new drop attack, which is executed by holding RMB when falling on someone. This deals damage and can stagger or knock down depending on your falling velocity. Another unique feature involves the dewlap of the dinosaur. You will be able to hold F and press the left mouse button to send signals to other herrerasaurus’. This will be particularly useful for communicating without making a sound.




[h2]VisualTech48 - Environmental Artist[/h2]
This month I have been focusing my work on getting humans up and ready more and more, by firstly finishing up both the Pistol and the Rifle to its key details.

The pistol is now fully complete and has an assortment of attachments, most of which can be fitted to any appropriate weapon, consisting of Laser, Red Dot, Flashlight and Silencer attachments.



Next up for the human arsenal is the Pump Shotgun, which will have its own set of attachments, but we will reveal as we go. For now I’m happy to announce its progressing really well, however, keep in mind this is heavily subject to changes, as it's only the “High-Poly” phase.



Lastly, a lot of focus has been on a bit more freedom and advancement towards the buildings in general. The following images were made as a proof of concept, to showcase one of the capabilities of the kit, in which you can see a really “quick” and “dirty" rundown of a simple room.



I’ll be expanding on this kit furthermore, however, only after the shotgun is done, to feature more pieces to allow even more freedom. I’ll share just an example of a quick floor layout for the expanded kit. That is what I can reveal so far. See you next month!




[h2]Wedge - Sound Designer[/h2]
This month I’ve been focused on wrapping up remaining sounds left for Dilo and Diablo in their adult stages, as well as refining, reworking or improving upon existing sounds as I test them. The only exceptions to sounds complete are what’s needed for their unique mechanics, i.e. venom and sparring respectively.

Dilo’s remaining vocals had included its pinned, pounced, eating, thrashing and courting sounds. I’m particularly fond of its chilling screams for the pinned and pounced, created from a blend of Bird and Loris screeches, glass squeaks and warping metal tones.

Diablo’s remaining sounds had included its pinned and courting as well as generic breaths and grunts to be used in animations like sniffing as well as for filling gaps where needed. Its court sounds are a playful mix of chirps, rumbles and hoots to coordinate with its movements. With these two mostly wrapped up for now I’m looking forward to moving on from these two creatures and onto the next soon!

I have also been making little improvements when and where I can, some examples include adding landing foley sounds when jumping or dropping on to your feet and some attacks as well, finalized moving calls and primary attacks to a new audio system, and calls only start becoming hoarse at half stamina instead of full now.

[h2]Bryan - Animator[/h2]
I’m itching to get back to working on the Rex and eventually Triceratops, but this month it’s been all Diabloceratops, Dilophosaurus, Herrerasaurus and John Cake.

Diablo is a pretty big project, it’s sparring ability is pretty complex and demands a lot of animations, and tweaks to those animations down the line so they look the best they can in-game.

Dilo got some updated Alt attacks as well, a bit more responsive and vicious than the first iteration. I always enjoy the freeze frames on these.




[h2]hypno - QA Lead[/h2]
We have started the process of sending out invitations to successful stress tester applicants. If you have not yet received an invitation, do not fret, as we are sending them in waves due to the sheer number of those that applied. This process may take some time yet and is also dependent on the content that is being tested. We need to ensure that the servers are filled to maximum capacity for the entire duration of the tests but also give everyone an ample chance to access the new content.

The QA team has had its hands full testing all of the following: Diabloceratops, Dilophosaurus, Herrerasaurus, Gateway, Migrations, and Mutations. While we will not be introducing all of the aforementioned in a single update, we have been able to report issues for them as an ongoing effort as opposed to trying to focus on one mechanic only when it’s complete. As mentioned in my last devblog post, the changes to our roadmap allow us to send each mechanic as its complete as its own update.

The diabloceratops sparring mechanic is coming along well. The ability to strafe in combat while other species cannot will bring a new complexity to our combat that hasn’t been touched on before in The Isle. Where some players would run past a target to attack them from the rear, the diabloceratops is able to simply step sideways at decent speed to stop them in their tracks and bring them a swift end. Sparring with another diablo has not been finalized, so I will refrain from going into any further details about it for now.

Dilophosaurus’ hallucination has not been touched on much in other devblogs or shown, but I can confidently say that this has been one of the most enjoyable mechanics to test as of late and I personally believe this mechanic will make it a fan favorite. The current prototype prevents targets from seeing past a certain distance with a fog effect, and also causes temporary dilo AI to spawn and run towards its target before disappearing. This prototype may not be reflective of its complete state, but it is already proving to be very effective in both combat and bringing some much-needed horror elements to the game. It is especially effective at night time and very humorous to witness a player swinging away at a target that isn’t there.

Herrerasaurus’ climbing and “divebomb” attack is the most complete of the new species mechanics. Taking the pteranodon’s clinging to a whole new level, the ability to climb up almost any surface and drop down onto unsuspecting prey has been thrilling to experience. The attack scales with both the velocity of the character and the size of the herrerasaurus, allowing for some fun interactions. As this attack requires a fair bit of planning and skill to pull off, it will definitely need further balancing to ensure that it’s both rewarding but also not being overpowered. Currently, I believe that an adult herrerasaurus will be able to instantly kill an adult dryosaurus with a far enough fall, and deal a large amount of damage to an adult omniraptor. We will be playtesting this further in stress testing to find the best values though.

Gateway and migrations will introduce a far more interesting experience to all of our characters, humans included. With different biomes to explore and a plethora of POIs, no two places look the same. There are areas that have been exclusively made for creatures of various sizes, including but not limited to juvenile sanctuaries that can be used as a safe haven from the much larger species on the island. Migrations pushing the different species around the island in a controlled manner will also help to deter issues such as megapacking that plague Spiro.

Finally, mutations have brought in a mechanic that could make every single lifecycle a different experience for the player. Being able to adjust your character’s statistics, characteristics, and attune them to the various environments in the game has been very intriguing so far. For example, if you enjoy living in a coastal environment away from all the chaos in the denser areas of the island, you could find that performing certain actions there would allow you to drink from the nearby saltwater. There are many other mutation options that will be available with the mechanic's release and I hope you look forward to discovering more for yourself. This system will play a vital role with introducing Elders to the game, rounding out the dinosaur’s mechanics and gameplay loop as a whole.

[h2]dmIV - Programmer[/h2]
In my completely biased opinion I must say that this has been one of the best months I’ve had working on the game. The time finally came for me to continue working on the herrerasaurus. There had been a few times when I experimented with it due to the pteranodon’s latching for example, but I can focus more on the movement and agility now.

The climbing system is made up of several parts. First, there’s moving the character along the wall and there’s always room for improvement on this one. There are two actions that can happen related to this, climbing up a ledge and climbing down from a ledge into climbing mode, the latter being difficult as the character has to turn around and align itself to the wall.

Aiming your jumps is very important when playing as a herrerasaurus, so we added indicators that tell the player where you would land when jumping. You can hold the right button when standing or climbing, then press space to jump there. Jumping this way when standing in place will let you jump forward instead of straight up, this is extremely useful when jumping from branch to branch.

Speaking of branches, when walking on our largest trees the herrerasaurus will automatically follow them to avoid falling from a potentially lethal height. This one took quite some time to figure out, but it makes moving around much more convenient, so I’m glad with how it turned out.


All these come together very nicely, here’s a little teaser in its current unpolished state. Most animations are also just placeholders for now:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


[h2]Wedge - Sound Designer[/h2]
This month I’ve mostly been continuing to flesh out the vocal palette for Dilophosaurus, using the calls as a baseline for both aggressive and non-aggressive sounds. The low gurgling defined in its broadcast and attract have both been adapted as well as used to influence new sounds, including more sounds for idle and generic uses, along with drinking, wallowing, resting, sniffing.

The harsher shrieks from its threaten and danger calls have been a good reference to expand its sounds, particularly its attacks and various pain sounds, including death, pounced etc. I’ve also created the first sound that will be part of a suite of sounds for its venom ability, 3 very low and menacing hoots bookended by its signature gurgles, coming together to give the feeling of a mocking yet chilling laugh as it plays with its prey. This sound (among others), in theory, will be manipulated from the perspective of the prey to move around the spatial field, disorienting players that have fallen victim to this creature's venom.

I’ve also done some preliminary work on the Herrerasaurus. Its vocal calls have been set up with some alterations to the exports to facilitate the correct sound when the layers are passed through the various attenuation and processing. I’ve also done a first pass on adding footsteps and foley sounds to its animations. Finally I’ve started recording, editing and processing foley sounds for its climbing. So far only sounds for climbing trees have been done and they are in an iterative phase with the mechanic still undergoing work, however adding these sounds helps to define how this ability is going to feel as it progresses.

I’ve also been working on some bug fixes for issues related to calls distant reverb/delay as well as how vocals behave when performed in water


[h2]Seiza - Video Editor[/h2]
I've started creating the control rigs for our characters. They will help me create more detailed animations in the UE5 sequencer and also help me make the animation transitions a bit cleaner. I will certainly tweak the implemented IK system and gizmos a few more times until they fit perfectly for my work.



I've also started to create a sort of console-style in After Effects to begin capturing the “Apollo Engineering software.” This style will surely be with us more often and can be used in many ways. We've already used it in the Roadmap video, but trailcam videos or introductory templates for "found footage" could also be presented with this design.

In general, the goal of this new format is to get closer to the atmosphere of the lore, and I'm excited to see what we can do with it in the future.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


[h2]Tapwing - 2D Artist[/h2]
This month, I’ve been mostly occupied with environment concepts of internal lab designs and icon work - creating cerato and troodon prototypes of our games logo (as a mini celebration for some of our new releases).

Cerato’s design was pretty straight forward since its skull is fairly distinct on its own.
However, Troodon came off a tad generic with just the usual skull pose; but it did give me an opportunity to try a version with multiple skulls to showcase the swarm gameplay-style of the animal. Hopefully these shake out to be something final that you all can see soon!


[h2]Amar0k - Programmer[/h2]
This month I spent some time on bug fixes, AI, and the addition of server whitelisting. Workshopping the base dinosaur AI has been heaps of fun. The base logic of tenontosaurus is mostly complete. They can be solitary or have their own AI groups they stick to. Anything further may spoil the magic, but it’s already capable of providing some exciting fights with players. I hope to get carnotaurus and omniraptor up and running shortly, too.


[h2]Bryan - Animator[/h2]
Been spending a lot of time with John Cake lately. He might come across as a bit of a showoff but he’s actually a pretty chill dude even if he doesn’t talk much. Thinks he’s still gonna be a guide on some island safari tour, dunno where he got that idea though, something about a book he read. I haven’t had the heart to tell him what his actual job is gonna be.

Aside from rigging up John Cake so we can do some of our own in-house animation, I’ve been working on the T. rex and Diabloceratops this month and Trike is finally all rigged up and ready to receive new animation. The T. rex has new locomotion for all of it’s growth stages as well, it’s a pretty big departure from the legacy animations, even the growth is different, it’s practically a whole new beast.

Herrerasaurus finally got a skeleton as well, had to grow some backbone to do all that climbing and jumping it’ll be doing and next I’ll be working on its climbing animation, touching up the prototype and placeholder animations with some more final animations for its debut.


[h2]hypno - QA Lead[/h2]
With our recent change to the roadmap and how we approach game updates, the majority of QA’s time was spent focused on validating bug fixes for the latest patch that introduced server whitelisting. We also used this time to address some of the balance concerns that were prevalent in Update 6.5, including vomit preventing movement and an input lockup that occurred if a target was knocked down while pouncing on a character.

Talking of balance; now that we have moved away from larger updates and instead pushing out content as and when it’s ready, we are working on a new process for how we handle balance changes so that they can be provided much more frequently in accordance with your feedback. We hear your concerns about the ceratosaurus “vomit lock”, whereby a group of ceratosaurus’ will continuously bite a target, forcing it to vomit nonstop, preventing it from defending itself. This is not an intentional feature of the ceratosaurus’ kit and will be addressed as soon as possible, though it will require a rework of vomiting in general so expect to see more information on that when we have a solid direction that we want to take it in.

A few more known issues include the loss of player characters and both omniraptor and troodon pounce not “connecting” with a target, usually resulting in death. These are marked as high priority on our bug tracker and are actively being investigated by our programmers. A big thank you to those of you that have been reporting these issues.

QA have already started testing some of the upcoming playables in our latest builds and they are coming along very well, particularly the herrerasaurus with its unique ability to climb surfaces, as you may have seen already in dmIV’s post.

As many of you well know, the stress testing team applications were reopened recently and resulted in an astounding 1,400 submissions. These are currently being reviewed and successful candidates can expect an invitation to our new stress testing discord server very soon. We appreciate your patience and understanding in this matter.


[h2]KissenKitten -Producer[/h2]
The wheels have been churning around here all month. Fixing various issues and gearing up for a tonal shift in the game. I’ve been moving from dept to dept making sure everyone has what they need to swing for the fences. Hopefully there will be some homeruns in it for us and you.

The herrerasaurus has been coming along quite nicely. It’s been gaining in fun factor around here for a bit now. It will be a lot of fun seeing how you all like it and how many of you are going to plummet to your deaths. Practice, patience and prayers. But overall you’ll be able to make a leap of faith with a fair amount of surety.

The diablo and dilo have also been getting their special abilities implemented and tested. So we can shift the prototypes to their final form. Diablo is moving pretty good currently but needs a few tweaks to really make it something special. Hopefully resulting in some moments that feel good to play with as well as against. Dilo also seems to be heading in the right direction. Our intentions being to make it every bit as fear inducing as it used to be but modernized.

If all that weren’t enough, the rex is growing in power each day. I’m so excited to see what an apex can really do. But anyway, that’s all for now. I look forward to seeing you all over on Gateway.

[h2]Additions[/h2]

• Added server whitelists - Details below

[h2]Enhancements[/h2]

• Various adjustments to improve accuracy of directional attacks
  
• Fixed locomotion input locking during vomiting
  
• Improvements to spectator mode update rates
  
• Added the missing hint for the 3x carb diet combination
  

[h2]Bug fixes[/h2]

• Fixed the input lockup when a character is knocked down during a pounce
  
• Fixed players being shielded from attacks if they are standing on a corpse
  
• Fixed being able to interact with already swallowed actors
  
• Fixed omnivore diets ignoring carnivorous diet requirements
  
• Fixed the carb diet spending more stamina instead of spending less
  
• Fixed gallimimus paranoia audio playing in all biomes instead of just the jungle
  
• Fixed corpses not floating to the top of water
  
• Fixed gallimimus mobilization vocals playing indefinitely when sprinting and causing other vocals to become blocked
  
• Fixed pounce sometimes causing the target to always buck if the buck input was pressed as the pouncer was dismounting
  

[h2]Server Whitelisting[/h2]

Server owners can enable whitelists by adding bServerWhitelist=true under the TIGameSession section of the Game.ini file.

In the same file, add each Steam64 ID using: WhitelistIDs=71231XXXXXXXXXXXX under the TIGameStateBase section.

Once enabled, only IDs in that list will be able to join the server. Server admins will be able to join regardless of if they are on the whitelist or not.

Example below:

[/Script/TheIsle.TIGameStateBase]
WhitelistIDs=71231XXXXXXXXXXXX
WhitelistIDs=71231XXXXXXXXXXXX
WhitelistIDs=71231XXXXXXXXXXXX

[/Script/TheIsle.TIGameSession]
ServerName=Server Name
MaxPlayerCount=50
bServerNesting=false
bAllowReplay=false
bServerWhitelist=true

[h2]FTessaro - Lead Programmer[/h2]
Most of the month was focused on getting 6.5 out of the door. It entailed an array of bug fixes, balance adjustments and subtle refinements to nearly every game mechanic. We also invested significant effort in server-side optimizations to bolster performance. With the update now live, my attention has shifted back to the main branch, where I am actively working on enabling the migration system for rigorous QA testing. Furthermore, I’m also working on new playable dinosaurs such as the dilophosaurus, which involves implementing mechanics and animations associated with them.

In addition, I’m refining the pounce ability to achieve a smoother visual when latching onto targets. Modifications are also being made to the pachy’s headbutt attack to enhance its precision when inflicting fractures. Looking ahead, our primary focus is centered on developing the next set of updates, which will introduce our new map, Gateway. Perks are in progress already and should evolve fast as the team convenes to finalize their design.


[h2]dmIV - Programmer[/h2]
A lot of my work was for update 6.5, so there’s not much I can say about it you haven’t already seen or experienced. I made various finishing touches to the new dinosaurs, such as improvements to beipi’s buoyancy and animations, making the gallimimus forage frogs and crabs more reliably, adding a defense buff to the ceratosaurus when it’s chuffing around corpses. I’m really happy to see the update making its way to people’s hands. I enjoyed working on the beipiaosaurus in particular, so it’s great that the players are having fun with it as well.

Other than that I have been working quite a bit on the diabloceratops recently. There are several different interactions happening as part of the sparring system, so I have my hands full. It’s in a fairly rough state at the moment, but things are starting to take shape, so I’m excited to see how the community will feel about it.

I often record videos for internal showcases and I have some for the beipiaosaurus, which I thought would be interesting to show. You’ve already seen what the final product looks like, so here’s a behind the scenes look at how we got there:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


[h2]Amar0k - Programmer[/h2]
As the others have mentioned lots of work to get the 6.5 update out most of my work has been related to the engine update and improvements to the back-end services we use for our deployment pipeline. I have been working on easy anti-cheat and monitoring its performance over the last month. I won’t go into too much detail but I can tell you there has been significant improvement in this area and it’s working quite well. We don’t tolerate cheaters and we are doing everything we can to prevent them from ruining the game for everyone else.

I have been running some hotfixes this week to fix some issues with RCON, queuing and the server list. RCON has had some new commands added like being able to update the playable classes. Queueing is now live on all of our official servers and whilst it seems to be behaving for most people we are aware of an occasional issue where you might still get the “Server is full” message after joining. I have been working on a new server scheduler which manages our official servers and restarts. This system restarts the servers on a 12 hour cycle and will show a 5 minute restart warning.

Some more changes to AI and its base behavior has been well defined now. We will be rolling some more dangerous AI critters out with Gateway. I look forward to seeing that, it’s always a pleasure watching players fight Boars. Deer will start to spawn in small herds with fawns and will regroup together if they are separated during an attack. Rabbit burrows can be destroyed to bring out a hiding rabbit. We have noticed AI will tend to end up around the jungle areas making them difficult to find so I have been working on a new movement system for how the AI will traverse the map and flee from predators.

That’s about it for me this month. I hope you have all been enjoying the 6.5 update. It's been a blast for me. Till next time.


[h2]Wedge - Sound Designer[/h2]
This month, aside from the work put towards polish of 6.5’s audio and with the majority of diabloceratops’ adult vocalizations complete, my focus has turned to dilophosaurus. A lot of time has been spent experimenting on this creature's sound design, aside from the signature low trill that the community all knows and loves, it did not really have much of a defined sonic identity beyond that.


To address this I first created something new and wholly unique and interesting for the remaining calls that I did not complete last month as these sounds would define how I approach the rest of dilo’s sounds. The danger and threat calls’ main elements consist of a variety of pitched down bird shrieks as well as piercing sounds created from source such as metal creaks, bowed styrofoam, Aztec death whistles etc. These shrill sounds are underpinned by gurgling roars and fluttery hisses, coming together to create terrifying screams that will cut through the night time ambience instilling fear into its prey. Like the broadcast and attract, the generic call has largely remained the same as its legacy version with the exception of being improved upon, accentuating the more alien qualities of this sound.

With its vocal identity clearer I was then able to use the ideas and source material laid out through the calls to aid me through the process of creating other sounds for it. It’s mellower sounds such as when drinking, courting and wallowing use the gurgling, squelching, chirping, trilling and clicking, while its more aggressive actions such as attacks and pain sounds use the shrill shrieking, piercing screams and gnarly growls to display this predators’ horrifying prowess. There’s still plenty left to do for the dilophosaurus but I’m happy with how this creature's sound is coming together.


[h2]Bryan - Animator[/h2]
It’s been a busy month for sure. Couple tweaks here and there on the ceratosaurus alt attack to make it more responsive, the last few animations on dilophosaurus and also finishing up herrerasaurus attacks and locomotion.

However, the time has come for tyrannosaurus and triceratops. I’ve been looking forward to working on trike again and giving it a real nice tune-up. First thing first though, it needs a rig update, those puppet strings haven’t been serviced since before Legacy if memory serves, so it’s getting a thorough update before we dive into animation. Rex got the same treatment already and it is a real terrifying chungus.

No, I won’t be streaming the rex, but I’ve already completed the new locomotion for its different growth stages. I’m super happy with how it’s turning out and I think you’ll find it to be far more interesting than its Legacy counterpart. Next time you see the rex it’s probably gonna be chomping you down, so don’t get too eager.


[h2]VisualTech48 - Environment Artist[/h2]
Gun Month. And bug fixing. That is the overall summary of this amazing month. I’ve been tasked with getting our beloved humans some weapons, starting with our own version which mostly is based on the M24, a lever action bolt rifle, with a vast amount of attachments.

As I’ve been tasked with making weapons, we’ve set some standards regarding both rails, and the attachment system overall. The rail size will be uniform, meaning in the long run, that any attachment that makes sense will be interchangeable with weapons.

Back to the rifle, it's been designed to hold those attachments, and grant you a 8x scope that will help your “hunting.”



We also have a pistol that is a combination of a few designs overlaid on the framework of a P226 derivative. Now this is still in the works and is subject to changes, but here is the progress so far:



And that is pretty much it besides an array of bug fixes, and getting some stuff in order.


[h2]Tapwing - 2D Artist[/h2]

What if baryonyx was bigger and had a pelican jaw? Well you get The Isle’s version of suchomimus.

With it being one of those animals that shares so many design features with other dinosaurs of ours, it was tricky coming up with unique scenes for sucho. At the end of the day I decided to focus on two main features: A wading lifestyle and its pelican pouch of a mouth.

Navigating more freely through shallow water and muddy terrain, Sucho could utilize mud as a defense against egg stealing creatures, rendering the would-be thieves into an easy to catch snack. Now when it comes to sucho’s jaws, while they might not pack the biggest punch, they can really pack it away. Holding extra food or carrying water over to give hatchlings a worry-free drink, those jaws allow it to carry more than most.

So keep your distance if you're smallish in size. What suchomimus can scarf down might surprise you.


[h2]KissenKitten - Producer[/h2]
This month has flown by and as the others have mentioned it was 6.5 focused. It is currently live and in your hands at long last. Definitely took longer than we would have liked. Engine upgrades and Murphy’s law saw to that. But we’re over that bridge and now preparing to cross the next one. There are new playables on the horizon in the Diabloceratops, Dilophosaurus, Herrerasaurus and Tyrannosaurus Rex. Each at varying stages of completion and each ushering in some new mechanics we hope you’ll enjoy as much as you’ve been enjoying the most recent additions. We’re pulling out all the stops to make sure when you play as these creatures, it feels impactful, immersive and an experience unique to The Isle. Do keep in mind the Tyrannosaurus Rex is currently planned to be available as a playable on community servers only, not officials.

As was mentioned when we first made the hard decision to recode the game from scratch, essentially making a second game, we wanted to focus on mechanics before playables. To avoid bloating the roster and forcing us to retcon them all to fit each new mechanic. Which can take far longer, end up being severely watered down and in many instances, become impossible to do (see: Legacy). So a few years, a lot of hard work, heartache, dedication and a pandemic later and we’re finally ready to start implementing more playables. It is not lost on myself or the team as a whole that regardless of any reasoning or justifications, you guys want playables. Period. Straight like that. Now that we’ve gotten what we needed mostly out of the way, playables you shall have.

The animation team has grown a fair amount over the past few months with each new member learning the ins and outs of what it takes to make a creature for the game. From the artistic eye necessary to create the motions, to the technical limitations we have to abide by, to the creative drip that’s demanded to make a creature shine in The Isle. They’re soaking it all in and exceeding my expectations. So I am personally excited to get more playables in your hands and see what types of experiences you are able to craft with them and how they stack up to the already established roster. Be on the lookout for the new roadmap that will be coming soon and shed more light on our plans for the future as we shift our eyes towards Gateway and the reality of the original vision for The Isle taking shape. Bye for now.