The Isle News

[h2]FTessaro - Lead Programmer[/h2]
It’s been a busy month of finalizing code and running tests with QA. The migration system is functional, only encountering a few bugs that we’ve now fixed, but far more tests are required to know for sure if it is going to work well and act as an engaging gameplay loop.

The new diet improvements are also finished, as of right now we are currently testing the slot combinations in order to find bugs but also to try and steer away from any sort of must have/meta builds. We've also expanded the penalties for dinosaurs that neglect their diets, they begin to incur malnutrition (a bad diet) that causes your dinosaur to become far weaker than it was before, the debuffs are significantly more aggressive than the previous iteration (AFK'ers beware!), while the new positive buffs are improved and allow for a wide variety of combinations you can use to custom tailor your diet to specifically grant benefits that support your preferred playstyle. For example, heavily favour a specific stat? Stuff your face and fill all three slots with the same type of nutrient to gain a beefy buff towards a single stat. Or you could opt to mix & match, vary your diet with more than one type of nutrient to grant a multitude of additional benefits, including a significantly higher growth rate.

In other news, some improvements have been made to pounce visuals and the overall speed of the pickup system. We regularly received feedback on how slow it was to pick something up, as attempting to snag a morsel from a corpse often resulted in the player’s demise as the system locked them in place for eons, so hopefully the increased speed will alleviate the scavengers' woes. We’ve also implemented other community suggestions, such as the stomach icon flashing as a warning that you’re near to vomiting. And lastly, besides overall bug fixing I’m also working on making corpse detection far more reliable. See you next month everyone.


[h2]dmIV - Programmer[/h2]
The Dryosaurus received some love this month in the form of a reworked dodge ability. The new version will provide more speed and agility, allowing you to move in any direction very quickly. It’s faster than sprinting too, so you will even be able to use it when moving forward to gain bursts of speed. We hope this will improve survivability and make the dinosaur more fun to play.

The new gore system comes with some changes to scent as well. Corpses now have a wider detection range than before and it also scales with how decomposed the body is. As time goes on dinosaurs will be able to smell the body from further and further away, making it more risky to stick around for long. Speaking of detection from far away, I also added support for increased corpse scenting range by species. This will be heavily utilized by the Ceratosaurus, which will be able to sniff corpses out from very long distances.

I also made some improvements to hit detection, you will no longer be able to attack others through walls or similar obstacles. So far we’ve mostly just had trees where it was not a huge issue, but now that more human structures are coming to the game it would have been more problematic.

I also prepared some of the legacy dinosaurs with the necessary code and files for the Evrima workflow, obviously they will need many new animations along with unique mechanics, but now we have a foundation to work with once we get there. Beipiaosaurus is coming along nicely, now with a variety of attacks and more animations in place. No promises about when you’ll be seeing it in-game, but I’ve been really enjoying working on it, so I hope that soon you’ll get to enjoy it just as much.


[h2]Amar0k - Programmer[/h2]
I started the month diving into performance and testing out various optimizations with a lot of changes to AI coming over the next few months including an entire new logic methodology. The decision for this change was based on reliability and performance of the Engines base AI trees which have strange behaviours after extended periods of operation or server up time. Lots of R&D went into how this might work and internal testing over the last month has proved the system, so now begins the journey of extending it into production.

The start of this system has been introduced with scavengers like the Compsognathus and Pterodactylus which now have the ability to raid nests for eggs and hatchlings which should make nesting more interactive and require more attention to watch over.

Fish AI has also had some significant changes to how they move around to fix latent responsiveness and non natural movement.


[h2]VisualTech48 - Environmental Artist[/h2]
This month has been pretty much prop month, alongside nature collision. Starting with the cables and ropes set, which consist of variants of cables, from wiring, to plastic cables, to all sorts of indoor and outdoor cables.



After that I jumped onto the lighting, and in this case, track lighting for roads and various markings:



Afterwards we went on to the roll-off dumpster, which is a massive one, and it has WHEELS!



And lastly, we come to the semi-modular security console, consisting of various screens, and tabletops:



That is it for this month, a lot of bug fixing for some props and collision for the nature stuff and buildings.


[h2]Wedge - Sound Designer[/h2]
This month’s focus for me, aside from a handful of small tasks, has been almost entirely on environmental sound design. I’ve been working on a variety of biome ambiences, including the two already in the public build as well as some new ones.

With Filipe’s help a bug that was preventing one of the one shot sound categories firing has been fixed which should make a noticeable difference to the amount of spatialized ambient sounds in environments you are already familiar with. On top of that I've also been balancing and refining them in terms of volume, on both an individual and macro level, as well as the frequency/volume ranges that one shots occur in, and dynamic volume modulation of the various layers within the ambient bedding.

I’ve also been finalizing ambiences for three more biomes that have been in progress but on hold for a while - plains, beach and cave. All three are now complete, spare some final mix adjustments. However the beach environment poses a unique difference that will need to be solved first before being introduced to a map as two of its one shot sound sets are sounds that should only emit past the shoreline out from the ocean.

Lastly I've been designing an ambient soundscape for a Redwoods biome, focusing on creating a sparse, spacious yet diverse ambience. The intent is to recreate an illusion of stillness through the ambience by zooming in on smaller sounds like insects and foliage, and particularly the distinct creaking of Redwood trees. However the environment does contain a large range of sounds for birds, animals and dinosaurs, but I've ensured there is enough distance and space between them to not overcrowd the ambience and fight against the intent for the soundscape of this biome’s ambience. All sound assets have been set up and my attention is solely on the balance of both this environment individually and the balance across all biomes.


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

It’s a tough life for Alberto growing up, but if one does make it to adulthood, they can become quite the deadly force.

We wanted to play with the idea of a high-risk high-reward animal, with the full grown Alberto having enviable tracking capabilities and power at the cost of stamina. It can’t run for days but when it does set up an ambush and catch you, the fight is over fast. Albertosaurus is a creature you’ll most likely see hunting in pairs and sometimes tailed by their offspring. While they can have many young, very few are expected to survive. If some do manage to not fall prey to similar sized carnivores during their youth, their continued growth and demand for food will get them chased off by their more ravenous parents or even eaten themselves if they insist on hanging around while food runs out.


You could almost call this one a vampire, because if Giganotosaurus is around, you know it’s going to be a bloodbath.

It’s a proficient bloodletter, so with this in mind, the Giga’s hunting style focuses on bleeding out large targets and flesh-grazing. like many wild canids who will start ripping apart larger prey before they’ve actually killed it. Bleed resistance and perhaps a dietary preference to flesh over organs are additional ideas we may play with depending on how we want Giganotosaurus to interact with each other.
And lastly, I wanted to play with the idea of it being proficient in sniffing out a bleeding target, allowing it to better find and bogart an ongoing hunt when blood is spilled.


[h2]KissenKitten - Producer[/h2]
Another month down and it’s testing, testing and some more testing. This month has been a methodical one with the team making tweaks and adjustments to the upcoming features pretty constantly.

Gore is moving along nicely with the final assets about to replace the proxy assets you have seen previously soon. Carnivores will be able to feel like they are actually feasting upon their prey in a much more dynamic way than ever before. Also paving the way for the flesh, organs and bones to all have unique diet implications based on the type of creature you happen to be playing. Some getting more out of a particular type of meat than others. In addition to the gore bits you’ve seen, there are new blood vfx that are currently being implemented that will start making attacks and eating of flesh a more visceral experience for the players. It’s getting messy!

As for creatures, the Troodon is in testing to ensure its venom is strong when properly applied but able to be circumvented by stronger animals with proficient battle prowess. If standing there and letting things happen is your playstyle, these animals will likely drop you and giggle while they do it. However, Troodons may have deadly venom and speed but they are glass cannons and will not be able to withstand much damage. So perhaps the best defense is a good offense if you’re strong or skilled enough to contend with them. The Beipiaosaurus has also been getting a lot of attention for those that have the bandwidth to split focus. Recently getting some new attacks and polish for some of its movement. We were even joking about the possibility of a barrel roll. But don’t take that too seriously. Some of the other animals that have been getting some love include the Dryosaurus, Gallimimus, Ceratosaurus, Dilophosaurus and Diabloceratops. The new additions getting their groundwork laid so their implementation can be more swift than playables created from scratch. Legacy ports give us some much needed breathing room as so much of their art has already been created and they just need supplemental animations and maybe some polishing tweaks here and there. You may have also seen that the Compsognathus and Pterodactylus are getting some new functionality. They will be able to raid the nests of players and may even make a meal of unattended hatchlings. So keep a watchful eye on your offspring and maybe teach them how to fight before you go off to forage.

There’s also a lot of testing of new natural assets and locations. The cycads you may have seen for instance form a sanctuary crèche for small animals and juveniles to get a brief respite from larger animals. The cycads wind and twist creating a network of terrain that will prove difficult to navigate for large animals, impassable for others but easy to zip through for smaller creatures and juveniles. Be aware that while these areas will assist in keeping larger animals out, smaller predators are still very capable of entering so it is unwise to let your guard down. These sanctuaries will also have a buzzing environmental hazard that ensures anything too big that gets in, may not get out alive and that any juvenile creatures attempting to make it their permanent home beyond a certain size can meet the same fate.

There’s much more going on but I think I’ll put a pin in it here. Take care and I’ll see you in the next one!

Hey Islanders,
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A new patch is now available on the EVRIMA Public Branch, bringing forth a completely new Night Vision system, developed in response to the community feedback regarding our previous iteration of Night Vision. We hope that you enjoy the changes!

Please note that you may need to restart your Steam client if the download does not make itself immediately available.
​
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0.9.91.06
- New Night Vision
- NV is disabled underwater
- Made Day as default
- Decreased Day time from 60 to 45mins
- Decreased Night time from 45 to 30 mins
- Increased spawn amount of some small AI animals
- Fix to corpse detection not being reliable as it should
- Duckweed removed from surface rendering

[h2]FTessaro - Lead Programmer[/h2]
Hey everyone, some of this month was spent working on the night vision update, which included a few bug-fixes and some necessary improvements to our anti-cheat capabilities. We're also evaluating feedback & investigating a number of reports regarding issues with the current night vision system, you'll find more information on that further down the blog in KissenKitten's post.

Regarding Update 6 the progress is going really well and I will split into categories below:

Gore/Organs: The base code is finished which allows organs to spawn when needed and be fully interactive with physics, soon we’ll be starting tests using animals bigger than the Utahraptor, but I don't foresee needing to make big changes in the code, besides possible enhancements and bug fixes. Still in regards to organs a new mechanic is being created for all carnivores, it is a gore specific mechanic that can be used for things like role-playing and improving diets, more details about it soon. New gore and rotten textures are going to be added to the corpses, and bone meshes as well. The bone assets are the last stage of a corpse, they will be interactable.

Diets/Nutrients/Slots: The enhanced system for diets was set up to grant more control to the players for what dietary buffs or “advantages” they can receive in our survival environment. With this new system, slots are not locked to specific nutrients anymore, they are now fed with the latest consumed nutrient and can be combined as desired by the players, for better understanding, you could fill two slots with carbs and one slot with lipid, which would provide the player with a specific buff, or a different combination of all slots fed with protein, providing another completely different buff. Players can use this to better customize their character to their playstyle.

Migration System: Since the new diet slot combinations system was finished some time ago, we now can start testing migration with the herbivores and slowly start integrating the carnivores into it. Several meetings are scheduled for the design team to decide all the details for the migration system, as well as the effects from different slot combinations. This system will motivate players to move around the map to get the benefits from their diets. You’ll get more details on this system in a future DevBlog.

Vocals: I also spent some time improving the entire vocal system, which now is more reliable, performant and fixed an issue related to reverb the sound when traveling great distances.

Skin System: By popular request, we’ve added Eye customization, so players now can choose the color of Iris to customize the character even further, integrated to the “random” button and import/export functions. I also fixed a couple bugs in the slot saves.

Physics Doors/Gates: Those systems were finished and provided to the Map Design team to start adding them to the maps. Those doors/gates are interactive physics based actors, the bigger the animal the easier it is to push them and open/close. Some doors will be “locked” by default, needing a human player to first unlock it before it becomes usable by animals. While the basic physics functionality is done, more work and adjustments may be necessary in the future.

Automatic Lights: Map Design now also has access to special actors that are automated in the island based on time of day, those lights turn on or off depending the time of day. This is a basic system that may be expanded in the future with other automatic systems added to it. This has a small relationship to Lore.

Interactive Foliage: This system has been expanded, now more foliage types were added to it, physics assets setup and tiny performance improvements added. It allows players to physically interact with foliage in the map, regardless of the distance or amount. Besides the visual joy of it, this can also be used to detect prey or threats among the foliage. This will continue to be expanded over time as much as possible.

Besides all that, we had a significant amount of bug fixes this month for QA to test, and more to come as there were also some quick tests with burrowing.


[h2]dmIV - Programmer[/h2]
I continued working on the Beipiaosaurus with something you might have already seen floating around, the breach. If you surface fast enough you will be able to breach the surface of the water. This allows you to maneuver around predators better and potentially reach shores you couldn’t reach otherwise. Personally though I think it was worth adding even if it’s just for fun, there’s something very satisfying about launching up in the air and diving back down.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
An interesting experience for me working on this creature is how it connects to when I was working on the Deinosuchus. We originally had a concept where the “water walking” was a more distinct state that keeps the animal only moving along the floor and you would have to leave that state by manually swimming up. In the end we went with the more seamless version you know well, since the Deinosuchus sinks passively and there isn’t that much of a difference between swimming or water walking. In the case of the Beipiaosaurus however, we returned to that same concept with some minor changes. So on the programming side I was able to just bring back the water walking prototype from back then, tidy it up a bit and just like that, one of the main mechanics was ready to go. The breach is a different, but quite funny story. While working on the Deinosuchus at one point I accidentally made it gain velocity when surfacing instead of losing it. This resulted in some very ridiculous behaviour and it’s completely different from how the new mechanic works, but I thought it was interesting how it also came back in a way.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Most of the month was actually spent working on something I had been waiting to work on for a long time, climbing. The idea originally came up along with the Pteranodon’s latch mechanic, but ultimately we didn’t have the time to include that. I always really enjoyed climbing in games where it’s possible, so I was pretty excited by the idea of taking a stab at it myself. There’s a lot of things that can go wrong with a system like this, you can have all kinds of complex surfaces and a character moving along in every possible direction. Making it work reliably and looking nice and smooth is quite a challenge. There’s still a good bit of work left to do, but it’s coming along nicely. As for what dinosaur actually gets to this, let’s just save that for later.


[h2]amar0k - Programmer[/h2]
With the hotfix out of the way I have continued working on the new online subsystem and resolving various issues with that. Player count is one as you would have noticed it not correctly updating to show a full server along with some work on RCON and the Queue system. AI work is back in full swing with the new Pterodactylus and Compy getting additional functionality like nest raiding and attacking so watch out hatchlings!

There has been a significant change to the overall movement of AI and how that functions to save on performance and the general look and feel of how they move around in the world. I have continued reworking crowd AI and spawning for performance and dietary updates.


[h2]Tapwing - 2D Artist[/h2]
My month has been partially occupied by another wave of color selections for some upcoming dinosaurs. I'm sure you’ve seen some clips or pictures going around the Isle discord. But besides that, I’ve more nature sketches for you guys.


Our lion of The Isle.

What we wanted for this dinosaur was to showcase its ambush centered abilities and really let them use those claws. For instance, you might not be able to outrun a Gallimimus, but if you can get the jump on it, you might just have the burst of speed to grab it before it slips away. For some other uses with it’s claws besides grappling and pinning, we explored the idea of it being able to dig up burrows or perhaps carry it’s food in hand rather than in mouth so that it might still be able to call, bite or smell where other animals would have to put their food down and risk loosing it’s catch to a sneaky thief.

All in all, you’ll want to be careful around those dense tree lines when Allosaurus is around



It’s time for our king of the skies. An insidious meat-eating flying giraffe with a lance for a face and you’ve got our Quetz.

With Quetzalcoatlus we wanted to show its air-savviness, from combat to surprise landing stab and runs. While it might not be able to go toe to toe with other apexes its size, it’s a nightmare to the many smaller creatures of the isle. Its long neck and beak give it plenty of range that make it formidable on the ground or in the jungles. So keep a sharp eye out amongst those trees, one of them might be staring back at you.


[h2]Bryan - Animator[/h2]
All of my work this month has revolved around Beipiaosaurus, it’s been a tricky and ungainly animal to work with as most Therizinosaurs are. They are the embodiment of “I don’t know what to do with my hands.” thanks to their abnormally large forelimbs and semi-upright stance. Thankfully we’re nearly done with the animation stage of its development once a few kinks are worked out, with only the Juvenile animations left to do. I think I speak for both Kissen and myself when I say “it’s been swell but the swelling has gone down”, we’re eager to move on to the next subject after spending so long on the Beipiaosaurus.

It will definitely be a fun playable creature and we really went all out on its swimming animations. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out and I hope you will be too.

On that note I’ll likely start streaming again soon so I’ll have to dig out the Gerry cam again since I know you all only watched the stream for the good boy. I have quite a few good animals on my task list you’ll enjoy, both from the new roster and classics from the Legacy roster.




[h2]VisualTech48 - Environmental Artist[/h2]
This month has been partly committed to the Damage Pass, consisting for now, with various decals and mesh type decals for damage and grunge to the buildings in general. It started off with various leaks, from rust ones to just environmental ones, dirt and grimes.



Next up I went further and took scans of existing damage decals, and color corrected them and made them game ready, with various tweaks to both color, height, and displacement which now features a bit more in the game itself. It's a “cheap” and old school POM displacement and all of the decals that are featured in the damage pass now have it.



I’ve started re-constructing the exteriors and a bit of interiors of known and done buildings to feature these types of damages and decals, which now makes them look more of this world, and that it has been weathered even further, with the addition of metal mask damages as well:



You can see a clear difference in the damage on the last image, where the decal has been put to most of the edge of the garage.

Lastly, I’ve made the CCTV 2 types of cameras, with a few variants, nothing too shabby. Here are some HD images of them rendered in Marmoset:




[h2]Wedge - Sound Designer[/h2]
I’ve mostly been focusing on rounding out all sounds for Troodon, this has included the final adult sounds that were not finished by the end of last month, creating a juvenile variant for the majority of these sounds (the ones that didn’t need this worked fine just undergoing some pitch modulation in engine) and finally sounds for its hatchling stage which at this stage include just a vocal sound for hatching and begging. Now all sounds are implemented I will be doing some fairly extensive play testing on Troodon to ensure that all sounds work as intended and there are no key sounds i’ve missed.

I’ve also been working on creating chorus vocal sets, much like Pterodactylus’, for Compies. I have completed a large group sound for the food chorus, a mob of chirping and interesting trills, as well as a handful of short alarm sounds, leaving only a chorus sound triggered by the player crossing into a territory they are inhabiting left to do. With these two significant tasks (Troodon and AI choruses) nearly off my plate I’m looking forward to what’s next to come.

As always, alongside work on new content, I’ve addressed a few sound issues that are brought to my attention either through the community feedback channel, QA bug reports or raised by the team or from my own playtesting. The most common issues I’ve addressed are problems of consistency in the intensity and volume of both ambient water sounds and footsteps (specifically for medium creature sound sets) across the three different movement speeds. I’ve also started putting together foley sounds for dragging corpses (and also for Deino’s movement), I’ve been putting together a looping sound for each surface type in game, split into 3 loops for each surface one for each of the main size categories which is an audio enhancement to breath a bit more life and detail into these interactions.


[h2]KissenKitten - Producer [/h2]
I swear it feels like there’s no more than a week in between these blogs. Time flies when you’re battling a knife fingered battle penguin. This month has consisted of further work on the mechanics mentioned in the last blog like gore. With the VFX pipeline pumping out buckets of blood in preparation for gore’s debut. After some fine tuning, we’ll be getting some test shots prepared for public consumption. Expanded diets and migration are also in full swing. The TLDR being that you’ll have more options for how you want the life of your character to play out. If you got into a scuffle and want to heal your wounds a little faster, there’s a diet buff for that. Feel like you’d enjoy running around a bit longer before being gassed? There’s a diet buff for that too. With the new system, you should be able to get a lot more mileage out of your gameplay experience and discover the best routes for your species and your personality that continue long after you’ve reached adulthood.

Troodon is nearing completion but needs testing and some supporting effects before it can be considered ready. Alongside it, the Beipiaosaurus has been diligently making its way towards animation completion despite being a fever dream to work with. We think you all are really going to enjoy it. But know that we suffered to make it a reality. Animation work on the Ceratosaurus and Gallimimus has slowed down as we’ve increased production but those two haven’t been nearly as complicated to work with. The Dryosaurus is also having its dodge reworked to be much more intuitive and fluid. The burrowing has been prototyped a few times as well but it is not ready to be showcased just yet. It is still on the backburner but at least on simmer. Some of the other animals that have been making some production appearances that we haven’t mentioned much include the Oviraptor, Baryonyx, Kentrosaurus and Dilophosaurus. None of which have entered the animation stage just yet though. But some of their supporting art should be making an appearance in the not so distant future. Some may even be featured in some streams soon. Cross your fingers!

Humans are getting some in-game polish in preparation for their entry to the live branch alongside Update 6. Our human modeler has done such a great job on them all and I’m so excited for them to be showcased in a much better light than you’ve currently seen. Speaking of light, we have received a lot of your feedback in regards to the new night vision causing some of our more sensitive players motion sickness and headaches and are working on making some adjustments to make it easier on the eyes. We take the matter seriously and want to make sure we can make the night vision experience comfortable for as wide a range of people as possible. Should it take longer than expected to make those adjustments, we will revert night vision in the interim so we don’t bar any of you from playing while we craft a solution.

Lastly we do have some new content coming out related to the NPE (New Player Experience) that we feel will help make The Isle more accessible to players that are new to survival games and specifically one pioneering playable animals. We understand the learning curve in The Isle can be steep at times. In many ways, we intend to keep it that way but also want to ensure accessibility is not solely lost due to a lack of clarity rather than a lapse in player judgment and decision making. So expect that content to drop soon as well. See you in the next one!

Hey Islanders,

You won't be stumbling around in the dark anymore. Update 5.5 is now available on the EVRIMA Public Branch, bringing forth our first iteration of the long awaited Night Vision mechanic that was built utilizing feedback from our diligent stress testing team. In a future patch, specifically our upcoming Night Terrors (6.5) update, we will be revisiting & expanding the Night Vision system to provide extra depth and accommodate for the more horrifying inhabitants stalking The Isle.

If the update does not make itself immediately available to download on the EVRIMA Public Branch, you may need to restart your Steam client.

[h2]Filipe - Lead Programmer[/h2]
This month I was partially working on the latest improvements for Update 5, which we released on the 7th of July with subsequent hot fixes and server performance tests. Meanwhile, we held a significant number of gore design meetings which have already yielded favourable results, showcasing that we have a good and solid plan to move forward with. Some core work for Update 6 had started a little earlier, but we can now start focusing solely on that.

In other news, QA has received the first iteration of Night Vision, with feedback and adjustments already made, there are still a few technical adjustments to be made (not bugs) before we are able to release it into your hands.

Back onto Update 6, I don't have much that I’m able to share just yet, as the majority of it is code work. In short we have big changes coming to the diet system, which is in the process of being expanded upon, with slot combinations, new negative/positive effects, the new Migration System, adaptive diet list and more. Besides of course, the bloody gore, with organs, a lot of blood, new mechanics specific for gore and new corpse interactions, which will include changes to how scent works based on how old a corpse is, for example, or if it became a carcass or even rotten. Due to performance also being a constant concern, expect changes from what you see till the end, everything is heavily work in progress.

Here is a small example video to showcase some what we've been working on, please keep in mind that everything you see in this video is subject to change.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


[h2]dmIV - Programmer[/h2]
As we were nearing the release of Update 5 I was making smaller changes and bug fixes, while being careful not to break anything in the last second. These included some improvements to walking in mud, footprint scent, schooling fish ripples and foliage collision issues related to a plugin we’re using. Before the update came out I spent some time playing with our stress testers to get some normal player perspective on the game. I really enjoyed having parents to look after me, bring me food and all that. Unfortunately my parents didn’t usually survive until I entered adulthood, but it was a fun experience nonetheless. I hope you’re also enjoying the update and taking good care of your children.

After that I moved on to something that I’m sure many of you will find exciting, the Beipiaosaurus. There are several new mechanics and movement changes for this dinosaur so I had a lot to do. The creature is very buoyant, so swimming downwards will be a bit difficult, but you can ascend very quickly, which is especially useful when you are running out of air. It can also use its claws to latch to the ground underwater, which leads us to the next feature, foraging. In this state you’ll be able to detect animals living underground in the water, find them and if you’re lucky you can dig up some free food. We still have quite a bit of work to do in both art and programming, but we’ll be able to start testing soon.




[h2]amar0k- Programmer[/h2]
Most of my month was spent working on the new net driver integration with Epic Online Services. This was required for a variety of reasons, specifically Easy Anti Cheat. More recently however, I have been able to shift focus from backend services and devote my attention to upgrading the capabilities of our AI, to which I have been adding the Pterodactylus, a new type of scavenger and getting the Carnotaurus back into the fray. Fish schools have also had a few changes which include fish that now leap out of the water and leave small splashes. Unfortunately this means the end of the flying fish bug. I know how much everyone loves them… Sorry!

Some improvements to dinosaur AI have included the ability for them to seek out food and water, as well as randomize their skins. I have been exploring options for how AI spawning should change to better accommodate the diet system for lower population servers. This means you should always be able to find your perfect diet. I have also improved the rabbit burrowing and ambient animal interaction which will be worked on more over the next month.

Some of you would have seen my recent streams which I just wanted to say I really enjoy doing so thanks everyone for the support and i appreciate all the comments and questions that come in.


[h2]Seiza - Video Editor[/h2]
The update release this month was also exciting for me, because it also meant the release of what I've been working on for the last weeks and months: the trailer "Creation."

As there were, again, many mechanics that should be explained in it, this trailer is the longest so far. Another reason for its unusual length is that it was supposed to be calm and relaxed. After all, it might be the last chance to present such an atmospheric trailer. So let's enjoy every second of peaceful scenes before the world gets darker...

To illustrate the interaction of the different mechanics, my goal was to present each mechanic chronologically: first the skin system, then courting, nesting, hatching, and so on. To avoid it becoming boring however, I have chosen a different species for each mechanic, with smooth transitions between each.

The last scene with the Carnotaurus attack and the hatchling Carnotaurus just seems like a cinematic nice-to-have but actually it has several functions. It closes the parenthesis and opens the chance to show the actual possible in-game impact of the skin system. In addition it demonstrates the ecological cycle that the new nesting mechanic brings.

By the way, I read through a lot of feedback from you guys, and I'm very happy how many liked the depiction of Carnotaurus in this trailer!

After the release of the trailer I immediately started my next project. It's in a new format that many of you have been asking for.




[h2]Wedge - Sound Designer[/h2]
This month has mostly consisted of more work on more Troodon sounds, with the majority of its sounds created and added to the engine, ready for me to spend some time play testing to make sure it sounds fleshed out and balanced. Troodon now only lacks a few sounds for its adult stage which, once complete, will have me moving on to create a juvenile variant for each sound.

I’ve also been working on creating some ‘chorus’ sounds for groups of Pterodactylus in varying group sizes and for different gameplay reasons.


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

Despite the updated appearance adding extra floof, we very much wanted to keep Therizinosaur's murder turkey reputation.

One of the main goals was to see how many different ways we could use Theri’s claws, outside of just grabbing tree branches; cutting obstructive foliage, raking large predators, impaling small ones and exploring the potential for mutilation. Another aspect I’d like to see if we can implement is utilizing our Theri’s famously fluffy tail as a defensive feature. Absorbing a set amount of damage from tail attacks, giving Theri another shot at escaping predators trying to chase it down or offering some protection to its hatchlings from smaller creatures looking to steal one away as an easy snack.



Large and in charge. If there’s one idea we wanted to sell with the Tyrannosaurus Rex, it’s don't let it get its jaws on you! Its bite is a force to be reckoned with. In addition to that, we thought it might be time for an additional attack to help it single out targets; a side-striking head swing to stagger or even knock over prey and bust open bothersome gates. You can bet there will be plenty of opportunities for mutilation with the Rex. This is an animal you won’t want to go one-on-one against.


[h2]Jace - Level Designer[/h2]
After a little over a year of being on the team this is actually my first DevBlog entry. And funny enough it's not even about level design, I'm here to talk about the design of the new night vision. Night vision is actually one of the first things I took a crack at when I joined the team, working on it when I had the time. The night vision coming to EVRIMA is quite different to the night vision of the past. In the past the night vision had a large visual impact on your play experience where under certain lighting it was actually best used flipping it on and off, or just off entirely because you could see better without it. The new night vision system was designed with the intent of being able to leave it on all the time if you wanted to. Meaning that it couldn't negatively hinder your vision or detract from the look of the game. But has to allow players to see in the dark.

To achieve these goals there were a few hurdles to get over. Like designing it in a way to not modify any of the colors or values on the screen so that you could retain full color vision and contrast. But how could I improve your vision in the dark if I couldn't make it any brighter? Outlines, inspired by ENVG-B, a newer night vision technology showed off by the U.S. military. In game this effect is done in a purely additive way to the scene where it will draw outlines around the edges of objects that exceed a certain distance from the object behind it. Then the intensity of those lines get masked to only the areas of the scene that are dark enough that the outlines prove beneficial to your vision. Then with a few extra details like fading it out around the edge of your screen and you get night vision that achieves these goals. This new system provides night vision that both retains all the color of the scene, and allows you to see in the dark, but it will also dynamically change and adjust itself to fit the needs of what you're currently looking at.

[h2]Jake - 3D Artist[/h2]
I’m finally making creatures again! Short lived, as I will be back on miscellaneous environment assets and other goodies in the near future but for now I got to wrap up the technical work needed to make Austroraptor game ready, as well as wrap up the Baryonyx finally.

Austroraptor just needed a nice retopology, for feathered animals this can be a bit of a hassle as we need to account for the alpha cards but thankfully Austroraptor wasn’t too bad on this front, fewer than the Therizinosaurus.



Baryonyx was next up to get his face lift, accommodating new ideas for how the creature will work in gameplay as well as bringing it into the aesthetic of the newer dinosaur assets. I hope you guys like how it turned out!



[h2]KissenKitten - Producer[/h2]
As mentioned above, we’re rounding out some changes for night vision so we can get that in your hands. We hope you like the new functionality and that it provides as many tense moments as the legacy version did. So be expecting that to appear.

Now let's talk about gore. The way gore is planned to function is to introduce horror elements into the game in a “natural'' way. Nature can be incredibly cruel by human standards and we do not plan to shy away from that fact. The Isle has always been declared a survival horror game and we plan to show you exactly why. Things are about to get uncomfortable very fast as we intend to emulate the ferocity and despair inherent in the wild. Some of the inhabitants of the island will have the ability to mutilate other animals in various ways, resulting in death. We want to capture the raw and unsettling experience of predation and combat amongst animals so you feel more urgency when it comes to self preservation. Not only will you be able to see the flesh being removed from a body, but in certain circumstances, you may be eaten alive as this happens. Exercise caution.

A dead body will go through different phases depending on varying circumstances. Fresh, eaten, rotten, bones etc. A fresh body that’s been eaten and a rotting body that hasn’t been will not only look visually different but they will function differently as well. Most fresh kills impact carnivores positively. But rotting flesh may be too septic for some carnivores to eat or for some animals to even be around. Further still, bones would only be consumed by a select few. Gore ties in with diets and will come with scent changes. Fresh meat won’t have the same odorous profile as rotting flesh but can still be tracked by other animals. Dragging bodies to more covered locations will become useful for reducing the amount of scent a body gives off and the time it takes to give it off. Which should provide you with a little more time to eat before your kill is inevitably discovered by other animals. There may be changes to which creatures can smell what, what ranges they can smell them at and with what impact. If you make a kill or find one, get it to cover and eat up as fast as you can before it is found or before the body becomes unpalatable. Time will be of the essence as a kill will not go unnoticed for long. Compies and Pteros will rat you out, attracting other predators.

The freshness of a body will matter as well as the contents of that body. If you’re playing as a creature that doesn’t favor certain organs, you may need to remove them to avoid snacking on something that may harm you. Some carnivores may get greater gains from eating certain organs. Others may not. This can help to expand the usefulness of the dead on the island as a single corpse can provide food for a myriad of different creatures at different stages of decomposition.

Stepping into work on playables, troodon will be entering testing to make sure its venom isn’t too strong or too weak and that it feels fluid. The venom does not currently rely on application alone or dosage alone. It is not a set it and forget it venom. It’s based on exposure. The longer the venom is in the bloodstream the worse the effects become. Building to a crescendo that would allow a murder of troodon to quickly drop the health of larger prey. But coordination is key for specifically bringing down larger animals as they only produce so much venom individually. However, a solo troodon is more than capable of killing creatures within its own size range. But together is where their real power lies.

The Beipiaosaurus, although not intended for Update 6, is getting deeper into production. Several animations were created previously alongside older updates but they’re now starting to see the light of day. We’ll showcase some of its current functionality so you’ll have an idea of how it works. Despite being ungainly on land, it is very proficient in the water. But no matter where they’re found, underestimating them is foolish. They have very long, sharp claws and know how to use them. So approach with caution. In water, the Deinosuchus can be found anywhere beneath the surface but the Beipiaosaurus will mostly exist in transit between the surface and the sediment floor. Constantly going back and forth between those two locations for food and air. Occasionally leaving the water to supplement the rest of its diet on land. More information to come. Additionally, we have some other creatures in various states of production like the Cerato, Galli, Herrera etc that we’ll start showing some production on soon.

Another note for Update 6 is our intent to bring the Gen 2s to the live branch so those of you that want to view the game through the eyes of a human won’t have to swap to lonely servers just to get the first-person perspective of the game. Which also serves to provide us with important information on how to make their gameplay visceral.

I think for fear of making this a novel, I’ll stop here. Check out this Austroraptor!