The Isle News

Hey Islanders,

Time to harness your creativity & shepherd unruly broods, for the long-awaited Update 5 is finally here. Leave your mark by personalizing your dinosaur with an assortment of new patterns and colors. The improved Skin System significantly builds upon its Legacy counterpart by providing more nuance, clarity, control and sharing options that will ensure you stand out from the rest of the herd. Keeping with the trend, the new Nesting System is also a marked improvement over its former version featuring courting, nest creation, nest management, hatchling interactions, nesting grounds and more. So invite your friends to your nest and see if you can help the next generation survive The Isle.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]




[h2]Additions[/h2]

• Added Skin System.
  
• Added Nesting Mechanic.
  
• Added Nest Widgets.
  
• Added Courting/Begging/Nesting Abilities.
  
• Added VFX and SFX for Courting/Begging/Nesting/Hatchlings.
  
• Added hatchling support to admin growth and character profiles.
  
• Added damage to Pachycephalosaurus Ram even if they are too big to stagger.
  
• Added salt licks which removes vomit debuffs.
  
• Added new nesting grounds to Spiro.
  
• Added Debris for nest building.
  
• Added new Pounce Miss animation.
  
• Added nearby client side Dynamic environment sounds. (Foliage, Wood and Metal)
  
• Added Message for when trying to swallow a corpse that is too big
  
• Added new Hypsilophodon VFX for its blinding spit ability.
  
• Added support for Pounce/Ram/Lunge to work when close to its target.
  
• Added buck cooldown
  
• Added new textures for Boar, Deer, rabbit and sea turtle
  
• Setup Swimming for AI animals
  
• Added solution to AI not being interacted when ragdoll is thrown away
  
• Added moving buck animation for Tenontosaurus
  
• Added Compy carcass decay and despawn
  
• Added RCON with documentation
  

[h2]Enhancements[/h2]

• Stopped pounce cancelling attacks on dismount.
  
• Improved headbutt hit detection, made leg fractures more accurate.
  
• Made ragdolls less stiff when not dragged/carried.
  
• Avoided cancelling some abilities if hit by a Pachycephalosaurus that's too small.
  
• Updated title screen disclaimer.
  
• Updated Fan Palm textures.
  
• Updated Stegosaurus mesh with new female morph.
  
• Forced pounce to cancel headbutt if the pouncer latched right before.
  
• Improved Compsognathus ragdoll.
  
• Improved some old Cascade effects performance.
  
• Improved audio (fixed harsh cut offs.)
  
• Improved scent icons.
  
• Setup Cycad collision.
  
• Updated Music Manager and added songs.
  
• Increased amount of Mushrooms to spawn.
  
• Improved footprint decal performance.
  
• Reduced volume of idle dinosaur sounds and river ambient loops.
  
• Adjusted food value calculation for schooling fish and fruits.
  
• Made players return to the faction select menu if no spawn was found.
  
• Prevented chat entry if dead and during resting animation transitions.
  
• Clientside performance improvements.
  
• Split horizontal and vertical mouse sensitivity.
  
• Made pounce cancel Scenting.
  
• Prevented chat and profile UI to be opened at the same time, causing input issues.
  
• Changed vocals to avoid playing animation if stunned.
  
• Made ambient fauna one shots sound further away.
  
• Removed Beach2 and 3 from admin teleport.
  
• Changes to Pounce/Ram latency compensation.
  
• Prevented bird flocks triggering too often.
  
• Increased Crab weight slightly.
  
• Increased piece of plant size a little
  
• Made fast flight cancel skimming
  
• Small changes to spectator mode
  
• Improved ragdoll stability
  
• Adjustments to resting and idle sounds
  
• Made low stamina dinosaurs only get stuck in mud if more submerged
  
• Reduced crab weight
  
• Small changes to gore and fruits for more server performance
  
• Updated Tenontosaurus jump animations
  
• Adjusted Fluid simulation
  
• Reduced boar attack hitbox
  
• Decreased Pachycephalosaurus ram raw damage
  
• Reduced Deinosuchus pain sounds volume
  
• Decreased Pteranodon broadcast volume
  
• Adjusted coconut tree foliage collision
  
• Threaten vocals modulation adjustments
  
• Removed Dryosaurus evade stamina cost
  
• Made Dryosaurus use A/D for dodge direction
  
• Made juvies have increased acceleration/deceleration rate
  
• Boar is now able to be latched by two pouncers
  
• Made mud slow you down faster
  
• Small changes to pounce vs ram
  
• Made Coconuts, Orange and Mango to spawn more often
  
• Increased slide speed limit
  
• Compies now despawn when no players are around
  
• Adjusted goat pounce points
  
  

[h2]Balance[/h2]

[h3]Global Mechanics[/h3]

Diets

• Carnivore diets adjusted from 50% to 25% growth to alleviate free growth time.
  

Tracking

• Decreased the amount of scentable footprints overall.
  
• Increase the space between tracked footprints appearing.
  
• Increased the time between Blood drops onto the ground.
  

Hunger Intake

• Global food intake increased to make megapacks more difficult to maintain.
  

Fractures

• Global fracture heal modifier decreased slightly.
  

Locational Damage

• Global tail base multiplier reduced
  

Juvenile Mobility

• Juvenile acceleration time globally decreased, hit top speed faster.
  
• Juvenile deceleration time globally decreased, slow to a stop faster.
  
• All juveniles that skid have maximum skid distance reduced.
  

Crowd Control

• Global knockdown time reduced.
  

[h3]Boar AI[/h3]

Max Health:

• Max Health reduced.
  

Blood Pool:

• Blood Pool reduced.
  

Mass:

• Mass reduced.
  

Corpse food value:

• Food value reduced.
  

Spawn Rate:

• Overall spawn amount reduced.
  

[h3]Carnotaurus[/h3]

Diets

• Boar added to Three dots nutrient.
  

Movement Modifiers

• Standing Bleed Multiplier increased.
  
• Walking Bleed Multiplier increased.
  
• Trotting Bleed Multiplier increased.
  

Hunger Intake

• Mass removed per tick increased.
  

Fracture HP

• Body Fracture health reduced.
  

Primary Attack: Bite

• Attack hitbox lowered slightly.
  

[h3]Deinosuchus[/h3]

Diets

• Deinosuchus swapped to S nutrient.
  
• Stegosaurus swapped to Lines nutrient.
  

Oxygen

• Regen rate decreased.
  
• Regen rate doubled if resting or scenting.
  

Hunger Intake

• Mass removed per tick increased.
  

Attack Power

• Starting juvenile attack power increased.
  

Oxygen

• Oxygen now lasts two times longer.
  

Special Ability: Water sense

• Passive range decreased.
  
• Active range remains unchanged.
  

[h3]Dryosaurus[/h3]

Primary Attack: Peck

• Damage increased.
  

Special Ability: Dodge

• Stamina cost removed.
  
• Remove camera-based aim. Tap A/D for dodge direction.
  

Hunger Intake

• Mass removed per tick increased.
  

[h3]Pteranodon[/h3]

Diets

• Hypsilophodon moved to S nutrient.
  

Primary Attack: Peck

• Damage increased.
  

Hunger Intake

• Mass removed per tick increased.
  

[h3]Hypsilophodon[/h3]

Hunger Intake

• Mass removed per tick increased.
  

[h3]Pachycephalosaurus[/h3]

Diets

• Horned Melons swapped for Oranges.
  

Hunger Intake

• Mass removed per tick increased.
  

Primary Attack: Bite

• Damage increased slightly.
  

Special Ability: Ram

• Speed influencing damage removed.
  
• Tap ram damage reduced.
  
• Held ram damage reduced.
  
• Blunt damage modifier increased.
  
• Turns faster when holding a charge.
  
• Self stagger threshold for tap ram increased.
  
• Self stagger threshold for downwards ram increased.
  
• Tap and Downwards ram costs reduced slightly.
  
• Hold ram stamina cost reduced slightly.
  

Bucking

• Stamina damage per tick increased to pouncers increased.
  

Movement Speed

• Will now use the juvenile locomotion until half way to full adult.
  

[h3]Stegosaurus[/h3]

Hunger Intake

• Mass removed per tick increased.
  

[h3]Tenontosaurus[/h3]

Hunger Intake

• Mass removed per tick increased.
  

Primary Attack: Bite

• Damage increased slightly.
  

Secondary Attack: Rear Kick

• Hitbox adjusted to better match the animation.
  
• Increase knockback distance.
  
• Stamina cost reduced slightly.
  

Alternate Secondary Attack: Tail Slam

• Stamina cost was reduced.
  

[h3]Utahraptor[/h3]

Diets

• Stegosaurus swapped to Lines Nutrient.
  
• Hypsilophodon swapped to S nutrient.
  

Hunger Intake

• Mass removed per tick increased.
  

Primary Attack: Bite

• Damage increased.
  

Special Ability: Pounce

• Removed initial damage and bleed to encourage holding the pounce instead of spamming it.
  

[h2]Bug fixes[/h2]

• Fixed UI bite force showing incorrect value when head fractured.
  
• Fixed pounce not working if target is holding a corpse, blocking it.
  
• Fixed a few issues with fracture values from save and fracture threshold.
  
• Fixed issue with Deinosuchus FOV.
  
• Fixed food amount for meat chunks being wrong sometimes.
  
• Fixed pickup issue with spamming G for meat, while floating as a Deinosuchus.
  
• Fixed Stegosaurus Juvenile threaten animation.
  
• Fixed pounce issue when falling on water, causing the player to not be able to leave. (Pteranodon)
  
• Fixed corpse scent icon rotation.
  
• Fixed juvenile Hypsilophodon jump height.
  
• Fixed headbutt causing big targets to stand up suddenly.
  
• Fixed river audio popping in at a short distance.
  
• Fixed Stagger cancelling headbutt too early.
  
• Fixed Character Panel allowing players to perform abilities if open from Esc Menu.
  
• Fixed Edible Plant Spawner issues.
  
• Fixed Dryosaurus evade distance.
  
• Fixed juvenile Deinosuchus swimming eating loop.
  
• Fixed AI swimming above water.
  
• Fixed eating not playing when player was in water, but not swimming.
  
• Fixed eating animation playing when the ability was interrupted, latency issue.
  
• Fixed pounce latch rotation issues.
  
• Fixed AI speeds.
  
• Fixed camera zoom being wrong sometimes when spawning.
  
• Fixed fall damage applying on jump sometimes.
  
• Fixed audio resetting above 0.
  
• Fixed mouse inverting when adjusting sensitivity and better aligned the sliders.
  
• Fixed some buttons not having sounds.
  
• Fixed Stegosaurus' mouth opening as if it was carrying food when it had impaled another character.
  
• Fixed fracture sounds playing when people connect near to someone that was fractured.
  
• Fixed pinned recovery animation transition.
  
• Fixed Dryosaurus footprints placement and rotation.
  
• Fixed main menu URL's not working.
  
• Fixed carried objects scaling with the carrier as they grew.
  
• Fixed lunge on land spawning water splash particles.
  
• Fixed Stegosaurus alternate bite dealing bleed.
  
• Fixed Carnotaurus not being able to walk onto the dam at swamp.
  
• Fixed unintended drinkable water in various locations.
  
• Fixed Carnotaurus fractured head animation.
  
• Fixed footsteps SFX and VFX being activated if attacking while crouching.
  
• Fixed Pteranodon being forced to stop flying after a pouncer dismounted from them.
  
• Fixed Faction Selection using the old Utahraptor outline.
  
• Fixed Leg fracture sounds playing twice.
  
• Fixed fish sliding back into water when released from Deinosuchus lunge.
  
• Fixed footsteps being spawned if performing vocals or montages while resting.
  
• Fixed issue with auto ungrouping when dead.
  
• Fixed preferred food on profile panel.
  
• Fixed not being able to lunge while pounced.
  
• Fixed not spending stamina if sprinting while pounced.
  
• Fixed pounce causing resting/sleeping animation to stop.
  
• Fixed flocks trace causing client hitch.
  
• Fixed meat chunks not being destroyed if they were static early
  
• Fixed meat chunk sizes
  
• Fixed hovering issues with f10
  
• Fixed tree creak ambience
  
• Fixed edible fruits not respawning
  
• Fixed grass blending with ground
  
• Fixed low resolution shadows
  
• Fixed meat chunks not being swallowable
  
• Fixed some tree collisions
  
• Fixed issue with picking up chunks while swimming
  
• Fixed some drinking spots
  
• Fixed replication issue when plants have roots
  
• Fixed Radish piece being too small
  
• Fixed Deer and Frogs carry offsets
  
• Fixed Crab location
  
• Fixed Eat/Drink end conditions if tapping too fast
  
• Fixed headbutt impact audio not always playing
  
• Fixed a few UI and sound issues
  
• Fixed Marigold Spawns
  
• Fixed Compy eat montage
  
• Fixed Boar hit montage from sliding
  
• Fixed Boar not running when attacking
  
• Fixed wrong growth boost value in profile panel
  
• Fixed pounce latch issue
  
• Fixed eating issue with AI
  
• Fixed growth issue with safelog
  
• Fixed issue with pounce and Mud pools
  
• Fixed Dryosaurus walk footsteps sound
  
• Fixed Deinosuchus rest sound
  
• Fixed footprint scent radius not resetting
  
• Fixed mud pool being below water surface in swamp
  
• Fixed client side gravity simulation in Fruits
  
• Various fixes to the buildings
  
• Fixed an abundance of issues pertaining to the nesting and skin systems.
  

[h2]FTessaro - Lead Programmer[/h2]
It’s been very a busy month overseeing the stress test and fixing bugs. We also upgraded our security and added a variety of quality of life features for the skin system, which were built upon feedback provided by our very helpful stress testers, such as being able to rename the skin preset slots, save and share patterns as well as some improvements for the camera.

In addition, we’ve also continued to make headway on the development of Update 6, such as participating in design meetings and the planning for the expanded diet system, which should also bring forth the new Migration system, as well as the Gore system. So despite Update 5 not having been released yet, the game production continues, such as the development of the Troodon for Update 6.5. We can confirm that the Troodon is feature complete now, while balance and QA testing are still pending since QA is currently focused on helping with the stress testing.

Besides that, there are some cool systems that I have been working on in the background, such as prototype concepts for the burrowing mechanic and a fully dynamic scar system, that doesn't have a release update yet, but should be able to give players the desired “permanent scars” feature.

For now that is all I can talk about, see you next month!


[h2]dmIV - Programmer[/h2]
Most of the month was spent fixing bugs and adding some finishing touches before the update goes out. We have gotten a lot of useful feedback from our stress test which you may have seen some videos from already. Some of the more important changes include making the nest widget less obtrusive, it now scales down with distance and fades out when there’s nothing important going on like bad temperature or invites. Nest placement has also been improved to work on steeper surfaces. Hatchlings now automatically join the parents’ group, but they will also be removed automatically if the group is over the standard limit when they hit juvenile.

Originally all of the nesting system required both parents to be alive. During actual gameplay however this turned out to be quite limiting due to one of the parents often dying or having to log out. So I ended up making some changes to make single parents a possibility.

I also had time to work on something that will be coming after this update. I don’t want to spoil it too much, but it has to do with the movement of a dinosaur you might have seen some teasers for on our Discord server.


[h2]VisualTech48 - 3D Environment Artist[/h2]
There is a reason I’ve missed the last months DevBlog is that I’ve been working on items such as rocks, which have been ported to the game to be fully usable and customizable to our needs. This means pretty much last month I’ve been making those rocks proper and optimized.

We now have heavily detailed cliffs, large rock formations and proper detailing kit with them for the environment. I won’t go into more detail with them, but hopefully you will see them soon enough.


Besides that, I’ve been working heavily on set dressing for the flooring, aka. Base plan foundations, of various locations which Jace has been crafting.


As well, I’ve made a few large prop set pieces for the Dockyard, such as two variations of silos and one fuel silo:


In addition I’ve worked on the monorail base, so we can incorporate it in the map, which features more detail and changes to the mesh itself:


And lastly, I want to showcase, the Aviary. Which will be soon featured in the game.


[h2]Tapwing - 2D Artist[/h2]
Shantungosaurus
Return of a titan. I didn’t get to see it much in it’s heyday, but whenever I did see them they always looked like a force to be reckoned with. Which made me eager to put it’s full size to work.

A major source of inspiration were moose and other sizeable ungulates. With the idea of it being a fickle animal, ranging from benign to knocking your lights out without a moment’s notice. We were leaning toward abilities where it could throw it’s weight around, from knocking others down, crushing the air out of them and of course it’s notable stomp. While you may think they’re relatively safe to be around, you’d be taking a big risk getting too comfortable with this hadrosaur.

Ankylosaurus
Normally you’re always going to have to worry about the bigger creatures on the isle, ankylosaurus might be the opposite of that.

Borrowing inspiration from armadillos and some lizards, we very much wanted to keep the ‘anky doesn’t care’ tone with this animal. Hunkering down and shrugging off attacks from larger predators, but needing to exercise a little more strategy against smaller foe, leaning towards attackers to hide the sides of its underbelly from smaller predators that can nip away at it’s soft spots. Some other idea’s we’re playing with are: it’s heaviness, allowing it to walk under water rather than swim to cross rivers, along with the ability to use it’s tail to get at foods some other animals might not be able to reach. And of course it wouldn’t be anky if it couldn’t crack some bones.


[h2]Hypno - QA Lead[/h2]

QA has been busy this month validating/invalidating all of the bug reports submitted by our new Stress Testing team. With these two teams working in conjunction, you should expect the playing experience for future updates to be a lot smoother than previous iterations, as performance and mechanics working currently under higher load is of utmost importance during these sessions. In the month of June alone we've validated a whopping 300 unique issues since stress testing began, so hopefully we'll have caught any glaring issues from the last update that were causing you headaches! You'll be happy to know that the areas you can drink through the ground are now a thing of the past. No more escaping the wrath of the Deinosuchus!

Besides bug validating, I've been keeping a close eye on feedback during this time and looking for trends amongst the stress testers. They've been very useful in pinpointing areas where balance has been suffering or where new mechanics aren't living up to expectations. To give a few examples without spoiling everything:

• Nesting grounds give nests increased incubation speed, reduced temperature decay, increased nest health and a growth speed boost to hatchlings.
  
• Knockdowns do not last as long as they did before, making them less of a death sentence across the board.
  
• Juvenile mobility has been improved. They accelerate faster than their adult counterparts, gradually slowing down to their regular acceleration rates.
  
• Tails now receive less damage when hit.
  
• Carnotaurus is now more susceptible to bleed.
  
• Deinosuchus receives the "S" nutrient from cannibalizing, instead of sharing the same nutrient with fish. (More incentive to cannibalize)
  
• Deinosuchus can regenerate its oxygen faster by resting/scenting.
  
• Dryosaurus dodge had its cost removed and controls reworked. Just tap A/D to determine dodge direction.
  
• Various other diet changes.
  
• Utahraptor bite damage buff.
  

And much, much more!


[h2]Jake - 3D Artist[/h2]
These last few months I’ve been doing a lot of vegetation overhauls, we won’t be going over that today. (but they look dope and should be revealed soon) Instead we’ll go over another collection of assets I made that will serve a gameplay purpose for the juveniles. These ones take the form of various shapes of cycads. The asset was actually prototyped a few months ago but now I’ve gone and refined its visual appearance. Pretty straight forward on a technical level, just lots of texture work to make sure it looks its best.




[h2]Wedge - Sound Designer[/h2]
I’ve been gradually making progress on sounds for Troodon. With each new mechanic added more sounds are necessary to be made, so the list of supplementary sounds needed for each creature is now pretty extensive. Troodons attack vocals will contrast its colourful signature sounds that will be used throughout the rest of the vocals for the troodon, using gnarly aggressive sounds starting with a sharp attack to give it that fearsome snap that will alarm the unsuspecting. The sound for Troodon’s unique ability will be a mixture of these two sound styles.

I’ve also created a vocal sound for each playable when feeding their hatchlings, and a wet squishy foley sounds to accompany the regurgitation visual. Some final additions this month are missing foley and dinosaur specific sounds on all nesting animations and adjusting the tap-hold modulation on the threaten vocals so that the difference is more apparent.


[h2]KissenKitten - Producer[/h2]
A big thank you to all of those that diligently participated in the Stress Test. The feedback was quite valuable and put to good use. It has been an uphill battle getting the creature foundations into a mechanically comfortable state but we’re finally almost there. With the general framework and foundations set for the animals once the gore update launches, we can move production away from such heavy-hitting mechanics for the animals and focus on bringing in new playables. Which may have unique features and abilities but not much that would cause roster-wide changes which is very good. Some of the new editions will include Beipiaosaurus, Ceratosaurus, Gallimimus and Herrerasaurus. As well as a few we’ll be getting to after those like Diabloceratops, Dilophosaurus, Baryonyx, Oviraptor, Austroraptor and more. Not necessarily in that order and perhaps with a surprise twist here or there.

On the human front, the framework for our Gen 2s has been established and will be making its way to the design team for fleshing out. We’ll finally start showing a little bit more of the development the Gen2s have been undergoing. But I digress. Update 6 will be introducing gore as mentioned before. We have some prototypes we’ll start showing off here within the next few weeks pending some art so you’ll get a rough idea of what to expect. Filipe has been hard at work on various prototypes actually.

Additionally, alongside Update 6 we’ll be including the features omitted from the initial implementation of diets as well as the accompanying migration system. If all goes well, we may also include a previously unannounced feature intended to make juvenile gameplay more fun and engaging. Be good to each other!

[h2]FTessaro - Lead Programmer[/h2]
Hey everyone, this month I’ve been primarily focused on enhancements, improvements to existing systems and bug fixes as we wrap up the final piece of Update 5 and all of its new systems. The Skin System is complete and ready to go, we’re all very eager to get it into your hands as soon as possible, but we will see if any issues crop up during the stress test.

Now that Update 5 is on the cusp of completion, all of my tasks are finished so I’ve shifted attention to the development of Update 6 (Gore) and beyond. So far it’s been going extremely well, to the point that the special ability for the Troodon is functional and nearly complete, however it will be subject to vigorous testing to ensure that it’s neither weak or overpowered. That’s it for me this month, as May has primarily revolved around making various fixes/adjustments. See ya next time everyone!


[h2]dmIV - Programmer[/h2]
As you’d likely expect, I continued working on the Nesting System for Update #5. We now have support for setting your eggs to private or public. This allows players to join you either from a list of available nests via the spawn menu or through a nest code you can share among yourselves. The parents then receive a notification and have the option to accept, decline or block the player. Accepting it spawns the player inside one of the eggs. The rest of the process was implemented earlier so now the whole process is functional from start to finish.

I also added a system for damaging and potentially destroying nests, so you will need to be careful with where you place them and keep an eye open afterwards. Finally I set up nests to support different egg clutch sizes, anywhere between two and eight depending on the species. We’ve been using a fixed number of four for testing, so there will now be a greater variety between the different dinosaurs.


[h2]Wedge - Sound Designer[/h2]
This month I’ve redesigned the Herrera calls, using some of the source from the Legacy calls in order to preserve its signature sound such as the low bellows used for its broadcast, but adding more character and movement to the original concepts. Something I had to consider when working on these calls is to ensure they are distinct enough so there is no overlap or opportunities for confusion with Deinosuchus’ calls, since a main element of both their vocals are alligator bellows.

I’ve also been working further on the ambient sequence mentioned in last month’s blog post which has gone through multiple iterations and is near completion. You will have to wait to hear what’s in store for this one!

Finally I’ve started to tackle some of the supplementary vocal sounds for the Troodon, which will be a good opportunity to expand upon its existing vocals and create something distinct for each mechanic that needs it. This will be one of my main focuses as we head into June.


[h2]Seiza - Video Editor[/h2]
Besides some phase two clips, I worked on internal projects in the last weeks and prepared everything for working on the Update 5 release trailer. This includes a lot of disk space management (all unnecessary files of the last project are removed or compressed to make room for the upcoming material, we are talking about 480GB uncompressed data per release trailer).

Documents have to be prepared and I have to test the options and possibilities because one of the documents is the "first scene collection" where I enter all the ideas about scenes I had in the last months and which have potential to be visualized in the trailer. Another document is the storyboard, which I was able to finish in the last weeks.

Since the content of the update came along very far in the meantime, I also have started filming it. Unlike the other trailers, this time I will decide on the final soundtracks during the filming as opposed to post production, since several of those are possible and viable.

My goal is again to create a clearly understandable and coherent progression; the trailer should be cinematic but also informative. And of course you can expect sweet hatchling scenes as well.



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

Time for our sail-back fiend.

For me this was a tricky one to draw. With our Spinosaurus’s skull proportioned differently from the more familiar Spinosaurus depictions. Ours being straighter, wider and softer S curve of the jaw. I found myself unwittingly adding facial characteristics of our older Spinosaurus model.

For animal inspirations, a fusion of bear and crocodile comes to mind. making full use of its claws, ripping, swiping and when the opportunity arises, overturning its more naive prey. Being an underwater walker, it won't swim like its more buoyant water-dwellers, but you’d be a fool to think it still can’t surprise you.


[h2]KissenKitten - Producer[/h2]
Not much to say that hasn’t been mentioned about Update 5. We are tying up some loose ends before putting it out for stress testing. We hope you all enjoy it!

Shifting away from the topic of Update 5, this month has also consisted of preparation for Update 6. With gore entering the prototyping phase and Troodon functionality getting some love. Do be aware with the introduction of gore, the game is going to fundamentally take on a more grisly tone. While we have always planned it and been vocal about it throughout the years, we understand many of you may have forgotten or newcomers may never have known. But The Isle is a survival horror game. So prepare yourselves to get really uncomfortable really fast. In the best way possible of course. Wish us luck because we really want to nail it.

We are quite excited to be closing the gap on foundational mechanics for the dinosaurs at last. With these foundations set, we can focus more energy into improvements and polish rather than the arduous task of establishing the main framework for the animals. Which has indeed been a challenge. Discovering what works, what doesn’t, what we can do and what we can’t. It’s been a wild ride for sure.

Aside from that, the animation team has been hammering away at some new playables which include the quizzical semi-aquatic Beipiaosaurus, the gluttonous Ceratosaurus, the fleet-footed Gallimimus and the semi-arboreal Herrerasaurus. We look forward to talking more about their development as time goes on so stay tuned! Bye for now!

[h2]dmIV - Programmer[/h2]
I’ve been working on various tasks related to nesting. Hatching works differently for different nests. If the eggs are exposed then you will be able to see your dinosaur hatch from the egg directly, but for other nests the eggs are covered with debris so you will only see the dinosaur climb out from the pile.

I also set up the feeding system for hatchlings. They will not be able to eat directly with the exception of the Deinosuchus, instead they will have to beg for food by holding E. At this time the parents can approach them and press E to regurgitate some of their food to provide the babies with food, water and nutrients.

We want reproduction to require at least some minimal effort from both parents so the number and quality of the eggs will be affected by their diets. You will be able to have an offspring if you have at least one nutrient, but a better diet will let you have more. Your eggs can now also become rotten if you don’t manage the nest temperature properly.


[h2]Amar0k - Programmer[/h2]
Lately I’ve been working on some additional backend for our build/deploy environment and integrating some critical SDKs so we no longer rely on third party frameworks. I have also been slowly getting back into AI development as the Carno has begun testing alongside the new workflow that has been designed for how we develop and release AI. We are expecting some big things to happen in the AI space as more has gone into their interactions and behavior.


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


Stout and very grouchy, here we have the isles Diabloceratops.

Some loose mixes of wild bovine and wildebeest served as inspiration for these guys. The idea was they’d travel the island bullying others off of vegetation and almost always in herds. Though it shouldn’t be able to run down most other dinosaurs, it’s still going to need to be able to stand its ground against a variety of predators. You’ll very well want to watch out for those horns.


[h2]Baardo - 3D Artist[/h2]
This month I got to work on the assets for the nesting system. We’ve had nest assets before but the newer and more dynamic system required a rethink of the feature set for how nests were designed and implemented. One of the new features is a series of morph targets that will animate as the nest is built up. These morphs took special consideration so that they played well with the topology and textures of the model but also the animation associated with the nest building.

In addition we have a new kind of nest, the debris nest, which requires its own materials and workflow. You can see some examples of these down below, I am quite pleased with the result and look forward to seeing them functioning in the game!




[h2]VisualTech48 - Environmental Artist [/h2]
This month has been all about the dockyard, and so we are here a few steps closer to gaining more details and buildings to it.

I’ve managed to crack some issues with the Triplanar now being able to project seamlessly almost across the buildings, alongside the interior damage textures. Besides that we have 2 smaller, and one normal hangar ready to ship and be in the game.



Alongside that, I’ve constructed a StepWalkway kit that can be both used both for the interior and the exterior. It's a very versatile kit, having mostly all dimensions and sizes, alongside the damage variants.



Thirdly, the Monorail has begun its humble start, this is heavily WIP and only the main segment is “done”:



Lastly, a lot of minor fixes to the Dockyard tower, which now features a see through texture, so you can see if something awaits you before you go down, and the first type of variant for buildings for the interior. :D




[h2]Wedge - Sound Designer[/h2]
This month I wrapped up working on the Pterodactylus vocal sounds, as well as the eating vocalizations for the Ceratosaurus heard in Seiza’s trail cam video. I also spent time working on creating all hatchling begging vocalizations for the current roster, working with KissenKitten on reiterating to get an interesting take on these sounds and animations for each animal and focusing on synching together the two components of this mechanic as closely as possible.

On the back end of this month I’ve started designing ambience to fit with changes in the weather, with a focus on achieving a strong survival horror aesthetic to the atmosphere – the current ambiences in EVRIMA work well for clear and sunny weather and will still be used in that circumstance, but these new ambiences will override as the default soundscape. Jumping off from this ambient work I’ve started conceptualizing some exciting unique sound sequences bringing something very different to the ambient audio cycle of The Isle.


[h2]Hypno - QA Lead[/h2]
As some of you may already know, QA has been undergoing a massive restructuring as of late. The main reason for this is that we have now reached a point where the amount of content to test while we develop the game has scaled so much that a small team of volunteer testers is simply not enough to cover every mechanic that needs to be checked before each update. This problem would only become worse with each new feature added, potentially causing older mechanics to break and slip through the cracks.

To rectify this issue, I have decided that alongside running QA, I would bring in a large group of community volunteers (eventually 200+), composed of current and former QA, content creators, and skilled fighters to form a new Stress Testing team. The idea behind this team is to act as a safety net between the QA team and the public branch, to catch any particularly nasty bugs that don’t rear their heads until they reach an abundance of players, such as the group name tag issue we had to deal with recently. Due to the amount of people joining, we will also be able to host full server playtests, which wasn’t possible with the QA team prior.

This team will also be involved in playtesting any new mechanics coming to the game first and giving feedback on character balancing. If the idea of this team interests you, why not consider applying? https://forms.gle/42pHQHVhsL2s2e4Y9

Besides that, the QA team has been hard at work continuing with testing the upcoming Skin Customizer and Nesting Systems:

A 3D Background has been created by our Level Designer Jace to give a better idea of how your skins will look in our environments. This background can be toggled.



Players are also able to toggle the gliding animation for any species that can fly.


We’ve also been testing the refined selection of colors on the new secondary patterns, ensuring that they look just as good as they do on their primary patterns. Here are a few examples, let us know what you think!




[h2]Bryan - Animator[/h2]
It’s been a good month for animation over here, no pun intended but we’ve been getting our ducks in a row creating the 200+ animations needed for Beipiaosaurus. In terms of workload it’s a bit like making another Deinosuchus.

We’ve also been getting Gallimimus prepared for it’s eventual return, but don’t worry, you’re not likely to be spam kicked to death ever again unless you decide to try to AFK grow and a Galli finds your hiding bush. It’s now got a full suite of directional attack animations like the other EVRIMA animals and will have some other quirks to make it far less likely to be seen as a troll Dinosaur like it was in Legacy.

We’ve also been dealing with Hypsilophodon’s juvenile morph, a complicated project because of its eyebrows and tail feathers, which it does not have as a juvenile. There were a lot of morph and skeletal related bugs we had to deal with to get this thing working, I hope it’s well appreciated what dmIV had to go through to get that thing working.


[h2]KissenKitten - Producer[/h2]
As you’ve read above, things are going rather well and we’re moving ever closer towards release. I’m very proud of the work everyone has been doing and look forward to you all experiencing the fresh take on nesting and skins. However, while it’s usually my style to keep things light in these devblogs, circumstances would see that change for this post.

This month on April 2, 2022 at 7:26am we lost our friend and colleague Brandon “Foszor” Gandy to brain cancer. I’ll admit, there’s still a great deal of shock and grief we’re dealing with in varying degrees as a team and as individuals. Some of us knew him better than others but I would be remiss if I didn’t count myself among the profoundly affected. Brandon was kind, creative and funny. Definitely one of the goofiest people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. With an exceptionally ridiculous sense of humor. He always had a joke in the chamber or something ambitious he wanted to do. I remember the two of us sitting in call together hammering out what would become the infamous burrowing system for the Psittacosaurus just as a personal challenge. We were both curious if we could make it work with what we had. I knocked out some animations and he prototyped the system in what felt like 30 mins. After showing it off to the team, it was too good to be for AI alone and that’s how the Dryosaurus got burrowing. Just like that. Such a talented individual. I know this entry isn’t likely what was expected but neither was how things ended up. We often talked about the things we wanted to accomplish with this project and what we were going to do in the future. But now we’ll have to continue this journey without him. Carrying along his memory with us. Brandon loved his family, his friends, this project and living life to the fullest. We miss him. I miss him. But we’ve all been made better for having known him.

Rest in peace Foszor. We’ll never forget you.

If you would like to support his family, you can do so at the following link
https://www.gofundme.com/f/cvwpu-foszor-fights-brain-cancer

[h2]FTessaro - Lead Programmer[/h2]
I spent most of this month developing the Skin System, we tested a wide variety of different designs to find which one was best and then we started to add the swatches that each animal can access, for each customizable part of the body. We even tried an eyedrop color picker system, but in the end we decided it is best to have a chosen list of swatches that we can expand overtime. Below is an updated image of the main panel. Keep in mind it is work in progress and more colors, options or features can be added as we move forward in development:



Some QOL were added, such as being able to pause animations (Ptera also has an option to toggle Standing or Gliding animations). See growth previews in real time, rotate in any direction and a very useful button to randomise your skin. In addition to the random button, players are also able to lock each Section, such as Male Display, Markings, etc. That should not be modified by the random button. Not only that, players can also lock the individual colors of each Section, as shown below:



By right mouse button clicking at a color will paint it in black, locking it from the random generator, allowing to have more control of what colors the random generator should use. Then using the brightness and saturation sliders players can have more control of how the Dino will look like.

Another nice feature added is the ability to Share skins with anyone. By clicking the “Export” button, a code will be generated for the current skin of that animal. Copy it by clicking the code and send it to your friends or anybody, they can just click the “Import” button, paste the code and boom! Save it and it is yours!



Players can also choose different Patterns for that animal and we can add and expand that as we please in the future. Besides the skin system, as always, I have been working on bug fixes and improvements to several mechanics of the game. Thanks and see you next time!


[h2]dmIV - Programmer[/h2]
I continued my work on nesting this month. First of all there is a new temperature system, which plays a role in the incubation of the eggs. Temperature decreases gradually on its own and you have different ways to increase it. In the case of mound nests where the eggs are exposed you have to sit on the eggs to warm them up. Debris nests have good insulation and don’t require much maintenance, but if the temperature becomes too low you will have to add more debris to the nest to warm the eggs back up.



The temperature bar is broken up into four sections. In the ideal range (green) the eggs will incubate properly, while in the neutral range (white) nothing happens to them. If they are too cold (blue) or too hot (red) you will start losing incubation progress. Once your progress goes back to zero your eggs will rot. We left the door open to the temperature possibly being affected by the biome, weather and time of day, but that’s something for the future.

The next bigger task I tackled was hatching from eggs. For this I had to enable hatchlings first. Fortunately they were already set up for the most part, there’s just a few smaller changes and bugs left to fix for them. Then I had to adjust our spawn system to support spawning into a nest and then finally I added the actual hatching mechanic. We want to get the players into the game quickly, so after shaking around in the egg a few times you will see your dinosaur pop out and you can begin your adventure.


[h2]Hypno - QA Lead[/h2]
Just a short post from me this time! Besides the QA team’s constant bug testing on both the skin system and nesting, we’ve been looking at the new server queuing system that Amarok has been developing more recently. This system, as you would expect, allows players to queue up for servers that are at maximum capacity. Excitingly, it also allows for server administrators to skip the queue and even join a server if it’s full, avoiding any instance where they could not enter the server to attend their moderation duties. See the video below for how the queuing system looks in action:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


[h2]Tapwing - 2D Artist[/h2]
This month I had a few things going on, working on building concepts and getting another set of nature sketches started, but the thing I’ve been most excited to work on this month is testing the skin system. The initial phase was spent zeroing in on what the team wanted the skin system to even look like, do we want swatches? Do we want sliders? How much range do we want to give players and what customization additions could we make in the future?

After some testing, what we’ve got now is a mix of swatches and sliders to allow for more precise color tweaking. Once the UI was brought to a point where it felt good to use, it was on to the fun but somewhat tedious part, color selection! Not only is each dinosaur going to have different colors available to it, each pattern layer will also have its own color selection as well. So that was a few days spent JUST narrowing selections down per category from what I would say was the maximum color range we could potentially use across the roster.

The goal with this idea was to allow as many color choices as we can while still holding players to a mostly natural variance between the same dinosaurs.


[h2]Wedge - Sound Designer[/h2]
I’ve been working on sounds for a new AI creature that will be appearing across The Isle in the near future, Pterodactylus. This small scavenging creature’s significant function is to mob and annoy players, eat their food and give away their position. For this reason the main quality of the creature's vocals had to be irritating. To tackle this I am creating an array of distinct and unusual vocalizations, each one unique for the associated action. When a player is mobbed by a group they will hear a chorus of all the various sounds resulting in a cacophony of annoyance. Passive sounds like its idle are low ugly glucking sounds, when hopping around they will produce a playful warble, attacks will sound like an aggressive cackle as if mocking the player and its dying sound consists of a harsh grating screech, mixed with its signature gargle. Among other sounds It will also have a couple of calls which I’m experimenting with to create something unique.

The Pterodactylus, as an AI creature, is intended to be very vocal in order to give away a player location, however thinking about this brought the current situation of idle vocals for our current roster of playables to my attention and the impact they have on maintaining stealth whilst playing. Idle sounds have now been significantly reduced in volume when standing and resting, and totally removed from idle crouch animations; aiming to strike a balance between audio immersion and gameplay functionality.

I’ve also created a suite of egg cracking sounds that will accompany the hatching mechanic with a variety of intensities depending on the size of the egg. I’ve compiled these into two different subsets of sounds, the initial cracking as the egg shakes and the hatchling stresses the outer structure of the shell, and then a more intense and hollow sounding crack that occurs the moment the hatchling quickly bursts out.


[h2]KissenKitten - Producer[/h2]
Another month down and a heap of progress made. The production cycle for Update 5 has mostly been filled with prototyping and tweaking of systems. We hit the ground running with this update so we were able to run a fair amount of tests. We’ve trialed several different iterations of the skin system and nesting system and some other additions that are to come at a later date. With the progress we have made on the update being substantial, we are finally comfortable showing you more of what we’ve been up to and what these systems are going to provide. We’ll also be including a new and unexpected blast from the past, pterodactylus. Who you’re likely to love to hate or hate to love. This entry is going to be short and sweet as we've got all hands on deck to round out a few more finishing touches and tie up some loose ends. But we’ll be dropping some clips for you soon that span Update 5 features and future creatures coming into the game. We know the Skin and Nesting systems have been long awaited and we’re excited to get it into your hands.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]