Prehistoric Kingdom News

Welcome to January’s Development Update!

It’s been a busy month here at Blue Meridian. Starting off 2021 with a bang, we launched the pre-alpha version of Prehistoric Kingdom to our VIP backers. Now that alpha’s looming over the horizon, there’s a lot of content to discuss!

Screenshot by Captain Hadro.



With much excitement, our VIP backers have been playing the pre-alpha version of Prehistoric Kingdom. Over the last few days they’ve been instrumental in helping us locate issues and provide feedback about the current state of the game. Surprising no one, it turns out they’re much better at building than us! You’ll be able to see some of their creations at the end of the blog post.

On the development front, we’ve been hard at work polishing existing content and adding a bunch of new modular pieces like doors, glass, windows and awnings. AI is coming along with some new additions, and water continues to improve with more background work on planar reflections. We’ve added length snapping options for fences and paths, too! This way players can keep their shapes mathematically consistent while building.


WIP Planar Reflections.




[h3]AI & Locomotion[/h3]
The team began work on integrating a variety of behaviours and animation states for the animals this past month. Idling, walking, running, resting, sleeping and grazing are all integrated with support for eating, drinking and socializing coming very soon.

For the hadrosaurs, we’re including a unique rearing behaviour that allows the gentle giants to stand on their hind limbs. From here they can perform long distance broadcasts that are audible from across the park.



When it comes to locomotion, animals now curve their walking path around obstacles like fences to reach their destination. Rather than relying on animation, the body bends procedurally while the creature turns for a more natural movement.

To make our animals even more grounded, we use body and head IKs to ensure limbs stick to the terrain and that they look at things like pathing destinations, other creatures and buildings.

Screenshot by Elliott.

[h3]Individual Variation[/h3]
By randomizing the hue, saturation, value and size of an animal, every creature you breed in Prehistoric Kingdom is unique.



The Edmontosaurus regalis above are both female, yet the small differences between them goes a long way in breaking up large groups of animals. Internally, we can control the variation amount per skin and sex, providing us with a lot of flexibility for variants.

Audio
Base level audio implementation began early in January for the Edmontosaurus and Microraptor; adding foley, breaths and a handful of other sounds to their animations. There’s a lot of detail we want to capture to bring these animals to life, so while there’s even more granularity still to implement, please enjoy this early look at the Microraptor.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

To help with the sheer amount of assets required, we split animal audio into two parts: vocals and family sets. By doing this, we’re able to produce a large amount of reusable foley, breathing and generic sounds that are shared per family of animals e.g. hadrosaurs, ceratopsians, mini-aviary, etc. On top of that base layer, we’re then able to create unique vocalizations that make up the character of a species.

There’s much work still to be done, so we hope you’re just as excited to hear the animals as you are to see them!

[h3]Building Showcase[/h3]
This month we added two new small buildings to the game. Increasing guest education needs, the Information Kiosk is a compact way to show visitors everything they need to know about your park!



The Restroom is a condensed version of its larger variant, starting players off with an affordable yet occupationally limited structure. Researching buildings is an important part of Prehistoric Kingdom’s progression.



Designed to contain the most dangerous of creatures, the Modern Metal Fence set has now been completed. Ranging from 2.5, 4 and 6 meters tall, any escapees are in for a shocking surprise!



Though not as sturdy as their metal counterparts, the Modern Wood Fences are an essential part of the early game aesthetic. Coming in 1, 2.5 and 4 meter tall variants, these fences are suitable for weaker or less demanding animals.




Dusting off its previous look, Protoceratops is roaring to go! This sheep-sized critter is one of the smallest dinosaurs in Prehistoric Kingdom, lacking most of the complex facial features found in other ceratopsians.




Our lovely VIPs have been building, breaking and testing the game in all manners to help us find issues and improve the game. The feedback we’ve gotten so far has been great, and the team cannot wait to launch alpha for the rest of our backers soon.

Including three species of Edmontosaurus and the rest of the construction suite, many of the VIPs have noted just how easy the game was to learn and pick up. In a matter of hours we started to see some fantastic builds! Please enjoy this wonderful paddock built by Strix.



Throughout February we’ll be continuing to add new content to the current build as well as providing Alpha’s release date next month!


Created by AD.


Created by Grimnir.


Created by kanniballistik.

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Thank you for reading January’s devlog!

We eagerly await your feedback during our time in alpha and are extremely excited to see what the playerbase will come up with. We’re very happy with the results shown thus far, and we can only expect that to increase as new features and items are implemented for everyone to play with.

Until next time,

- The PK Team

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Welcome to December’s Development Update!

We hope everyone has had a happy holiday season and a safe New Years. Despite the current conditions, we did our best to push through 2020 as a small studio with the support of our publisher Crytivo, our dedicated development team and of course our fans.

We’ve changed a lot over the past 12 months, so it’s time to take a look at the past, present and future.



Part of our tasks in December involved rewriting the camera to provide greater flexibility when working with modular builds. Instead of simply following the terrain, it now adapts the central orbit point to wherever you’re looking once the camera stops moving. By making these changes and adding a togglable perspective mode, players can finally look upward and more easily navigate their parks.

On a different note, our sound implementation pipeline has moved into full swing with the addition of custom audio database tools. Implementing sound for the Microraptor and Edmontosaurus has proven to be a relatively simple task thanks to FMOD, providing our sound designer and composer Byron enough flexibility to implement dozens of audio events without a difficult workflow. We’ll be continuing to expand and improve our sound assets, so stay on the lookout for showcases soon.




It’s time to take a look at the tiniest of enclosures! In case you’ve missed it, Mini-Exhibits are prebuilt structures designed to hold specialized animals that otherwise wouldn’t be able to navigate a regular paddock.



[h2]Managing Welfare[/h2]
Much like regular animals, Mini-Exhibit species have welfare needs. This means you’ll have to keep their food stocked up and their habitats climatized!



Habitat welfare can be further improved by adding enrichment items like the Avian House and Avian Feeding Tower! These actually provide your Microraptors with new positions and animations inside the Mini-Exhibit, making them more than simple decorations.



[h2]Changing the Landscape[/h2]
For our creatively driven players, we understand the desire to add your own personal flourishes to a Mini-Exhibit.

When first placed, the aviary is completely empty, leaving just the basic trees inside. Obviously the animals wouldn’t be too happy about this, but it’s a great starting point for creations in sandbox mode with welfare disabled.

Inside the building’s interface there are three environmental options available: tropical rainforest, coastal desert and temperate forest. Different species prefer one environment over another, influencing their welfare based on the current choice.



Players who wish to build their own housing can set the Mini-Aviary to a hidden state, hiding the exterior shell. In the same menu, colors for custom lighting can be adjusted, too!




As mentioned in our livestream last October, we’ve made changes to the design of our progression systems. Though these mechanics won’t be implemented until a later date, here are some details regarding fossil formations and a unique currency.

[h2]Science Points[/h2]
Science Points are a resource earned from exhibits or by breeding new animals. These points can be spent exclusively on Research items or Excavations. By creating a second currency used for progression, it allows us to better reward players for creating and managing their parks effectively rather than simply stacking on the cash.

[h2]Excavations[/h2]
To get some new species for our park we need to visit the Excavations menu. Excavations take place in fossil formations around the world, granting access to a diverse range of extinct animals.

From this map we can unlock dig sites with money as long as we’ve met the required park rating. The tooltip panel shows your total progress in a given formation, while a dietary icon provides more context to players who aren’t familiar with an animal’s name.


UI Concept Art

[h2]Unlocking Animals[/h2]
With a dig site unlocked, players are able to instantly purchase any animal with Science Points - no additional waiting required.

The more you purchase genetic skins from a single species, the cheaper they’ll become, incentivising players to fully complete a formation. This is for good reason, however, as skin diversity is an important factor in creating a five star park!


UI Concept Art

Some animals like the Edmontosaurus or Tyrannosaurus have alternate species scattered around the world, so we suggest having a good look around to maximize guest satisfaction.

As this new system emphasizes player agency, we will no longer lump formations nor include a randomized fossil market. By removing some of the RNG and wait timers present in past titles we hope to focus on player-driven progression and keep the experience of expanding your park fresh.


Scrubland, temperate and wetland received a handful of flora each in December. Though they’re not scheduled for full completion quite yet, we wanted to get a few representatives into scrubland and temperate to complete the Mini-Aviary. Here’s a quick snapshot of how the biomes are progressing!



[h2]Reworked Plants[/h2]
Between entirely new plant species are improvements to older ones that could have been made more efficiently for better visuals and performance. This is especially prevalent in the new coconut palms - losing their cartoony look for something more within the realm of realism.

The tropical biome received its aforementioned palms, samanea and scaevola, while the coastal biome got new tree ferns and scots pines.




It’s fluffy, but it’s not a mammal! This is P. perotorum, our highly speculative alt species for Pachyrhinosaurus.



Though this isn’t likely to have occurred in the real world, it’s a very unique look that was too cool to pass up. It’s not every day you see a relative of Triceratops decorated in a fluffy overcoat!




2020 was a lot for everyone. In a very difficult year, our team has managed to grow into a family of 15 members. Edson, Max, Elizabeth, Seth, Siaka and now our newest member, Lindsay, each bring something new to the table.

Changing from Shadow Raven Studios to Blue Meridian, we have continued to strive for something greater. Working and collaborating with Nigel Marven was an absolute dream for us and we’re looking to keep developing that relationship. The sheer amount of new fans and wishlists we see everyday continues to blow our minds as we work on our passion project with your support. It means a lot to us, and we can only hope to push it forwards in 2021. Together.

Preparing to ship our first title in a few months after so many iterations is a little scary, but we know you’ll be there on the other side giving us honest feedback to make a kickass game.




As of this development update, we’re aiming to release Alpha at the end of Q1 this year. Highest-tier backers and select testers will be able to get their hands on early versions of the build by February, with the closed Alpha release following soon thereafter.

In terms of our general release timeline, Beta is expected to happen in Q2 ahead of the game’s release into Early Access. Depending on community feedback during the Beta, we might choose to push things back by a few weeks so new players can get a more optimal experience, but that’s obviously not something we can say for certain yet. Until there’s more information, assume the end of Q2 for Early Access release.

Looking at Early Access launch features, the only thing that’s changed since we last spoke about it is the uncertainty of staff management. As developers we’d be more comfortable moving them to a dedicated content update where they’re the focus instead of a single barebones staff member at launch, but as always we’d love to hear your thoughts on that.

That’s all for now, but we’ll have more alpha and release information available in the next development update!

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Thank you for reading December’s devlog!

It was a hell of a year but we can’t wait to push onwards into 2021. We eagerly await feedback during our time in alpha and will work to add more content over the coming months.

Until next time,

- The PK Team

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Welcome to November’s Development Update!

In this blog post we’ll be delving into a brand new mechanic as well as showcasing a revamped dinosaur that many fans will recognize. We’ve tried to keep this one quite focused and streamlined which is something you’ll see more of closer to launch. Without further ado, let’s jump in!



At the forefront of development, quite a bit of work has been done on AI and power management (as we’ll discuss in a moment). In addition to those two items, support for theme styling and light recolouring has been added for buildings. This functionality was extended to the Mini-Aviary to allow for environmental preset switching.

Looking at the animation team, Max is very close to completing the core hadrosaur animation set. He’s been doing a fantastic job and we can’t wait show it off more. Likewise, Nathan’s made sure the Microraptor’s been receiving a variety of loops and unique animation to show off its adorable birb-like qualities!






Moving into new features, power management is mechanically complete! We’re still developing the visual side of it, so for today’s discussion we’ll be using concept mockups to show how it works.

[h2]Creating Power[/h2]
Electricity (or power) is a resource generated by utility buildings like the Wind Turbine or the Industrial Power Station. Providing an electrical output via radius, any amenities or exhibits inside their range will consume power.

Once placed, the radius of a generator can be edited by the player, directly influencing the power output, failure rate, upkeep cost and range. Each generator has its own benefits and negatives, so the usage of multiple types is highly encouraged.



What makes this system unique, however, is that when multiple generators overlap their output is combined. For example, if two intersecting facilities have an output of 50 Power, they’ll create a conjoined area of 100!

The crux of our loop here is to find the most efficient placement for electricity in the park whilst maximising the output to ensure all nearby buildings are powered.



[h2]Managing Power[/h2]
As mentioned above, generators have a random failure rate that can be reduced or increased by changing the radius. When failed, they must be manually rebooted by selecting the desired power station - gradually repairing itself after a short interval. Performing this action will also restart any failed generators nearby.

To help fight this, players can research upgrades to not only reduce the failure rate across the park, but automatically restart generators that have failed.



[h2]Restoring Power[/h2]
In your time of need there’s one thing every park manager requires: a Backup Battery! These objects provide temporary power to nearby buildings or paddocks in the event of an outage. Though they have no failure rate, batteries take time to recharge after usage before they’re ready to go again.



Placing batteries in key locations makes sure those troublesome dinosaurs won’t get a chance to escape electrified containment, no matter the circumstances.

[h2]Animal Showcase[/h2]
Straight out of the Horseshoe Canyon Formation, Pachyrhinosaurus and Edmontosaurus each feature a variety of alternate species to select from. In this particular digsite, players can find P. canadensis and E. regalis respectively.



With the available tools it’s exceptionally easy to create natural environments reminiscent of their ideal habitats. To promote this further, exhibits that house animals from the same formation or time period are granted a bonus multiplier that adds to the total Exhibit Score (something we’ll talk about at a later date!).





Keep your eyes peeled for more animal stuff next month, we hear it’s about to get cold!


Powering the park, the last three items pertaining to electrical management are here at last. The solar panel, wind turbine and backup-battery offer alternative solutions for a variety of scenarios.







Uncover the latest in fossilized fashion with the Clothing Store, an essential facility in your quest to become the ultimate capitalist empire. How quaint!




It wouldn’t be the start of the festive season without the 40-foot turkeys, though we’re not sure who’s eating who! This recent image depicts two Tyrannosaurus in a colder habitat, one resting and the other sleeping.



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Thank you for reading November’s devlog!

Though the year is coming to a close, we have one final update in December until our big 2021 starts. Stay posted, park managers! There’s so much to talk about as we get closer to release.

Until next time,

- The PK Team

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Welcome to October’s Development Update!

To all of our new fans or those who recently found the project - welcome. It’s been a while since we’ve done one of these, so we’ll be recapping everything you might’ve missed in the months gone by.

A handful of our developers also took part in live streams during August and September with Crytivo, so be sure to check out the archive if you’re interested!




As keen-eyed fans may have noticed, Shadow Raven Studios has since been rebranded to Blue Meridian - the new and official name for our development studio. With an ever-expanding team and bigger aspirations, we felt that it was time for a new coat of paint that matched our ambitions.

On the developer side, our team continues to grow with the addition of a new animator, Max! Some of you may already be familiar with his work found over on Twitter and we couldn’t be more excited to keep the studio growing with fresh talent.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

The art and audio members have had their hands full these past few months creating new buildings, the wetland biome, animals, animations, sounds and music for the game. You saw and heard the fruits of their labour in our latest trailer, showcasing the passion our team is putting into this project.

The programmers aren’t messing around, either! Fences, paths, animal AI, modular building and water rendering continued to receive further work whilst power management started development in the background. In terms of optimization, a flexible voice management system for audio was developed and integrated to ensure that the game sounds great and performs well in dense scenes.






An assortment of recolorable lights can be used to make your park more interesting at night! In this spooky Halloween environment, creative use of coloring can help change the mood of an area in an instant.



Though lamps and similar objects will only turn on at night by default, players can enable an option that forces them to stay lit regardless of the time.


What’s the point in building a zoo if you can’t spend hours detailing the park with gardens? Our art team’s got you covered with the addition of decorative tropical plants and world-space mulch shapes. These fancy items can be scaled without the issue of texture stretch, making them an ideal solution for all your flower bed needs!





Unlike regular flora, these vibrant plants are purely decorative, meaning they won’t contribute to an exhibit’s foliage density.


The wetland biome is home to many amazing creatures. Though there’s a few more trees to create before it’s done, plants like the amazonian giant lilies, small lily pads, mangroves, reeds and cypress already make any exhibit feel appropriately swampy.



Once the biome is complete a final overview image will be available in a later devlog !


All biomes were updated to make enhanced use of height-based texture blending to better mix and match various ground types in a realistic fashion.



Stacking textures on top of each other at a low intensity can create some very unique and interesting combinations, as seen above.


Get to know the buildings of Prehistoric Kingdom with Structure Showcases! Traditionally featuring one building per month, these spotlights provide a quick-look at new architecture from multiple angles.

First up was the Industrial Power Station! This key utility provides power for the park by contributing to the local power grid, allowing guest facilities, infrastructure and eletricified fences to keep the lights on.




Designed to meet the optimal needs for its specialized inhabitants, Mini-Exhibits bring a selection of tiny animals to the park. Beginning with the Microraptor, players are able to customize the environmental preset, temperature, lighting and material of its home inside the brand new Mini-Aviary.






It’s been a long time coming, but we finally revealed our release window and Early Access Announcement Trailer to the world. Arriving Q2 2021, get ready to build, manage and grow the ultimate zoo for extinct animals in Prehistoric Kingdom.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Thanks to our fantastic publisher Crytivo, we were given the opportunity to work with IGN as part of an exclusive first-look. We couldn’t have asked for a better reception and we are deeply humbled by the support we’ve been shown.

We know everyone’s hungry for more timeframes, so we’re pleased to announce that alpha will be available early next year to our eligible Kickstarter backers and Crytivo pre-purchasers. Over the next few months we’ll be discussing exactly what to expect and when to expect it as we get closer to its release.


For years, our fans have wished for a very specific person to be a part of Prehistoric Kingdom and that’s now becoming a reality.

We are incredibly honoured to have British wildlife television presenter Nigel Marven lend us his voice in our latest trailer. The reaction from the community has highlighted just how special this opportunity was and we can’t thank Nigel and his team enough for working with us. It’s a relationship we hope to continue growing, so this mightn’t be the last you hear from this beloved time trav- uh, park supervisor!


[h2]Early Access Launch Roster[/h2]
To begin, players will be able to breed and play with a selection of 22 adult species found on our brand new website, including the fabulous Deinocheirus, Nasutoceratops and Microraptor!



Refocusing the initial release roster was a choice made earlier in the year to find a consistent basis for quality and to ensure that we’re not stretching ourselves too thin when adding new behaviours and features like ontogeny via updates.

The team wanted to give a good summary of what to expect during our time in Early Access, so keep in mind that a small number of animals shown in the trailer may be reworked or swapped come Q2 2021. We have a fantastic catalogue of fan favourite creatures to work from, so rest assured that more species will be added back into the game over time.

[h2]Early Access Launch Features[/h2]
Apart from the animals, players will be engaging with creative tools, management features and progression loops during their time in Prehistoric Kingdom.



Designs for management and progression mechanics have been locked down with implementation already started on a few core components like power management. Once those new features have spent enough time in the oven we’ll be sure to showcase them here in a future devlog.

[h2]Future Content[/h2]
During our time in Early Access we’ll be looking to build upon our foundations, adding new content such as breeding, growth, expanded behaviours and more.



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Thank you for reading October’s devlog!

With a release window out in the wild, we want our monthly dev updates to be focused and digestible. Going forward, all devlogs will follow the format set by this one, showing off development highlights and recapping extra tidbits released during the month.

We sincerely hope everyone is excited as we are and we can’t wait to show what’s in store down the line.

Until next time,

- The PK Team

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What if time could be rewritten? Discover a world of wonder with Prehistoric Kingdom - arriving Q2 2021!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

For more information, check out IGN's article here!