Prehistoric Kingdom News

Welcome, park managers!

Thank you all so much for your feedback over the first week of Beta. We'll be working hard to add new content and improve Prehistoric Kingdom before our Early Access release in April, 2022.

• Buildings & Scenery
  
  • Backstage Door 1
    
  • Backstage Door 2
    
  • Modern Door 1
    
  • Modern Door 2
    
  • Modern Door 3
    
  • Rustic Door 1
    
  • Rustic Door 2
    
  • Rustic Door 3
    
  • FX Fire
    
  • FX Waterfall & Splash
    
  • FX Smoke
• Foliage
  • Redwood variants (2, 3, 4)
    
  • Scots Pine variants (2, 3)
• Construction
  • Added Ctrl+A as a keybind to quickly select all the pieces inside an edited group
    
  • Added quick modular object scaling functionality - hold Left Alt to scale an object, tap to reset its scale
• Audio
  • Small Ceratopsian family sounds added to Protoceratops
    
  • Readded foliage painting audio
    
• Music
  • Added new idle/wonder track
    

• Animals
  • Improved animal pathfinding at lower framerates
    
• Buildings & Scenery
  • Removed noise from rough statue material
    
  • Reduced emissive brightness of brand signs
    
• Foliage
  • Adjusted horsetail shading and impostors
    
• UX/Balance
  • Updated Help menu text to include Excavations and remove Alpha references
    
  • Added quick Excavations access toggle on the left side of the screen
    
  • Reduced excavation sites purchasing costs
    
  • Increased income from guest facility usage
    
  • Fixed UI issue that caused the wrong cost to be displayed in the preview panel of some modular items
    
  • Added ability to disable weather transitions through the weather menu
    
  • Set item rotation snap default to disabled
    
• Rendering
  • Adjusted fog distances and general level haziness
    
  • Adjusted grass color saturation and alpha cutoff
    
  • Adjusted AO effects
    
• Audio
  • 3D sound size now shrinks over distance to better spatialize animals when not up-close
    
  • Adjusted distance attenuation on small Ceratopsian sounds
    
  • Reduced volume of sleeping Mini-Aviary creatures
    
  • Random wildlife now use distant reverb instead of local area
    
• Music
  • Soundtrack volume should be more consistent across tracks
    

• Critical
  • Loading a new level will now reset the terrain, setting a much prettier scenery overall
    
• Buildings & Scenery
  • Fixed wrong pieces on the round stone walls
    
  • Fixed inverted normals on the vertical wooden wall style
    
• Construction
  • Fixed a critical issue that caused prefab placement corruption
    
  • Fixed issue that caused mini aviary animals to disappear once the mini aviary style is changed
    
  • Fixed modular grid graphic sizing issue
    
• UX
  • Save game previews now display a more accurate overview of the park, including rendered modular items
    
  • Fixed animal naming
    
  • Fixed modular grid graphic offset when entering modular edit mode
    
  • Fixed issue causing the animal navmesh preview graphics to get stuck when exiting overview mode
    
  • Fixed screenshot mode initializing with wrong values
    
• Audio
  • Fixed random wildlife layers not panning left and right
    
  • Fixed issue that caused action audio to get stuck on a loop
    
  • Fixed item placement not sending to stereo reverb channels
    
• Music
  • Fixed soundtrack carrying over into the main menu
    
  • Fixed soundtrack cutting out during musical pauses or low dynamics
    

• Improved rendering performance during night-time, framerate should now be more consistent regardless of time of day
  
• Reduced drawing distances for some items, this should hopefully improve performance for lower end machines
  
• Reduced shadow cascade count, creating a slight rendering performance boost
  
• Slightly reduced overall rendering cost of clouds, while improving lower setting cloud graphics
  

VFX particles currently render through fog, creating odd depth issues depending on the viewing angle and weather conditions. As this is an issue relating to the engine, we do not have an ETA for a fix, though placing solid objects behind particles (e.g. rocks) can help to alleviate depth problems.

Thumbnail screenshot from Discord user Warpth.

Welcome, park managers!

Closed Beta is finally here! This latest release offers a unique array of species, building tools, decorative items and more. For a more indepth look at what’s included and how eligible backers can access Beta, check out our previous blog post. If you’re interested in some of the highlights, read on!

• 14 Animals
  Discover Archaeopteryx, Camarasaurus, Deinocheirus, Edmontosaurus, Lambeosaurus, Microraptor, Nasutoceratops, Pachyrhinosaurus, Protoceratops, Parasaurolophus, Torvosaurus, Tyrannosaurus, Styracosaurus and the Woolly Mammoth.
  
  
• Expanded Creativity
  A number of additions and changes have been made to the modular building system including recolorable items, point snapping, reworked styling, foliage painting and over 150 new pieces.
  
  
• Prefabs
  Edit and build with a number of official prefabs! Get creative and build your own using the highly customizable modular building system.
  
  
• Day/Night Cycle & Weather
  Watch the days go by with the freshly added day/night cycle and weather systems.
  

The game will receive numerous tweaks, hotfixes and content updates to get Prehistoric Kingdom ready for Early Access launch. Though this process will require some patience, we’re very excited to work with the community in developing the game further.

The importance of good management and a rounded, core gameplay loop is something we certainly haven’t forgotten about as it’s essential to any great simulation game. We’d like to have done more, but we simply aren't where we wanted to be due to budgetary constraints. Currently, development feels the fastest it’s been because of our improved circumstances and ability to pay for more of the team’s time.

If you’re interested in seeing what’s in the works for Prehistoric Kingdom, you can visit our new Trello page to view the biggest content updates coming before Early Access launch.



In the meantime, here’s just some of the ongoing improvements we’ll be making in the next few weeks:

• Animal Improvements
  We’ll be focusing on polishing animals across the board, tidying up their IKs, improving pathfinding and adding new behaviours/animations. The team’s committed to fleshing out our animals and doing the best we can to make them feel alive. What’s a zoo game without great animals?
  
  
• Modular Improvements
  Due to completely overhauling the modular system, some quality of life features like box select are unavailable. We’re aware that this can be very inconvenient for a lot of builders so we'll be working hard to resolve these issues as quickly as possible.
  
  VFX Particles have also been temporarily disabled due to incompatibilities with the modular prefabs. These will be readded very soon!
  
  
• Further Audio Integration
  There are a number of missing or temporary audio elements for animals, modular items and various actions. Underwater audio has been disabled until it can activate reliably.
  
  
• Power Management Visuals
  Power management visualization graphics are currently missing due to system changes and need to be reimplemented. We’ve disabled power outages/reboot mechanics until we can better communicate this to players.
  
  
• Tree Implementation
  Wetland trees are currently missing due to system changes and need to be reimplemented. After some color tweaks and an optimization pass, they should be back in your games as soon as possible. Boreal foliage is completely absent and will be re-added at a later update with brand new assets.
  
  
• Foliage Painting & Path Undo/Redo
  Paths are the last major system left to be supported by undo/redo and could not be finished in time for Beta’s launch. As we very recently finished moving foliage painting over to the modular system, it is also not supported by undo/redo.
  
  
• Save/Load Times
  Larger parks may experience long load times with a dense modular piece count. This issue is being investigated, so we’ve temporarily reduced the object density of our starting map to keep load times down.
  
  
• Performance Improvements
  Excessive lights can lead to decreased performance at night. There are a lot of optimizations that still need to be made to a number of systems.
  

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If you have any further questions, please be sure to contact Crytivo’s support or get in touch with us through Twitter, Facebook or Discord.

We hope those who play have fun and enjoy what’s currently available in Beta. The team is very eager to improve the game and add new content and management opportunities.

Until next time,

- The PK Team

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Welcome to November’s Development Update!

In today’s post, we’ll be discussing some of Beta’s day one content and how to access it. Prehistoric Kingdom’s Closed Beta will be arriving on December 6th with an expected launch time of 1PM PST.

• If you are an eligible backer or early adopter who does not yet have Prehistoric Kingdom in their Steam library, please make a Crytivo account with the EXACT email you used to back the game on Kickstarter. You will be given a Steam key on December 6th.
  
• If you already own Prehistoric Kingdom in your Steam library, the game will automatically update to Beta on December 6th.
  

• 14 Animals
  Archaeopteryx, Camarasaurus, Deinocheirus, Edmontosaurus, Lambeosaurus, Microraptor, Nasutoceratops, Pachyrhinosaurus, Protoceratops, Parasaurolophus, Torvosaurus, Tyrannosaurus, Styracosaurus and the Woolly Mammoth.
  
  
• Basic Needs
  Animals need to eat and drink! Provide them with feeders and water sources to stop them from going extinct. Again.
  
  
• New Pathfinding & Animations
  Animals now turn dynamically as part of their wandering behaviour, introducing noise and variation to their walking patterns.
  
  A handful of animals such as the Tyrannosaurus also have new additive and idle behaviours like scratching, sniffing and many more. These behaviours will be given to other animals over time to expand their liveliness.
  

• Modular System Rewrite
  The modular system has been completely rewritten from the ground up with efficient render optimizations and feature flexibility in mind.
  
  Our previous iteration could not support the full scope of our planned additions, especially when concerning prefabs and performance. Though modular performance on day one may not feel that different from alpha, it’s far more scalable in the long term.
  
  
• Modules
  Modules are new modular pieces that provide function and utility within the park. These can include guest kiosks, dynamic animal statues, animal nurseries, power generators and more.
  
  With 10 Modules available in Beta, fully custom and interactive buildings are now a reality for Prehistoric Kingdom.
  
  
• Modular Prefabs
  Build and create modular prefabs for easy use in your park and other saves! Share with your friends by uploading your builds online (Steam Workshop support coming later).
  
  Official prefabs are also available for those who are less creatively-inclined. We’ll be expanding and improving official prefabs as more pieces are added to the game.
  
  
• Modular Styling Improvements
  Styling has been reworked for better use and reliability. Contextually swap themes, materials and mesh variants at the click of a button!
  
  
• Modular Recoloring
  Show your inner artist with modular recoloring! A staggering amount of items are recolorable, with many including multiple masks and patterns. The world is truly your canvas.
  
  
• Modular Point Snapping
  Place pieces on or within modular grid corners with the new point snap utility. Perfect for railings, pillars, beams and more. We think a lot of builders will take a quick liking to this feature!
  
  
• Modular Foliage Painting
  Thanks to community feedback, the foliage brush has been completely overhauled. Featuring snazzy new painting and removal animations, players can now paint modular trees directly onto the terrain. Move, scale and rotate to your heart's content!
  
  Depending on what trees are toggled in the UI, players can selectively remove certain plants from their painted environments without the fear of destroying everything - very useful for dense scenes like forests.
  
  
• New Themes, Styles & Items
  Over 150 new items have been added to Beta (500+ total!) along with over 60 different styles found across a number of modules and customizable pieces. There’s a lot of content to sink your teeth into and this number will only continue to grow throughout Beta and beyond.
  
  
• Undo/Redo
  With undo and redo, no mistake is permanent. Fences, paths, terrain, water and the modular system all support this much needed feature.
  

• Finances
  On the surface, the financial management isn’t too dissimilar from Alpha, though the groundwork for future gameplay integrations with loans and exhibit donations has been laid out. It’s there, but it’ll see more substantial use as Beta improves.
  
  
• Excavations
  Use science points to unlock new animals and genetic skins with excavations! Discover new dig sites by increasing the park’s rating.
  
  
• Basic Science Points
  Passively accumulate science points over time to unlock new species. This system will receive a large update during beta once exhibit scoring has been implemented.
  

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Thank you for reading November’s dev diary!

We hope you’re just as excited as us to begin the journey into Beta. We’ll be providing the community with a follow-up post on December 6th, so stay tuned for that.

Until next time,

- The PK Team

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Welcome to October’s Development Update!

In this month’s dev diary we’ll be showcasing a modular surprise, the scrubland environment and providing details on our support roadmap for Beta.




Modules are coming to Beta! These items offer functional support for custom kiosks, animal nurseries and more using the modular system.

If you’re feeling hungry, make sure you visit Tiny’s Fast Food or the Sweet Tooth Dessert Shop, two of the four available styles for the Nutrition Kiosk! The number of modules and their application in the park will be improved over time as new types are added through updates.



Beta will also be introducing custom modular prefabs, letting players save their creations for repeated use around the park or in other saves. Though it is not yet linked to the Steam Workshop, prefabs can be shared locally by finding them on your computer and uploading them online. We can’t wait to see what you make!


In Beta, players will be working on our new Scrubland map - a subtropical haven. Equipped with the same building space as Alpha, this new location offers beautiful vistas and enhanced distant terrain. Please note that the tropical foliage below is being used as a placeholder.



New plants are also coming to the Scrubland biome! The Aleppo and Norfolk Island pines provide a number of new environment options, including five shape and size variants each.



New variants are also available for the Foxtail palm, a true staple of the scrubland look.




Unlike Alpha, our roadmap for Beta includes content updates up until Early Access launch. Our goal is to add new features while getting direct feedback and thoughts from the community. Of course, this support will continue post EA launch, too.

In terms of what you can expect to see day one, not much has changed from our public beta announcement. There’s some larger mechanics that have since been pushed to updates, but most of those hadn’t been announced yet. If you’re expecting to play a more robust version of Alpha with new features like Excavations, Science Points, modular recoloring, an enhanced economy and improved power management, we think you’ll have a good time with the initial release.

With that said, here’s a quick glimpse at a handful of new things coming during Beta’s updates.



At the launch of Early Access, all 22 animals will be available alongside other additions like Nigel Marven and three maps (Scrubland, Temperate and Tropical). Though Beta will see a lot of improvements, we’re making sure to save some stuff for launch day.


So, let’s talk about the game’s budget and where we’ve been! We’ve been rather quiet on our social accounts which isn’t quite like what you’re used to.

To start, production definitely slowed over the last few months as we started to feel the squeeze of the funding available to us. This wasn’t an unexpected issue given how long we’ve been going for, but it’s certainly been a reminder to not shoot for perfection. There were a few unannounced features we wanted from Beta’s launch, but they soon became unrealistic given the circumstances and our team size.

We’ve since resolved our budgeting issues and are now looking for additional talent to join the team and help develop Prehistoric Kingdom. If you’re interested in working with us, be sure to keep an eye out on our social pages in the next few days.

As a whole, we’re expecting production speed to pick up significantly over the next year now that we can work more comfortably and afford to pay for more people’s time. We very much want to get the game out so that people can play it and give us the necessary feedback to improve it. Afterall, it is still an Early Access title and we should be treating it as such.




Created by Mrs TeaRex.


Created by Sdanwolf.

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Thank you for reading October’s dev diary!

Until next time,

- The PK Team

Welcome to September’s Development Update!

As we push onwards to Closed Beta (December 6th) and Early Access in 2022, it’s time that our monthly blog posts saw some change.

Once we launch Beta, Prehistoric Kingdom will essentially be a “live” game. Because of this, there’ll need to be some alterations to how we communicate and post our news. Not just to deliver the information you’re interested in, but for us to effectively show new developments when they’re locked in and ready to present.

To help the team achieve this, we’ll be creating two types of news updates, Dev Diaries and Feature Spotlights.

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A dev diary includes development insight, community spotlight and any social media news you might’ve missed. Arriving on a monthly basis, these will be replacing the previous devlogs. We intend for these to act as a very casual way to keep fans and followers in the loop, discussing what we’ve been up to and what we plan to tackle next.

It should be noted that these (usually) won’t contain any bombshell information and will instead be an outlet for us to cover more longform topics, whether they’re developer interviews, technical insight, tweaks and changes, or non-spoiler content.

By separating a status update from big reveals, it gives us more of an opportunity to maintain consistent communication with the community (hi!) while working on bigger updates or content reveals, especially post-launch.


Feature Spotlights include previews for upcoming additions and content, discussed separately within their own posts for clarity and accessibility. They could be a glimpse at an impending update, a deep-dive into a brand new system or improvements that we’re keen to show off.

Unlike the dev diaries, these don’t have a set schedule or frequency and will appear only when they’re ready. They’re sort of like a surprise party, but with bad wordplay and over enthusiastic paragraphs. Smashing!






Animal locomotion has seen a lot of development across September with many changes and improvements thanks to one of our programmers, Matt.

Creatures (especially large prehistoric ones) present a difficult challenge to overcome in video games, as you ideally want to respect their physicality and animation where you can while ensuring that they get to their destination.

When developing their AI, we need them to reach very specific targets or stopping points like feeders, the edge of a lake, and hopefully, not ram their face through a fence. Alpha was quite limited in what the creatures could do, so imprecise movement wasn’t an enormous concern for the time being - though many faces were smashed through fences.

Features like variable travel speed, foot locking and foot repositioning are just some of the additions we’ve made as part of our ongoing R&D efforts to benefit the animals’ AI and pathfinding. Developing a complex system for units as big as dinosaurs is no small task, but it’s definitely coming along.




For the patrons of your park, we’ll soon be working on guest needs! Visitor welfare is an important part of any world class zoo and as such, we’re trying to strike the right balance between detailed simulation and optimized solutions. Though we can’t delve into our plans too much, we are very excited to explore more of Prehistoric Kingdom’s management and crowd simulation.

And yes, we know guests look a bit terrifying. We fully intend to make them beautiful and lively, but our resources are very much focused on their underlying mechanics and gameplay for the time being.


Point Snap is a new quality of life feature coming to the modular system in Beta! When toggled on, players can snap any non-wall or roof item to 9 different points around a grid tile.

Intended for quickly adding objects like beams and pillars around a build, this tool gives you grid-perfect placement for those moments of needed precision. Creative accessibility is important, and we will continue to add similar features in the future.



And of course if grids aren’t exactly your thing, every item in Prehistoric Kingdom can be placed freely.


On a more technical note, the rendering for our modular system is now fully built around GPU instancing (like the painted trees). This means that repeated objects do not cost additional draw calls on the GPU, offering huge performance savings on large parks. As we’re currently working on support for modular prefabs, you can imagine the necessity for supporting thousands of pieces at a time.

Speaking of technical features, the long awaited undo and redo actions have been added to the game! Only terrain, water and the modular system support it at the moment, but we’ll be sure to keep expanding it to other mechanics before Beta’s launch.



The game uses a variable memory cache to keep track of all your actions, discarding the oldest changes once that limit fills up. Since this can retain a lot of data, players can hold down the undo/redo keys to cycle through all the remembered actions rather than constantly tapping.



In case you missed it, we released a Beta Announcement trailer at Gamescom in August! You can find a whole bunch of information and details about what to expect from Beta in this blog post.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]




Created by manuelaguero2702.


Created by swoop_there.

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Thank you for reading September’s dev diary!

Hopefully you’re all very excited to see more from us over the coming months.

Until next time,

- The PK Team

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