It’s almost been 65 million years since the last blogpost! Or has it? Thanks to your support, we’ve been releasing mini-status reports every Wednesday over on our Patreon. These reports include exclusive baby reveals, concept art and weekly information about what we’re working on. While some of the Patreon content will be shown in this Dev Diary, there’s still a few things that we won’t be showing here.
To touch on when we last spoke about our financial situation, we wanted to take a moment and thank you for your help. Your support on Patreon has not only helped us immensely, but shown us just how important our project is to this community. If you can help spread the word or afford to offer a donation, the team would appreciate it greatly.
For now though, Prehistoric Kingdom is not going extinct. ♥
Ontogeny Progress
It’s been all hands on deck this last month preparing Ontogeny for Update 14. In terms of art, around 40 of the 58 babies are in advanced stages of completion. Most of the remaining production time will be spent on finishing their skins, animations and sounds.
On the technical side, every day presents a new challenge to overcome. Since we change the physical proportions of our animals as they grow, this has a huge impact on various animations like sitting and walking around. Our amazing programmers have been developing new tech to help support our seamless growth systems, allowing us to:
Correct limb IKs with age
Reposition the vertical offset of young animals while resting, rolling and sleeping
Reproject root motion to better sync movement speed to their new leg lengths
Swap between navmesh sizes as animals get bigger
Prevent animals from growing if a space is too small
Swap locomotion and key animations as animals age up
We’ve also improved the way we handle animal selection with an optimized set of colliders that scale and stretch based on age. This lets us keep the selection accurate regardless of an animal’s current growth stage.
Thinking about all the implications that come with seamless growth, there’s a good reason why games haven’t really done this before! It has to scale, it has to react and it’s a big technical hurdle to solve. But, we’re giving it our best shot and are proud of the results thus far.
Free Patreon Post: Ontogeny Audio
If you’d like to learn about how we’re approaching audio for ontogeny, be sure to check out a free blog post we put up on our Patreon last month! It outlines the problems, requirements and the solutions needed to keep asset development and implementation scalable.
Update 14’s Release Window
Once we’ve gotten Update 14 in a more playable state, we’ll start to push early versions to the Public Testing Branch on Steam. While we’re not quite ready to begin this yet, you can expect to hear more next month as we get closer to Update 14’s release window in late April.
With how big this update is, we want to give ourselves some decent runway to ensure there aren’t any babies missing from the update. It’ll also be just in time for our Early Access anniversary!
Update 14
Baby Animals
This month, we’re pleased to unveil even more babies! These are but a handful of the animals already shown on Patreon, so if you can’t wait for Update 14, go check that out.
Up first is the massive Paraceratherium and its much smaller relative, Juxia. These little ones are almost like a baby rhino and tapir rolled into one with their prehensile lips and big ears.
Next up are the fan favourites Parasaurolophus and Charonosaurus. Each species has a unique pattern to help them transition into their adult coloration, making them quite distinct from one another. If you look close, you can even spot a tiny nub on their head!
Finally, the most scrungly one of all, Deinocheirus! We knew from the start that Deino simply had to have baby bird energy. Our artists looked at animals like juvenile pelicans, roseate spoonbills and flamingos to find the perfect level of freak. What a funky fellow!
If you’re looking for something really cute, though, we also shared the babies for the woolly rhino, Dilophosaurus, Dryosaurus and Velociraptor on our socials!
We’ve also refined the Megaloceros fawn since its reveal earlier in the month. There are some fur fixes that we stilll need to make, but it looks more like a young deer now. Thank you for your feedback!
To cap off this section, let’s take a look at some seamless growth! Please note that any stuttering is due to processing time steps since the increased speed is unrealistically fast. During normal gameplay, this effect is imperceptible.
Alt Species Changes
Thanks to recent tech advancements, we’re also taking the time to improve the visual differences of alternate species in Update 14. This means corrected proportions and more accurate shapes for many animals, such as the two Smilodon species.
Below, you can see that populator is much more robust than fatalis with its bulkier build. Fatalis is sleek with a skinnier face, limbs and reduced shoulders. We even gave it cheek ruffs from the original concept art!
We’ll be reducing the fur length on populator’s ears!
In the case of Camarasaurus, each species will have a different head shape and silhouette. From left to right, grandis is the skinniest species with a rounded head. Supremus almost resembles a Brachiosaur with a bulbous skull, short neck spines and a thick neck. Lentus maintains much of the current Camarasaurus, acting as a middleground between the three.
Of course, you can expect to see similar changes for all the other alt species like the Parasaurs, Pachyrhinosaurus and others. Some changes may be less extreme than others, but the team is excited to get these animals feeling more unique.
First Person Mode
Since we initially revealed the prototype last month, we’ve seen a lot of great comments about this feature. We’re happy to say that not only is first person mode now functionally complete, but we even had time to sneak in a few object interactions, too!
While running around the park, players will be able to sit on benches, swap between seats, look through binoculars and open/close gates to enter habitats. Any music that’s currently playing will also be given a radio-like effect!
[TAG-105]
Eventually we’d love to include some simple park management gameplay and make animals respond to the player in first person, but for Update 14 we think this is already a lovely little feature. It helps to appreciate a park from new perspectives!
Gameplay Changes
Rounding out our progress on U14, we’ve been making a few targeted gameplay adjustments now that ontogeny is coming to the game.
Animal Creation Animals are now incubated asynchronously in the Animal Nursery. This means that rather than waiting for one after the other, all incubating animals will progress at the same time. We’ll likely lengthen adult incubation times a little to compensate, but it definitely feels better to have a group of animals be ready together.
Animal Points The base appeal of an animal has been rebalanced so that it’s calculated on an animal’s current mass and perceived popularity. This will help make things a little more objective when it comes to balancing, as we previously made the numbers up based on vibe.
As a side effect, base appeal now slightly varies for each individual due to their differences in mass. A small adult T. rex will be slightly less appealing than a large one, for example.
Excavation System Widespread animals such as Edmontosaurus regalis and various mammals can now be found in multiple dig sites. Excavation progress will be carried between all the other dig sites a species is present in. We’re also looking to retune excavation costs and speeds to make them feel like more of a long term investment.
Staff Dispatch Improvements
The way staff are automatically assigned to tasks has been improved to hopefully make job completion more reliable. Back to work, slackers!
The Future
Paleobotany
To wrap up this Dev Diary, let’s take a look at some of the other paleo plants that’ve been worked on. As a reminder, don’t forget that paleobotany will be coming after Update 14!
Below, you’ll find a coastal biome conifer from throughout the Mesozoic, Elatides! This tree will come with a bunch of variations, including one that splits off into two trunks.
Next up are two scrubland plants from the Jurassic, Kimuriella and Korallipteris! We think these two go well together, giving off an arid yet somewhat alien vibe.
Finally, here’s a quick look at one of the oldest plants in the world, the cycad! This family has been around since the Permian, almost 300 million years ago. Despite this, many species can be found all over the world today.
Created by W3
Created by ASSASSINSPINO
Created by Emerson Hul (@ps_arts_official on Instagram)
Thank you for reading February's dev diary!
We’ll be back again at the end of March for our next dev diary. Each week until then though, we’ll continue posting to our Patreon to provide small status updates as work continues on Update 14.
In this small fix patch we are targeting a couple of the more egregious animal bugs, leaving the game in a more stable state until the next major update (Update 14) is released. Enjoy!
Full Patch Notes
Bug Fixes
Critical
Fixed a systemic bug that caused the following bug after removing any animal:
Animals to either step in place or walk through things
Animal LOD to be incorrect
Animal needs to stop being updated
Fixed a bug in the animal animation system that could cause animals to use the wrong animations (this could affect which direction and how animals moved)
Fixed navigation settings being set wrong causing some areas not to register as navigable incorrectly (This will cause a nav rebake on load for most people!)
Fixed corrupted animal animation data that would cause some animals to get stuck swimming
Fixed a regression in animal path following that would cause them to get stuck often
Fixed a GUI tooltip exception that could have caused downstream effects
UI/UX
Fixed structure menu tag button text spelling ‘Action’ when opening the menu for the first time
Dev Diary: January 2025
Welcome to the January Development Update!
It’s a fresh year with new features on the horizon. We’ve been steadily working on improving the animals behind the scenes with work on ontogeny, sociality and combat for 2025. The thing is though, we actually need your help.
Patreon and Our Future
As a niche indie project, development funding can be hard to access, especially through the Early Access period when most potential customers understandably hold off from buying the game until it's complete.
Currently, the majority of our funds are generated during major Steam sales, but revenue can otherwise leave us spread too thin to have the financial security necessary to pay the entire team or commission new work from our artists. This has put us in a tough position, having to weigh our vision for the game against what's financially viable.
We currently have an active team of around a dozen people all in different roles, with some of our core members voluntarily taking staggered or reduced payment to keep us moving forward. This isn’t sustainable, and is why we’re looking to Patreon.
By opening a Patreon, we’re hoping to help ensure that development remains stable throughout the remainder of Early Access. As of this Dev Diary, we have 7 major updates left to complete before we can consider the game ready to leave Early Access.
Beyond keeping the game alive, the main benefit of becoming a patron will be access to exclusive polls, sneak peeks and our weekly development summaries that provide an informal look at what we’ve been up to. Our monthly Dev Diaries won’t be going anywhere, but certain things from the Patreon will be kept exclusive.
If you are in a position to help support the longevity of Prehistoric Kingdom through Patreon, we would be incredibly grateful. We appreciate everything the community has helped us build over the years, whether it was Kickstarter, buying our game during Early Access or even cheering us on from the sideline. You helped us get this far. Thank you!
Artbook & OST Available on Patreon
As a final note, Volume 1 of the Artbook and Soundtrack are now available to purchase as standalone products on Patreon if you don’t use Steam. They’re also included in certain Patreon membership levels!
Assuming we’re able to secure more funding, we’ve updated our roadmap to Early Access release with an emphasis on animals. It can’t come all at once, but step by step we plan to incrementally improve the animals until they are properly completed. This begins with Ontogeny, coming in Update 14.
Update 14
Ontogeny
Update 14 will feature the first iteration of ontogeny, bringing baby animals to Prehistoric Kingdom. Using an age slider in the Animal Nursery, players will be able to preview the growth of a species and create animals at a specific age. When placed in the park, they’ll grow from a baby to an adult!
Here’s a sped-up demonstration of how growth works, using the Mammoth as an example. Note how there are no model swaps or sharp transitions! Instead, its proportions, shape and skin seamlessly change over time.
We’re still working on the little guy, but here’s an upclose look at the current baby Mammoth. They’re certainly different without their massive tusks!
To make babies extra cute, they’ll have their own locomotion to make them bouncier and more wobbly than the adults. It definitely makes the T. rex much less intimidating!
Babies like those of the cave lion are especially adorable! We love how these little kittens came out with their soft faces and massive paws. We bet they just can’t wait to be king.
On a technical level, we’re implementing ontogeny so that upcoming behaviors such as sociality and combat can factor it in from the start. It also allows us to observe how babies fit into the gameplay loop before more advanced features such as breeding are added at the end of Early Access.
As mentioned in a previous diary, one of the benefits of this approach is enhanced sexual dimorphism. For things like mammoths, we can stop their growth early to give females shorter tusks. It’ll certainly make herds look even more diverse!
First Person Mode
This highly requested feature will let players explore their park from the eyes of a human: walking, running and jumping their way around the zoo!
We’d really like for players to be able to interact with attractions such as binoculars and in a later update, incorporate basic managerial tasks such as refilling feeders or cleaning dung in exchange for an upfront cost. We feel this would not only increase the sense of Prehistoric Kingdom being your zoo, but provide a more active way for players to engage with the park itself alongside staff.
The Future
Sociality and Herding
Most of sociality will revolve around herding and how animals respond to each other. Depending on things like competitiveness or the territoriality of an animal, this can result in social behavior like friendly communication, scaring off competing herds and running away from threats.
Long term, we want to focus on the herd structure and how animals move up/down the ranks. Seeing herd leaders challenged in competitive species, or animals playfully chasing each other in more social ones.
MIXED HERDS
“Mixed herds” is a concept where small species would essentially magnetize to larger ones, as long as they’re compatible. They’re still totally independent social groups, but it mimics the commensalism that you’d find in the real world.
SOCIAL BEHAVIOR OR… SOCIAL ANIMATION?
A question we often see is if Prehistoric Kingdom will have “social animations”. This refers to the idea of a highly choreographed/synced animation between two animals, usually showcasing some sort of “canned” physical interaction.
At this stage, we will be focusing on social behavior (animal AI) instead. Not only are social animations out of our current budget, but they have problems with seamless ontogeny and individual size variation that can only be solved with a heavy tech investment. Regardless of those circumstances, we view social animations as more of the “cherry on top” and should not form the basis for sociality in Prehistoric Kingdom.
Combat and Hostility
Above animations are triggered manually to test how threaten behaviors could look!
Combat is being designed as a dynamic system, making use of triggerable attacks and additive animations. This would allow animals to injure each other while moving around and perform actions such as biting or horn stabs.
It’s important for us to prioritize not only the scalability of aggressive interactions across species, but to consider the size of our team, too. Going dynamic means we can build something that’s variable and potentially more reactive for a lower cost, rather than something built around hundreds of cinematic but ultimately predetermined animations.
With that in mind, here are some mockup images using our current library of prototype animations. They depict an incoming attack, bite and hit reaction.
Below is a short animation test demonstrating how a threaten pose could be combined with locomotion and various attacks to create the appearance of an angry animal. Keep in mind that combat is in such early pre-production that we’re not worrying about polish or making it overly sophisticated yet. We just need animations to test with!
There’s a lot to research, trial and develop before we find a definitive path forward that’s achievable for us, so we ask to keep your expectations for combat and hunting measured.
Paleobotany
It may not surprise you, but a lot of prehistoric plants are only known from leaves! We’ve been working with Tom Parker (scientific illustrator and author, worked on Saurian!) to ensure that our interpretations are scientifically plausible. For many species, Prehistoric Kingdom will be the first time some of these plants have been recreated in 3D.
All 8 in-game biomes will offer paleobotany, though the majority of species will be going towards scrubland, tropical, wetland and coastal.
Paleobotany is currently planned to feature around 30 extinct species of foliage when it’s finished, including fan favorites such as Araucaria (monkey puzzle), Kimeriella (Zamites), and Gingkos. Below, you can see some of our first assets created for the Coastal biome.
For the Ginkgo trees, we have two different species: one from the Jurassic (Ginkgo yimaensis) and one from the Cretaceous (Ginkgo adiantoides). It’s incredible to think that Ginkgo’s date all the way back to the Carboniferous, before the dinosaurs!
We decided to give them unique growth habits to better align them to the Coastal and Temperate biomes, with the added benefit of increasing their visual diversity.
In terms of gameplay, we plan to create unique dig sites specifically for paleobotany. They’d be scattered across the world, much like our animals are. Placing compatible paleobotany within a habitat would not only provide enrichment for the animals, but increase their Animal Points rating, too. We will continue to show more plants coming with paleobotany as the year progresses!
Terrariums
Terrariums are an upcoming set of modules that will replace the existing Mini-Exhibit system, acting as a rebrand of sorts. Like before, these facilities will house simplified versions of animals that would be otherwise difficult to include in regular habitats, typically due to their size, unique locomotion or ontogeny requirements.
Our goal with terrariums is to better integrate them into regular gameplay, expand their customization options and revisit their pipeline so it’s easier to setup new species.
CONFIGURATIONS
Terrariums will have 3 configurations to switch between: amphibious, arboreal and terrestrial. Each configuration will change the inside of the tank, making it more comfortable for your chosen species.
Amphibious Features a shallow pool and terrain for semi-aquatic animals
Arboreal Features a set of trees for arboreal animals to perch on or jump between
Terrestrial Features elavated terrain with viewable burrows for animals to hide in
Each of these configurations will have a small (4x8) and a large (8x12) version to replace the current Mini-Aviary. The small version will be especially great for custom reptile houses or adding little installations throughout the zoo.
Very early mockup, not the final design!
Players will need to set terrariums to use the right substrate, climate setting and provide enrichment in order to satisfy their terrarium animals. Beyond these few options, we’re planning to keep the insides sparse so that players can go crazy adding their own foliage and create dedicated terrarium prefabs. There will also be null styling for further flexibility, allowing players to visually “combine” multiple terrariums or sink them into the ground.
In terms of management, Keepers will need to supply terrariums with food and clean them in order to keep your animals happy and healthy. When disease is added, terrarium animals would get sick, too.
TERRARIUM ANIMALS
Regarding animals, Archaeopteryx and Microraptor will be joined by Compsognathus, Tiktaalik and Yi, with more being revealed later in the year. Since these critters are being rebranded to terrarium animals, it certainly opens the door for some larger species!
Flat Rides
Inspired by real world zoos and fun fairs, we’ve begun looking into potential flat rides to add to Prehistoric Kingdom. These researchable modules would add a significant amount of Attraction Points to the park rating, giving guests something to do when they’re not watching animals behind fences.
In particular, we’ve been considering a Ferris Wheel, Theater and a Hot Air Balloon that would float straight up to give guests a good view of the park. If you had any suggestions that would fit the game’s tone, we’d love to hear them!
Creative Commons Reference Photos (with authors)
Created by Green Godzilla
Created by W.B.
Created by Roundtable
Thank you for reading January’s dev diary!
As you can see, there’s a lot of great stuff in the works but the future of Prehistoric Kingdom is uncertain. Any extra support we can get would be extremely appreciated to keep the game going. In the mean time, we will be releasing progress summaries on Patreon, with the next Dev Diary releasing at the end of February. Thank you again for all of your support thus far.
The team are now back from their holiday breaks! To celebrate the New Year, Prehistoric Kingdom is currently available for 30% off. If you'd know someone who'd be interested in trying out the game, we'd appreciate the support!
About the Patch
In this patch, we've targetted a number of reported issues such as visitors falling through tiny gaps, various bugs with the building toolbox and more. As a quick little side project, we improved the Animal Nursery preview with new lighting, idle animations, added a 3D animated human scale, and fixed the wetness effect that would appear during rain.
We've also revised different areas of the UI with new tooltips to better explain what certain values or colors mean, such as an animal's "Biome" need. If the wrong biome is present in an animal's enclosure, selecting the biome will now automatically open the removal tool in the Terraforming menu.
Thank you for all the great feedback and we'll be in touch again soon with an early January Dev Diary.
Known Issues & Additional Notes
We're still experiencing instances of animals ignoring all navigation rules and phasing through fences, and we've made this our top fixing priority. Until we fix this, a reload should resolve the issue temporarily.
Full Patch Notes
Additions
Animals
Added morphological sexual and skin dimorphism to the Woolly Mammoth. This is especially noticeable in the tusk shape of the various individuals
UI/UX
Improved UX on animal info menu biome reporting by adding button behavior to each biome icon: hovering them with the cursor will show you the correct status of that biome in relation to the animal preferences, and clicking them will set up the relevant terraforming tools
Added loads of relevant explanatory tooltips to animal welfare bars and animal habitat needs
Added biome tooltips to the Paleopedia biome icons
Added biome tooltips to the Landscaping Menu biome icons
Added a species count to the enclosure info menu rating section
Changes
Balance
Changed starting Funds values for Sandbox Settings in the New Game menu - these will now reflect the updated economy more closely
Increased Tall Feeder capacity to 1500kg
Slowed large sauropod hunger and thirst drain rates
Decreased Apatosaurus weight and eating amounts after discovering a data oversight
Updated needs values for Megaloceros and Ursus
Increased Megaloceros base score to 430
Science Teams now properly unlock one star rating earlier
Gameplay
Reduced Price Appeal influence of Bathrooms and Binoculars, increased influence of Park Entry Price
Animals
Animal Nutrition and Hydration welfare now only starts to decrease when the animal is very hungry or thirsty, not slightly hungry or thirsty
Guests
Guests in queue lines will now be more capable of pushing through crowds and other people
Buildings & Scenery
Moved the navigation access portal for staff gates an additional 0.5 meters out, which should address a few issues where it wasn’t allowing staff through even when placed in perfectly legitimate areas
UI/UX
Revised fence snapping to be less aggressive at closer camera distances
Made several improvements to the Animal Nursery preview
Spatialized and animated the human silhouette
Removed world lighting and world effects (like wetness) from the animal preview, making the preview visuals much more consistent
Drastically improved fidelity of shadows and fur rendering
Added idle and action animations to the Animal Nursery animal previews
Removed redundant animal information from the Animal Nursery, giving the animal preview more screen space. All that information is still available in the animal’s Paleopedia entry
Improved Excavations Team menu animal button responsiveness
Excavations Team menu animal buttons now link to their respective Paleopedia page
Updated sizing for the Group Editing overlay panel to improve overlapping with other menus
Improved modular group double clicking selection functionality by only allowing the behavior to run when the first click selects the target structure
Screenshot Mode: adapted height movement speed to take more after the orbit camera inputs, overall making more precise motions possible
Enclosure welfare state icons (missing water, missing feed), are now disabled if Animal Welfare is disabled in the gameplay options
Rendering
Improved animal fur rendering during night time
Bug Fixes
Critical
Fixed distant foliage loading from the wrong maps when browsing the New Game menu before loading a save
Fixed a critical modular selection bug triggered by undoing user actions
Fixed a left mouse click input error causing terraforming brush actions to occasionally lock in even if the left mouse button wasn’t held down
Improved saving diagnostics significantly
Save system should no longer delete a save when it fails to overwrite the save for any reason
Fixed a bug that caused loading to fail when saves had more than 256 gates
Gameplay
Loading bay overfill export requests will no longer generate Module Logistics Unfulfilled park issues
Module Logistics Unfulfilled will now correctly be removed when a staff member takes on the assignment
Fixed Price Value Appeal not correctly calculating
Animals
Animal pathfinding is more robust
Fixed an audio bug when removing animals
Humans
Human pathfinding is more robust, reducing unrealistic crowding and improving their capability to find alternate routes.
Human to human collision has been adjusted to allow people to scoot around each other more aggressively, drastically reducing most crowding scenarios.
Fixed humans falling through tiny gaps on tall structures. They should also recover more reliably
Guests
Fixed guests rarely getting stuck under the map
Buildings & Scenery
Fixed statues not giving their listed Attraction Points
Foliage
Fixed new temperate grasses not aligning to the terrain
Construction
Fixed fence and path length snapping being twice what is listed in the UI
Fixed vegetation being removed from far above or below a modular piece or path when it is placed with the Remove Foliage toggle enabled
Fixed a bug that prevented an interactable from updating is registration when placed in an area with no nav access
UI/UX
Fixed a problem with the new Modular Styling menu, causing it to occasionally remain closed if a filter was applied
Fixed Ecology bonus values being displayed incorrectly in the UI
Fixed Local Prefabs showing up in the Workshop Prefabs building menu category
Added back workshop buttons to structure buttons
State Icons now don’t disappear when opening the Management View menus
Fixed ‘Animals ready for release’ notification popup sometimes becoming stuck on screen after moving animals
Fixed several instances of notification popups appearing at the wrong time
Fixed several text elements not having the proper language localization
Fixed the ‘Open Guest Needs’ button on the guests’ info menu opening the rating management view
Fixed several instances of tooltips not getting opened when it was expected (for instance, during user actions)
Please send feedback and bug reports to our Discord server's appropriate channel.
Update 13 Content
New Species
Discover the furrociously lovable cave bear, Ursus spelaeus and the majestic Irish Elk, Megaloceros giganteus. Sharing a formation with ice age classics like the Mammoth and cave lions, these new additions are sure to feel right at home in Prehistoric Kingdom.
Park Rating Improvements & Guest Influx
The park rating system is now goal oriented, showing the player what exactly is required to move up a star. It's an average of the park's Animal Rating and Guest Rating, each with their set of goals to max out.
The rate at which guests enter is influenced by both your park rating and the park's appeal. Players can now hover over their guest population at the bottom of the screen to see how these factors impact their projected guest population as well as their arrival rate.
A small trend icon let's you know if you're gaining or losing guests at a glance!
Building Toolbox Updates
The building experience has been revamped with a new toolbox designed to better highlight the various construction options available to the player. The menu is now contextual and can be unpinned to maximize screenspace while building, dropping away.
Additional options such as showing small icons, filtering favorited items and toolbox pinning are now saved across all games, making it easier to configure your preferred way to play. Oh, and you can see every item in a single scroll!
When building with prefabs, items, paths or fences, a side panel appears to clearly list the available settings. For modular building, this includes new options: random rotation, random scale, incremental movement and flipping pieces on their X, Y or Z axis.
The styling menu now not only allows coloring per style, but can be filtered to only show modules, walls, roofs, lights or miscellaneous pieces. Oh, and it can be scaled vertically, too!
Guest Resting, Eating & Animal Viewing
As visitors explore the park in Update 13, their rest need will begin to drain. Benches and tables offer respite to guests, giving them a place to sit and catch their breath. Similarly, guests will now seek out benches after purchasing a meal! The restaurant module is a great demonstration of this, as visitors will actually use the booths.
We have improvements planned to make transitioning in and out of seating look better in extreme circumstances, as well as to address visitors dropping their burgers on the floor. Mm, delicious!
That's not the only change to visitors, though! They're now far more likely to view animals and will do so for longer amounts of time. Guests will have a higher chance of trying to view animals with lots Animal Points (detailed below) and will even try to stand approximately near animals to get a good view.
Guest & Staff Navigation Viewer
The management view has been updated to include a navmesh viewer for guests and staff, allowing players to see what's traversable and troubleshoot any issues.
New Scenery
26 adorably stylized animal signs have been added in Update 13! These illustrations are available for most creatures in the game.
For the hardcore builders out there, we've also added 17 new shape pieces based on community suggestions. They're joined alongside 5 brand new material styles: matte, metallic, plaster, wood and granite!
Expanded Temperate and Coastal Foliage
The temperate and coastal biomes have been expanded with over 35 pieces of additional foliage. For biome presets, the temperate shrubs and temperate field have been added for ease of creating realistic meadows and transitionary forest.
Smooth Camera Toggle
The camera settings menu has been updated to include a smooth camera toggle! This allows players to replicate our trailers and make their very own cinematics with slowed panning and rotation.
This setting also works while in screenshot mode, so it's easier than ever to get the shot of your dreams!
Update 13 Changes
In addition to the content above, here are some specific changes we've made to animal scoring and how the new attraction points work.
Animal Points
Viewable from the Nursery, Paleopedia or an animal itself, animal points are the perceived worth of a creature, made up of values such as the species base rating and any genetic mutations. Animals that are housed in mixed species exhibits will receive bonuses if they share a dig site, region and time period.
Animals with a high amount of animal points will typically attract more visitors to their enclosure due to their popularity.
This system replaces exhibit score in its entirety and is factored into the park rating. We'll be expanding all of this with the milestones mechanic in the future! Further information TBD.
Attraction Points
Attraction points measure the perceived worth of the facilities in your zoo. Granted by placing modules such as kiosks, restaurants, binoculars and statues, each level of park rating will require a higher amount of attraction points than the last.
We intend to add more attraction-oriented modules in the future!
Known Issues & Additional Notes
Visitors will drop their burgers on the floor before using their telekinetic abilities to grab them.
While placing an object, selecting an advanced movement option from the UI will not display the gizmo. This can be resolved by selecting another advanced option (e.g. movement, rotation, scaling) and then switching back to the desired tool. Alternatively, players can use the default keybind of V to access the advanced tools.
Full Patch Notes
Features
NEW ANIMAL: Megaloceros giganteus
NEW ANIMAL: Ursus spelaeus
NEW FEATURE: Guest Sitting Guests will now stop at benches to rest or enjoy a delicious meal. This retroactively applies to all saves! A new ‘Rest’ overlay is available for checking on your guests' new need!
NEW FEATURE: Improved rating and park goals
Park Rating Stars are earned by achieving incremental goals
Animal Points are given by every animal in your park based on the species, genetics, and ecology of the animal
Removed Exhibit Score: the Ecology Bonus is now part of Animal Points, and cleanliness was always part of Animal Welfare (making it redundant)
Attraction Points are currently given by shops and binoculars, but is planned be expanded in the future
Park Appeal affects guest population, and is driven by Overall Park Rating, Amenity Prices, and Park Beauty
Additions
Buildings & Scenery
Added Stylized Animal Sign, coming in multiple animal designs:
Acrocanthosaurus
Ankylosaurus
Apatosaurus
Brachiosaurus
Coelodonta
Deinocheirus
Dilophosaurus
Dryosaurus
Edmontosaurus
Elasmotherium
Iguanodon
Leaellynasaura
Mammuthus
Megaloceros
Microraptor
Ouranosaurus
Pachyrhinosaurus
Parasaurolophus
Protoceratops
Psittacosaurus
Smilodon
Spinosaurus
Triceratops
Tyrannosaurus
Ursus
Velociraptor
Added 5 material styles, including the old plastic style, to the shape pieces:
Plastic (current material)
Matte
Metallic
Plaster
Wood
Granite
Added several additional shape pieces to expand the current selection:
Cylinder Half
Cylinder Hollow
Cylinder Hollow Half
Pyramid Octagonal
Pyramid Pentagonal
Pyramid Hexagonal
Pyramid Triangular
Sphere Half
Torus Half
Torus 2 (Thicker)
Torus 3 (Thickest)
Cone
Cone Truncated
Helix 1 (Thin & Spaced)
Helix 2 (Thick & Close)
Icosahedron
Buckyball
Added 2 Animal Silhouette signs for the new species:
Megaloceros
Ursus
Foliage
Added or updated the following Coastal plants:
Coastal Manroot 1
Coastal Manroot 2
False Lily of the Valley 1
False Lily of the Valley 2
Maidenhair Fern 1
Maidenhair Fern 2
Maidenhair Fern 3
Scots Pine 1
Scots Pine 2
Scots Pine 3
Scots Pine 4
Scots Pine 5
Scots Pine 6
Added the following Temperate plants:
Beech Tree 1
Beech Tree 2
Beech Tree 3
Beech Tree 4
Beech Tree 5
Beech Tree 6
Beech Tree 7
Beech Tree 8
Daisy Grass 1
Daisy Grass 2
Daisy Grass 2
Dandelion Grass 1
Dandelion Grass 2
Dandelion Grass 3
Dandelion Grass 4
Eared Willow 1
Eared Willow 2
Eared Willow 3
Eared Willow 4
Field Grass 1
Field Grass 2
Field Grass 3
Flame Azalea 1
Flame Azalea 2
Flame Azalea 3
Flame Azalea 4
Flame Azalea 5
Flame Azalea 6
Flame Azalea 7
Added the following Temperate biome presets:
Temperate shrubs
Temperate field
UI/UX
Added a ‘Smooth Camera’ toggle to the Camera Menu, switching between the default camera mode, and a smooth cinematic camera
Added paleopedia page descriptions for Archaeopteryx, Brachiosaurus, Camarasaurus (all species), Dryosaurus, Torvosaurus (both species), Tyrannosaurus, Protoceratops, Velociraptor and their respective formations
Updated the Building Toolbox menu with a fresh new look and improved functionality
Every structure category now has an ‘All’ menu selection, allowing a quick visualization of the entire structure list set for that category
Added ability to switch between large and small icon size for the Building Toolbox
Added save preference functionality to structure favoriting - newly favorited structures will now carry over across all saves
Added a set of contextual Building Action panels to the right hand side of the screen - these menus appear while any structural action is active and are highly contextual based on the current action type. Through these menus, several QoL features have been added to the building suite:
Improved keybind tooltip readability
Modular: random rotation and scale settings
Modular: gimbal move increment
Modular: gimbal Axis Flip, available during gimbal scaling. This allows quick mirroring on any local axis for the current objects
Building Toolbox settings (‘Button Scale’, ‘Pin Toolbox’, and ‘Show Prefabs’) are now saved across all saves and game sessions
Added a new keybind: Toggle Fences/Path Replacement Mode - bound to ‘R’ by default. When pressed, this keybind will toggle the current fence/path action from ‘Build’ mode to ‘Replace’ mode, and vice versa
Updated the modular styling and coloring panel to be completely independent of the building toolbox, allowing for more screen real estate when changing modular pieces!
Color controls are now relative to piece types, giving more granular control over the coloration of each piece style
Updated the Management View menu and included a new park rating report to match the new rating additions
Added a Guest Navigation view - allowing guest navmesh visualization
Added a Staff Navigation view - allowing staff navmesh visualization
Added explanatory tooltips to several gameplay GUI elements in the Management View menu, detailing various systems within the game
Added a Projected Park Population report tooltip that appears when hovering the park guest count on the main board
Added a trend icon next to guest population that shows when the projected number of guests is higher or lower than your current amount
Clicking the finances, staff, animals and guest numbers at the bottom of the HUD will open up their respective management menus
Changes
Gameplay
Removed individual price categories for different food and gift brands, unified into two simple categories
Added price setting for Binocular modules
Animals
Lowered shininess of Coelodonta fur
Animal overall welfare has been reworked to better consider each component of an animal’s life
Animal needs drain slower
Animal excretion amount lowered
Adjusted minimum exhibit sizes for the following species’ default grouping size:
Charonosaurus: 5,550m2 → 4,340m2
Deinocheirus: 3,400m2 → 1,575m2
Edmontosaurus annectens: 14,000m2 → 6,125m2
Edmontosaurus regalis: 33,440m2 → 10,425m2
Iguanodon: 13,580m2 → 4,030m2
Juxia: 6,220m2 → 1,100m2
Lambeosaurus: 11,400m2 → 2,500m2
Muttaburrasaurus: 6,524m2 → 2,796m2
Nasutoceratops: 3,600m2 → 1,400m2
Ouranosaurus: 7,920m2 → 3,300m2
Pachyrhinosaurus canadensis: 18,800m2 → 13,100m2
Pachyrhinosaurus lakustai: 11,780m2 → 6,570m2
Pachyrhinosaurus perotorum: 5,500m2 → 2,400m2
Parasaurolophus cyrtocristatus: 9,845m2 → 2,737m2
Parasaurolophus walkeri: 9,510m2 → 3,538m2
Styracosaurus: 6,000m2 → 2,400m2
Ugrunaaluk: 6,220m2 → 2,860m2
Staff
Removed staff unhappiness for now, we have plans to reintroduce it with more gameplay in the future
Guests
Adjusted guest population cap and spawn rates as a function of Park Rating and Park Appeal
Guests should now look at animals much more frequently, with higher Animal Points resulting in more frequent visits
Guests now view animals for significantly longer
Guests now consider the number of binoculars vs animals when selecting how to view them
Guests will now only view animals when they can get close to their enclosure
Guests now leave line queues if they think they are waiting too long
Guests should be less likely to stand on something that is not the correct part of the navmesh
Shopping behavior is no longer a need that builds up over time, instead guests will shop after having positive park experiences
Guests should now walk faster in general, and even faster still when they have a pressing need
Guest AI will no longer ‘explore’ for overlong periods
Buildings & Scenery
In addition to benches and tables having interaction points, the Restaurant now has functional tables. Guests will get in line to purchase food, then take it to a table to sit and eat. Guests will also attempt to find nearby seating after purchasing from Food Kiosks or Vending Machines
Guests will now get in line to make a purchase after viewing products on shelves in the Gift Shop
Kiosks now have an exit point slightly to the right of the register interaction point, which helps clear up traffic jams when guests try to leave the kiosk. Guests moving from the register to this exit point are able to move through navmesh obstacles for that short distance, making it possible to build queue line ropes/barriers to direct the line, while still allowing guests to leave without walking backwards through the queue
Large bathrooms now have an internal capacity of 8 “stalls” for guests to use
Slightly reduced nav-cutting size of flat feeders
Environment
Updated sunrise/sunset ambient light to be brighter and warmer, reducing pitch black shadows
Updated Tanzania map lighting to be more consistent with other maps and appear less harsh
Updated environmental reflections to include fog
Adjusted clouds to appear less saturated and overblown during sunrise/sunset
Slightly brightened grass in the shade
Foliage
Updated wind settings on older trees and removed wind from various cactus species
Adjusted global wind simulation to look more lively
Adjusted elephant grass coloring to better fit with the rest of the foliage
Adjusted shading on boreal fireweed and labrador tea to appear less round
Adjusted sizes for temperate arrowwoods 1 and 2 for better leaf size consistency, making them smaller overall
Reduced wind during rain
UI/UX
Updated building tutorial screenshots to show the new building toolbox
Updated biome preset icons for temperate foliage and coastal pines
Updated the enclosure info panel to reflect the new rating changes
Updated the animal rating info panel to reflect the new rating changes
Opening the Terraform Menu now clears all non-animal selection
Changed help link buttons on the Park Issues items to instead be displayed on the issue header
Converting a Challenge game to Sandbox will now properly update the Weather Menu settings
Improved camera tracking calculations to better focus on animals’ heads or guests’ faces when up close
Post-Processing
Adjusted auto-exposure to improve the game’s base brightness and increase visibility when in dark areas. This is most noticeable in dense forests, buildings and at nighttime
Adjusted bloom to have less spread and appear less intense. Most noticeable on metal objects such as feeders. It now mostly acts as light bleed for dark areas
Looking at navigation in the Management View no longer tints the screen blue, making the navmesh more visible
Rendering
Improved selection outline clarity
Bug Fixes
Crashes
Fixed a crash that could occur when deleting a fence section if that fence had been loaded in overlapping another fence section
This enforcement of fence proximity rules may break existing enclosures which had gates and fences trying to occupy the same space!
Fixed improper process scheduling that could lead to a rare crash
Critical
Fixed the “Sabre Toothed Cat” and “Three Horned Face” Steam achievements not properly triggering
Added better keybind validity checks, to ensure certain controls can’t be mapped to specific keybinds, affecting both saved bindings, as well as new user settings. This measure fixes selection problems some users have reported
Fixed a long standing resolution saving bug that would cause the game window resolution to reset any time a level was loaded
Gameplay
Fence placement undo and redo now properly changes the park balance
Animals
Fixed Brachiosaurus drink intro
Reworked interactable access which should help address animals not always using interactables after modifying them
Staff
Fixed staff going on eternal breaks
Fixed rare navigational issue that prevented staff from moving
Fixed keepers being able to walk through obstacles to clean up dung if there was no navigable path
Fixed keepers getting stuck in an infinite loop of offloading dung if the assignment for that dung pile had previously been attempted and failed
Brought back staff end-of-assignment reaction animations
Fixed Auto-Hire-Cashiers not hiring anyone at the moment the toggle is activated
Fixed Staff Placement only showing correct placement validity while the mouse is moving
Guests
Fixed Visitor Welfare being incorrect at roughly 75% of the desired value
Fixed a bug that caused guests to be unable to see animals
Fixed guests falling out of a queue line occasionally
Fixed guests getting stuck because they thought that roofs were walkable area
Fixed a bug that caused guests to have a slightly lower opinion of animals than they were supposed to
Adjusted nav recovery timeout to reduce cases where humans get truly stuck
Foliage
Fixed incorrect alphabetical ordering for Coastal biome trees in the terraforming menu
Construction
Fixed a major bug that caused modular piece colors to desynchronize after deletions
UI/UX
Fixed a GUI Input oversight that would cause toggles to turn on graphically but otherwise not trigger their intended behavior upon right clicks or middle clicks
‘Animals ready for release!’ localization element is now capitalized and exclamatory
Fixed camera min/max zoom not being properly enforced while the camera was in tracking mode
Rendering
Improved synchronization of human and prop animation
Generally improved human animation system
Fixed outline desync when camera field of view changes
Performance
Numerous small memory improvements
Human animation is more optimal
Many performance improvements to the building menu, especially for the search function
Slightly improved save loading speed
Minor CPU Optimizations
PTB: Patch (1.10.16)
Welcome, Park Testers!
This PTB release adds a work-in-progress version of the cave bear, improves animal viewing behaviour for guests and addresses some feedback for the updated building tools. The bear will be receiving additional sounds, animations and vocalizations very soon!
We will continue polishing Update 13 before its release in a few days. Thank you for the help so far!
How to Access the Public Testing Branch (Experimental!)
The Public Testing Branch (PTB) is a version of Prehistoric Kingdom that can be opted-into on Steam, containing experimental and potentially breaking changes. With the help of the community, we're able to hunt down various issues and gather feedback before pushing a an update to the public version of Prehistoric Kingdom.
Right click Prehistoric Kingdom in your Steam Library
Go to Properties
Betas
Select 'ptb_public_testing'
Please note that it is not recommended to play Public Testing Branch parks on earlier versions of the game. Please send feedback and bug reports to our Discord server's appropriate channel.
Full Patch Notes
Features
NEW ANIMAL: Ursus spelaeus (work in progress!)
Additions
UI/UX
Added an ‘Attraction Points’ tag to the structure button tooltip in the Building Toolbox
Re-added the filtering menu to the Building Toolbox, allowing for theme and prefab filtering
Re-added global coloring settings to modular selection after player feedback. This goes alongside the granular per-style coloring controls
Building Toolbox settings (‘Button Scale’, ‘Pin Toolbox’, and ‘Show Prefabs’) are now saved across all saves and game sessions
Changes
Balance
Mini Aviary now has 500 Attraction Points
Guests
Visitors have a vastly higher chance of viewing animals when not doing something more important
Visitors now view animals for significantly longer
Visitors now consider the number of binoculars vs animals when selecting how to view them
Visitors now leave line queues if they think they are waiting too long
Visitors should be less likely to stand on something that is not the correct part of the navmesh
Rebalanced spawn rates to be about double the previous base rate, and reduced overall park capacity by about half. There was also a rather steep invisible spawn penalty that reduced spawn rate as guest count reaches the projected population, which has not been removed but has been changed to only begin when current count is above 80% of the projected population
Improvements to where visitors decide to view animals from
Visitors will now only view animals when they can get close to their enclosure
UI/UX
The modular style menu can now be resized
Properly resolved building menu and modular style menu overlapping with other GUI panels
Improved building toolbox search function accuracy
Reduced sensitivity of modular gimbal rotation angle snap
Changed help link buttons on the Park Issues items to instead be displayed on the issue header
The various action panel angle snap sliders now contain all the value granularity from previous updates
The ‘Pin Toolbox’ toggle on the Building Toolbox is now selected by default
The ‘hover to view items’ panel is now shorter, wider and matches the same style as the header beneath it
Bug Fixes
Critical
Fixed a couple bugs where incorrect data could be read when making changes to the navmesh while many paths are calculating, potentially resulting in crashes
Fixed the “Sabre Toothed Cat” and “Three Horned Face” Steam achievements not properly triggering
Fixed IndexOutOfRange error in LogisticsAnalytics
Reduced Burger Size by 10%
Guests
Fixed buggy animations when getting up from sitting
More diverse animation selection when viewing animals
Adjusted interact position in small bathrooms so guests aren’t visible from outside while using them
Buildings & Scenery
Fixed Feeder Empty status icon persisting after style change
Fixed feeders not always registering as interactable for animals when placed
UI/UX
Fixed a big underlying issue in the modular style selection code that caused pieces to not properly initialize with the last selected styling
Fixed guest kiosks, restaurant, vending machine, info sign and binoculars not displaying their attribute icon correctly
‘Animals ready for release!’ localization element is now capitalized and exclamatory
This patch will be adding two new species: the Cave Bear (Ursus spelaeus) and the Irish Elk (Megaloceros giganteus). Alongside these creatures are improvements to the building experience, a revamped park rating system and more. In fact, existing owners of Prehistoric Kingdom can jump onto the Public Test Branch to help look for bugs right now!
We hope you're looking forward to the next update!
- The PK Team
PTB: Update 13 Begins Testing!
Welcome, Park Testers!
This PTB release features a work-in-progress look at Update 13's content, including the reworked building toolbox, building experience, park rating rework, guest sitting and biome updates. Please note that Megaloceros and Ursus are not included in this pre-release and will be available once the patch is completely finished.
Here are some specific things that we'd like to get feedback on:
Balance and Park Rating Changes: The conditions and various thresholds required to achieve higher park ratings have been changed, with goals that are laid out in the new rating UI.
Building Toolbox and Building Experience: Help us find any oddities, bugs or experience downgrades from the previous system. It's totally new, so please take a little time to play with it!
Guest AI: Visitors have had quite a few AI changes, including the addition of a rest need. Let us know how they distribute in the park and how their needs feel in terms of balance.
Once we've fixed the most prevalent bugs and finalized the content on our end, we will be releasing Update 13 very soon! Please send your feedback and bug reports to our Discord server's appropriate channel. Thank you!
How to Access the Public Testing Branch (Experimental!)
The Public Testing Branch (PTB) is a version of Prehistoric Kingdom that can be opted-into on Steam, containing experimental and potentially breaking changes. With the help of the community, we're able to hunt down various issues and gather feedback before pushing a an update to the public version of Prehistoric Kingdom.
Right click Prehistoric Kingdom in your Steam Library
Go to Properties
Betas
Select 'ptb_public_testing'
Please note that it is not recommended to play Public Testing Branch parks on earlier versions of the game. Please send feedback and bug reports to our Discord server's appropriate channel.
Known Issues & Additional Notes
This version of the building toolbox temporarily does not contain filtering for specific themes or prefabs. This will be added for the official release of Update 13!
Due to a crash fix, some exhibits may be broken if they had fences and gates occupying the same space! Please update habitats accordingly.
Some menus, such as the new building style and coloring menu and the modular selection info panel can seldom overlap. We are working on improving the automatic scaling behavior of any overlapping menu.
Full Patch Notes
Features
NEW FEATURE: Guest Sitting Guests will now stop at benches to rest or enjoy a delicious meal. This retroactively applies to all saves! A new ‘Rest’ overlay is available for checking on your guests' new need!
NEW FEATURE: Improved rating and park goals
Park Rating Stars are earned by achieving incremental goals
Animal Points are given by every animal in your park based on the species, genetics, and ecology of the animal
Removed Exhibit Score: the Ecology Bonus is now part of Animal Points, and cleanliness was always part of Animal Welfare (making it redundant)
Attraction Points are currently given by shops and binoculars, but is planned be expanded in the future
Park Appeal affects guest population, and is driven by Overall Park Rating, Amenity Prices, and Park Beauty
Additions
Buildings & Scenery
Added Stylized Animal Sign, coming in multiple animal designs:
Acrocanthosaurus
Ankylosaurus
Apatosaurus
Brachiosaurus
Coelodonta
Deinocheirus
Dilophosaurus
Dryosaurus
Edmontosaurus
Elasmotherium
Iguanodon
Leaellynasaura
Mammuthus
Megaloceros
Microraptor
Ouranosaurus
Pachyrhinosaurus
Parasaurolophus
Protoceratops
Psittacosaurus
Smilodon
Spinosaurus
Triceratops
Tyrannosaurus
Ursus
Velociraptor
Foliage
Added or updated the following Coastal plants:
Coastal Manroot 1
Coastal Manroot 2
False Lily of the Valley 1
False Lily of the Valley 2
Maidenhair Fern 1
Maidenhair Fern 2
Maidenhair Fern 3
Scots Pine 1
Scots Pine 2
Scots Pine 3
Scots Pine 4
Scots Pine 5
Scots Pine 6
Added the following Temperate plants:
Beech Tree 1
Beech Tree 2
Beech Tree 3
Beech Tree 4
Beech Tree 5
Beech Tree 6
Beech Tree 7
Beech Tree 8
Daisy Grass 1
Daisy Grass 2
Daisy Grass 2
Dandelion Grass 1
Dandelion Grass 2
Dandelion Grass 3
Dandelion Grass 4
Eared Willow 1
Eared Willow 2
Eared Willow 3
Eared Willow 4
Field Grass 1
Field Grass 2
Field Grass 3
Flame Azalea 1
Flame Azalea 2
Flame Azalea 3
Flame Azalea 4
Flame Azalea 5
Flame Azalea 6
Flame Azalea 7
Added the following Temperate biome presets:
Temperate shrubs
Temperate field
UI/UX
Updated the Building Toolbox menu with a fresh new look and improved functionality
Every structure category now has an ‘All’ menu selection, allowing a quick visualization of the entire structure list set for that category
Added ability to switch between large and small icon size for the Building Toolbox
Added save preference functionality to structure favoriting - newly favorited structures will now carry over across all saves
Added a set of contextual Building Action panels to the right hand side of the screen - these menus appear while any structural action is active and are highly contextual based on the current action type. Through these menus, several QoL features have been added to the building suite:
Improved keybind tooltip readability
Modular: random rotation and scale settings
Modular: gimbal move increment
Modular: gimbal Axis Flip, available during gimbal scaling. This allows quick mirroring on any local axis for the current objects
Added a new keybind: Toggle Fences/Path Replacement Mode - bound to ‘R’ by default. When pressed, this keybind will toggle the current fence/path action from ‘Build’ mode to ‘Replace’ mode, and vice versa
Updated the modular styling and coloring panel to be completely independent of the building toolbox, allowing for more screen real estate when changing modular pieces!
Color controls are now relative to piece types, giving more granular control over the coloration of each piece style
Updated the Management View menu and included a new park rating report to match the new rating additions
Added a Guest Navigation view - allowing guest navmesh visualization
Added a Staff Navigation view - allowing staff navmesh visualization
Added a Projected Park Population report tooltip that appears when hovering the park guest count on the main board
Added a trend icon next to guest population that shows when the projected number of guests is higher or lower than your current amount
Clicking the finances, staff, animals and guest numbers at the bottom of the HUD will open up their respective management menus
Changes
Gameplay
Removed individual price categories for different food and gift brands, unified into two simple categories
Added price setting for Binocular modules
Animals
Lowered shininess of Coelodonta fur
Animal overall welfare has been reworked to better consider each component of an animal’s life
Animal needs drain slower
Animal excretion amount lowered
Adjusted minimum exhibit sizes for the following species’ default grouping size:
Charonosaurus: 5,550m2 → 4,340m2
Deinocheirus: 3,400m2 → 1,575m2
Edmontosaurus annectens: 14,000m2 → 6,125m2
Edmontosaurus regalis: 33,440m2 → 10,425m2
Iguanodon: 13,580m2 → 4,030m2
Juxia: 6,220m2 → 1,100m2
Lambeosaurus: 11,400m2 → 2,500m2
Muttaburrasaurus: 6,524m2 → 2,796m2
Nasutoceratops: 3,600m2 → 1,400m2
Ouranosaurus: 7,920m2 → 3,300m2
Pachyrhinosaurus canadensis: 18,800m2 → 13,100m2
Pachyrhinosaurus lakustai: 11,780m2 → 6,570m2
Pachyrhinosaurus perotorum: 5,500m2 → 2,400m2
Parasaurolophus cyrtocristatus: 9,845m2 → 2,737m2
Parasaurolophus walkeri: 9,510m2 → 3,538m2
Styracosaurus: 6,000m2 → 2,400m2
Ugrunaaluk: 6,220m2 → 2,860m2
Staff
Removed staff unhappiness for now, we have plans to reintroduce it with more gameplay in the future
Guests
Adjusted guest population cap and spawn rates as a function of Park Rating and Park Appeal
Should now look at animals much more frequently, with higher Animal Points resulting in more frequent visits
Shopping behavior is no longer a need that builds up over time, instead guests will shop after having positive park experiences
Guests should now walk faster in general, and even faster still when they have a pressing need
Guest AI will no longer ‘explore’ for overlong periods
Buildings & Scenery
In addition to benches and tables having interaction points, the Restaurant now has functional tables. Guests will get in line to purchase food, then take it to a table to sit and eat. Guests will also attempt to find nearby seating after purchasing from Food Kiosks or Vending Machines
Guests will now get in line to make a purchase after viewing products on shelves in the Gift Shop
Kiosks now have an exit point slightly to the right of the register interaction point, which helps clear up traffic jams when guests try to leave the kiosk. Guests moving from the register to this exit point are able to move through navmesh obstacles for that short distance, making it possible to build queue line ropes/barriers to direct the line, while still allowing guests to leave without walking backwards through the queue
Large bathrooms now have an internal capacity of 8 “stalls” for guests to use
Environment
Updated sunrise/sunset ambient light to be brighter and warmer, reducing pitch black shadows
Updated Tanzania map lighting to be more consistent with other maps and appear less harsh
Updated environmental reflections to include fog
Adjusted clouds to appear less saturated and overblown during sunrise/sunset
Slightly brightened grass in the shade
Foliage
Updated wind settings on older trees and removed wind from various cactus species
Adjusted global wind simulation to look more lively
Adjusted elephant grass coloring to better fit with the rest of the foliage
Adjusted shading on boreal fireweed and labrador tea to appear less round
Adjusted sizes for temperate arrowwoods 1 and 2 for better leaf size consistency, making them smaller overall
Reduced wind during rain
UI/UX
Updated biome preset icons for temperate foliage and coastal pines
Updated the enclosure info panel to reflect the new rating changes
Updated the animal rating info panel to reflect the new rating changes
Opening the Terraform Menu now clears all non-animal selection
Post-Processing
Adjusted auto-exposure to improve the game’s base brightness and increase visibility when in dark areas. This is most noticeable in dense forests, buildings and at nighttime
Adjusted bloom to have less spread and appear less intense. Most noticeable on metal objects such as feeders. It now mostly acts as light bleed for dark areas
Looking at navigation in the Management View no longer tints the screen blue, making the navmesh more visible
Bug Fixes
Crashes
Fixed a crash that could occur when deleting a fence section if that fence had been loaded in overlapping another fence section
This enforcement of fence proximity rules may break existing enclosures which had gates and fences trying to occupy the same space!
Fixed improper process scheduling that could lead to a rare crash
Gameplay
Fence placement undo and redo now properly changes the park balance
Animals
Reworked interactable access which should help address animals not always using interactables after modifying them
Staff
Fixed staff going on eternal breaks
Fixed rare navigational issue that prevented staff from moving
Fixed keepers being able to walk through obstacles to clean up dung if there was no navigable path
Fixed keepers getting stuck in an infinite loop of offloading dung if the assignment for that dung pile had previously been attempted and failed
Brought back staff end-of-assignment reaction animations
Fixed Auto-Hire-Cashiers not hiring anyone at the moment the toggle is activated
Fixed Staff Placement only showing correct placement validity while the mouse is moving
Guests
Fixed Visitor Welfare being incorrect at roughly 75% of the desired value
Fixed a bug that caused guests to be unable to see animals
Fixed guests falling out of a queue line occasionally
Fixed guests getting stuck because they thought that roofs were walkable area
Fixed a bug that caused guests to have a slightly lower opinion of animals than they were supposed to
Foliage
Fixed incorrect alphabetical ordering for Coastal biome trees in the terraforming menu
Construction
Fixed a major bug that caused modular piece colors to desynchronize after deletions
UI/UX
Fixed a GUI Input oversight that would cause toggles to turn on graphically but otherwise not trigger their intended behavior upon right clicks or middle clicks
Rendering
Improved synchronization of human and prop animation
Generally improved human animation system
Performance
Numerous small memory improvements
Human animation is more optimal
Many performance improvements to the building menu, especially for the search function
Slightly improved save loading speed
Dev Diary: November 2024
Welcome to the November Development Update!
In this blog post, we’ll be taking a quick look at the remaining parts of Update 13, including a brand new animal. Oh deer! We’re also 25% off on Steam right now, so if you’re yet to support us, it’s a great time to jump in!
To summarize the last Dev Diary, Update 13 will be released in December as our final update for the year. It’s primarily a content update focused on adding two new animals, stabilizing parts of the game’s balance and including quality of life improvements such as a redesigned building toolbox. There’ll be a trailer announcing the release date soon!
Going into 2025, the team will be focused on completing long awaited updates such as animal socialization, babies and paleobotany. Since these features are so large, we don’t have an ETA for when they’ll be playable. As usual, though, we’ll be releasing Dev Diaries to keep the community informed and show progress as we’re further along.
Update 13
New Species
It may not be a reindeer, but we reckon a Megaloceros could pull Santa’s sleigh just as well! This massive deer is best recognised by its absurdly large antlers, measuring in with a span of over 3 meters.
Also known as the Irish Elk, Megaloceros once lived across Eurasia with the cave bear and woolly mammoth. Despite the nickname, Megaloceros is more closely related to a living species, the fallow deer. Our scientists have noted the two animals making very similar calls, highlighting their common ancestry!
We’re excited to see what habitats you create for Megaloceros and the cave bear in Update 13!
Expanded Coastal & Temperate Biomes
Rounding out the foliage additions from Update 12, we’ll be adding a few more plants to the Coastal biome. These include the Coastal Manroot, False Lily of the Valley, Maidenhair Fern and improved Scots Pines. There are 13 individual plants between them.
Similarly, the temperate biome will be getting quite a lot of love, too! This update adds beech trees, daisy grass, dandelion grass, field grass, eared willows and flame azaleas (flowered and unflowered versions!) for a whopping 29 new foliage pieces. These plants have quite a bit of color, making them particularly great for more diverse habitats or within decorative planters.
Stylized Animal Signs
Finally, let’s take an in-game look at some of the animal signs that were shown off last month! There are quite a lot of these coming in Update 13, so please look forward to discovering them all when it releases in December.
Created by Nerd
Created by W3
Created by luci257
Thank you for reading November's dev diary!
Although a shorter one, we hope you’re looking forward to Update 13. We’ll be taking a little break over the holiday period at the end of December, so in case we don’t end up doing a Dev Diary due to New Years, we wish everyone a happy holidays. See you soon, park managers!
This patch improves stability and introduces notifications that tell the player about one-time events such as finished research, animal unlocks and excavation changes. The next major release will be Update 13 in December!
Please send your feedback and bug reports to our Discord server's appropriate channel. Thank you!
Steam Autumn Sale (25% off!)
Prehistoric Kingdom's now 25% off until December 4th! It's a great time to jump in and cozy up while building the ultimate prehistoric zoo.
Full Patch Notes
Additions
UI/UX
Added the new Notifications Menu, where the player can receive information about one-time events in the park. Current notifications include:
New Animal Unlocked
Research Completed
Excavation Completed
New Excavation Event
Changes
Gameplay
Changed how interactables work behind the scenes, the positions of interact points on various modules may change. This change lays groundwork for future expansion, but in the immediate term will provide fixes for traffic jams at queue lines, binoculars not always connecting to the navmesh correctly, misaligned positioning at some modules, and modules being inaccessible from some directions when the game thinks they are accessible.
Staff
When a keeper is cleaning dung, selecting the keeper will show which dung piles they are planning to clean up in this trip
Audio
Adjusted large theropod eating sounds
Bug Fixes
Critical
Fixed a critical guest issue that caused them to misbehave after removing an interactable item that they were using previously
Fixed a rare freeze when trying to exit the game
Animals
Fixed a case where animals could get permanently stuck if they’re too far above or below the navmesh
Fixed Dilophosaurus sleep using the rest animation
Staff
Fixed staff being assigned to different shops than the ones they were at previously on loading a save
Fixed keepers being overly picky about distances and fill levels when finding a compost heap
Fixed staff members not playing their post-assignment reaction animations
Buildings & Scenery
Fixed placement and nav detection bounds for many modular pieces
UI/UX
Fixed park issue icons displaying as blank in the Park Issues menu
Fixed a message popup layout issue causing popups to overlap on screen when in instances where they are meant to be hidden
Fixed main board economy report not properly displaying negative numbers
Fixed park issues arising when the relevant gameplay settings are disabled
Rendering
Improved light LODs transitioning behavior
Misc.
Many stability improvements behind the scenes
Performance
Fixed a few significant CPU performance regressions
Improvements to CPU performance (on top of fixed regressions)
