Surviving Pangea: [WIP/Pre Alpha]

My friend if I release this for free I would not charge a dime for anything. I would consider accepting donations only to get my money back that I've put into the game.

I also feel that it would make waves. I may not make a huge profit but it would pave the way for future games and full time development opportunities. Which is my real dream!

 

Thanks for the update. Looking forward to finding out your secret new idea.

This is your project so in the end it is your decision but I really would not go the free route. You deserve something for this awesome work. Even if it is $10. You are right about these other games. They cost $15-$30 and while the gameplay might be cool the graphics are the worse than games in the 90s. To make it worse the games performance is worse than Crysis 3. If your game has good gameplay and great graphics(already evident) people will notice your game no matter the price. You can always have a great sale once in a while.

When they are ready show some cave shots. I love caves.

Good name. Simple but tells it all.

 

Thanks Baldinoboy I always appreciate your support.

Honestly I will probably release the game for $9.99 with a small increase when the full game releases. It really depends on Kickstarter and the initial launch. If they go well I could justify a higher price as I would seek help supporting the multiplayer side of things. Not to mention all the nice dinosaurs I want to add! Any profit will be put back into the game anyway.

I think you will really like the cave system. It's still a WIP and is one of my newest projects but I already prefer it over similar games caves(the forest!) As it is more expansive and already has an actual purpose. There will most likely be some rocks to mine in every biome but the caves are where the higher tier metals will be found. Of course this is where the Neanderthals call home so they are also quite dangerous.

I am even considering going all out with the cave systems and laying down some hard to reach underground terrains. Making them into underground biomes of there own. Possibly with unique never discovered dinosaurs or even some cool giant mushrooms like the Skyrim cave! But we'll see.

 

I don't think you should make it free, to be honest. Even though I would love to play this game for free, here's a few reasons why I don't think it would be a good idea for you to release it for free.

First of all, there's the certainty that you will be able to sell at least some copies. 100% sure. I've showed this game to a few friends, all of whom thought it looked very interesting. You really are onto something here, people will be willing to pay for this. Quite a lot of people, I believe.

Second is the fact that when people see a product advertised for free, that freeness automatically detracts from the product's perceived value. It can be harder to give something away for free than to sell it for a price. Take an average product, put it in some nice wrapping and increase the price, people will buy it. Perceived value.

Third, you want to be a game developer, right? For a living, I mean. Well, if you are releasing such a great product for nothing, what kind of expectations are you setting for future releases? Your own and those of other people. I understand the desire to just have your artistic creation enjoyed by as many people as possible, but surely you value the time that you spent creating it? Devaluation of games is already becoming a problem in the industry, IMO.

$50 is too much for a game, $0 is too little. Find yourself a happy medium. I think your idea in the previous post sounds good; $10 minimum Kickstarter pledge for a digital copy, set the price to $15-20 (or more, as you see fit) on relase. But don't lowball yourself too much.

 

Hey guys. Here is the arid biome footage I have been promising forever as well as some basic hunting/trapping mechanics.

Sorry for the long silence. With the big move and work changes I had very limited free time. I chose to work more on the game itself than the publicity side with the time I had so I have a lot to show off in the near future.

 

Amazing video! Love the balancing of the biomes. Great job. Did you move to Unity 5?

 

Second-ed. Great work. Enjoy reading your updates.
Keep up the outstanding work!

 

Wow, very nice update.
I'm impressed with it.

 

Thanks! I think I may just go with the arid and tropical biomes to start with so that I don't get too swamped with content to manage. Once I get them both polished up I will start working on the swamp and ocean biomes as well as one other I have under wraps. All I can say is that it will important to more advanced item crafting.

I'm still using 4.6 with Lux PBS but I have a week vacation coming up and I plan on seeing how hard the switch to 5 will be. I know that I will get an immediate performance boost with the new physics engine and I have read there are more shader keywords available so I am pretty excited for the switch.

 

I did make a switch from Unity 4.6 to Unity 5 for small visual novel game.
There's some API error somewhere.
But it's easily fix in my case.

 

Hey guys. I had to cut this video short so it wouldn't be too long but there's another one coming quick showing off basic fire mechanics as well as the inside of some caves. Thanks for all the support!

 

So just a quick update that I thought I would share with everyone. I have been thinking lately of making dinosaurs playable as well. This would not be all that difficult as the basic framework is already there; hunger, thirst, sleeping, etc. Adding playable dinosaurs will actually be easier as there will be no crafting, inventory or weapon switching and pretty much everything else is already there. My current plan is to make playable dinosaurs unlockable by surviving more days in the default mode as the main character. I think this could be a great feature once multiplayer is implemented as well.

Anyway I would like to hear some thoughts on this just to get some outside opinions. Thanks.

 

This is certainly a good idea, however...

Your challenge is to weigh the pros and cons of adding this now, (increasing the development time for more features in the initial release.) or adding it later as a "expansion pack"/update after the initial release.

Will the game be stale without it in the initial release and then flop by the time the dinosaurs are added as a playable creature? Or would the game benefit more, from additional releases with these features, so that all your eager fans (like me) can be further incited to continue playing as the dinosaurs are released as playable creatures.

Hope this helps. Just a bit of food for thought.

 

Personally I would put full attention in the normal gameplay and if you like the idea than put this in a paid or free DLC later on like @jtok4j said.

This is your game though and if you love the idea and feel it will not be difficult to implement than go do it. You obviously have the skill. I would have some fun hunting down humans as a Velociraptor.

 

I will definitely be following this. Looks very interesting!

 

@Baldinoboy @jtok4j

Thanks for the input guys. You have a good points about adding the dinos in later updates or expansions. I am already working on the first one and since I'm going the early access route I may just put one playable dinosaur in game to see how things go and work out the bugs before going full force. Thanks for the help.

 

Can't wait to see more content man!

 

Rough draft of first desert concept art.

 

Absolutely stunning

 

Nice work mate !

Also, its a business. If you want to be able to afford to achieve your family objectives you need to charge for it. Most people have no problems paying for a quality experience, and the ones that do have no interest in seeing you succeed.

All the best with this

 

Keep it up last update looks good. One important thing for you to keep in mind. While in last year there were few games poping up in regards to dinos and survival, in my opinion they arent well done in concept, nor they have strong gameplay durability. You have opurtunity to change that and fill the gap , dont be discouraged by similar games out there, becouse you can still deliver where they failed. So far every update i have seen from you is much better than anything they have given. Positive hedge so far

 

Cannot stop loving everything you post!!

As soon as your game is online for purchase I am getting two licenses. Your work is stunning, not just the graphics but the concept you are working on.

 

Thanks so much man. I really got depressed when Ark came out of nowhere because that trailer is so beautiful. But once I seen what the game play was actually like I new I could (and already am) doing better in that aspect. My graphics may not reach their level but after making the really tough upgrade to Unity5 Pro the games graphics look much better now. My performance also went through the roof with the new physics engine as I was CPU bound previously due to the heavy physics in game. I am still CPU bound now but am getting roughly 60-70 fps on Ultra settings with an i5 and GTX 970.

Thanks for the kind words man! I have made large improvements on the graphical side not only by switching to Unity5 but I reworked all the textures after doing some heavy research on color palettes. I also am now using color correction and a screen overlay. I can't wait to get the next video out but I am really trying to get everything together to make some proper dev blog videos with voice commentary.

On the last note I have just finished the last stages of a contract with a pretty good dinosaur modeler. I will post his deviant art page here http://robertfabiani.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=0. I won't go into details but he likes the project so much he's agreed to let us use all of his current models after doing custom texturing and creating new ones for the game as well. This will really take things to the next level as his dinosaurs are modeled using proper bone structure and scale. Not to mention they are beautiful.

Anyways guys thanks for all the support and I'll try to have some new stuff to look at soon. Gotta get back to developing every free second I have

 

"I really got depressed when Ark came out of nowhere because that trailer is so beautiful. But once I seen what the game play was actually like I new I could (and already am) doing better in that aspect."

I can really empathise with this, it can be very difficult to maintain motivation when you start comparing your work to another game that is nearing completion, particularly when said game is receiving high praise.

I try to take the same approach as you, concentrate on your own original selling points / unique gameplay features. If you execute well you'll find your market.

 

Infinity Ward and DICE have this same problem. Except it is with their own games.

 

Wow, amazing modeler, his Spinosaurus is amazingly well done..Wondering how long it takes him to make sculpt of one such detailed model. Must be costly one too

 

It looks as an awesome project.
Will we be able to tame and ride some small riptors like in ARK game ?

 

Well I am going for the most realistic dinosaur ecosystem possible with the one exception of crossing species from different time periods. The raptors in Ark may be Utah Raptors or Deinonychus but I have heard many people refer to them as Velociraptors. This impossible as they were at the MOST 2.5 feet tall and could never carry a human. The Velociraptors in Pangea are small fast creatures.

As far as taming in general I have already got a very basic mount system that should certainly make it into the Alpha version of the game. The pet/mount system is a huge feature in itself since my main focus is on creating a plausible and immersive world. So I'm still up in the air on mounting huge wild carnivores. If I do go that route it will be EXTREMELY tough to tame on this way. More than likely what I will do is require the player to catch a baby or egg and raise the dinosaur to be able to tame and probably make that a little difficult as well since feeding a Trex over a million calories a week would be a tough feat.

On another note I am already working on another feature I have been keeping under wraps. That is being able to play as a dinosaur. I was not sure if I wanted to put in all that extra work but it turned out to be very easy as 90% of the features of playing as a human transition well. The way this will work is there is an experience system where you get experience after you die similar to Dont Starve. Each level will unlock a new dinosaur to play as in a completely separate game mode!

 

It's a game only, imagination is king , you could even mix aliens , and many players will prefer fun and new gameplay mechanics instead or pure realistic history simulation.

What will be the goal and mechanics ? Won't it be borring ?

 

Well you know what would be original. A game without aliens or superhuman ability's. I like the idea of a more difficult survival game that does not involve having the ability to do unhuman things. A survival game should be what the name implies. If someone wants to play a survival game they play something like this and if they want to play a exciting non stop action super power then maybe Saints Row.

 

In this regard, would Minecraft count as realistic? Just kidding, probably doesn't!

 

Also jaqal, why not a dino arena mode or something, perhaps a "survival of the fittest" multiplayer mode that pits you against other dinosaurs? Be interesting to see a game where you are a creature that has to survive better than other creatures.

 

Minecraft is in a near completely fictional setting so that is different but still I can not jump off my house and be okay and my health does not recover for no reason. No taming zombies, spiders, and hissers or whatever they are called. Of course I only have the Pocket Edition. So ignoring the instant building and quick destroying of blocks it is a pretty realistic survival game.

 

I agree completely which is why I'm making this game so difficult. To me a survival game should be difficult and about survival. Too many games today call themselves survival games when the main focus of the game isn't even surviving. Anyone who has played Don't Starve knows what I am aiming for. From the time the game starts you are looking for food facing the elements. Constantly trying to seek food, water and shelter. That is survival!

As far as minecraft goes I would consider it a sandbox adventure game with survival elements.

As the other guys already posted this is not what I'm really going for. A good game has to be consistent or it will certainly fail in many aspects. For instance if you take the aliens from halo and throw them into Far Cry 4 it would ruin the atmosphere.

For me a videogame is about creating an immersive experience whether it is a 2d bullet hell or a fps. They still need to be consistent and intuitive. With Surviving Pangea I am making a First Person Survival game and immersion is easily more important here than in almost any other genre. This is the only way to create the sense of actually trying to survive. I also feel that many people today want a quality plausible wilderness survival game without man made structures or whimsical enemies. Either way that is what I am longing to play so it's what I am making!

As far as the dinosaur survival aspect I don't think it will be boring at all. Imagine hatching from an egg as a Velociraptor. Walking around on unstable feet and poor vision first searching for bugs and tiny things to eat. Slowly growing into maturity to hunt larger prey. This will involve less content and features than the default first person human mode but I think it will add value to the game and most importantly be a fun thing to do!

 

Not a bad idea. Who knows what the future will hold for this part of the game as it's still young and something I just started working on. Since the game is going to support multiplayer I have already considered being able to play as either human or dinosaur and trying to survive in the same world. I think this would add a ton of possibilities but I'm not going to get ahead of myself!

 

Obviously you are project lead so what will be in game will come from you, but i would have to agree constructively that playing as dino might be boring. On paper yes it might sound interesting, but only from "scientific" side, which might be parted far from actual fun of gameplay. Playing as human and ability that human could have in survival game is no brainer, but with dino gameplay you hit wall of restrictions (cant craft most of things, cant use weapons...). To be honest i cant see myself playing as dino in singleplayer game, unless you give me VR goggles, stunning graphic and flesh physix,it might be pass for me and some else Just saying, playing as dino might take a real genious approach to gameplay to make it playable for while. The key is while. Anything is fun for short time, but having hours and hours of fun gameplay could be hard playing as dino. But maybe you have something in sleves that hasnt been said yet.

 

No updates for while, hope you are still going along with this.

 

Trust me, I saw no updates for a long time once, then BAM! he hit us with the last ones!

In any case, he will be busy with life... (like me, that's why my WIP threads haven't been updated in a while)

 

Looks really nice!

 

I really like your bow system and traps Great work, If i think well you used UFPS for bow system, but i cannot fiugre out how did you do that animation and arrow shooting. Maybe could you make a short tutorial or description about you bow and arrow stuff ?

Thank you
Keep working

 

i think the dev bailed on this cool conecpt

 

I sure hope not. Really love the progress that was being made. Come on Jaqal! Show off your awesome work.

 

Awesome project !!

 

Just had a bit of inspiration while reading through the posts, since I've last visited...

Would you allow the player to potentially get fat, if they harvested/found/ate too much food and have a penalty for weight?

Also, how about opening a Modding/survival challenge creation of some sort, so that we who are enthusiastic about the game could create new challenges, (just thinking off the top of my head), such as: Find the blue/purple berries on the island, which can be made into medicine to save your dying dino/family member/teammate.
The sky is the limit and if people can somehow contribute to/create the activities for survival, this might help the game take off in the face of (booooo) the competition.

Still excited about the project and want to Beta test! Whoohooo!

 

Hey guys just a dropping by to say I have not bailed on the project. A few months back I got completely swamped by work, being a dad and husband all while developing full time as well. Sadly at that time developing this game had to be put on hold mainly to keep from going completely insane

That said I had completed a ton of work since the last major update I posted before I took that break. I have also been hard at work for roughly another month really polishing a lot of things up. Taking that break was probably the best thing I could do at the time as I was putting in 40+ hours a week and many times double that. Coming back with a fresh point of view I am amazed at the amount of work that I've accomplished over the last year and a half and am motivated more than ever. With the new point of view I have also realized I more or less have the entire framework for the game completed and couldn't see that before as I was constantly trying to add more and more. Now I am just polishing everything up to a playable level and fixing all the most annoying bugs. I'm also making things more intuitive for new players that won't have my level of understanding with the mechanics of things.

Anyway thank you all so much for the continued support even through my long silence! I will post a major video sometime in the near future showing off the most complete state of the game yet and will keep updating these forums once again now that things are a little more stable in my life. Thank you all!

 

Jaqal! Thanks for the update. Glad to know you are still on this. Understand the need for an adjustment of time. Looking forward to seeing the new work.

 

I have just come out of school, so my silence is ending now as well. All the best to your project.

 

Why not putting it in the store some day after the game release ?

 

Very great work Jaqal.

 

Will be looking forward to release.