resources and advice Fan Dossier Assistance and Resources!

[DracoSerpentor77]

Hi there !

I usually see plenty of pretty creative dossiers, many of them I'd actually love to see in-game. So, as someone who's created so many dossier ideas and have a deep passion in these dossiers, I decided to list some assistance for people who want to make one, but don't know where to start.

 

1.A good dossier does not always have to be a picture!

I see...An occasional...Amount of people say this and while dossiers look pretty cool as a picture one, it is not necessarily a must. Pictorial dossiers are better if your critter has an important design difference. All they are are really just for looks. As long as you have a good focus on what the creature can do, then you should be fine. I've seen plenty of creative dossiers that are text based. So don't sweat if you can't draw.

2. Ever consider, not being a murderer?

PvP is fun and all, and I'm sure you want your favorite creature in the world to be the shining, badass looking hero taking down those evil tribes. But the issue with it is...It is only good in one circumstance. PvP. Normally, I like to focus on a creature's PvE role first before I do a PvP role. Why? Because PvE is more all around than PvP. The issue with PvP is it is designed around on game mode, PvE is the game itself, it is used in PvP and PvE. So always think about how a creature can be used in a PvE way, before doing PvP.

3. Present day Vs. Prehistoric

This has gotten under some...Very heated controversy...

Now I'm not going to say which I prefer more, and I am not going to be biased against some of the more present day animals. I will say that it may be a good idea to try to make your idea a bit more original than a copy and pasted creature....Okay so slightly biased against. If you are considering of trying to use some Giant Squirrel, or prehistoric weasel I'm not going to try to discourage you from it, but take a good long time to try to make that creature unique. It is good idea to try to implement some stylistic uniqueness to a creature. For example, the Woolly mammoth in game has a unique set of tusks, the developers made their tusks branch out and more feral looking. Or take my Miriholcorpa dossier for example. I tried to combine two creature to give it a unique skill. It's a scorpion fly that reproduces parasitically that is meant to be a blend of a wasp and a scorpionfly to give it a unique and more terrifying appearance.

If by any chance you can't think of something unique to give it, then I would advise you to start researching. Other very unique and interesting animals are out there in the prehistoric world, so don't you forget that. There's no harm in giving a dinosaur or some other animal the abilities of your present day animal. For example, I did a dossier for Sordes, a small pterosaur that was the first to prove hair on pterosaurs. Instead of making a rat, I decided to make my Sordes like a rat, giving it a rat like appearance and making it into a disease carrier.

I'm not trying to tell you to not do present day creatures. I'm sure many of you have your favorites towards them. But what I think would be best is if they are given some form of uniqueness that isn't normally found on Earth. So if you REALLY like your Nuralagus or Horned gopher, go ahead, just as long as you make them unique and creative.

4. How outworldly can we get....Hmmm...Let's give this Tyrannosaur firebreath!

This goes back to the advice about PvP. Try not to give your creature outworldly abilities like fire breath or phasing through walls....Don't even know if that exists...When a creature is given an ability in a dossier try to think of some inaccuracies a creature has. For example, Oviraptor isn't normally an egg thief, yet in game it is given the role as an egg thief. Also remember that the creatures on ARK aren't the actually creatures from the past (Except for Kairuku...For some reason). Try to give your creature a unique ability based off of something about it. For example, My Sordes was given the ability as a disease carrier for multiple reasons. One, it shares its name with a disease called Sordes and two, Sordes's name means scum. Try to base an animal's abilities off of some references. Whether it is an inaccuracy, or it is something in its history of being discovered, its decendents, or even its name can all give you some inspiration about its abilities. Always try not to make them too outlandish though.

5. They have feelings too!

Making a creature is like making a character...Characters have personalities. When making a creature's personality, try to base it off of logical reasons...Don't do what the diplodocus dossier did. Let's look at my Saltasaurus dossier for instance. Saltasaurus is given a playful personality because it is almost nigh-invincible. Because of its invinciblility, it has little to fear from most creatures. See, logical reasoning. Of course, your creature doesn't HAVE to havea personality. But it is going to need a temperment. I'll mention the temperments below.

• Skittish-Creature gets afraid easily, whether they are approached or attacked.
• Curious-Creature will usually approach the player innocently and follow them around.
• Aggressive-Creature will attack on sight.
• Reactive- Creature will change under certain circumstances, so will change from docile to aggressive if attacked.
• Docile-creature is peaceful.
• Passive-Creature attacks if attacked
• Short-tempered- Creature attacks if you are near.
• Territorial-Creature attacks if get into a certain area, similar to Short tempered except specific to area.
• Patient-Creature will wait to attack something.

Sorry if there are some I missed. The main reason for that is because they either A. haven't been released or B. I can't find any difference to these ones.

Resources

https://www.pinterest.com/SusanStieglitz/critters/

Here is some inspiration for a creature you want. Big thanks to Susan Claire for giving us this amazing link

http://tutsplus.com/authors/monika-zagrobelna

Monika gives out great tutorials for creating creatures, whether photoshop or not. This is a great place to start if you want to make pictorial dossiers.

http://www.strangeanimals.info/search/label/Octopuses

Want some strange abilities? This is the place. You'd be surprised how crazy the world gets.

http://www.mtxgaming.com/ark-dossier-template.html

Fan made dossier template. Also includes the downloads for the Texts that you need.

 

Need more help? Put it in the comments!

If you need any more help I'll be glad to reply to you back. However, I will not take requests, why? Because I don't want to do the dossier for you, I want to see what you can accomplish.

I'll see what more advice and resources can be put up if I can. If you have any more advice or resources to be put up here it'd be a great help