Sunken Scoop 1: Introducing the Scoop, Vote Winners, New Creatures and More!

[ashgcy]

Welcome to the very first Sunken Scoop!

So what is the Sunken Scoop? Well, much like the official Community Crunches, we at the ARK: The Sunken World (TSW) team thought it'd be a swell idea to release fortnightly/monthly updates on all things Sunken! We may be moving away from the informal concept art/model/etc reveals we do in our discord if people are liking this format!

To those unfamiliar with the mod, we are a dedicated team of individuals who are looking to spruce up the ocean biome in the same way that Scorched Earth offered a unique, biome specific challenge to survival. New creatures, resources, structures, items and more, all set on a huge custom map, we're looking to give ARK's oceans the TLC they deserve! The main goal is to bridge that huge gap between early and late game ocean exploration, and make it much more viable and more fun to live a life beneath the waves! This is unofficial content and is only related to our mod. It is in no way related with the official game and its content releases. Now with that out of the way, let's get into the news!

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CREATURE VOTE WINNER

Creature votes have been all the rage (in both popularity and some people's attitudes at winners :P) recently, and TSW has joined the bandwagon. This week, we hosted a smaller community vote between 5 creatures: Magyarosaurus, Diving Beetle, Shonisaurus, Cretoxyrhina and Odobenocetops.

Well, the results are in... and in an unprecedented turn of events, it's a tie! Our winners are the Diving Beetle, everyone's favourite Ballistic Motor-bug, and Shonisaurus,  everyone's equally loved Vortex Hunting Ichthysaur! Due to this unexpected turn of events, why not throw caution to the wind... we're adding them both!  A highly manoeuvreable arthropod mount, able to be saddled up with some additional torpedo launchers, and the mothership of the marine reptiles, with a powerful vortex-creating hunting strategy, are going to be wreaking some havoc in TSW's seas! We'll polish up the looks of the two winners in the coming days/weeks and you'll see them join our official roster very soon!

Don't fret too much about the other contenders too! We'll be placing them in our "Fish Locker", a collection of shelved ideas that we'd love to add to the mod if time and resources permits us to. No promises, but your favourite may have a shot at redemption!

For those curious how the voting went, see here. Big thanks to ZCI for the mockups for these community favourites!

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NEW CREATURES

In addition to the vote winner, we are also adding two new creatures to our roster! Introducing Aquilolamna and Cartorhynchus! Read about their mechanics below, and thanks to ZCI5250 for providing the concept art!

Aquilolamna: The Jet-Powered Eagle Shark!

Common Name: Aquilolamna
Species: Aquilolamna velociptera (Speedy Winged Eagle Shark)

Summary: A gracile oddball of a shark that can be found lazily cruising through the sunlit waters. Do not be fooled by its slow speed however, for with a flick of its powerful fins, an Aquilolamna can become the fastest creature in the oceans. It is also surprisingly agile, and is able to turn 180º in an instant. This shark is even able to barrel roll in the water to momentarily give itself a speed boost. On top of that, most Aquilolamna riders fit their saddles with bloody rockets that allow them to boost out of the water and travel impressive distances! Just be careful not to crash into the floor, as your Aquilo will be heavily damaged.

Cartorhynchus: Your New Best Friend!

Common Name: Cartorhynchus
Species: Cartorhynchus adorabilis (Adorable Shortened Snout)

Summary: A small inquisitive ichthyosaur found in reefs and deep ocean biomes, they can harness the bioluminescence on their bodies to function as living spotlights. These semi-aquatic reptiles can be domesticated by playing with them. Cartorhynchus seem to be naturally attracted to crop plots and other planter structures, and when domesticated, they'll happily gather from your gardens and distribute fodder crops to nearby feeding troughs.

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WHAT WE'VE BEEN WORKING ON

In addition to the community vote, we've still been hard at work on our huge roster of creatures (with these new additions we're up to 44 custom creatures excluding variants). The big thing we've been working on recently is Ferrodraco ferox - The Feral Iron Dragon. This terrifying pterosaur will be the apex predator of the volcanic islands, and we've given it a quite literal glow up! Here's what the brute's facial patterns and glow regions might look like! This wonderful work was done by Nitz, a highly talented modeller we're lucky to have on the team!

Perhaps it'll be safer to live under the sea with this fellow flying around...

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Thanks for tuning into the first edition of the Sunken Scoop! Please let us know your thoughts on this new way to deliver news, and have a wonderful timezone!

If this is your first time seeing TSW, check out the links below to find out more! Please note that if you want to play our mod, you need both the map and creature mod active.
Discord: https://discord.gg/BAkvgc7
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ArkSunken
Map Mod: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2182740759
Creature Mod:https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/?id=2182770728

Edited March 23 by ashgcy

[aR0y2810]

TSW = The Sunken W

[apcobe]

This is so based!!! I'm hype the beetle got in, and the fact that y'all went w/both is hype.

[danlillis]

yes i totaly like this new format and i love the winners and damn 44 creatures u guys got alot of work to work on not just with the map and new weapons,structures ect: XD.... but atleast ur haveing fun and enjoying what ur working on while bringing something fresh and new to the game along with the oceanic tlc with ur map that its gonna bring i've said this before and ill say it again ur map with everything included could easyly rival wildcards work with gen1 oceans... and i feel it surpasses it as a ocean map and yes ik gen1 isn't intirely about the ocean wich is also why gen1 in a way is better then sunken world because divirsty in landscape and creatures anyways... enough of me compareing offical to unoffical both maps are wonderful and i am glad they are a thing by talented people ❤️

[TroodonYT]

This truly is a tsw sweep

[Dinobros2000]

Ohhh ferrodracos looking incredible now! I like the new format more personally, something more exciting about a crunch.

[D4rkAzu]

so hyped all of these look amazing

 

[AnkleShark]

This gives me a subnautica feel. I would love if they did a bit so that we could easier make underwater bases and survive under water. 

[Jarheadcrash]

Love the look of the dinos

[ashgcy]

4 hours ago, AnkleShark said:

This gives me a subnautica feel. I would love if they did a bit so that we could easier make underwater bases and survive under water. 

We’re going to be introducing a new structure tier that functions as primitive vacuum compartments for base building! This will be accessible faaaar earlier than vacuum compartments and will let you settle under the sea without worrying about tek.

In addition, there’s creatures currently in the mod that function as primitive scuba tanks/produce oxygen underwater.
Our anomalocaris is a living scuba tank, and our henodus is a platform creature than can bury into the sea floor and make oxygen for you to breathe