An opportunity for an artistic reboot in ASA

[KingOfAshes]

I have recently started playing around a bit with creature mods on PC (previously only played the game on consoles till it became largely unplayable in PS5) and I was struck by the amount of creatures modders have implemented in game.

Now, I have always been a fan of having real life based creatures in the game instead of utterly fictional ones.  I can see from a developer/content perspective point of view how this can limit the opportunities to implement striking and impactful new creatures with significantly varied abilities.  However, this can also act as a double edged sword by implementing creatures that do not really fit the visual aesthetics of the world as well as increasing the chance of creature capabilities becoming increasingly unbalanced.

Additionally and perhaps unsurprisingly, in terms of creature design and animation work, the creatures that have been introduced in the last 3yrs or so are of far higher quality than all of the previous ones creating a somewhat striking difference between them. Sometimes it feels like they're from different games.

So, where am I going with all this you ask? Well, with ASA being a re-boot that doesn't have to worry about removing creatures players owned this may be the perfect opportunity to bring ARK back to a more grounded in reality art style.  Also with the benefit of hindsight of what all the DLC maps will offer, creatures can be removed and redesigned to create a better synergy.

To be specific, I mean that they could chose not to implement creatures that are wholly fantastical, especially inorganic and replace them with creatures of similar capabilities that keep the more ''realistic/plausible'' visual look. It's like going down the route that say Jurassic Park did with the Indominus Rex, Morellatops, Dragoniasarus for some examples. Effectively combining visual attributes of real creatures to create creatures that appear somewhat grounded in reality.  But, not creatures like Golems or Magmasaurus. Now don't get me wrong, from an artistic point of view, I do actually love some of these creatures but at the same time feel like they're creating a very confused sense of the world building. that I feel detracts from the overall feel. 

Given the creature voting is being based on real life creatures, I do get the sense that Devs would like to move the game's art towards this direction and the submissions themselves have shown the potential for such creature designs to be just as exciting and cool. 

Background wise, these can be attributed as always to rogue Master controllers experimenting or creating adaptations to suit the specific Arks.  Mutations or evolutions diverging from the original creatures due to specific Ark environments etc. 

Tech creatures can instead become more striking looking boss/cave minions  etc. Also given the existence of space biomes or Gen2 space ships the tech creatures could still find a home there creating the more strikingly different biomes.

I'd like to what other people feel about the art direction of ASA and if they'd prefer such a shift in art direction even if it means not re-creating some creatures that have become perhaps 'classic staples' in ASE.

[Pipinghot]

2 hours ago, KingOfAshes said:

So, where am I going with all this you ask? Well, with ASA being a re-boot that doesn't have to worry about removing creatures players owned this may be the perfect opportunity to bring ARK back to a more grounded in reality art style.  Also with the benefit of hindsight of what all the DLC maps will offer, creatures can be removed and redesigned to create a better synergy.

What you're basically describing is ARK2, or at least something like it.

No matter what you or I (or anyone else) might want, ASA is by no means a reboot of ARK. How much of an upgrade it will be is highly debatable and has been covered by many other threads so we don't need to go into it here. What ASA really is, is migrating ARK from UE4 to UE5, reskinning some graphical stuff and adding a few new token creatures.

WC has no intention of making ASA a substantially different game from ASE, no intention of rebooting anything, much less removing creatures from the game and completely changing the way each map will work. ASA is ASE with a few new tidbits, that's all it is and all it's going to be.

While I understand what you're thinking and why you might suggest it, it's important to understand that nothing at all like this is going to happen. WC has already announced their intentions for ASA very clearly, and repeatedly, and nothing fundamental about those intentions is going to change.

You'll just have to hope that ARK2 is more like what you're looking for.

[Voidtoker]

Delusional. 

 

It’s strange how anyone can be a fan of this game and have this much faith in WC. They are ALREADY behind their release date for ASA. 

If you don’t want things such as Rock Elementals in the game than mod them out.

They should erase tames people love because YOU find it unrealistic? Wild. 

[Duffmek]

what u ask for is a 'new' game asa is is just ase reskinned with the nice elements implimented from / included WITH UE5 - however with snails financal records becoming live now and many reasons why asa is getting charged for / delayed i will be shocked if ark 2 even sees the light of day ... snail will either have to make a windfall of cash on ASA and the premium mod thing or they have a high chance of going under ....

for context ... 9 mins in for the reports etc .. or just look them up online if u wish

[KingOfAshes]

On 8/18/2023 at 9:40 AM, Voidtoker said:

Delusional. 

 

It’s strange how anyone can be a fan of this game and have this much faith in WC. They are ALREADY behind their release date for ASA. 

If you don’t want things such as Rock Elementals in the game than mod them out.

They should erase tames people love because YOU find it unrealistic? Wild. 

You don't need to be so aggressive about a simple question of whether or not you'd prefer a slight change in art direction. You can always just say you prefer the mix of the fantasy style. It's a simple question to gauge people's feeling on it.

I harbour no delusions about the intent to make it as close as possible to a direct port without major changes. However,  given their stated goals and the way each new map and creature pool is re-created, such a thing wouldn't cause a significant deviation theoretically if they liked to go that direction. 

Now, one can take the fatalist approach and not try to contribute anything because '' it'll never happen '' or discuss and suggest on the odd chance of potentially influencing decision making. At the end of the day, as the saying goes, you'll never get if you don't ask. 

As for the moding argument, it works both ways in that you can mod the old ones back in.

Edited August 21, 2023 by KingOfAshes

[Voidtoker]

19 minutes ago, KingOfAshes said:

You don't need to be so aggressive about a simple question of whether or not you'd prefer a slight change in art direction. You can always just say you prefer the mix of the fantasy style. It's a simple question to gauge people's feeling on it.

I harbour no delusions about the intent to make it as close as possible to a direct port without major changes. However,  given their stated goals and the way each new map and creature pool is re-created, such a thing wouldn't cause a significant deviation theoretically if they liked to go that direction. 

Now, one can take the fatalist approach and not suggest anything because '' it'll never happen '' or discuss and suggest on the odd chance of potentially influencing decision making. At the end of the day, as the saying goes, you'll never get if you don't ask. 

I will reiterate, delusional.