Anyone else expecting an announcement that ARK 2 and ASA are the same game?

[Thalana]

Sooo, they're both on UE5, ARK 2 has been delayed multiple times. The concept art for ASA is high quality and matches the vibe and detail of the concept art for ARK 2. ASA doesn't even have a discussion page on these forums, just ARK 2. ASA doesn't have a Steam page yet either, despite an October release, just ARK 2. What truly differentiates ASA from ARK 2? Is it the campaign, vaulting, swinging and other parkour? Detailed creatures? ASA is said to have an 'evergreen' foundation, it's also adding a ton of new features and customization, and it wouldn't make sense to throw the low-textured creatures that didn't get a TLC into ASA, so why wouldn't it also get more detailed creatures?

I'm just curious, why develop two similar games concurrently? There was also mention during the ASA announcement and details of a canon DLC for ASA releasing this year. Wouldn't that be ARK 2 anyways? At this point what's really going on here? I expect a big announcement or something soon as it's all very confusing, the community is in the dark and "ASA" is next month. IMO, ASA is ARK 2, but early access. It just doesn't make any sense what they're doing. I'm also not saying I wouldn't support ASA being ARK 2. We need clarity.

Edited September 11, 2023 by Thalana

[Pipinghot]

6 hours ago, Thalana said:

What truly differentiates ASA from ARK 2?

Considering neither game has been proven to exist yet, nothing differentiates them.

Then again, WC didn't sign a contract worth over $4M committing to publish ARK2, so I guess that's a difference. ASA will get published no matter how much of a pile of garbage it is. But no one can say for sure that ARK2 will ever exist, so that's the main difference.

6 hours ago, Thalana said:

I'm just curious, why develop two similar games concurrently?

They're not. no one should enable their marketing lies by supporting the idea that ASA is truly 'developing a game'. They're reskinning their existing game in a desperate cash grab, hoping that enough people will be suckers and give them money a second time to keep playing the same game.

6 hours ago, Thalana said:

There was also mention during the ASA announcement and details of a canon DLC for ASA releasing this year. Wouldn't that be ARK 2 anyways?

If you believe WildCard's previous announcements, ARK2 will have significantly different gameplay from ASE/ASA. Setting aside about WC for a minute, it's pretty clear that their original intentions for ARK2 were to truly be a different game from ASE/ASA. ARK2 wasn't supposed to look like DLC for ASE/ASA, it was supposed to be a sequel in the true sense. Whether ARK2 will ever be published, and what it will eventually look like if it does get published, is anyone's guess.

6 hours ago, Thalana said:

At this point what's really going on here? I expect a big announcement or something soon as it's all very confusing, the community is in the dark and "ASA" is next month.

There's no reason to be confused, there are plenty of youtubers and articles in the game press describing exactly what's happening with ASA, you can watch or read them if you want to understand things in more detail.

The short description is, "ASA is really still just ASE, but ported to UE5, with a couple of minor changes that aren't important". ASA is not a new game, it's not a sequel, it's not the preparation for ARK2 being released, it's nothing more than a naked cash grab to keep WC alive because their owners/managers have been mismanaging the company.

6 hours ago, Thalana said:

IMO, ASA is ARK 2, but early access.

It's not, ASA is nothing like what ARK2 is supposed to be. It's really just porting ASE to UE5 and reskinning some graphical assets. There is the possibility that WC will make more improvements in the future, there's the possibility that they will release more DLC's for ASE, but if you buy ASA at the time they put it in Early Access it will be nothing more than ASE with a different name. ASA will be 95% the exact same game as ASE. When (if) ARK2 gets released it will be significantly different from ASE/ASA.

6 hours ago, Thalana said:

It just doesn't make any sense what they're doing.

It does. They're pretending ASA is a new game in a desperate cash grab to keep the company alive.

6 hours ago, Thalana said:

We need clarity.

I'm not going to list names here on the forums, but there are plenty of youtubers who have been covering this for months, including a number of well established ARK content creators. Go check them out and you'll get the answers you're looking for. WildCard is never going to give you clarity, because lack-of-clarity is part of their plan.

[Thalana]

3 hours ago, Pipinghot said:

Considering neither game has been proven to exist yet, nothing differentiates them.

Then again, WC didn't sign a contract worth over $4M committing to publish ARK2, so I guess that's a difference. ASA will get published no matter how much of a pile of garbage it is. But no one can say for sure that ARK2 will ever exist, so that's the main difference.

They're not. no one should enable their marketing lies by supporting the idea that ASA is truly 'developing a game'. They're reskinning their existing game in a desperate cash grab, hoping that enough people will be suckers and give them money a second time to keep playing the same game.

If you believe WildCard's previous announcements, ARK2 will have significantly different gameplay from ASE/ASA. Setting aside about WC for a minute, it's pretty clear that their original intentions for ARK2 were to truly be a different game from ASE/ASA. ARK2 wasn't supposed to look like DLC for ASE/ASA, it was supposed to be a sequel in the true sense. Whether ARK2 will ever be published, and what it will eventually look like if it does get published, is anyone's guess.

There's no reason to be confused, there are plenty of youtubers and articles in the game press describing exactly what's happening with ASA, you can watch or read them if you want to understand things in more detail.

The short description is, "ASA is really still just ASE, but ported to UE5, with a couple of minor changes that aren't important". ASA is not a new game, it's not a sequel, it's not the preparation for ARK2 being released, it's nothing more than a naked cash grab to keep WC alive because their owners/managers have been mismanaging the company.

It's not, ASA is nothing like what ARK2 is supposed to be. It's really just porting ASE to UE5 and reskinning some graphical assets. There is the possibility that WC will make more improvements in the future, there's the possibility that they will release more DLC's for ASE, but if you buy ASA at the time they put it in Early Access it will be nothing more than ASE with a different name. ASA will be 95% the exact same game as ASE. When (if) ARK2 gets released it will be significantly different from ASE/ASA.

It does. They're pretending ASA is a new game in a desperate cash grab to keep the company alive.

I'm not going to list names here on the forums, but there are plenty of youtubers who have been covering this for months, including a number of well established ARK content creators. Go check them out and you'll get the answers you're looking for. WildCard is never going to give you clarity, because lack-of-clarity is part of their plan.

I'm not exactly disagreeing but I do think I'm looking at it all from a stranger angle. 

- Unreal Engine 5, Lumen, RTXDI and Nvidia DLSS
- Cleaned-up code base, making use of new technology for an evergreen ARK experience
- Dynamic water and interactive foilage
- UE5 performance gains: instance-rendering (large bases), threaded networking and native physics
- Cross-platform multiplayer and modding
- Character creation and customization improvements
- Directional sprinting and walking
- New third-person camera (with the option to opt out)
- Dynamic navigation mesh and creature pathfinding overhaul (AI pathfinding)
- Snap point improvements (new snaps, logic improvements)
- Increased foundation support, foundation height adjustments and more
- Updated mini-map (pan, zoom, pings, etc – similar to the SOTF mini-map)
- Dino and baby management quality of life improvements
- Adding wild babies to the environments
- New structures such as display cases and smaller tek teleporters
- Queueing system, ping system, photo mode, gamepad cursor, chibi slot and skins tab
- Balance passes (e.g. cave entrances, MEKs, Aberration creatures, more breedable creatures
- As written in main post, a new canonical-story expansion for ASA in Q4 2023, with 4 new creatures

That goes well beyond just being a simple reskin or remaster tbh. Especially when it's to so many maps, with new creatures, a new DLC, etc.

I do know that ARK 2 is a different game.

Both games are on UE5, both bringing those beautiful environments, both technically support the new combat systems, skill trees, parkour, etc, by being on said engine. Regardless of graphics, if ASA truly has an "evergreen" cleaned up code being on the new engine, is cross-platform and is bringing all those features, several remade maps, several creatures, and a new world beyond, it becomes clear that this is not just a casual endeavor. ASA is the full-fledged pursuit of bringing a new 'main' game to the spotlight. Yes, a cash grab and likely when it was announced they weren't considering the magnitude of how long it would take to do the above and how much of a commitment it really is.

They mentioned a new canon DLC for ASA coming in 2023 as well. If it's canon, it's continuing the story? so, yes, I am very confused on what we can really actually expect and how they're really planning this all out. AFAIK as someone who has managed an Ark community for years, most people just want Ark to not have all the issues it has and the rest is a bonus, so for those players, depending on if ASA is half-assed or not, ASA might as well be ARK 2 and ARK 2, if it ever exists, would be eventually be ARK 3 in their eyes. It remains to be seen if "ARK 2" will exist or if some of it will lowkey be integrated into ASA over time. Kind of what I'm leaning at, just poorly conveyed.

Edited September 12, 2023 by Thalana

[Shot6unprincess]

2 hours ago, Thalana said:

2 hours ago, Thalana said:

I'm not exactly disagreeing but I do think I'm looking at it all from a stranger angle. 

- Unreal Engine 5, Lumen, RTXDI and Nvidia DLSS
- Cleaned-up code base, making use of new technology for an evergreen ARK experience
- Dynamic water and interactive foilage
- UE5 performance gains: instance-rendering (large bases), threaded networking and native physics
- Cross-platform multiplayer and modding
- Character creation and customization improvements
- Directional sprinting and walking
- New third-person camera (with the option to opt out)
- Dynamic navigation mesh and creature pathfinding overhaul (AI pathfinding)
- Snap point improvements (new snaps, logic improvements)
- Increased foundation support, foundation height adjustments and more
- Updated mini-map (pan, zoom, pings, etc – similar to the SOTF mini-map)
- Dino and baby management quality of life improvements
- Adding wild babies to the environments
- New structures such as display cases and smaller tek teleporters
- Queueing system, ping system, photo mode, gamepad cursor, chibi slot and skins tab
- Balance passes (e.g. cave entrances, MEKs, Aberration creatures, more breedable creatures
- As written in main post, a new canonical-story expansion for ASA in Q4 2023, with 4 new creatures

That goes well beyond just being a simple reskin or remaster tbh. Especially when it's to so many maps, with new creatures, a new DLC, etc.

I do know that ARK 2 is a different game.

Both games are on UE5, both bringing those beautiful environments, both technically support the new combat systems, skill trees, parkour, etc, by being on said engine. Regardless of graphics, if ASA truly has an "evergreen" cleaned up code being on the new engine, is cross-platform and is bringing all those features, several remade maps, several creatures, and a new world beyond, it becomes clear that this is not just a casual endeavor. ASA is the full-fledged pursuit of bringing a new 'main' game to the spotlight. Yes, a cash grab and likely when it was announced they weren't considering the magnitude of how long it would take to do the above and how much of a commitment it really is.

They mentioned a new canon DLC for ASA coming in 2023 as well. If it's canon, it's continuing the story? so, yes, I am very confused on what we can really actually expect and how they're really planning this all out. AFAIK as someone who has managed an Ark community for years, most people just want Ark to not have all the issues it has and the rest is a bonus, so for those players, depending on if ASA is half-assed or not, ASA might as well be ARK 2 and ARK 2, if it ever exists, would be eventually be ARK 3 in their eyes. It remains to be seen if "ARK 2" will exist or if some of it will lowkey be integrated into ASA over time. Kind of what I'm leaning at, just poorly conveyed.

I agree whole heartedly with this! I hate that it’s called “just a reskin”, yes it sucks buying everything again but Bethesda did the same for SkyrimSE which improved the game so much. I cannot wait for mods on console that’s honestly what I’m most excited about, all those beautiful community created maps, creating gorgeous bases with S+, and making breeding less of a goddamn hassle by having the auto grabber for newborns and eggs is gonna be well worth the money for me. 
Wildcard is not perfect, no company is, but im also enjoying that we as a community are getting more of a say in what creatures we get in this new instalment! It’s complete feedback from us as the player base and it’s showcased the beauty and imagination of these creature creators.

idk, maybe I'm just naive but I am trying to see the positives in this, although I am wishing for some gameplay to get released soon for both ASA and Ark 2🙏🥰

[Thalana]

18 minutes ago, Shot6unprincess said:

I agree whole heartedly with this! I hate that it’s called “just a reskin”, yes it sucks buying everything again but Bethesda did the same for SkyrimSE which improved the game so much. I cannot wait for mods on console that’s honestly what I’m most excited about, all those beautiful community created maps, creating gorgeous bases with S+, and making breeding less of a goddamn hassle by having the auto grabber for newborns and eggs is gonna be well worth the money for me. 
Wildcard is not perfect, no company is, but im also enjoying that we as a community are getting more of a say in what creatures we get in this new instalment! It’s complete feedback from us as the player base and it’s showcased the beauty and imagination of these creature creators.

idk, maybe I'm just naive but I am trying to see the positives in this, although I am wishing for some gameplay to get released soon for both ASA and Ark 2🙏🥰

Positivity is great! We know that WC has severe issues with deadlines and other issues but at the end of the day we do play their game and get very passionate about it. If ASA can bring all these listed features and QoL fixes we've wanted for years, new character customization options, remastered maps and new story maps, at least 14 new creatures through 2024 by my count across all DLCs and the supposed new DLC, not to mention UE4 to UE5 being night and day with the upgraded foilage, lighting systems, dynamic water, etc, well above what we have now adding tenfold to the immersion value. If it strengthens community bonds, allows modders to create even better mods, those mods being available to all and if it sparks new life into the game and spawns years of new content and memories, at that point it's worth purchasing it again, imo at least. I just hope we get some true reveals soon and more clarity, and it'd be cool to see WC being more active like they used to be to boost community hype and morale.

Edited September 12, 2023 by Thalana

[Pipinghot]

14 hours ago, Thalana said:

I'm not exactly disagreeing but I do think I'm looking at it all from a stranger angle.

The problem is that you're listening to WC's marketing and not looking carefully enough at the things they're saying. Again, it would be really useful to you if you go look for some videos and articles that debunk what WC's saying.

What you've posted is the wishlist, everything WC would like to do (or at least what they want players to believe they want to do) when ASA goes live. But most of the items on this list are just multiple ways of saying "ported to UE5" or they're hopeful-thinking items what won't be included when ASA first gets published.

14 hours ago, Thalana said:

- Unreal Engine 5, Lumen

That's two different ways of saying the same thing. "Unreal Engine 5" and "Lumen" are both "porting to UE5". Once they say, "porting to UE5 there's no reason to list Lumen, it's already built in to UE5. WC didn't create Lumen, WC didn't make Lumen happen, it's already there just waiting for them. That's exactly the sort of list padding or exaggerating of claims that people should look out for.

14 hours ago, Thalana said:

RTXDI and Nvidia DLSS

Nvidisa DLSS has been available for two years, they could have added support for it a any time. It's not part of ASA, it's not created by or caused by ASA, it's just something they're throwing on there to make the list look bigger and try to convince people that this is extra work that's part of ASA when it's really not. RTXDI and DLSS are both features for the RTX series of video cards. It's nice they're adding support for these features if you own an RTX card, but again adding support for these features doesn't make them "part of" ASA, they're padding the list with something they could have done any time, with any DLC.

14 hours ago, Thalana said:

- Cleaned-up code base, making use of new technology for an evergreen ARK experience

That's a meaningless marketing phrase that doesn't tell us anything about the actual work being done. Every single bug fix, every single patch, every DLC they've done some work on "cleaning up the code base", that's simply part of supporting game, there's nothing special about it.

Beware of empty, buzzword marketing phrases that don't tell you anything useful.

14 hours ago, Thalana said:

- Dynamic water and interactive foilage

The 3rd item on the list that's part of porting to UE5. More list padding.

14 hours ago, Thalana said:

- UE5 performance gains: instance-rendering (large bases), threaded networking and native physics

The 4th item on the list that's part of porting to UE5. More list padding. 

14 hours ago, Thalana said:

- Cross-platform multiplayer and modding

Both of which have strong arguments that they'll be bad for the game.

1) Bad for console players (in PvP), and unimportant for PvE. It's nice if you happen to have a friend on a different platform, but you can find many examples (in many games) of PvP players complaining that cross-platform play makes the game worse for them. If it benefits you personally that's great, but it's not universally beneficial. There are plenty of games that don't include cross-platform support because not all platforms are equally good at playing the game.

2) Bad for Steam players, bad for anyone who doesn't like premium mods, and not as good for creators as it should be. (I won't say it's "bad" for creators, but they're not getting a great deal compared to other platforms). WC is pretending that it's for the benefit of the creators but they're paying the creators less than other platforms pay creators. Most platforms pay the creators 70% and keep 30%. WildCard is going to pay creators less (if I recall it's 50%) and keeping the rest. If they were really doing it to benefit the mod creators (and make no mistake about it, mods have contributed significantly to ARK's financial success, they would make sure the creators get most of the money from premium mods.

3) Overwolf - bad for everyone. The cross-platform modding also means that WC is going to make Overwolf mandatory, which is bad because OW is (and has always been) a resource hog with a long history of making players unhappy in many games. OW loves to talk about the features they add for players but on their best day it's bloatware that uses up more computer resources than it should.

14 hours ago, Thalana said:

- Character creation and customization improvements

Maybe, but probably not yet, this is most likely list padding.

Considering they've cancelled their efforts for most of the reskinning they were doing until after ASA goes live (which is to say, even most of the reskinning won't be in the game when ASA goes live) there's no reason to believe this will be included in ASA when you pay for it. They may be promising it for the future, but if you buy ASA you're buying future promises, there's no reason to believe this will actually be in the game when it goes live.

14 hours ago, Thalana said:

- Directional sprinting and walking

We can already walk and sprint in different directions so what is this other than an empty phrase to pad the list?

And even if this is an enhancement, it's so not-a-big-deal that including it in a list of "ASA features" is laughable, no one should be impressed by this "feature".

14 hours ago, Thalana said:

- New third-person camera (with the option to opt out)

So... a new version of something that's already in the game. Pointless. More list padding.

14 hours ago, Thalana said:

- Dynamic navigation mesh and creature pathfinding overhaul (AI pathfinding)

The 5th item on the list that's part of porting to UE5. More list padding.

14 hours ago, Thalana said:

- Snap point improvements (new snaps, logic improvements)

- Increased foundation support, foundation height adjustments and more

These are nice, that's true. Assuming they're actually included in the game when ASA goes live.

Keep in mind people have been asking for these improvements since the very beginning on Early Access for ASE, these improvements have existed in mods for many years now, and WC is only now, finally, getting around to making these improvements. And, of course, we don't know if they'll actually be included with ASA when it launches because they're desperately trying to meet an expensive deadline.

But hey, if they do manage to include this in ASA then that's good, glad to see they've finally done it. So far this is the only item on the list that's truly an improvement that benefits everyone. But does that make ASA a "new game"? No, it doesn't.

14 hours ago, Thalana said:

- Updated mini-map (pan, zoom, pings, etc – similar to the SOTF mini-map)

It's nice to see them finally adding basic features to the mini-map. Again, asked for since the beginning of Early Access for ASE. So yeah, glad they're finally getting around to it. Who knows, maybe they'll finally get around to making map pins scale properly with the map when you zoom. But since they didn't list map pins we can only hope.

And, as before, is this really a feature of a "new game" or is it simply an improvement to their original, crappy mini-map that could have been done at any time in the last 7 years.

14 hours ago, Thalana said:

- Dino and baby management quality of life improvements

Which they've never described in detail. Again, meaningless marketing phrases that pad the list and don't tell us anything useful.

14 hours ago, Thalana said:

- Adding wild babies to the environments

We already have wild babies, have had them for a long time, and they made the game worse. Every baby kairuku is a waste of space in the game because they're untameable, reducing the number of tameable, useful kairuku. Obviously you can still kill them in the wild, but you can do that with adults so being babies doesn't improve the game in any way.

Now, if babies are going to become tameable (which is not something WC has said) then this could be an improvement, but if they're not tameable they'll make the game worse just like baby kairuku did.

14 hours ago, Thalana said:

- New structures such as display cases and smaller tek teleporters

Just like they add new structures with every DLC, there's nothing special about new structures, nothing that requires publishing a "new game". This is just a basic run-of-the-mill enhancement just like every DLC has had.

If they were charging for ASA at the same price as the DLC's then this would be fine, but they're pretending that ASA will be a "new game" and trying to charge people for a new game when it's really not.

 Even if you want to argue that some of the items on this list are better than I've argued, this still isn't a new game. It's really just ad DLC-enhancement to ARK and should be charged for like a DLC.

14 hours ago, Thalana said:

- Queueing system, ping system, photo mode, gamepad cursor, chibi slot and skins tab

Minor enhancements - assuming they get added in time.

14 hours ago, Thalana said:

- Balance passes (e.g. cave entrances, MEKs, Aberration creatures, more breedable creatures

More of the "code enhancements" that are part of maintaining a game over time. Fixing poorly designed game balance doesn't make it a "new game", they're the type of improvements that should have been happening all along.

Look at how terrible the mission system is in Genesis, and they never bothered to fix them or even tweak them. If they decided to fix the many problems with Genesis missions would that be a "new game" or would it just be fixing things they screwed up the first time?

14 hours ago, Thalana said:

- As written in main post, a new canonical-story expansion for ASA in Q4 2023, with 4 new creatures

Which will be a separate DLC, which will be paid for separately and which could have been published for ASE without making a "new game" first. There's nothing about a new canonical story expansion that required WC to "create" ASA.

14 hours ago, Thalana said:

That goes well beyond just being a simple reskin or remaster tbh. Especially when it's to so many maps, with new creatures, a new DLC, etc.

No, it really doesn't, and that's the point. I'm not saying that WC is doing zero work, and I'm not saying that their work should be done for free. What I'm saying is that no matter how far you try to stretch your imagination this is not a new game and no one should be fooled into paying new game prices.

They could easily have published ASA as a $10-$15 DLC but instead they're trying to convince players that it's a new game and attempting a cash grab because they've been financially mismanaging their company.

If WC had been honest to begin with, if they had said, "We're going to charge $15 to port ARK to UE5 and we're going to include some minor enhancements in that price" then everything would have been great. Even though they originally said that the port to UE5 was going to be free, most people would have understood if they said that was a mistake and they were going to need to charge for the change. They could have charged the price of a DLC to port the game to UE5 and the vast majority of players would have been fine with it. But instead they've engaged in an organized campaign of disinformation, list padding, marketing lies and just general dishonesty with their players.

ASA is a naked cash grab, it's not what WC has been saying it's going to be. The game that players get when ASA goes live will be 95% the exact same game they're already playing.

 

 

Edited September 12, 2023 by Pipinghot

[Thalana]

20 minutes ago, Pipinghot said:

The problem is that you're listening to WC's marketing and not looking carefully enough at the things they're saying. Again, it would be really useful to you if you go look for some videos and articles that debunk what WC's saying.

What you've posted is the wishlist, everything WC would like to do (or at least what they want players to believe they want to do) when ASA goes live. But most of the items on this list are just multiple ways of saying "ported to UE5" or they're hopeful-thinking items what won't be included when ASA first gets published.

That's two different ways of saying the same thing. "Unreal Engine 5" and "Lumen" are both "porting to UE5". Once they say, "porting to UE5 there's no reason to list Lumen, it's already built in to UE5. WC didn't create Lumen, WC didn't make Lumen happen, it's already there just waiting for them. That's exactly the sort of list padding or exaggerating of claims that people should look out for.

Nvidisa DLSS has been available for two years, they could have added support for it a any time. It's not part of ASA, it's not created by or caused by ASA, it's just something they're throwing on there to make the list look bigger and try to convince people that this is extra work that's part of ASA when it's really not. RTXDI and DLSS are both features for the RTX series of video cards. It's nice they're adding support for these features if you own an RTX card, but again adding support for these features doesn't make them "part of" ASA, they're padding the list with something they could have done any time, with any DLC.

That's a meaningless marketing phrase that doesn't tell us anything about the actual work being done. Every single bug fix, every single patch, every DLC they've done some work on "cleaning up the code base", that's simply part of supporting game, there's nothing special about it.

Beware of empty, buzzword marketing phrases that don't tell you anything useful.

The 3rd item on the list that's part of porting to UE5. More list padding.

The 4th item on the list that's part of porting to UE5. More list padding. 

Both of which have strong arguments that they'll be bad for the game.

1) Bad for console players (in PvP), and unimportant for PvE. It's nice if you happen to have a friend on a different platform, but you can find many examples (in many games) of PvP players complaining that cross-platform play makes the game worse for them. If it benefits you personally that's great, but it's not universally beneficial. There are plenty of games that don't include cross-platform support because not all platforms are equally good at playing the game.

2) Bad for Steam players, bad for anyone who doesn't like premium mods, and not as good for creators as it should be. (I won't say it's "bad" for creators, but they're not getting a great deal compared to other platforms). WC is pretending that it's for the benefit of the creators but they're paying the creators less than other platforms pay creators. Most platforms pay the creators 70% and keep 30%. WildCard is going to pay creators less (if I recall it's 50%) and keeping the rest. If they were really doing it to benefit the mod creators (and make no mistake about it, mods have contributed significantly to ARK's financial success, they would make sure the creators get most of the money from premium mods.

3) Overwolf - bad for everyone. The cross-platform modding also means that WC is going to make Overwolf mandatory, which is bad because OW is (and has always been) a resource hog with a long history of making players unhappy in many games. OW loves to talk about the features they add for players but on their best day it's bloatware that uses up more computer resources than it should.

Maybe, but probably not yet, this is most likely list padding.

Considering they've cancelled their efforts for most of the reskinning they were doing until after ASA goes live (which is to say, even most of the reskinning won't be in the game when ASA goes live) there's no reason to believe this will be included in ASA when you pay for it. They may be promising it for the future, but if you buy ASA you're buying future promises, there's no reason to believe this will actually be in the game when it goes live.

We can already walk and sprint in different directions so what is this other than an empty phrase to pad the list?

And even if this is an enhancement, it's so not-a-big-deal that including it in a list of "ASA features" is laughable, no one should be impressed by this "feature".

So... a new version of something that's already in the game. Pointless. More list padding.

The 5th item on the list that's part of porting to UE5. More list padding.

These are nice, that's true. Assuming they're actually included in the game when ASA goes live.

Keep in mind people have been asking for these improvements since the very beginning on Early Access for ASE, these improvements have existed in mods for many years now, and WC is only now, finally, getting around to making these improvements. And, of course, we don't know if they'll actually be included with ASA when it launches because they're desperately trying to meet an expensive deadline.

But hey, if they do manage to include this in ASA then that's good, glad to see they've finally done it. So far this is the only item on the list that's truly an improvement that benefits everyone. But does that make ASA a "new game"? No, it doesn't.

It's nice to see them finally adding basic features to the mini-map. Again, asked for since the beginning of Early Access for ASE. So yeah, glad they're finally getting around to it. Who knows, maybe they'll finally get around to making map pins scale properly with the map when you zoom. But since they didn't list map pins we can only hope.

And, as before, is this really a feature of a "new game" or is it simply an improvement to their original, crappy mini-map that could have been done at any time in the last 7 years.

Which they've never described in detail. Again, meaningless marketing phrases that pad the list and don't tell us anything useful.

We already have wild babies, have had them for a long time, and they made the game worse. Every baby kairuku is a waste of space in the game because they're untameable, reducing the number of tameable, useful kairuku. Obviously you can still kill them in the wild, but you can do that with adults so being babies doesn't improve the game in any way.

Now, if babies are going to become tameable (which is not something WC has said) then this could be an improvement, but if they're not tameable they'll make the game worse just like baby kairuku did.

Just like they add new structures with every DLC, there's nothing special about new structures, nothing that requires publishing a "new game". This is just a basic run-of-the-mill enhancement just like every DLC has had.

If they were charging for ASA at the same price as the DLC's then this would be fine, but they're pretending that ASA will be a "new game" and trying to charge people for a new game when it's really not.

 Even if you want to argue that some of the items on this list are better than I've argued, this still isn't a new game. It's really just ad DLC-enhancement to ARK and should be charged for like a DLC.

Minor enhancements - assuming they get added in time.

More of the "code enhancements" that are part of maintaining a game over time. Fixing poorly designed game balance doesn't make it a "new game", they're the type of improvements that should have been happening all along.

Look at how terrible the mission system is in Genesis, and they never bothered to fix them or even tweak them. If they decided to fix the many problems with Genesis missions would that be a "new game" or would it just be fixing things they screwed up the first time?

Which will be a separate DLC, which will be paid for separately and which could have been published for ASE without making a "new game" first. There's nothing about a new canonical story expansion that required WC to "create" ASA.

No, it really doesn't, and that's the point. I'm not saying that WC is doing zero work, and I'm not saying that their work should be done for free. What I'm saying is that no matter how far you try to stretch your imagination this is not a new game and no one should be fooled into paying new game prices.

They could easily have published ASA as a $10-$15 DLC but instead they're trying to convince players that it's a new game and attempting a cash grab because they've been financially mismanaging their company.

If WC had been honest to begin with, if they had said, "We're going to charge $15 to port ARK to UE5 and we're going to include some minor enhancements in that price" then everything would have been great. Even though they originally said that the port to UE5 was going to be free, most people would have understood if they said that was a mistake and they were going to need to charge for the change. They could have charged the price of a DLC to port the game to UE5 and the vast majority of players would have been fine with it. But instead they've engaged in an organized campaign of disinformation, list padding, marketing lies and just general dishonesty with their players.

ASA is a naked cash grab, it's not what WC has been saying it's going to be. The game that players get when ASA goes live will be 95% the exact same game they're already playing.

 

 

I agree with some of this but I see a lot of excessive scrutinizing, opinion off-loading and speculation in this response. Until we see true gameplay reveals it's easy to assume this or that because we know WC based on the past with their short-cuts, lies and padding, sure, but it's still mostly speculation until we absolutely know. I've seen all the different takes on Youtube. For all the mistakes they've made and continue to make and for how much they probably resent the community and vice-versa, I do think they are trying to make ASA something to carry them forward, I mean, they have no choice to stay afloat. I just want to understand that direction more and return to regular dialogue.

I do think some positivity is needed because regardless of what we know/think WC is about to do based on the past, clearly ASA is going to require all-hands on deck and clearly it is a 1-2 year+ flagship project if they are to make it a success, do all the maps, add new content, and add anything else on top of that. I also think, if they utilize UE5 fully, that the graphical and immersion value boost could be very significant and that alone could for many players justify the purchase and there's nothing wrong with that. Remasters tend to usually happen for single-player games and be a moderate recoating, going from UE4 to UE5 and this game having online servers makes it a bit different.

[Pipinghot]

17 hours ago, Thalana said:

I agree with some of this but I see a lot of excessive scrutinizing

It's only "excessive" if your goal is to give WC a free pass on their dishonesty. True or false, real or not real, honest or dishonest, truth or lies, these things can only be discussed if you're willing to scrutinize the details.

If one's goal is to hide the truth behind a smoke screen then they can just wave their hands and complain that it's excessive, but one wishes to have an honest discussion then the details matter. How many exaggerations and falsehoods does WC need to publish before you decide to scrutinize the things they're saying?

If you don't care about the truth, if it doesn't bother you that WC is being deliberately dishonest, that's certainly your choice. If you want to give them money for something that's absolutely not a "new game" that's also your choice. But don't be surprised when other people complain and explain about WC's dishonesty.

17 hours ago, Thalana said:

opinion off-loading and speculation in this response.

Some people's opinions and speculations are based on reasoning and scrutinizing the honesty of WC's claims, while other opinions and speculations are based on wishful thinking and ignoring the reality of WC's past behaviors. If you just want to believe everything they say in spite of their well documented history, that's your choice, but that choice is based entirely on speculation and believing everything WC says.

And that choice still doesn't change the fact that multiple items on that list were just different ways of saying "port ASE to UE5". That's not just an opinion, it's an honest comparison between WC's list and the features of UE5.

17 hours ago, Thalana said:

Until we see true gameplay reveals it's easy to assume this or that because we know WC based on the past with their short-cuts, lies and padding, sure, but it's still mostly speculation until we absolutely know.

So you admit that the list published by WC is meaningless until true gameplay is revealed. In that case why did you make the claim that, "That goes well beyond just being a simple reskin or remaster tbh." You didn't have any problem expressing your opinion and speculating that WC is going to deliver on that list, but when someone provides a series of specific arguments that the list is bloated and/or potentially not going to really happen suddenly you describe the response as speculation.

If you're being honest, we're all speculating. But some speculation is grounded in reality and WC's history, while other speculation is based on uncritically accepting WC's list that's made up of marketing material padded with features that are built into UE5.

17 hours ago, Thalana said:

 I've seen all the different takes on Youtube. For all the mistakes they've made and continue to make and for how much they probably resent the community and vice-versa, I do think they are trying to make ASA something to carry them forward, I mean, they have no choice to stay afloat.

Agreed, that's true. Which is all the more reason to take anything they say with a grain of salt. WC is desperate to make money to stay in business, which is not a situation that should lead you to believe everything they say. When people are desperate to make money, that's exactly when you should scrutinize their claims in detail. As you say, "They have no choice to stay afloat", which means the last thing you should do is trust them.

17 hours ago, Thalana said:

I just want to understand that direction more and return to regular dialogue.

Which is precisely what they're not going to do. As previously noted, WC's entire strategy over the last few month has been a big game of smoke and mirrors. Obfuscation, exaggerated claims, trying to take credit for UE5 features, being unclear in their communications and/or ignoring players' requests for more transparency - these are all deliberate features of their current campaign of (mis)communication and marketing. They're not going to give you clarity, because clarity is exactly what they're trying to avoid.

17 hours ago, Thalana said:

I do think some positivity is needed because regardless of what we know/think WC is about to do based on the past, clearly ASA is going to require all-hands on deck and clearly it is a 1-2 year+ flagship project if they are to make it a success

That is soooo not true. Plenty of games have ported to UE5 (or are in the process of porting to UE5) for free. It's simply not as hard as WC wants people to believe.

It cannot, by definition, be a "1-2 year+" effort because they are contractually obligated to publish in a couple of months or face some pretty stiff financial penalties. ASA didn't even exist as a concept until somewhere in the Jan-Mar time frame. As a reminder, in January there was the announcement on Twitter that porting ARK to UE5 would be free. That was it, the whole thing, port ARK to UE5 for free. Nothing about ASA, nothing about enhancements, nothing about new DLC's, nothing about new dinos for all the maps, just port to UE5. And then in March they reneged on that promise, completely changed course and suddenly announced ASA. This is not something they had been working on, planning or even thinking about. Someone at WC/Snail realized they were in financial trouble and had a sudden inspiration that they would try to scam their player base out of money with a "new game" that would be functionally identical to the existing game.

That's exactly why they are padding their list of "accomplishments", pretending that things take a lot more work than they really do and taking credit for features that are built in to UE5. ASA could easily have been accomplished as a DLC but they want to convince people that it's a new game. If you fall for that scam then it's your responsibility. You can spend your money however you want, but that doesn't mean WC is honest or to be trusted.

17 hours ago, Thalana said:

I also think, if they utilize UE5 fully, that the graphical and immersion value boost could be very significant and that alone could for many players justify the purchase and there's nothing wrong with that. Remasters tend to usually happen for single-player games and be a moderate recoating, going from UE4 to UE5 and this game having online servers makes it a bit different.

Again, plenty of games have ported, or are in the process of porting, to UE5 for free.

That's the whole point of using UE5 (or Unity, or any other game engine). The game engine does most of the work for you and then you make changes to take advantage of the new features. The reasons that developers use game engines is because it's much, much easier to migrate to a new version of the engine than it would be if they designed and built their own game engine. Unreal has already done most of the hard work, WC has the easy part, that's why developers pay a fee to UE in the first place.

Edited September 13, 2023 by Pipinghot

[ritayong]

I haven't heard of this information.

 

 

_Tutuapp

Edited September 26, 2023 by ritayong

[wildbill]

8 minutes ago, ritayong said:

I haven't heard of this information.

Well you just read it here. This is the companion discussion to is ASA really a new game or just a reskin.

Until ASA is actually released, we won't know just how much it is different than ASE. 

My theory is that all UE5 games are really just all the same game, but with different skins 😀

[CervantesMor]

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"all this" should be copied on the front page (among the first comments) in every Community Crounch of every week!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Grissom]

22 hours ago, Pipinghot said:

Again, plenty of games have ported, or are in the process of porting, to UE5 for free.

That's the whole point of using UE5 (or Unity, or any other game engine). The game engine does most of the work for you and then you make changes to take advantage of the new features. The reasons that developers use game engines is because it's much, much easier to migrate to a new version of the engine than it would be if they designed and built their own game engine. Unreal has already done most of the hard work, WC has the easy part, that's why developers pay a fee to UE in the first place.

I love when people bring this up. Plenty of SINGLE player games or pure cartoon graphics like fortnite and games with very very simple mechanics and no online play(servers and 24/7 admin or support desk). it's very obvious you are someone with very little knowledge in what it takes to port the island to UE5. It not as simple as some port and Reskin tool.  I'm sure someone in your college computer science class told you it was as simple as this but its 100% not. 

I'm not taking up for Wildcard here they have made blaring mistake with there info and PR campaigned and made themselves look very bad along with snail doing what they do and destroying every IP they purchase with dirty and poor business decisions. A UE5 remaster of ARK is a way bigger undertaking than you think here. It's very obvious regardless of how educated you seem to think you are on this subject moving the maps and all textures for every asset to UE5 on this one fact you are way off it is a major undertaking to do it properly.

[wildbill]

12 hours ago, CervantesMor said:

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"all this" should be copied on the front page (among the first comments) in every Community Crounch of every week!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why? If this was your business, would you post on your Community Crunch a bunch of people trash talking your game?

If anyone wants to read the trash that is in these forums, they already can. I read it for entertainment purposes only. Not to be informed of what is happening in ARK like I would expect from the Community Crunch.

[CervantesMor]

11 hours ago, wildbill said:

If anyone wants to read the trash that is in these forums, they already can. I read it for entertainment purposes only. Not to be informed of what is happening in ARK like I would expect from the Community Crunch.

Exactly for this reason!! to BE INFORMED, and as you say the CC is the place where information is expected, here many people don't even look at us.

[wildbill]

47 minutes ago, CervantesMor said:

Exactly for this reason!! to BE INFORMED, and as you say the CC is the place where information is expected, here many people don't even look at us.

Of what? If this topic is an example, it is an example of people speculating and 2nd guessing. No information of any use at all in this topic. This forum has been a good place to ask questions and get information, although generally most times you would be better off just doing a Google search. Lately it is like 10x more toxic than it was a year ago. 

[Pipinghot]

20 hours ago, Grissom said:

I love when people bring this up. Plenty of SINGLE player games or pure cartoon graphics like fortnite and games with very very simple mechanics and no online play

Your argument demonstrates a lack of understanding of how game engine migrations work. The difficulty of migrating from UE4 to UE5 is not based on the graphics, cartoon or otherwise, the difficulty is based on the underlying code that runs the game mechanics. The physics engine, pooping, egg laying, ballistics, weapons damage, harvesting, taming, breeding, building (in both ARK and Fortnite)... and so on, these are the elements of a game that dictate the difficulty of the migration.

Upgrading graphics is not a required part of the migration, it's an add-on project that takes place subsequent to the migration. You can't take advantage of UE5 graphical features until after you port the game from UE4 to UE5. Anyone who claims that migrating from UE4 to UE5 requires changes to the graphics doesn't understand UE nor do they understand the migration project (or they're trying to dishonestly fool players with exaggerated claims, like WC has been doing).

When Jeremy Stieglitz first announced that they were migrating ARK from UE4 to UE5 for free, this is exactly what he meant - migrating the underlying game engine with additional changes (like graphics) to come at a later date.

Migrating from UE4 to UE5 for free is the industry standard, across games with a wide variety of graphics and back-end systems. For WC & Snail to pretend that it's so much more difficult for ARK than for other games is dishonest, it's nothing but smoke and mirrors designed to squeeze money out of people.

20 hours ago, Grissom said:

it's very obvious you are someone with very little knowledge in what it takes to port the island to UE5. It not as simple as some port and Reskin tool.  I'm sure someone in your college computer science class told you it was as simple as this but its 100% not. 

Swing and a miss. Years of IT experience, including plenty of experience with application migrations. Just because you are underinformed doesn't mean other people are. Fortunately for this discussion neither your experience nor my experience is the issue, we don't need to waste time slapping our resumes on the table to see who's is bigger.

The experience that matters is WildCard's, and in this case specifically Jeremy Stieglitz' experience. He's one of the founders of WildCard Studios, he's been intimately involved in the game from the very beginning and it should be incredibly obvious he has tons and tons of experience that is relevant to this discussion. If anyone has a good idea of how easy or difficult it would be to migrate ARK from UE4 to UE5 he would be near the top of the list, and he's the guy who announced to the world that it would be free. This happened before the campaign of dishonesty was started by WildCard and Snail, it should be obvious to anyone that he exposed the truth before the lies and desperate cash grab became the main story.

Don't want to believe me? That's fine, it's the internet and you don't know me. But if credentials and a deep understanding of ARK are what you're looking for then Jeremy has them, and he's the one who said they could do it for free.

20 hours ago, Grissom said:

I'm not taking up for Wildcard here they have made blaring mistake with there info and PR campaigned and made themselves look very bad along with snail doing what they do and destroying every IP they purchase with dirty and poor business decisions. A UE5 remaster of ARK is a way bigger undertaking than you think here.

So you believe that the corporate entities "have made a blaring mistake" at best, or have a history of "destroying every IP" at worst, but then you argue that we should trust them and believe them when they claim it's more difficult than the rest of the games industry says it is. That's an interesting contradiction within your own arguments.

20 hours ago, Grissom said:

It's very obvious regardless of how educated you seem to think you are on this subject moving the maps and all textures for every asset to UE5 on this one fact you are way off it is a major undertaking to do it properly.

Again, just because you don't understand something doesn't mean that other people share your lack of understanding.

Edited September 14, 2023 by Pipinghot

[Grissom]

4 hours ago, Pipinghot said:

Swing and a miss. Years of IT experience, including plenty of experience with application migrations. Just because you are underinformed doesn't mean other people are. Fortunately for this discussion neither your experience nor my experience is the issue, we don't need to waste time slapping our resumes on the table to see who's is bigger.

The experience that matters is WildCard's, and in this case specifically Jeremy Stieglitz' experience. He's one of the founders of WildCard Studios, he's been intimately involved in the game from the very beginning and it should be incredibly obvious he has tons and tons of experience that is relevant to this discussion. If anyone has a good idea of how easy or difficult it would be to migrate ARK from UE4 to UE5 he would be near the top of the list, and he's the guy who announced to the world that it would be free. This happened before the campaign of dishonesty was started by WildCard and Snail, it should be obvious to anyone that he exposed the truth before the lies and desperate cash grab became the main story.

Don't want to believe me? That's fine, it's the internet and you don't know me. But if credentials and a deep understanding of ARK are what you're looking for then Jeremy has them, and he's the one who said they could do it for free.

This has nothing to do with what I said here I was Testing this game and giving feedback to the Dev team at wildcard before the steam release of this game I am very familiar with how the studio worked at least back in the beginning before snail dug in and started really forcing themselves on the studio. Jeremy never said it was "easy" to port the game from UE4 to UE5. This is just a angry rant about not getting the upgrade for free. And by the way PLEASE show me where these gaming industry professional are all saying ark is a easy port from UE4 to UE5.  Again this is just more angry rant here.  You want to keep comparing old single player games and cartoon ports with nintendo switch textures like fortnite to something like ARK. its blaringly obvious its some angry bias.  I've already said the company makes bad business decisions but it has nothing to do with the difficulty of the change over.

Call it a cash grab or whatever you want but looking at the financial records. Ark was dead in the next 2 years if something didn't happen. Also i don't blame wildcard for their financial situation.  If you want more info on how snail wrecks these studios and forces them into these situation when they get into financial trouble read up on Dark and Light. I was helping developers with that project when they tanked it intentionally.

Edited September 14, 2023 by Grissom

[Duffmek]

On 9/12/2023 at 3:02 AM, Thalana said:

I'm not exactly disagreeing but I do think I'm looking at it all from a stranger angle. 

- Unreal Engine 5, Lumen, RTXDI and Nvidia DLSS
- Cleaned-up code base, making use of new technology for an evergreen ARK experience
- Dynamic water and interactive foilage
- UE5 performance gains: instance-rendering (large bases), threaded networking and native physics
- Cross-platform multiplayer and modding
- Character creation and customization improvements
- Directional sprinting and walking
- New third-person camera (with the option to opt out)
- Dynamic navigation mesh and creature pathfinding overhaul (AI pathfinding)
- Snap point improvements (new snaps, logic improvements)
- Increased foundation support, foundation height adjustments and more
- Updated mini-map (pan, zoom, pings, etc – similar to the SOTF mini-map)
- Dino and baby management quality of life improvements
- Adding wild babies to the environments
- New structures such as display cases and smaller tek teleporters
- Queueing system, ping system, photo mode, gamepad cursor, chibi slot and skins tab
- Balance passes (e.g. cave entrances, MEKs, Aberration creatures, more breedable creatures
- As written in main post, a new canonical-story expansion for ASA in Q4 2023, with 4 new creatures

That goes well beyond just being a simple reskin or remaster tbh. Especially when it's to so many maps, with new creatures, a new DLC, etc.

I do know that ARK 2 is a different game.

Both games are on UE5, both bringing those beautiful environments, both technically support the new combat systems, skill trees, parkour, etc, by being on said engine. Regardless of graphics, if ASA truly has an "evergreen" cleaned up code being on the new engine, is cross-platform and is bringing all those features, several remade maps, several creatures, and a new world beyond, it becomes clear that this is not just a casual endeavor. ASA is the full-fledged pursuit of bringing a new 'main' game to the spotlight. Yes, a cash grab and likely when it was announced they weren't considering the magnitude of how long it would take to do the above and how much of a commitment it really is.

They mentioned a new canon DLC for ASA coming in 2023 as well. If it's canon, it's continuing the story? so, yes, I am very confused on what we can really actually expect and how they're really planning this all out. AFAIK as someone who has managed an Ark community for years, most people just want Ark to not have all the issues it has and the rest is a bonus, so for those players, depending on if ASA is half-assed or not, ASA might as well be ARK 2 and ARK 2, if it ever exists, would be eventually be ARK 3 in their eyes. It remains to be seen if "ARK 2" will exist or if some of it will lowkey be integrated into ASA over time. Kind of what I'm leaning at, just poorly conveyed.

Most of what you have said literally IS UE5 upgrades not much todo with actual ark 'upgrade' it is with all intents and purpose a reskin IN UE5  so we get all the new jazzy bits to play with - the other stuff that did not fall into the UE5 upgrade SHOULD have been introduced FIXED over the last SEVEN dam years - the new map ... well considering we were getting SE with the launch 'originally' its going to be a 'while' before we see it.

 

ASA is getting launched as another EARLY ACCESS title so many of the things you have mentioned might and quite probably will NOT be included yet - as anything with WC and ark its all subject to change.

 

I utterly despise the shade we are in regarding ASA launch times and other quite important details the community has been asking about.

[MrrCupcake]

On 9/12/2023 at 2:11 AM, Thalana said:

Positivity is great! We know that WC has severe issues with deadlines and other issues but at the end of the day we do play their game and get very passionate about it. If ASA can bring all these listed features and QoL fixes we've wanted for years, new character customization options, remastered maps and new story maps, at least 14 new creatures through 2024 by my count across all DLCs and the supposed new DLC, not to mention UE4 to UE5 being night and day with the upgraded foilage, lighting systems, dynamic water, etc, well above what we have now adding tenfold to the immersion value. If it strengthens community bonds, allows modders to create even better mods, those mods being available to all and if it sparks new life into the game and spawns years of new content and memories, at that point it's worth purchasing it again, imo at least. I just hope we get some true reveals soon and more clarity, and it'd be cool to see WC being more active like they used to be to boost community hype and morale.

I love the positivity too!
I just translate Wildcard PR (when they do communicate lol). It helps me be a happier person.  Ark Genesis (1 and 2) was Ark 2 for me. ASA is Ark Remastered. I've bought remasters before, and I expect to buy Ark Survival Acceded. If it's bad, or doesn't measure up to my value, I won't get this remaster. Or more like I'll only buy one copy . . .  (yeah some of us understand that lol, Ark is better with friends!)  

Changing the topic a bit to communication, (please read this wildcard), the Satisfactory (Coffee Stain) community manager(s) do a commendable job communicating. Their challenges changing their early access game from UE4 to UE5 has really helped me be more understanding of wildcard. Oh if only Wildcard would communicate like that. Maybe we live in a world where all the negative publicity is still publicity and it's intentional. Sad. 

Coming back to the original thread ASA vs Ark 2. Yeah, I'm sure there will be an official Ark 2 some year in the future that follows the story from Ark Genesis. (I personally suspect even Ark Genesis was supposed to be Ark 2 but had to rush it out for financial reasons, but I don't know.). It looks like ASA and extinction story line DLCs will be funding an Ark 2 production. Either way, I'll have a new-ish Ark themed survival game to play with friends in October (90% sure lol).  Whatever Wildcard Calls it. There are worse names like Ark 360, but I could see wildcard adopting the "Series" naming style LOL. 

tldr: Wildcard communication isn't always clear. whatever they call it, likely soon we will be playing a new-ish Ark themed survival game. Hopefully for years to come.

[CervantesMor]

3 hours ago, Grissom said:

And by the way PLEASE show me where these gaming industry professional are all saying ark is a easy port from UE4 to UE5. 

Video created in less than a month after Jat's announcement in January, Greg doesn't have a production company behind him that has grossed millions of dollars... even if it wasn't the complete port of the game, it's a good example of how little time he had it took (for the simplicity of being able to do it? obviously the skills are necessary). I invite you to watch his work in his other videos such as a recent one:

Or

 

PS: remembering that we are discussing pure and direct Porting, without new implementations of real additions to the source game code, which at the moment there don't seem to be any and if there were then they would be part of the game programming and not of the graphic engine on which this is played.

Edited September 14, 2023 by CervantesMor

[wildbill]

1 hour ago, CervantesMor said:

PS: remembering that we are discussing pure and direct Porting, without new implementations of real additions to the source game code, which at the moment there don't seem to be any and if there were then they would be part of the game programming and not of the graphic engine on which this is played.

So it sounds like you are saying, Greg ported ARK to UE5 in less than a month and WC took much longer, so ASA must be much more than just a port to UE5.

Edited September 14, 2023 by wildbill

[MMaas]

7 minutes ago, wildbill said:

So it sounds like you are saying, Greg ported ARK to UE5 in less than a month and WC took much longer, so ASA must be much more than just a port to UE5.

Not realy sure he ment to say that. To me it seems that this rough (partial?) port is saying that an "Early Acces" version should have been able to show a bit more than we have seen sofar.
What DID tell me it's more than just a port is all the talking about wild tamable babies and some other stuff.

[wildbill]

2 minutes ago, MMaas said:

Not realy sure he ment to say that. To me it seems that this rough (partial?) port is saying that an "Early Acces" version should have been able to show a bit more than we have seen sofar.
What DID tell me it's more than just a port is all the talking about wild tamable babies and some other stuff.

Ya, I was being a bit sarcastic, but his post does support that ASA is more than just a UE5 port.

Why they don't provide game play, I'm not sure. To be honest, I've played since ARK was in Early Access, but was never an early adopter of almost any of the DLCs except for Scorched Earth. Can't say I recall if this is their normal process or not. I do know that they are in a serious crunch to a deadline, probably more so then ever before, so making a video of game play might not be one of their priorities right now.

I can say that Scorched Earth when it first came out (and even now) has never felt completed and felt rushed. It also was released when there was a cash shortage and sold to make a bit of money that was needed. Seeing how that came out, I'm going to predict ASA will be a bit of a mess, and like in the past, I don't plan to be an early adopter. I doubt I'll buy it until at least months after its release.

[MMaas]

5 minutes ago, wildbill said:

... I'm going to predict ASA will be a bit of a mess, and like in the past, I don't plan to be an early adopter. I doubt I'll buy it until at least months after its release.

Smart choice, I'm not on board for now. Not untill all current maps are up and running decently on consoles.

[Gecko1611]

I wouldn't think so. ARK 2 is meant to be a sequel to Genesis 2, with lore that follows up from the Genesis survivors on landing on Arat. ASA is meant to be a remake of the 12 existing maps in ASE as well as 1 or 2 new lore maps. The new lore maps are probably going to take place between Extinction and Genesis and are probably not going to cover Arat or any of the other ARK 2 lore.

Also, ARK 2 concepts have been being shown way after ASA was announced, so I'm guessing they're focusing on ASA at the moment and in the far future they'll finally decide to finish ARK 2.