Sunken Scoop 6: ASA, Creature Concepts and More!

[ashgcy]

Welcome back flooded followers!

It's about time we talk about the elephant in the room: What are our plans for ASA? We'll be giving you all the full rundown on what's going to happen later in the month when the game arrives, and what will be happening in the lead-up to the launch of the game. It's still business as usual though, we'll keep the content reveals coming till ASA and beyond! This scoop brings with it a revamped Magma Turtle design, alongside visuals for Omnidens mechanics! We'll also be doing another behind the scenes feature on our development process, this time for everyone's go-to early game armour set... Sea Scale!

If this is your first time jumping into the deep end, 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. 

Let's dive into this enormous scoop!

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WHAT'S HAPPENING WITH ASA

Our Plans?

ASA is shaping up to be absolutely massive for the modding community after the reveal we saw of Garuga's work on Deinotheirum. We're really excited to work with the new engine and see how much we can improve the mod because of it. The whole team is feeling really hopeful and positive about access to UE5 and what it can do for the mod! The teased features we've seen, like FluidNinja, will really help the map feel so much more alive, and we're very excited to see just how far we can push ourselves with access to UE5! If the engine permits we could even bring back some scrapped mechanics that were unable to be made in ASE!

We definitely plan to make the jump once we know more! We're waiting for information and access to the dev kit like everyone else, but you'll more than likely see us in ASA!

When will the mods become available?

We're planning to have TSW Additions ready shortly after ASA's launch. We'll have all your favourite undersea creatures ready for you as soon as we can get them ported over, however the map itself may take some time. With the new features of the engine, Mercer is hoping to redo the map from scratch, for the third time if you’d believe that! While we feel the current map has definitely made improvements to ARK’s oceans, we really want to deliver in ASA. Easier navigation, more “true to life” oceanography, more distinction within the biomes… the list goes on. We want to make sure the ASA map is at the same level of completion as the current one before we release it, so it won't be ready as quickly as the creatures. 

What happens to the ASE branch?

We’ll still be keeping the ASE branch up, however we won’t be making any more major updates post ASA, aside from bug fixes and the like. If we have time, we’ll try to get a new creature or two out before ASA, but we can’t make any promises. There won’t be any new additions to the map before the launch of ASA.

 

All said and done, ASA can't come sooner and we can't wait to explore the possibilities it brings!

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MAGMA TURTLE CONCEPT

When we brought back this fan favourite, we knew we had to give it the glow-up it deserved! Magma Turtle gets a fresh coat of paint, courtesy of ZCI! This living volcano of a creature will inhabit the deepest oceanic trenches on the map, surrounded by a swarm of Tyrant Shrimp! These two animals are planned to have a symbiotic relationship, the Magma Turtle offering one of the most impenetrable refuges in the sea, with the Tyrant Shrimps working as one of the most deadly battalions to keep their host safe! We'll be revealing more about these two unique animals very soon! Keep an eye out for Tyrant Shrimp's new look too!

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OMNIDENS CONCEPT PAGE

In the last scoop, we revealed the earth terror in all its glory! Since then, ZCI has whipped up this incredible concept page so we can show off exactly what this giant beastie is planned to do!

For starters, you'll be able to find Omnidens at all depths... though obviously not at full size! Babies can be found growing in shallower waters, and the deeper you go, the bigger they get! And when a newly hatched Omnidens is the length of a Kapro, even an infant is a fearsome predator! However, we don't plan on making it a baby tame... we're thinking something a bit more explosive... 

Talking more on mechanics though, why not turn a subterranean horror into a literal subway? Introducing Worm Train! With the perfectly sealed compartments that make up its saddle, take yourself and some friends for the ride of their life on the biggest predator of the Sunken World! Breathe easy in the water or under the sand, and don't worry about your passengers getting hit through the saddle amidst the carnage. After all, this train can pick up a Plesiosaur in its enormous jaws!

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SEA SCALE ARMOUR FEATURE

I'd be surprised if someone had never worn a piece of this armour! If you're looking for a new look to fit the map, Sea Scale is the way to go! But why should you wear a suit of fish parts and seaweed? And what were some troubles we came across designing it?

Our whole goal with TSW is to bridge the gap between early and late game ocean survival. And with SCUBA being unlocked all the way at level 81, there's definitely a clear late game bias to getting under the waves. Sea Scale fills that massive gap; it's an aquatic hide-tiered armour set that makes going underwater a little less daunting. But how does it do that?

The biggest issue we wanted to solve was being unable to regenerate stamina underwater. Everyone knows the "sit on your tame" or "place a chair" trick, but it really breaks up that survival experience and makes adventuring in the ocean so much scarier in vanilla. Thats why a full set of Sea Scale will allow you to regenerate your stamina when not moving! In addition, it increases your swimming speed so you can maybe swim fast enough to get away from whatever is chasing you. With Sea Scale, underwater exploration isn't locked behind a mount or late game items! Just kill some fish and you can explore the waves "on foot"!

But what was so difficult about designing it? Well, turns out that while conceptualising a custom armour set isn't difficult, modelling it sure is! Some veterans of the mod may remember when Sea Scale was just cyan coloured hide, and this placeholder existed for so long because it took Scorching Kami nearly half a year to model the custom set! Modelling lots of tiny scales takes a lot of effort, and getting the suit to stretch its proportions for the freak-of-nature characters everyone loves to make also takes a good deal of effort.

Nitrin did an incredible job with the details on this art... so many intricate details... too many intricate details!

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COMMUNITY CORNER

Another scoop, another set of community submissions! Feel free to submit something yourself! Anything from screenshots, artwork, videos and the so on, and we can featured your work in the next scoop! There's a submissions channel in our discord, or you can tag us @ARKSunken with #sunkenscoop on Twitter!

Clips and Videos

 

Creator: Raasclark

A name that doesn't need much introduction, Raasclark recently featured us in his most recent community news video, which goes over some incredible mods set to come to ASA! Was certainly very exciting to see our very own Sunken Scoop shown off in his video! Why not return the favour?

 

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That's all for this issue of the Sunken Scoop, thanks for tuning in! Hope you're excited for ASA, it's just around the corner now! Feel free to come to our discord to chat or just hang out! 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 October 11, 2023 by ashgcy

[ZCI5250]

YOOO SUNKEN SCOOP YIPPEE!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOORAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Maximussergio22]

The omniden is the coolest reptaring thing I've seen all day thank you

[danlillis]

Omniden is one of my favorites thats for sure can't wait for ASA aswell cause then playing with mods with fam and friends no matter the system  and its nice to know some mechanics that were scratched may make a return my brother is dieing for sunken leeds ado he feels the normal ark leeds should have a submarine saddle aswell and tbh he's not wrong however i tryed pointing out to him that not everything that is aquatic should get a submarine saddle cause it would ruin the point to differentiate between creatures and usage then he brought up about how cause i read to him this sunken scoop he brought up "omnidens can't grab alpha megalodons" im like..... its a alpha not ment to be tamed XD... lol

[aR0y2810]

Badum TSS (Here TSS = The Sunken Scoop)

[PelegTheMudkip]

Needs more water