Back from Extinction
about 1 year ago – Sat, Jul 29, 2023 at 07:40:08 AM

First of all, I would like to thank everyone for their patience. The team here at Dinosaur Kingdom is extremely busy trying to pursue the dream of reviving Dinosaur King in today's day and age. This brings me to one of our biggest motivators: you. The community engagement we've gotten has been very much appreciated on our social media platforms via several posts and live streams. Without your continuous support, this project would've remained a fossil waiting to be dug up. And you are probably eager to find out more about this progress so you can play the game yourself eventually! So, with this much-needed update, we will share as much information regarding the game's development as possible.

Contents:

• Game's Progress
• Model & Animation Updates
• How to Fund(?)

Wow, look at that! It's... alive!? The game is running, and we have completed the GUI setup and coded the functionalities from the Battle to the Settings screens you would be interacting with while playing the game. Changes are still being made to these ''completed'' screens with modifications and add-ons to improve them further for better navigation. As of right now, offline battle mode (against the computer) has been set up, and we are moving towards making it Multiplayer (online) compatible, which includes the 1v1 and 2v2 game modes.

Three (work-in-progress) screen previews are above and interactable later in the game: Profile, Customization, and Settings. 'Profile' is where you can view your experience while playing the game, i.e., how many battles you've won, the number of dinosaurs you've collected, what your most-used or favorite dinosaur is, etc. 'Customization' gives you the option to select and apply different move cards to your own dinosaur team, check its statistics, learn about the creature in general, how to use it correctly in battle, and more. And 'Settings' pretty much speaks for itself; you can adjust the game the way you like to play it!

Now onto the actual gameplay: we completed all the normal animations for our currently-made dinosaurs and are finishing up the last few of our super moves. Continuing the 'rock, paper, scissors' battle mechanic, with a skilled aesthetic to some particular moves in order to use them, our super moves will also be dependent on individual data, just like the rarity of our dinosaurs. Calculations and balancing for this are still in discussion. Below, you can get an early idea of what it would be like to fight with your Triceratops in this case.  

❗ Note: The lighting in this arena and on the dinosaurs, the HUD (buttons and health bar), and some particle effects are unfinished and only serve as temporary functionality. Also, the frame rate is low as it's a converted GIF.

In one of our recent team meetings, we came to the decision to revamp the 'unlock' system, taking inspiration from the original Dinosaur King anime series. Instead of merely depending on collecting and putting together fossil pieces, players would now need to defeat that dinosaur in Singeplayer mode first when it appears on the soon-to-be-made map of the globe in-game in order to unlock and add it to their team. So, not only will you be playing and battling in some of the default environments (observe below), but also in popular cities across the world.

Apart from these visual showcases, we are implementing other things in the game that still play an important role in the functionality within the game, e.g., a mail option to receive daily rewards, a beginner's tutorial when first launching the game, announcements and patch notes, integrating the earnable currencies, the button layout and screen designs, upgrades to the move's particle effects, and the 3D model's modifications. Speaking of..

Much progress has been made in our dinosaur models and animations. To hiring new people for certain specific jobs, to even replacing acceptable animations and making them even better!

One example out of the 100+ we have (and need) in production for our dinosaurs to function normally is the idle animation for our Tyrannosaurus Rex. Due to the fact that dinosaurs in this game interact physically during combat.

From an old yet acceptable breathing animation to a more appealing and satisfying version, with minor details added like foot tapping and a smoother waving tail, for example. And that's only a quick showcase of the new T-rex, which now also has bigger legs. Many other of our dinosaurs are simultaneously receiving updates and upgrades. Like our Saichania's body height being lowered to fit a new rig, more resembling the original pose and stance from the DK Arcade and Anime. Just like the Parasaurolophus, getting a more ''friendly'' look with a different skin pattern. Furthermore, our biggest and most needed upgrade to any dinosaur, would be the Carnotaurus.

Aside from model modifications, we're also bringing brand new dinosaurs back from extinction! Such as the Kickstarter exclusive, the Acrocanthosaurus! This dinosaur will fire up your team in-game with its unique attack and summoning animation. We loved seeing the enthusiastic responses we received after posting this on social media.

Since our ''Choose DKM's 8th Dinosaur'' poll, you soon-to-be players and followers have voted for Ampelosaurus to be the first community-voted dinosaur in the game, which the team is currently working on. But that's not all! A dinosaur even larger than the T-rex has also awoken from its card: the Care-, Curry-, Cara-dinosaurus. No, it's pronounced Cara-orthodonto-saurus, I think.

Do you still want to be one of the early supporters? This project still heavily relies on your support to keep development going, and you get some awesome dino-goodies in return! Funding through Kickstarter however, is no longer available as the campaign only ran for 30 days. But, we recently teamed up with BackerKit to keep fund orders possible! All the rewards, including early access to the Golden Triceratops, are still obtainable via this link: https://dinosaur-kingdom.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders. Through that website, we have already had some kind folks place pre-orders, which we greatly appreciate!! 💚 

❗ Note: Our BackerKit page (and its rewards) will end (unable to purchase) when the game launches.

 Any other business inquiries may be emailed to [email protected].

That concludes our community update for July 2023. We are very grateful for all of the support we've been getting throughout the past few months and can't wait to share more soon!

Thank you for reading, and we'll see you back in time!

- Dinosaur Kingdom Team

Funding Sabotaged
over 1 year ago – Wed, Dec 28, 2022 at 07:34:48 PM

Dear Dinosaur Kingdom community,

Here is our long-awaited needed update regarding Dinosaur Kingdom and its Kickstarter, please read everything to understand, we thank you in advance. 

''What happened, it's almost January, where are my rewards?''

As a lot of you were speculating to get your rewards this month, something very unfortunate has happened. We choose to take action before revealing these horrible turn of events as we also did not have a clear confirmation on this situation yet. Which is that the Kickstarter project got sabotaged by a fake backer. 

In the past few weeks, we've been trying to contact the person behind the sabotaging to get a fair response, however, after having sent multiple messages, emails, and reach outs the unresponsive person went silent. Even after having normally chatted with the person during the campaign's run. As we also tried to contact Kickstarter support team, they gave us an auto-generated email stating that this is indeed a rare occurrence, as they so claimed to strive to protect projects from these system abusers. 

''Then why does it still say it's successfully funded on the Kickstarter page?''

The good news on the side is that we will still receive the balance of collected funds, including less fees, now that we fell below the project's funding goal due to dropped backers. The project page will not be updated to reflect dropped backers or pledges. *If a pledge gets dropped due to credit card/bank troubles and/or payment failures, the amount stays but the actual funding will be declined. The backer has seven days to fix their payment if their pledge fails to be collected when a project is successfully funded. If Kickstarter is unable to process their payment at the end of the seven days, their pledge will be dropped and it will no longer be possible for them to pledge to our project through Kickstarter and their rewards will be lost. This now means that all of the ''reached'' stretch goals will be postponed as well.

''What does this mean for the actual video game? Will it be cancelled?''

Luckily no. Dinosaur Kingdom will still be brought to life and released for free to the public on mobile devices sooner or later. But it sadly will be delayed.

''What can be salvaged?''

All of our faithful backers who supported the project back in November still made a major impact on its development, and we thank every single one of you for that. However, as our funding goal was originally €10,000, and after having calculated all the legit pledges, we come to a total amount of €3,254 excl. fees. This indeed means the funding has initially failed, as it did not meet our requirements to make it happen in the first place. Though development is thankfully still ongoing as we speak, although some features will be left out for now since the main source of income comes from one individual once again, therefore it cannot be delivered on time with its much-wanted extra features.

''So what does this all mean for us?''

Two options will be available and put on the table concerning our backers:

•  Late delivery: You will receive your promised in-game rewards you rightfully selected when this game does eventually come out, as the remaining funds mentioned earlier will go directly toward the costs of the game's development. Your bought super moves, skins, dinosaurs, and such will still be delivered as soon as the game gets released on the market via your in-game made account. 
•  Refund: If you wish to stop supporting this project, you could initiate and contact us by our support email for a refund if you pledged to our Kickstarter. However, with this, you will lose all the claimed rewards you have purchased incl. add-ons.

''What's next?''

All assured, we will roll out updates and news regarding not only this situation but DKM in general on our social media accounts, so stay tuned.

We appreciate you all for your patience as we strive to move forward. And can only apologize on our behalf for the backer's actions.

Thank you for reading and understanding. We would also briefly like to acknowledge all the loving positive support we've been getting the past few months, from promotions to getting questions left and right!

 If you have any more or further questions, do let us know, and we will try to help everyone in need!

- Ethan (LPGozzzi) & Dinosaur Kingdom Team

DINOSAUR KINGDOM has been 717% FUNDED!!!
almost 2 years ago – Tue, Dec 06, 2022 at 06:10:43 AM

Dinosaur King is ACTUALLY coming Back!!!   *inserts a T-rex roar of celebration*

This is a dream come true for Dr. Z and Dinosaur King(dom) fans! Our highest appreciation to everyone for your contributions to this project. We're already extracting more dinosaurs into cards, especially the reward ones!

Now that the development has been funded, along with some of our stretch goals, expect news regarding the game's progress on the Update tab here on our Kickstarter page. Including information on how to receive your exclusive in-game rewards before the actual game's launch. 

We can't wait to bring you all along on this new ''Mesozoic'' adventure! - Dinosaur Kingdom Team

New STRETCH GOALS are Revealed!
almost 2 years ago – Mon, Nov 28, 2022 at 03:13:47 AM

We're getting closer to fully bringing Dinosaur King back! 

First of all, a massive thank you to everyone who contributed to the project so far, we've been successfully funded!!!

Even though our Kickstarter is almost ending, we were still planning on revealing the next stretch goals for this project! It's not over until the o̶l̶d̶ ̶l̶a̶d̶y̶  dinosaur sings! This will generally also provide more information and clearance on what our future goals are during development!

Take a peak at the new goals we like to reach on our Kickstarter campaign story page!