ARK Survival Evolved Dev Tracker

I'm not confirming changing anything. What I'm doing is getting your initial impressions.

Ill do this again in a few days, see what's changed, give the team some feedback and see where we go from there.

Drops are OP, got it.

Ok, Seems mixed. Good feedback peeps!

Sounds like most would have preferred not to start somewhat geared? Takes the "survival" out?

Anything else of note about getting started in Genesis 2 from a gameplay perspective?

The saga of ARK: Survival Evolved may be over... but Santiago's story is just beginning.

I can say the feedback does look better than the Gen 1 launch. I remember a resounding "NOBODY ASKED FOR THIS"

Thanks for the insight peeps. It really helps.

But I thought the PvP cave meta was not what the PvP crowd wanted? Wouldn't less cave building spot accomplish that?

"I love the map"

"There are no building locations on this map"

Is this a PvE vs PvP thing?

First impressions? You can be real.

"Why not just say it's ready when it's ready" Because as much as game studios are about making games they are also running a business.

The marketing and promotion world doesn't like "it's ready when it's ready" They run off scheduled campaigns.

Should I be able to estimate something as complex as horde mode before even working on it or knowing how I was going to approach it? Maybe.

But being in that spot, I can tell you it's challenging.

If it's a star feature, you're obviously not going to cut it. You're going to allow the proper time for it to shine.

Gamers should know that meeting a deadline may mean cut content and a worse experience in the end.

So what happens when we see the estimation isn't going to work?

"Yo, we have to cut this" or "Yo we have to delay".

Sometimes it's harder to see when something is approaching that line.

Sleep time. Feeling nostalgic as we close the final ARK 1 chapter. Want to express my deep appreciation to everyone who supports the game, our game teams, and each other within the community

Special thx to our talented team for sharing this creation (and their creations) with me

Why is it hard to pick a date?

A producer asks me how long horde mode will take me. 20 weeks? They then add that up for all the dev work.

You think it only took me 20 weeks? Challenging to define at the beginning of a project. "Pad it!" What if I thought I did?

It's tricky

Delays happen for a lot of reasons but when delays don't happen, crunch does.

You don't want a product made by angry devs that aren't loving their job - it'll show.

Straddling the fence of managing expectations and over-promising is the challenge.

There will no doubt be some bugs and issues that need to be patched and we'll deal with the urgent ones quickly.

As you can imagine, the team will need some sleep but report what you see and I'll make sure it makes it back to the team.

ARK is a labor of love. We'll be here.

I won't make excuses for mistakes and decisions that lead to poor execution. I also won't beat myself or the team up - it does nothing of value. Delays are something WE gamers have to come to grips with

What I will do is continue to stress the importance of managing expectations