• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

SAURIAN - An Open World Dinosaur Survival Experience (Kickstarter)

G

Gilbals

Banned
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1379624404/saurian-an-open-world-dinosaur-survival-experience


Saurian is an open world survival video game being developed for PC and Mac. Our goal is providing the most captivating and scientifically accurate prehistoric experience yet developed: living the life of a dinosaur. Players will take control of several extinct species in their natural environment and attempt to survive from hatchling to adult. Staying alive means managing physical needs while avoiding predators and natural hazards in an open world landscape reflecting up-to-date scientific knowledge of the Hell Creek ecosystem of 66 million years ago.
Click to expand...

rjpalmer_trex_infographic_007.jpg
Click to expand...

playables_render_002.jpg
Click to expand...

3o7qDL7aD3VtBuHsc0.gif


Looks good, I'll give it a back.
 
Jawmuncher

Jawmuncher

Member
Nice, was wondering what had happened to this. Hope it reaches the goal and isn't abandoned like the stomping ground was.
 
M

MaLDo

Member
It's incredible how looking at the framepacing issues and performance problems in the trailer I already know it's a Unity Engine game.
 
M

Masterspeed

Member
I don't know, I'll have to see how it goes.

There's been a lot of Dino survival games that completely bombed or their just stopped putting effort into it.
 
D

Demoncarnotaur

Member
Looks pretty cool, hope this succeeds! Not the type of Dino game I have wanted, but maybe it's the game I never knew I wanted..

Also, that T.rex does have lips, dammit people. Dino lips aren't as absurd as some think and many recreations already had them.

I love how that raptor can climb trees.. fucking cool
 
S

SomTervo

Member
Apparently almost all dinosaurs had feathers.

Not backing until this is rectified.

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
 
M

More_Badass

Member
Masterspeed said:
I don't know, I'll have to see how it goes.

There's been a lot of Dino survival games that completely bombed or their just stopped putting effort into it.
Click to expand...
What dino survival games? The only dino-focused games I can think of are the multiplayer games like Stomping Grounds and Dino D-Day
 
M

More_Badass

Member
70% funded in less than 24 hours, this'll reach its goal easily

I hope it at least reached the 80k stretch goal (dynamic environment events)
 
S

Sesha

Member
They certainly did their research, but using the Yutyrannus to argue in favor of a feathered T-Rex is flawed. T-Rex skin prints of the T-Rex shows that the equivalent areas that were feathered on the Yutyrannus were not feathered on T-Rex.

Still looks cool, though. If I wasn't broke I would have backed it like nobody's business.
 
M

MoonsaultSlayer

Member
So this is VERY VERY close to being my dream game.

http://m.neogaf.com/showpost.php?p=54189642

MoonsaultSlayer said:
I have this dinosaur game idea that stars dinos in their natural environments that plays like a cross between Dark Souls and Journey.

I wish I can make games =(
Click to expand...


http://m.neogaf.com/showpost.php?p=150461276

MoonsaultSlayer said:
Can I just be a dinosaur? Or many types to choose from? Make combat souls like in execution (with shoulders buttons for attacks and defense and face buttons for dodge, jump, and stances) but with the added versatility of an Assassin's Creed game (microraptors climbing and jumping through trees a la AC3 comes to mind). Edit: and with the climbing mechanics of Dragon's Dogma/SOTC.

Put me in an open world with dinosaurs to hunt or hide from, food and water sources to migrate towards etc. Give me an over the shoulder olfactory mode that increases depth of field and colorizes scents to visualize strength, distance, wind direction and indication of predator and/or prey.

Let me start as a hatchling and have progression be based on objectives completed or attempted with an emphasis on attempted as the game still progresses whether you won the battle for a potential mate or not. Whether you made it across the wild river to join your herd or not or whether you caught that large prey to feed your pack or settled for a smaller selection and fought off your own for the slim pickings. Edit: Basically, each attempted objective furthers the game/"story"/what have you where you visually age and change. Sort of like a timer-less Tokyo Jungle.

Nah, just give us guns to shoot things.
Click to expand...


http://m.neogaf.com/showpost.php?p=164446332

I am in but I wish it was coming out for my preferred platform. Supported regardless.
 
M

More_Badass

Member
This game is going to hinge on the devs getting a few thing right:

- The AI and ecosystem. How dynamic is it? Are there herds, do parents protect their young, do predators hunt prey, do predators fight each other over dominance or mates? And so on. Few games with ecosystems do that kind of dynamic nature well

- The survival elements. What are they exactly? Are we going to need to drink every ten minutes and chase down prey often to keep up our hunger meters?

- What's the long-term drive to keep surviving? What will keep this from being a game of drink-eat-roam-avoid-repeat? Don't Starve has its weirder elements emerging, new creatures throughout the seasons, and new tech to create. DayZ had the constant sense of tension due to other humans and needing to scavenge. Subnautica is all about descending deeper and deeper and establishing bases to survive at further depths.

I don't want to be cynical, because I really love the idea and I always wanted a realistic dinosaur game, but "roam around as a dinosaur" isn't enough to be a compelling game

Mainly that's why I want that environment stretch goal to be reached. Weather and hazards could keep the survival different and interesting
 
C

Cow Mengde

Banned
Sesha said:
They certainly did their research, but using the Yutyrannus to argue in favor of a feathered T-Rex is flawed. T-Rex skin prints of the T-Rex shows that the equivalent areas that were feathered on the Yutyrannus were not feathered on T-Rex.

Still looks cool, though. If I wasn't broke I would have backed it like nobody's business.
Click to expand...

This argument is silly. This t.rex skin we have is about the size of a quarter. From its butt area. It's possible the entire body isn't fully covered. It's also possible the feathers were lost as the body decayed during death. You also need really fine grain to preserve feathers. So you need really fine grain to preserve it. Ornithomimus didn't have proof of feathers until a few years ago. Plus, the scale and bumps were very small for something as big as a t.rex.

As for the game, I'm not sure. Open world games are some of the most boring games out there. They haven't shown me why this could be fun to play.
 
H

HP_Wuvcraft

Banned
Muskieratboi said:
wait, a Dino survival game where you actually get to be the fucking Dino?

Day 1.
Click to expand...

In an as-accurate-as-possible depiction of the Dakotas during that time period.

With the supervision of actual leading paleontologists.

They even bought a few Emus to study bird movement.


gahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
 
M

MoonsaultSlayer

Member
More_Badass said:
This game is going to hinge on the devs getting a few thing right:

- The AI and ecosystem. How dynamic is it? Are there herds, do parents protect their young, do predators hunt prey, do predators fight each other over dominance or mates? And so on. Few games with ecosystems do that kind of dynamic nature well

- The survival elements. What are they exactly? Are we going to need to drink every ten minutes and chase down prey often to keep up our hunger meters?

- What's the long-term drive to keep surviving? What will keep this from being a game of drink-eat-roam-avoid-repeat? Don't Starve has its weirder elements emerging, new creatures throughout the seasons, and new tech to create. DayZ had the constant sense of tension due to other humans and needing to scavenge. Subnautica is all about descending deeper and deeper and establishing bases to survive at further depths.

I don't want to be cynical, because I really love the idea and I always wanted a realistic dinosaur game, but "roam around as a dinosaur" isn't enough to be a compelling game

Mainly that's why I want that environment stretch goal to be reached. Weather and hazards could keep the survival different and interesting
Click to expand...
I would love dynamic threats and setpieces too, but the whole idea of this thing is catering to the people who would find just being a dinosaur and surviving fun.

But even what you're asking will become repetitive if that's all you're looking for out of the game. Unless they made a more linear game or added Ubi-bloat, I think it's fine just living and surviving.

Of course, if they added my objective idea detailed above which changes your appearance and other factors which ultimately affect you pack size, mating options and hunting ability (or herd size and protection from predators while herding towards a water source as a herbivore).

Cow Mengde said:
As for the game, I'm not sure. Open world games are some of the most boring games out there. They haven't shown me why this could be fun to play.
Click to expand...

Think of it as edutainment. Imagine instead of simply reading about dinosaurs, we can control them while interacting with our kids/students/colleagues. I collect dino books, statues and fossils, why not games I can control them in that aren't arcadey shooters or poorly depicted monsters?
 
M

More_Badass

Member
MoonsaultSlayer said:
I would love dynamic threats and setpieces too, but the whole idea of this thing is catering to the people who would find just being a dinosaur and surviving fun.
Click to expand...
Yeah, but being a dinosaur also means being immersed in that world. So dynamic threats, a complex ecosystem, and not making the survival elements too "game-y" is a big part of that. Remember how Shelter 2 added arbitrary abstract collectables into its world, and one of the complaints in reviews was how that partially ruined the appeal of the game by adding an artificial layer to its well-crafted natural world

The dream would be them getting the Rain World devs to help with the ecosystem AI, but that ain't happening. The species Rain World do all that stuff (hunt eachother, fight for dominance, understand and react to threats, work together in packs, etc.)
 
K

Kinsei

Banned
This is really interesting. If they manage to pull this off with good dynamic AI that feel more like animals that enemies in a video game then it could become my favorite survival game.
 
G

Gilbals

Banned
My biggest hope is that they don't fall prey to the unity asset store. I noticed in the very in game shots a particular tree that's in Empyrion which is another Unity based survival game. I don't mind em as placeholders but I hope to see no cookie cutting.
 
J

Javin98

Banned
Uh, not a big fan of Tyrannosaurus with feathers. Still much prefer the Tyrannosaurus with no feathers ala Jurassic Park. Although I guess it makes sense since they are going for accurate reconstructions, but I don't remember confirmation of Tyrannosaurus having feathers. Game sounds interesting, at least.
 
T

Tagyhag

Member
I like that they're going with accuracy, it'll set them apart from other dino games.

But man, looking at all that concept art, just shows how much cooler reptilian scales look. That bad ass Triceratops.
 
J

Javin98

Banned
Tagyhag said:
I like that they're going with accuracy, it'll set them apart from other dino games.

But man, looking at all that concept art, just shows how much cooler reptilian scales look. That bad ass Triceratops.
Click to expand...
Well, if you like the T-Rex with feathers. To me, this is the GOAT T-Rex in the history of media. :p

tumblr_nq25ozQzyK1utx67fo1_r1_400.gif
 
C

Cow Mengde

Banned
MoonsaultSlayer said:
Think of it as edutainment. Imagine instead of simply reading about dinosaurs, we can control them while interacting with our kids/students/colleagues. I collect dino books, statues and fossils, why not games I can control them in that aren't arcadey shooters or poorly depicted monsters?
Click to expand...

I will play it, that's for sure. I'm just not sure how I feel about the project in general. I love what they're doing and consulting paleontologists on this project. As a game, I'm using a wait and see approach.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Sci-fi open-world action RPG GALIX: New Horizons announced for PS5, PC
News Trailer
1
361
Magic Carpet replied
Lords Of The Fallen Developer Making Open-World Survival Horror RPG
Rumor
11
1K
Arachnid replied
Blizzard's Upcoming Survival Game Is Open-World FPS Multiplayer
News Rumor 2
67
6K
ManaByte replied
Funcom is hiring for a Dune ‘next-gen open world survival game’
Game Dev
24
2K
Trogdor1123 replied
Days Gone is the closest thing to a perfect open-world zombie game that I could hope for, but the pacing of the story is what drags it down
2 3
126
8K
Drizzlehell replied
Top Bottom