Venture Dinosauria first look
by Andy Schatz · 06/23/2009 (11:47 am) · 22 comments
We've been hard at work with Venture Dinosauria, the next game in our Venture series! As always, you can follow our progress on the blog or discuss the progressing game design with our dinosaur and animal experts in our forums.
Without further ado:
As with each Venture game, we are reinventing the game to fit the theme. This game is all about mutations, battles, and epic scale.
We've been regularly merging in the latest T3D beta code into our codebase, which has been surprisingly painless. There's some truly killer features in there that are really starting to make this thing come alive. The scattersky and cloudlayer objects are giving us an opportunity to create truly dynamic weather systems. The water looks amazing. Torque and dinosauria were built for one another!
Without further ado:
As with each Venture game, we are reinventing the game to fit the theme. This game is all about mutations, battles, and epic scale.
We've been regularly merging in the latest T3D beta code into our codebase, which has been surprisingly painless. There's some truly killer features in there that are really starting to make this thing come alive. The scattersky and cloudlayer objects are giving us an opportunity to create truly dynamic weather systems. The water looks amazing. Torque and dinosauria were built for one another!
About the author
#3
06/23/2009 (12:06 pm)
There will be more screenshot... but not quite yet :) Hopefully we can do a video soon too. 
#5
06/23/2009 (2:51 pm)
Right on, Andy, looks like a fun one! 
#6
06/23/2009 (3:25 pm)
Would love to see a vid. Nice work! 
#7
If you're going for historical accuracy (I don't know whether you are or not) you might want to research into the kinds of trees that were prevalent during the dinosaur era. I remember a TV program saying that they were different than trees we have now. Leafy trees were not on the scene yet--they were all more like pine trees--or something like that.
I'm not meaning to nitpick or anything, it just might be an interesting angle to make the trees historically realistic.
06/23/2009 (5:37 pm)
Ruuun!If you're going for historical accuracy (I don't know whether you are or not) you might want to research into the kinds of trees that were prevalent during the dinosaur era. I remember a TV program saying that they were different than trees we have now. Leafy trees were not on the scene yet--they were all more like pine trees--or something like that.
I'm not meaning to nitpick or anything, it just might be an interesting angle to make the trees historically realistic.
#8
Various extinction theories
Dinosaur social structures
Comparison of Acrocanthosaurus vs T.Rex
Pterosaur neck posture
Cretaceous vegation
Scavengers vs hunters
General research thread
Prehistoric Mammals
That's just scratching the surface. I've spoken with a noted reptile expert about coloration. I've gotten a lot of inspiration from Raptor Red. The artist I recently hired has a background in Paleobiology, and the modeler for the game does scientific drawings, with an emphasis on dinosaurs.
As for vegetation, we are using ferns, tree ferns, monkey puzzles, spruces, redwoods, various angiosperms such as begonia, magnolia and fig. The only major group we left out is palms and cycads, but we did that because they didn't contrast much with the ferns.
Is that enough research for ya? ;)
06/23/2009 (6:23 pm)
Hi Geom- We have done copious, and I mean COPIOUS research on everything dinosaur. Our community has been taking a very active interest in helping out with this angle. Here are just a few of the trheads on our forums about various subjects:Various extinction theories
Dinosaur social structures
Comparison of Acrocanthosaurus vs T.Rex
Pterosaur neck posture
Cretaceous vegation
Scavengers vs hunters
General research thread
Prehistoric Mammals
That's just scratching the surface. I've spoken with a noted reptile expert about coloration. I've gotten a lot of inspiration from Raptor Red. The artist I recently hired has a background in Paleobiology, and the modeler for the game does scientific drawings, with an emphasis on dinosaurs.
As for vegetation, we are using ferns, tree ferns, monkey puzzles, spruces, redwoods, various angiosperms such as begonia, magnolia and fig. The only major group we left out is palms and cycads, but we did that because they didn't contrast much with the ferns.
Is that enough research for ya? ;)
#9
The game is set in the cretaceous -- all of our dinosaurs are North American cretaceous species (aside from stegosaurus who was jurassic). They certainly didn't all live at the same time, but they did live fairly close together and the game does a good job at presenting the comparisons and relationships between dinosaurs of these types. There are some types that we left out, but I'm hoping to add onto the game later.
06/23/2009 (6:26 pm)
Ah, as for the leafy trees, to clarify: Angiosperms (leafy trees that reproduce with fruit and flowers) didn't show up until the Cretaceous, at which point they quickly took over. This may have partly led to the decline of some species of dinosaur, as their digestive systems were not prepared to handle this different kind of food (they were used to the mosses, ferns, cycads, and conifers that dominated during the jurassic).The game is set in the cretaceous -- all of our dinosaurs are North American cretaceous species (aside from stegosaurus who was jurassic). They certainly didn't all live at the same time, but they did live fairly close together and the game does a good job at presenting the comparisons and relationships between dinosaurs of these types. There are some types that we left out, but I'm hoping to add onto the game later.
#10
06/23/2009 (6:33 pm)
..so no cavemen running around the dino's can eat? I'm starting a petition.
#11
06/23/2009 (6:41 pm)
haha, no, though I'd love for that to be an easter egg :)
#13
06/23/2009 (6:49 pm)
Yeah, you should make it be an RTS: dinosaurs are the player's units, and cavemen are the "resources" that the dinosaurs harvest :)
#14
06/23/2009 (8:38 pm)
I want raptorjesus : / 
#15
One question though. Why not using more polygons on that Dinosaur? I know you want to keep the game available for older machine, but that's a bit too bad. I'm sure a little polies here and there would be enough to smooth the beast.
06/24/2009 (5:14 am)
Looking really nice Robert Downey Jr. (ok maybe it's just the beard...)One question though. Why not using more polygons on that Dinosaur? I know you want to keep the game available for older machine, but that's a bit too bad. I'm sure a little polies here and there would be enough to smooth the beast.
#16
06/24/2009 (7:53 am)
Andy is back, yay! :)
#17
Haha re the beard. In all seriousness, we gave him one partly to separate him from the other theropods who have tufts or ridges on the top of their heads -- the others look sleek and fast while we wanted TRex to look muscular and hungry. So this version is using its neck feathers to trap scent in the way a bloodhound uses its wrinkles and long ears to trace scents. It's also intended as a dominance display, like a male lion.
06/24/2009 (9:17 am)
Djagger- I've had that comment a couple times, and I don't entirely disagree. HOWEVER, the game has got around 300 of these guys running around when it's really going, so we intentionally kept it low.Haha re the beard. In all seriousness, we gave him one partly to separate him from the other theropods who have tufts or ridges on the top of their heads -- the others look sleek and fast while we wanted TRex to look muscular and hungry. So this version is using its neck feathers to trap scent in the way a bloodhound uses its wrinkles and long ears to trace scents. It's also intended as a dominance display, like a male lion.
#18
06/24/2009 (9:40 am)
Quote:Haha re the beard. In all seriousness, we gave him one partly to separate him from the other theropods who have tufts or ridges on the top of their headsHa! I'm pretty sure he meant your beard, Andy. :)
#19
06/24/2009 (9:48 am)
HAHAHA even funnier :)
#20
06/24/2009 (9:53 am)
Raquel Welch in a fur bikini, pleeeeeease. 
Associate Logan Foster
perPixel Studios
Cool stuff Andy. Do you have any other screenshots to show of the game? I would love to see more.