Development History

This page chronicles the development history of Prehistoric Kingdom from its inception to the modern day. It also acts as an archive for images and other media from legacy times. Lastly, it has a list of cut animals.

## Jurassic Genetics Trailer

The original name of Prehistoric Kingdom, before taking shape into the current name

Prehistoric Kingdom was created around February of 2014 by Mau, Nathan, Kevin, and Matthew, who can call be read about on the developer page. It originally went under the name of *Jurassic Genetics*, a different game in what was in mind for the future and developers, heavily inspired by Jurassic Park as a whole for its concept. The name would later be dropped due to a "cease and desist" order because of Jurassic Park copyright. The remaining team members previously mentioned would split: one group would continue on with some remnance of the original concept with the name of "*Mesozoica*" and would continue on for an amount of time until its later demise. The other group would create the name "**Prehistoric Kingdom**" in replacement of Jurassic Genetics and continue on. Both teams would remain seperated due to unrelated matters to the game and differences in vision.

Almost immediately upon creation, ambitious concepts and ideas were thrown around involving what would appear ingame for both the creatures and gameplay mechanics. A supposed amount of "100+ animals" were thought of and planned. Much of what was concepted had a highly stylized artstyle, though the roots of the goals of the game tie back to this time era, with one of the main goals being to have a park-builder where most of the animals were simultaneously paleontologically accurate yet also mildly stylized, deviating from accuracy with the goal to please both the public eye and people who aim to see paleontologically accurate creatures in a park simulation game.

However, due to an overabundance of ambition compared to the small scope of the team, much of what had been worked on was cut in the name of time and resources, as the team had clearly bit off much more than they could chew. This would result in a large amount of cut animals that would be looked back upon.

As time progressed, Prehistoric Kingdom refined much of its initial concept while trimming off any of the extra fat, which led to the public release of the first Tech Demo in the summer of 2015. This was one of the first times the public could at least play Prehistoric Kingdom, although it was very limited and lackluster due to how much was developed so far in the short amount of time given.

## Demo Trailer

Demo Trailer

Soon after the Tech Demo was launched, what is regarded as "General Inactivity" (as dubbed by the 5-year anniversary poster) caused development to grind to an almost complete halt before development picking back up again halfway through 2016, serving as the foundations for the Steam Demo's release. This would last for about a year until the Steam Demo would be officially released to the public for free halfway through the year of 2017.

At that point, only a few creatures got into the demo, despite the long lists of planned animals that had been shown beforehand. Only *Tyrannosaurus, Triceratops, Gallimimus,* and *Velociraptor* would be the four animals confirmed for this more refined, modernised Prehistoric Kingdom.

Along with the dinosaurs, very basic gameplay features were available, such as rudimentary exhibit building and a grid-style setup for buildings, causing some limitations for the freedom of structural placement and customization in the limits of rotation, transforming, and other features that would be limited from the grid style, mostly resembling to old tycoon zoo games in setup.

Multiple pieces of concept art can be found dating back to the Demo days of Prehistoric Kingdom. A lot of them include entire artistic assemblages of animal designs that were mainly themed to different formations. "Morrison Sauropods", "Prince Creek", and much more other formations and thematic concept art charts were made. Most of the concepts would be scrapped post-demo.

After the launch of the Steam Demo, the Kickstarter was launched which would help fund the development cycle for the current status and future of the game. Soon after the Kickstarter, the Jurassic Patch was then released for the Steam Demo during March of 2018, adding *Allosaurus, Dryosaurus, Stegosaurus* and *Camarasaurus* along with a few new features for the core gameplay such as some new fence material types and some other customization features for structures and construction-related items. This would be the last update for the Steam Demo, which would later be taken off the store years later due to it not being representative of the game's current state.

Future releases of multiple builds - Pre-Alpha 2 set for Q1 of 2019, Alpha set for Q2 2019, and Closed Beta for Early Summer of 2019 - were set around this time, although these releases would be delayed further due to shifts in development plans.

Of the animals in the Steam Demo, *Tyrannosaurus*, *Triceratops*, *Camarasaurus* and *Dryosaurus* would reappear for the launch of Early Access. *Velociraptor* was added later and *Stegosaurus* and *Allosaurus* are confirmed to be upcoming. *Gallimimus*' fate is uncertain.

### Kickstarter

The Kickstarter launched December 7, 2017 and ended a month later on January 8, 2018, receiving a total of 2013 backers. It received a total of $88,950, 161% higher than the project goal of $55,000. For a while after, funding (with the same backer rewards) continued through the Crytivo page in order to financially support the development team.

### Early 2019

In 2019, a development cycle would be established comprised of mostly overhauling, tweaking, and remaking huge sections of the animal roster, gameplay, and core mechanics, work which continued into 2020. The *5 Year Anniversary* poster was released publicly, signifying a shift towards a more in-depth and intensive game when it comes to detail of some features in the game.

## PAX Trailer

PAX-West Trailer

Soon after the turn of the year, the development team wanted the game to feature a less restrictive style of gameplay featuring more free terrain and construction tools, such as terrain brushes, freeform fences, and freeform building, rather than the restrictive grid-styled gameplay from before.

This would cause a massive delay in development towards release but with the intention to improve the game that was originally planned to be, All of these gameplay features would be showcased in the PAX West build, which was closer to Prehistoric Kingdom's current form. Public reception of this was mainly positive, with some sharing skepticism over the delays. The majority welcomed the more free building style, more similar to games like Jurassic World Evolution and Planet Zoo, and less similar to Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis and the other early 2000s zoo tycoon games (such a Zoo Tycoon itself) which originally inspired Prehistoric Kingdom.

Concurrent with the event, the Pax West trailer was released, featuring much of the remade gameplay and visual style that was now completely different to any variation of the game that had been seen before. All of this would lead to a playable build that plenty of people were able to test, both at PAX and at home, with a number of influencers (such as YouTubers and those who heavily supported the game) and VIPs getting access to the build.

## Announcement Trailer

Early Access Announcement Trailer

Following the PAX West Build showcase, Prehistoric Kingdom continued development, beginning to showcase the various animal assets in-game through the species profiles visible on their pages. This again would result in a delay for the next open Early Access build, but major additions and remakes were to be planned; remakes of almost all animals to increase over visual quality and accuracy began, as well as development on modular building, improvements to graphical aspects such as shaders and lighting, and more fine-tuned gameplay. All of these breakthroughs would happen within the post-PAX era, ranging from the summer of 2019 through 2020.

#### Early Access Announcement Trailer

By later 2020 at September, two developer-talk streams, an Early Access Release Trailer featuring Nigel Marven, and plenty of unprecedented announcements, such as fur shading, modular building variation, extremely evident graphical improvements both in performance and visual quality, and much more was released to the public. This lead to Prehistoric Kingdom reaching a new height of popularity in terms of public awareness, even being covered by IGN and other game news outlets.

This momentous year for the game would result in a boost of popularity and exposure among the public and the community, with a variety of coverage from various social media outlets on the internet, such as YouTube and Twitter. More new information would continue trickling out after, until early 2021.

### 2021

#### Pre-Alpha

Extending off of the year 2020, 2021 would see a pre-alpha build released for VIP members that were able to test the game's status, who were able to play what had so far been developed and share a variety of screenshots. These screenshots would later be showcased in Devlogs. A variety of other content would be revealed to the public, painting a clearer picture of the game's gameplay. Extensive bug testing by those that got the pre-alpha build would help stomp out issues and flaws ahead of the Alpha release, which would later be announced to come sometime soon. VIP members themselves would help showcase what sorts of creations are possible with the modular building system.

#### VIP

VIPs are those who supported the game and in turn receive earlier access to game updates and general behind-the-scenes content, as well as the option to have their own creature skin (given at $500), plant (which can be given at $175), and decoration (which can be given at $250) designed and added to the game. "Money Thrower" is a lower tier that receives the latter two additions at a donation price of $250. VIP and Money Thrower roles were given within the middle and late parts of the game history. Money Throwers don't have the ability to request a Dinosaur skin of their own design.

## Alpha Features

The game's Alpha was released on March 19th at 1pm American Pacific time after the announcement of its release in February's Devlog. After extensive testing from the VIP build, the game was more refined for an Alpha status available to the public, for those that could get it before the actual release. A variety of content, dinosaurs such as *Tyrannosaurus, Microraptor, Edmontosaurus, Lambeosaurus, Styracosaurus,* and *Nasutoceratops*, along with simplistic behaviors for each of the animals, were in the alpha. Modular building, along with other tools available for basic park construction, from the core structures to the foliage for enclosures also appeared in-game. Immediate coverage came along with Alpha's release from a variety of content creators, large and small, such as BestInSlot.

At the same time, some insight to future development was given in a release post. Nigel Marven would be coming back in the future to reprise more of his role for the game. Also, the release windows of future builds were announced. Beta and Early Access were confirmed to exist beforehand, but Early Access was pushed back from Q2 of 2021 to Q3 of 2021, later pushed to Q4, with Beta remaining in Q2 of 2021 then later pushed to Q3 of 2021. Some other new insight was also given, such as an Alpha roadmap for updates leading up to the Beta, focused on refining the Alpha until then.

#### Alpha Reception

Reception of the Alpha build ranged from very negative to very positive. Criticisms for the Alpha included game-impacting bugs such as fence clipping, the lack of features and level of completion compared to the Jurassic Patch in the demo, poor optimization, and general product quality. Though alternatively many of the positives in reception was heavily focused on the modular building gameplay, structural design, and animal design along with praise towards most of the visuals.

#### Post-Alpha

With the confirmation of refining updates to happen during the Alpha and Beta timeline, touchups to gameplay, bug-fixes, and some new additions could be made. An example is the March 24th 0.2.1 Update, fixing a few of the most gameplay-influencing bugs that appeared on initial release. The April 7th 0.2.2 Update added new features such as grazing behavior, new modular building blocks, and a navmesh preview UI, alongside the usual bugfixes.

The Post-Alpha era would see some major additions through the monthly Devlogs, such as some changes to the "deadlines" to the releases of Beta and Early Access, such as the shift for Beta's Q2 -> Q3, Early Access's shift from Q3 -> Q4, and a 2022 release approximation. Extra Beta content was revealed, with the upcoming roster featuring a few new additions such as *Mammuthus*, *Pachyrhinosaurus*, and *Torvosaurus*, with a few rumored animals set to appear in the Beta such as *Parasaurolophus* and *Iguanodon.* Nigel Marven teased his voice-acting work in video form and showcased the script's front page.

The development team conducted a poll to ask fans what they would want to see in the game, such as if they prefer management or building, full modular building, partial, or full preset, etc. The results revealed some majority opinions: many preferred building over management, for example, and many preferred partial modular building.

## Beta Trailer

Beta Trailer

After some delay in DevLogs, "in suspense of something that would make up for it", some new things were shown off by the developers like the new tropical theme for modular building, featuring bamboo, thatch, and other materials. The Beta Trailer released on August the 21st during a Gamescom event. Multiple gameplay elements known from the Devlogs were showcased in the trailer, along with the introduction of confirmed animals set to appear in Beta. They were *Torvosaurus*, *Triceratops* (as a statue), *Mammuthus*, *Archaeopteryx*, *Deinocheirus*, *Pachyrhinosaurus*, *Parasaurolophus, Protoceratops*, and *Camarasaurus*. Early Access and Beta were given new release dates pushing back the original dates from before to December 6th, 2021 for Beta and sometime during April 2022 for Early Access.

#### Pre-Beta

The September Devlog would come to reveal a change in monthly updates and news with the renaming of Devlogs to Dev Diaries. Dev Diaries have less "bombshell information and will instead be an outlet for us to cover more longform topics, whether they’re developer interviews, technical insight, tweaks and changes, or non-spoiler content". This allows the developers to "[separate] a status update from big reveals, it gives us more of an opportunity to maintain consistent communication with the community (hi!) while working on bigger updates or content reveals, especially post-launch".

## Roadmap

Beta Roadmap

In the October Dev Diary, it was revealed that sometime earlier throughout the year of 2021 there was a "squeeze of the funding available to (them)". This resulted in multiple things that were supposed to be in Beta launch to be cut back because of the lack of proper available funds and team size due to Kickstarter funds running out. Eventually, closer to Beta - though unknown at what time exactly - the funds issue was resolved through multiple investors and Crytivo financial support as stated directly by one of the developers. After its release, Beta would receive multiple updates to add extra features or delayed features that were originally meant for release: 4 additional animals, a later planned release for Guest welfare, and some additional creative-related content.

#### Beta Release

Upon December 7th, the Beta build was released to the public after many months of waiting. Multiple new additions, changes and fixes were in this build. Multiple new animals were added, bringing the total number of animals up to 14: *Archaeopteryx, Camarasaurus, Deinocheirus, Edmontosaurus, Lambeosaurus, Microraptor, Nasutoceratops, Pachyrhinosaurus, Protoceratops, Parasaurolophus, Torvosaurus, Tyrannosaurus, Styracosaurus* and the Woolly Mammoth. New modular themes and pieces arrived in the game, along with a new system of prefabs (which would replace the mesh buildings), a basic day/night cycle, and a basic economy system. Alongside the release, a public Trello roadmap was released to the public to give a good vision of the future of the game. Though it has been through many overhauls, this roadmap is still in use today.

Following the release of the Beta, December 13th saw a beta update (0.3.20) that would introduce few new modular pieces, new environment pieces and multiple changes and bug-fixes dedicated to the game. For many, performance was also enhanced compared with before.

### 2022

On the 27th of April, 2022, Prehistoric Kingdom was brought into Early Access on Steam and the Epic Games store. It released with 23 animals, 3 maps, challenge and sandbox gamemodes as well as the first scenario (a basic tutorial voiced by Nigel Marven). Afterwards, minor updates would add more modular pieces, workshop functionality, lighting and weather overhauls, box selection, animal information screens, more animations and more.

In December, the first major update was released. It was themed around deserts and brought in a new arid building theme, the desert biome with associated brushes, foliage and map, more languages and three new animals from the early days of the Mesozoic: *Coelophysis*, *Scelidosaurus* and *Dilophosaurus*.

### 2023

During 2023, the developers added, among other things, *Paraceratherium*, new power modules and gameplay, and QoL features such as auto-flattening of terrain under prefabs. They also overhauled rocks, which now use unique assets, global, detail-preserving textures and a few toggleable covers like moss or sand.

From April until October, however, no new updates were released, and engagement with the game stagnated. As explained in this period’s Dev Diaries, the rewrite of animal locomotion and AI code proved to be a huge task. The long wait was at last over by the end of October with the release of Update 8 as a public test which players could opt into on Steam. A month later, the update would be released proper. It brought *Velociraptor*, genetic mutations like albinism and the aforementioned total overhaul of animal locomotion, written with future additions like social behaviour, swimming and combat in mind. Due to the long work on the coding side, the more art- and content-focused sides of development were able to work ahead. Because of that, Update 9 - which adds *Muttaburrasaurus, Ouranosaurus, Carcharodontosaurus, Spinosaurus*, the grassland biome and an accompanying map – would be released not much after, on the 16th of December.

## Legacy Gallery Content

* Posters
* Concept Art
* Individual Animal Concept Art
* Renders
* Individual Animal Renders
* Nothronychus
* Sauropelta
* Tenontosaurus
* Thescelosaurus
* Logos
* Characters
* Legacy Videos

5 Year Anniversary Poster, featuring the development cycle at the timeOutdated Early Access AnimalsOutdated Early Access Size ChartKickstarter RosterKickstarter Animals ListKickstarter Supporter and Founder Tier RewardsStretch Goal for KickstarterStretch Goal for KickstarterEarly Poster Featuring Lythronax

Aquatic Fauna Concept ArtCenozoic Fauna Concept ArtPterosaur Concept ArtPaleozoic Fauna Concept ArtCedar and Cloverly Formations Concept ArtPrince Creek Formation Concept Art, featuring the original concept for a feathered PachyrhinosaurusNon-Sauropod Morrison Fauna Concept ArtSauropod Morrison Fauna Concept ArtTech Demo Creature Concept ArtOrnithopods Concept ArtConcept Art Featuring NyctosaurusConcept Art Featuring KronosaurusParasaurolophus, Lambeosaurus and Olorotitan Concept ArtMarine Battle Concept ArtTropical Modular Theme

Deinonychus Concept ArtOrninthomimus Concept ArtApatosaurus ConceptCarcharodontosaurus Concept ArtCryolophosaurus Concept ArtGorgosaurus Concept ArtHerrerasaurus Concept ArtKentrosaurus Concept ArtMegalosaurus Concept ArtLambeosaurus m. Concept ArtTorosaurus Concept Art

Ingame Kickstarter Concept Render Featuring JeholornisDodo Thanksgiving RenderIngame Mosasaurus Concept RenderElasmosaurus Underwater Render2014 roster identification competition2014 roster reveal

Deinonychus RenderDeinonychus alt skinYangchuanosaurus RenderYanchuanosaurus RenderElasmosaurus RenderSpinosaurus RenderMale Pachycephalosaurus RenderFemale Pachycephalosaurus RenderCentrosaurus RenderLythronax RenderDeinosuchus RenderMegalodon RenderQuetzalcoatlus RenderEarly 2014 Ceratosaurus Render

Nothronychus Species ProfileSpangled skinCheckered Fowl skinOutback skinNothronychus skinsNothronychus ontogeny

Sauropelta Species ProfileSpiked Ruby skinMetamorphic skinIgneous skin (male)Sauropelta skinsSauropelta in-game ontogenyAnkylosaur Animation Preview- SauropeltaSauropelta Animations

Tenontosaurus Species ProfileNebula skin (male)Molten skinComet Tail skinTenontosaurus skinsTenontosaurus ontogenyTenontosaurus head

Thescelosaurus Species ProfileAutumn Leaf skin (male)Lilypad skinWater Drake skinThescelosaurus skins

Prehistoric Kingdom's First LogoPrehistoric Kingdom's Second Logo

Alexander Winstone, Prehistoric Kingdom's Founder in the 2017 demoAlexander's message to the player in the 2017 demo

Prehistoric Kingdom - Basic AI and Vehicles (Pre-Alpha)Original AI-Vehicle ShowcasePrehistoric Kingdom - Park Build Timelapse (Pre-Alpha)Original Park-Building ShowcasePrehistoric Kingdom - Carnivores2014 Carnivorous Dinosaurs SoundsPrehistoric Kingdom - Herbivores2014 Herbivorous Dinosaurus SoundsPrehistoric Kingdom - Ice Age Beasts2014 Mammals Sounds
## Cut/Cancelled Animals List

This is a list of all animals that were going to be part of Prehistoric Kingdom at some point during the project's history but aren't currently. Some of these, like *Nothronychus*, *Guanlong* and *Thescelosaurus* are confirmed to be cut from the roster entirely. Other animals which hail from earlier times in the game's development history may still return, like *Carcharodontosaurus* and *Panthera* have.

## References

1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1536990940/prehistoric-kingdom
2. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20181108133434/https://www.prehistorickingdom.com/blog/2018/08/31/devlog-8-august-2018/
3. ↑ https://twitter.com/prehistorick/status/953100617723113472?lang=en
4. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20141206211125/https://www.prehistorickingdom.com/blog/2014/11/27/happy-thanksgiving/
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4HTE2LBO8M
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=456F5arBqOU
7. ↑ https://www.moddb.com/games/prehistoric-kingdom/images/pk-updates1#imagebox
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 8.7 https://web.archive.org/web/20141002173735/https://prehistorickingdom.com/blog/2014/08/01/roster-species-confirmed/
9. ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20141021033103/https://www.prehistorickingdom.com/blog/2014/10/18/beware-the-giant-croc/
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CgOxgfrk7g
11. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20141206152606/https://prehistorickingdom.com/blog/2014/07/26/here-fishy-fishy-fishy/
12. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20141002173816/https://www.prehistorickingdom.com/blog/2014/09/28/the-fathead-with-the-bald-spot/
13. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20141019201540/https://www.prehistorickingdom.com/blog/2014/09/24/is-that-a-plane/
14. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20151024054349/https://www.prehistorickingdom.com/blog/2014/07/18/pk-roster-identification-competition/