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Game Information
So far, the only information comes from the official site.
Here's what we've gather through the designer diaries
Disclaimer, as Mike Ely puts it on the diaries: "We are talking about design issues in the game and how we are thinking about them. It doesn't mean that every feature here will definitely be in the game."
Name
Sid Meier's Dinosaurs (clearly hypothetical, an official title has yet to be announced)
Main Concepts
From the 1st Diary:
Dinosaurs living in a lush prehistoric world.
Time scale: millions and millions of years!
Our goal will be to appeal to our game players with a deep, fast-moving strategy game. The game should be easy to start playing with lots of progress
and cool stuff early to appeal to all age groups.
The attitude of the game is similar to Civilization , some basis in reality - but fun and familiar. A combination of science and dinosaur movies. Large scope,
epoch-spanning, broad-brush. Not constrained by what actually happened, just by what could have happened (The Meteor missed? MAYBE. Bigger, faster,
cooler, colorful, dinos. YES. Aliens land on earth. NO)
Turn Based or Real Time?
Nothing is certain yet, could be a combination
Cut into scenarios or one big world?
Same as above :)
Resource System
From the 3rd Diary:
I think we've finally gotten a
resource system in place that we are happy with -- it's amazing how the placement, quantities, and
replenishment of food and other resources affects the play of the game. In some of our prototypes
the dinos would wander all over the map scrounging for food, in others they bunched up into
compact herds. Some versions led to overwhelming masses of dinosaurs while in others we
struggled to save a tiny band from extinction. I think the system we have now allows for a balance
of different strategies without some of the unplayable extremes.
We're now moving on to finalizing all the various activities our dinos do with these resources, as
well as making another pass over our gene mutation and evolution system.
From the 5th Diary:
The resources include food (naturally), as well as watering holes, which are key locations that your dino
herds must defend from other dinos and the ever-annoying MLR's (Mammals, Lizards, and Rodents, oh my). Currently
you can scrounge for food on the ground or, with longer necked dinos, pluck fruits from the trees.
We are using watering holes as a way to help balance the game. If you (the player) choose to have a large herd,
you have to control more of the watering holes to keep the herd healthy and growing. As your herd grows, defense of
your territory (and the watering holes inside) becomes more and more important. We want to make this a game more
about a smaller group of multi-talented dino beasts (with perhaps a pack or two of hungry raptors) than about cranking
out faceless units and sending them out in waves to die.
Another gameplay element we're playing with is resources that adapt to your actions. As your dinos munch away
at delicate plants, perhaps the plants evolve tougher plant skin, requiring your dinos to adapt in turn. We want the
world around you to be alive, and not just a static backdrop.
Graphics Engine
From the 4th Diary:
The artists asked for 16-bit color. Our technological team analyzed the tradeoffs and
figured out some workarounds, allowing us to have each dino and plant and terrain feature
to have its own specialized 8-bit palette, but to display them all in a 16-bit world. This will
allow us to have a finely detailed tree made of shades of green and brown, and have it exist
side-by-side with a Dinosaur that has yellowish skin and brightly colored red "plumage"
along its spine.
So 16-bit color it is. And Jason B and Jason C have created tools for the artists to
display their dinosaurs with a variety of palettes, and generated a world "engine" that lets
all kinds of different 8-bit creatures live side-by-side (and eat each other).
Mutations
From the 4th Diary again:
This week's cool new feature we're trying out in the game is something we call 'emergent
mutations'. In addition to the normal mutations that can affect your dinosaurs, giving them added
abilities and characteristics, 'emergent mutations' are special unique abilities that arise from the
right combination of mutations (such as getting a dino with a longer lifespan if you acquire two
other related mutations). We'll try it out this week and see if it's a "keeper."
From the 6th Diary:
We are creating a system in which mutations combine and develop over time, taking you from a basic dumb
dino down any strategic direction you might desire, fighting, defending, building or wandering.
"Connecting" the Player with his dino's
Various ideas(not sure what will be in) from the 6th Diary:
1. Create a head dino character, an "alpha" dino or King/Queen Dino. This would be a single dino around which
the rest of the herd revolves. This 'HeroSaur' could have special traits
2. Humanize the dinos. An interesting solution. One easy way to do this is through the baby dinos. When a new dino
hatches, it would actually come out as a baby, and would follow its mother around until it gets old enough to go
out on its own.
3. Emphasize the story of these dinos so that players become invested in that story. A simple technique Sid is
experimenting with is the DinoCam, a kind of window on special events in the game, such as births, battles, and
deaths
4. A vicious enemy. Be it the terrible harshness of the environment or an enemy dino so huge and violent it makes the player's heart leap
5. A home. Allowing the dinos to influence the environment, through nesting, digging, "fertilizing," or otherwise shaping an area to the player's liking, would create a physical space into which the player has invested time and effort
6. Expressive animation. Giving the dinosaurs more character than the grim reptilian faces they probably possessed would engage the player and help them to project emotions into the dinosaurs.
7. Big goals. Give the dinos something to drive them forward to the endgame. Give the player something big to grasp for, such as evolving a dinosaur to stand the test of time. =)
Combat
From the 5th Diary:
We've debated several ways of approaching the combat issue, from a combat heavy, tooth-and-claw deathfest
(perhaps with its own special combat screen) to a more strategic game with the player as human "master" building
and tweaking their dinos for maximum survival in a world full of a variety of threats.
The game is shaping up toward the latter. Dinos will clash and die, but it will be in the context of a larger
strategic system driven by player choices. It seems the most appropriate, the most fun, and we still get to have the
cool dino "fight and die" art that will give the game more visual flair.
Release Date
Unknown, but certainly before Civ3, which is not expected in 2000.
Tim Train on our forums
Dinos was in prototype phase (just Sid working on it) months earlier than Civ III was
announced in late May. Dinos had a full team on it since about April or so, so it is ahead
development-wise. That's why we're releasing it first.
There are lots of unanswered questions about the game, we will be providing the answers on these
page as we learn them :)
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