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Ark: Survival Evolved adds the Homestead update

by: Sean Colleli -
More On: Ark: Survival Evolved

Ark: Survival Evolved is pretty well established by now, and allows rudimentary base-building in addition to its dinosaur island survival mechanics. Now Studio Wildcard is vastly expanding base-building with the Homestead update. Homestead integrates most of the major elements of Structures Plus, a player-created sponsored mod developed by Orionsun. What this means is you can build much bigger, more elaborate structures with updated snap-points, reworked cabling and pipes, triangular tiles, ramps, stairs and a wealth of other additions. Best of all, existing player structures will be grandfathered into Homestead and left intact, while being adapted to the new system. This way player-made masterpieces won't be nuked by the update; Hello Games could learn a thing or two here, as they invariably break everything I've ever built whenever they update No Man's Sky.

Studio Wildcard has also overhauled the Kibble system, which makes feeding/taming prehistoric beasts a lot more streamlined and intuitive. This change might be the thing that finally gets me to pull the trigger on Ark, as the one feature I've always wanted--taming my own herd of Dilophosaurs--sounded way too grindy and labor-intensive in the old system. Check out a trailer for the new update below.

 

THE ARK: SURVIVAL EVOLVED HOMESTEAD UPDATE IS HERE! FURTHER CUSTOMIZE YOUR BASE & EXPERIENCE A REVAMPED KIBBLE SYSTEM
 

Seattle, WA - March 5, 2019 – Today, Studio Wildcard released its highly anticipated Homestead update for the dinosaur survival action-adventure ARK: Survival Evolved! Homestead is a free update to ARK that improves existing structures, adds many new customizable building pieces with increased placement options, as well as updates the Kibble system for simplifying creature taming! This update is now available to all ARK players on Steam PC, Xbox One and Playstation®4.

Homestead includes the major elements of Structures Plus (S+), a player created Sponsored Mod by Orionsun. Studio Wildcard ran a public beta for the Homestead update, testing the features with the community, and all of the builds you see featured in the video trailer below were made by survivors! Be sure to check out their videos on how to build these incredible structures yourself. 
 
ARK players love to create amazing structures with the vast open-world, showing off their creativity and imagination with amazing results! Now with Homestead, the customization potential has escalated with new choices for existing structures and their placement options, as well as a myriad of additional pieces to utilize in any way your imagination can conjure. Existing buildings were preserved while all new snap points, alternate versions of structure pieces and entirely new structure pieces, were added. Triangle floors, half walls, angled pieces and much more provide survivors the ability to create stairs, ramps, triangular buildings, reworked pipes and cables, etc. These new tools let every building look as unique as its builder!
 
Homestead delivers a simplified Kibble system across all ARK content. Each creature now falls into one of six categories, and that creature’s egg can be used to tame any creature within that category. Instead of 50+ different kibbles all requiring a specific egg, its reduced to: Basic, Simple, Regular, Superior, Exception, and Extraordinary Kibbles.
 
Feel like riding a dinosaur? Join the ARK growing band of survivors in the community forums HEREsurvivetheark.com/forums/
 
ARK: Survival Evolved leads the survival genre with a unique blend of emergent multiplayer cooperation and competition. Players awake stranded and starving on the beach of a mysterious island among a herd of other confused humans. On ARK, they must then hunt, harvest, craft, research technology, and build shelters to protect against scorching days, freezing nights, volatile weather systems, dangerous wildlife, and potential enemies. Tame, train, ride and breed one of 100 amazing dinosaurs and other prehistoric beasts, including gargantuan creatures on a scale never before seen in video games! Fly a Pteranodon squadron over the snow-capped mountains, race through the deep jungle with your pack of trained Raptors, tromp through a fortified enemy base along a convoy of gigantic Brontosaurus, or chase down prey on the back of a raging T-Rex.
 
For the latest updates follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, subscribe to us on YouTube, visit the Website at playark.com and watch us tame and train leviathan dinosaurs on Twitch.TV.
 
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ABOUT STUDIO WILDCARD
Studio Wildcard was co-founded in 2014 by industry veteran Jeremy Stieglitz and Jesse Rapczak, former Technical Art Director at Microsoft Game Studios, with the mission of bringing AAA quality to ambitious indie productions that are designed for core gamers. With combined 25 years of industry experience across multiple independent and studio-backed titles, Jeremy and Jesse have teamed up with other veteran developers for Seattle, WA-based and Gainesville, FL-based development studios that also include distributed team members across multiple continents. Wherever talented, driven developers may reside, Studio Wildcard intends to seek out and work with them!