Let's be honest--there really aren't enough dinosaurs in gaming. For such a popular, awesome topic, the games focusing on the prehistoric beats are few and far between, with really only Turok being a somewhat large franchise to include them.
A new PC game called The Stomping Land is looking to change that, and significantly features dinosaurs of all kind. In fact, it largely focuses on hunting the creatures and does so in a multiplayer, Day-Z style format. Kotaku reported a large amount of information on the game, including interviews with the developers.
Players must mingle with one another online and use their skill and smarts to survive, avoiding starvation and, of course, dinosaur attacks. Players can join tribes, make traps, craft items, and track prey.
The Stomping Land was funded on Kickstarter, and the development team at SuperCrit is made up of just three people: Alex 'Jig' Fundora, Lee Fisk, and Nick 'KCIN' Pettit. They list Day-Z as an influence, along with Jurassic Park and Apocolyptico.
"I think Nick watches [Jurassic Park] once a week," Fisk said, when asked about their influences. "I've never heard anyone quote a movie line for line so perfectly. The idea of running around on an island of dinosaurs is something that movie cemented into the imaginations of everyone that grew up in the 90s. We often joke about how cool it'd be if Jeff Goldblum could be involved with the project somehow."
The game includes 15 types of dinosaurs and takes place on the huge Wayneth Island, which has various biomes that are homes to the different types of dinos. The developers explained that they were required to make changes that may not have been historically accurate for the sake of balance.
"There's a balance with game design, especially a game like this, with balancing realism with fun," Fisk said. "For instance, there was a discussion on our forums about the Austroraptor and if they would've hunted in packs. It seems unlikely that they would've hunted in packs - based on the sources provided in that thread - but we think it'd make for more interesting game play if they did hunt in packs."
Supercrit is hoping to release The Stomping Land on PC in May 2014, and I'm very interested to see how it turns out. Check out the video below for gameplay footage, and dinosaurs.