Isle Dev Q&A session 2, 1/24/2020 (Rough)

Ask-a-Dev Answers Part 2: (compiled by @canned_milo#8519)
Dondi answered all questions listed below.

Q: How will the Pteranodon flight controls work?
A: "Obviously we have the old prototype in the live build. What I want to do is have a mixture of what we did in the original Primal Carnage and a fighter jet. I'd like it so when you are not controlling your animal and you're just looking around, the last direction you flew in gets leveled out so you're flying parallel to the ground."

Q: How will the various types of venom work and differ from each other?
A: "It is still under discussion. We actually had a conversation about making venom function the opposite of bloodloss. The way bloodloss works now is you have a certain chunk of your health that starts bleeding out, damage over time (DOT).
    This one (venom) we wanted it to start very small, and then get progressively worse over time until it hits it's catalyst and tapers back off. If you bite them repeatedly, it's just chain effecting it so it just gets awful.
    So you get a pack of Troodons on something even medium sized it's going to ruin it and you're just gonna have a bad day. Also I know for a fact that there's going to be severe balance problems that come with it the first time we try it, but we wanted to do something that involved something more than just 'oh hey you're doing extended damage over time'.
    Im thinking that if you get bit by a venomous animal you become a homing beacon for that thing, it's going to follow you. Maybe as a strain you'll be able to spit venom, but not by default, no."

Q: Since venom was confirmed, will certain dinos have a greater immunity compared to others?
A: "I wanted to say by default no, but that's not really up to me. I make creative design decisions I don't make the balance decisions. Some animals might be predisposed to being not immune but very heavily discouraged or they can dispel it quickly."

Q: If locational damage is added with the Recode, will the damage we take show on our bodies from where we're bitten, bashed, etc?
A: "You probably wont see mesh deformation. You can definitely see where you've been attacked, but it would have to fade over time. I doubt you'll see persistent scarring forever."

Q: Will dinosaurs be able to have more activities to do that would give some kind of temporary benefit to a stat or something. For example, wallowing in mud to help mask your scent?
A: "I think it was the Diabloceratops specifically that Kissen said "we need to have them wallow in the mud'. We wanted to have, not meaningless but more lively things for your animals to do. Ceratopsians to go and rub their horns against the trees.
    Have things like Gallimimus to go like, find 5 of you to just enjoy yourselves. These things aren't things that you HAVE to do it just gets you further to the end. Playing your dinosaur like an actual animal is going to get you to that elder system, which then allows you to get the perks and all the other stuff.
    But yeah there are things like that."

Q: Will night vision get any changes to prevent setting exploitation or will it stay the same?
A: "There is a way around the issue right now with game exploiters. We can't do anything about people with their monitors, but we've got a range of options. One of them actually is that if you're using night vision, from a set distance outside of your radial fog, actually putting an orb around the player and it's black outside of that range."

Q: With the addition of collision, what will happen when 2 dinosaurs run into each other. Will 1 push the other back based on size and weight, or would they just come to a dead stop?
A: "I know we're gonna make it so anything with a charge attack like the Trike or Pachy. Anything that's actually meant to run and collide with something, if they hit a wall or a tree ior something large enough it'll be a bad time. Hitting other dinosaurs, yeah you knock their ass over or out of the way.
    Unless they're so small that you don't knock them out of the way and you literally just crush them. If a T-Rex runs over a Dryo he's probably not going to punt it, he's probably just gonna step on it and be like 'squishies in my toesies'."

Q: Will nesting remain the same where you store food in the nest so the hatchlings can eat from it, or will things be made more difficult where the parent will need to drag a body to the hatchlings for them to eat?
A: "Hatchlings eating from a nest is still good, I've always enjoyed that. Having them go from that hatchling to juvenile though, they start getting on the nutritional diet of, we need water now and food, not just chewed up 'bleugh' from the nest.
    At that point they can't eat from the nest anymore so the parents do have to worry about bringing food to them and there's your problem. Cause hey, do you want to nest right next to a water source because that's probably a bad idea. So then you start playing the actual hard ball game of 'oh christ my tiny little juvenile has spawned right on top of me.
    So I don't think we're gonna change anything from you being able to eat from a nest, but with body dragging and stuff it should be fine for juvenile and stuff."

Q: How do you plan on making apexes harder to obtain to keep the new mid tiers relevant?
A: "The immediate solution that's going to happen that you don't play as apexes in the beginning. We simply aren't releasing the recode with the ability to pick the Rex or Spino, no. All that's going to be there are mid tiers, while we work on 2 or 3 iterations of different systems of how to play an apex or get them.
    Just because an idea looks good on paper doesn't mean it's going to survive first contact with the playbase."

Dondi says: "Anything that you can think of that's a setting you can tinker with, Brandon is putting in for server hosts. Like hey, do you only want feathered dinosaurs, do you only want dinosaurus from this time period. You can have tribal only servers.
             At the same time with the actual admin panel, he wants to go as in-depth as GMod was, so you're going to have a tonne of stuff."

Q: Would you guys consider making a spawn system where every map is divided into separate areas/zones that we could choose to spawn in?
A: "So we've considered several different spawn options. I've always liked magical cages falling from the sky. I think that it gives you ample opportunity to be able to nudge the cage in the direction you want. *Dondi references the opening scene of Predator for how he wants the system to work, but with dinosaurs in cages*.
    I want it so that as you're falling in cages you could hit left, right, forwards or backwards and your dinosaur would slam into the side of the cage, pushing it in that direction, but you would just get regions you would spawn in ie; North, East, Southwest, West, etc.
    Nutrition wise every region will have the bare minimum to support 2 or 3 dinosaurs, but there will be spots that are where they should be because this is where their primary food is for this nutrition. So you can find herd of this dinosaur here. You'll see a couple of them roaming the island but these are the hotspots for them, the game trails of this species.
    So we're basically wanting to make highways that these dinosaurs would traverse naturally to get from A to B, and then of course sidepaths. Now, the spawning doesn't really have anything to do with that, but my opinion of it is, if your group was somewhere it would just take the location of your group leader and tell you that they're closest to this spawnpoint, go here."

Q: What plans do you guys have to encourage migrations and mass migrations?
A: "That was it, the highways I talked about."

Q: When you release the recode, do you plan to push everything new out at once or will we have consistent updates of the new dinos being added after the initial release of the recode?
A: "Oh this has been addressed 1000 times. You'll get a technical roadmap of technical stuff we'll do dinosaur wise, like 'hey this is the next one coming out' but nothing lore wise."

Q: Will creatures like the Spino and Deino be getting a water ambush or sprint function?
A: "Well yes, obviously. I know the Deino is going to have a very special 'you're gonna have a bad time cause I'm gonna destroy you in the water' attack. The Spino I don't know. Since the original Spino, Bryan has wanted it to sprint along the bottom of the water like a hippo, so it will probably be something like that."

Q: Will there be advanced injury mechanics ie; broken arms, ribs etc?
A: "Maybe, and I only say maybe because I know we're doing locational damage. Brandon brought it up, I know Filipe brought it up but i want to blame Brandon. I can't say yes or no. I personally think it would be neat but I only think it would be neat. For humans it's great because we can treat ourselves, as a dinosaur it's lay down and go 'schmeemeeme'.
    It just becomes annoying, it's not fun. It's fun to inflict that damage and see it be inflicted, but it's not fun to have that inflicted on you."

Q: How will sounds change when underwater?
A: "That's self explanatory, it's going to sound like you're underwater."

Q: With attacks that are now based on collision, will we ever see any pre-made kill animations, such as a Rex killing a Galli?
A: "Yes, they will be possible. Not just Rex, many dinos will be able to do that."

Q: Are there any plans to implement interactive animations, similar to the Utah pounce, into combat ie; having a Rex bite down on a Giga's neck and both players having to spam buttons to win the encounter?
A: "No, because with spamming buttons macros are a problem. So the main thing I've always liked is actually a Half Life 1 mod. So what would happen is when you charged someone, it would do the classic, you're punching the sh*t out of them knocking them backwards as you're flying through the air and you had the ability to do up, down left, right as you're hitting them.
   So you would input whatever you wanted and the longer you held the button down the stronger the attack, but you only had a preset amount of time like 5 seconds. So the animation is playing but you're not doing any damage until the input is done. Once you got into a heavy attack it wouldn't show the enemy what you hit, it would be a question mark and you ahd to guess.
    When you matched their input you would defend against it and slap them away and if you didn't you would get punched out. They could continue the combo and technically kill you just from the combo, but it takes a ridiculous amount of time. So I've always liked the idea of having that input there.
    You're biting down and just doing inputs and the longer you do it, it could go from showing the input you have to match to a question mark. So if they blocked a heavy attack vs a quick attack, they threw you off and there was a big opening as a herbivore to throw them off and run away.
    What Bryan suggested and what I do believe is what we should be going with is that it's a stamina battle, not so much a health battle. Once your stamina runs out as the herbivore and the large animal has a hold of you, you're done, it kills you. It doesn't matter what your health was at, what matters is your stamina.
    Once your stamina runs out he puts you on the ground and he takes you out, or just the T-Rexes jaw close."

Q: Will hiding places such as small logs for lower tier and small dinos be implemented in the new map?
A: "Yes. So most of it comes from the fact that the jungle is so thick now, as a smaller dinosaur you can kind of just hide anywhere. But for smaller logs and crevasses yes."

Low settings wont give you an advantage. Foliage will 'billboard' - turns from a 3d model to a 2d model - at a closer distance for lower settings. Therefore not giving people who play on lower settings an unfair advantage.

Q: I remember a while ago there were concepts of different strains of plants, some of which were huge or would be dangerous to players. Are they still planned for the future?
A: "Oh yeah. Go watch the original Jumanji."

Q: I know customization is important to some people, as it helps them immerse better in the game. Will there be more skins, colours and cosmetic features to choose from?
A: "Yes. Skins absolutely, colours absolutely. Cosmetic features, we've gotten to the point now where we have dimorphism so I want to look into it. I want to see if we can just change certain parts of the dinosaur like horns on the Trike and things like that. Not chipped but things like Trike horns curving down.
    So as long as it doesn't classify it as a completely different creature then sure. The only thing I've ever thought of, the only thing even remotely on my mind for being able to buy something in the future, is do we have 2 dinosaurs that are precisely the same thing such as Giga and Carchar.
    It's, hey do we want to invest in making a dinosaur that's already the exact same thing. "

Q: Will the ocean be more intense ie; bigger waves, etc during a storm?
A: "There is a lot of cool ocean stuff happening. Right now we're working on something called an infinite ocean. Unfortunately I can't really give that one an answer, because we are far away from fun-boy ocean time and I don't even know if we're doing a full on ocean environment in The Isle.
    We could just be like hey we're gonna do a complete stand alone DLC ocean thing where if you never wanted to play as dinosaurs and things you could just play the ocean game but I don't know. Game comes first, DLC comes second."

Q: Will it be possible for roars to be cut off in the future due to certain triggers?
A: "Yes, I want it. It's like if something is roaring and all of a sudden snaps away."

Q: Do you intend to add any kind of wind mechanic?
A: "That start adding a layer of complication to where it's like not even a game anymore. Because The Isle is 3 games in 1, it is 3 completely different experiences in 1. If we only did flying creatures then sure, but I don't think so."

Q: Currently AI spawn in close proximity to a carnivore when hunger reaches 70% and lower. Will AI continue to spawn in this order or will they be on the map no matter who you are?
A: "No, just no. I know the answer to that I very specifically have ground rules for the AI now. I want an actual ecosystem."

Q: Will grazing be a sustainable way to fill hunger or will it be more of a temporary fix to hunger?
A: "It is a stop gap. If you are in a field you should be able to eat grass. Is it nutritional for you, no. Will it stop you from starving, yes. Calories are calories. Dinosaurs all have niches that they want in their tum-tums. There will be plants for that - none of it is grass. It will never fill you up, it will simply prevent you from dying."

Q: Would natural disasters and extreme weather events be considered for the future such as forest fires, blizzards, extreme heat waves, etc?
A: "i really wanted forest fires, and the more I looked at it, here's the problem. You understand how devastating fire is. All it takes is one jackass that's persistent with a torch and he should be able to level the whole island. The closest you would get would be  like FarCry Primal/ You throw the fire at the ground and you get AOE (area of effect).
    The idea of rain, dry river beds that become not dry river beds is going to be taken to 'the council' and proposed *the council referring to the 3 coders*. There is the potential for snow, there is the potential for every biome.
    Obviously you have heard me refer to certain buildings and inside of those buildings technically I could make anything happen because it doesn't effect the whole island, it effects a box. Which is great, I could do that, but it's a very debatable thing."

Q: Will predators get any advantage or reward over prey for playing in a strategic and stealthy way. Stalking and attacking by surprise at a perfect moment, other than just landing the first bite like it is right now?
A: "The Trike mechanic is a good example, you pounce it from the front and you die. As i have shared with Kissen, I don't remember if she fully agreed with this but I have given my unilateral like, we're gonna try it this way if nothing else. Things like the Utahraptor's pounce, hitting an animal from behind it is at your mercy, and if you have the stamina to kill it, you kill it.
    An animal your size or smaller obviously, not like 'hey I hit a Trike from behind I get to win now'. For that you just get to ride it like a lion riding a hippo. But hitting things from the side or the front, from the side obviously after a second or two it's going to get the opportunity to fight back. If you hit it from the front it just immediately gets to fight back.
    So the reward is your damage output is greater or lower and not only are you losing stamina, you're losing damage at this point fighting this thing. Hitting something with a bite just going 'im gonna bite this thing' it doesn't do anything, it's nipping it for the most part now. Being able to bite and clamp down on something and hold it, it is no longer what gets the first bite.
    I really want to move gameplay into did you see it coming? more than anything else. If a predator gets a hold of you, it should win MOST of the time. It needs to be more about the lead up, because that's how I wanted it to be before, and we started to go in that direction before but it just got all f*cky-wucky."

Q: With Isla Spero being made up of several islands, will there be ways to travel from one island to another such as sand bars, low tides revealing land bridges, or maybe even abandoned human bridges?
A: "With the infinite ocean I'm going to look at tides that are done in a smart way."

Q: Any plans on allowing dinos to gain some hydration from eating?
A: "Yep. Kissen has very specifically asked for that for herbivores."

Q: Will animals get more complicated threat displays when feathers are in?
A: "Yes. Feathered animals when doing threatening animations will get fluffy-puffy."

Q: Are there any plans to add amphibians such as the Beezlebufo, Koolasuchu or Diplocaulus?
A: "This is not a simulation of an ancient world. There is a particular reason why we chose dinosaurs and only dinosaurs. Not Mammoths, not Sabre-tooth Cats, not neanderthals. No, none of that sh*t. This is not a dinosaur simulator because you will never be in the environment of an ancient world. You have ancient creatures being brought into a modern world.
    I think the furthest we've gone away from anything is Megalania and Titanoboa."

Q: Will Ptera be able to catch fish while flying, if so will he do it with his mouth or legs?
A: "Im pretty sure it's going to have to do it while flying and i don't know. I don't know because i don't care."

Kissen says in chat that it will more than likely use it's mouth

Q: We've seen carnivores have the ability to carry the carcasses of other dinosaurs. Will there be something similar for herbivores to carry grass and bushes?
A: "No. Already it's going to be bad with carnivores once people start taking chunks out of corpses."

Q: It was mentioned a long time ago that the flying dinosaurs can act as scouts for the other carnivores and other players. Do you guys plan to allow it or do you have some method to prevent it?
A: "You can't stop Joe from hopping in a discord. Obviously dinosaurs won't be able to fly forever, but also with the jungle coverage it's not that easy and it's not an arcade game. You cant just 'kakaw' and have everything is highlighted for you to see through the trees, that's not how it's going to work.
    Pteranodon is focused on coastal fishing, or spotting carcasses, going to the ground, eating and taking off at the first sign of trouble. If you don't want to be spotted by a UAV then go into the jungle."

Q: Will there be different stages of leg break, as in a minor tumble causes a sprain and a longer fall does more damage in the long run?
A: "We could. I don't even want to have leg breaks anymore, I know they're important but I want a way to get around them. Breaking your leg sucks, it's like a horse. Once your leg is broken why are you here. You are now in time out for 10-15 minutes which isn't enjoyable.
    We will also have sliding now. Being able to go down something steep, your animal will just lock onto the ground like 'oh shit im skidding I'm skidding I'm skidding', and if it keeps going for too long or two far your animal is going to tumble."

Kissen adds in chat: 'I mean, we can still keep it but it would be more niche based on what actually happened to you."

NIVISION adds in chat: "Could we take it out of combat and only have it environmental wise? If you break your leg on the map, it's on you. Combat should be faster anyways, right?"

Dondi answers "No, because there are certain dinosaurs that are going to benefit from things like that. An animal being able to snap your leg isn't because it's going to now win the fight and kill you, it's because now you can't chase it. You get a Pachy slamming full force into a Carnos leg, you've dismantled its ability to chase and murder you.
               If you stick around its mouth its still gonna murder you.
               Because even though you have crippled it, you have not killed it so it's still going to win. As far as I'm concerned, if you broke something's leg to get away then good on you. If you broke something's leg for you to continue to fight it you're still going to get f*cked up."

Q: Will there be a way to customize almost all parts of your creature. Example: different pattern choices for different parts of the body, more colours found in the real natural world, eye colours, claw colours, etc?
A: "You're not going to get something dumb, but I will happily give customization to the Triumvirate, and let them do as much as they can. Because I like the idea of very nice vivid patterns, but I don't want some sort of eye-r*pe hot pink animal, out there that's pure hot pink. It's just, no."

Q: How will pounced animals be able to get rid of the predator/attacker?
A: "Depending on how big you are. If you're large and you get a Utahraptor on you, you could shake them off but at the same time it's also not doing much to you. Thinking back on the lion and the hippo. You get 20 lions on the hippo, it still ends up crushing one and walking away. Same thing with the Trike as the Utah. Just because you can, doesn't mean you should."

Q: Are there any actual plans to implement a sort of sleeping feature where your vision is greatly if not completely decreased, and you have to rely on deafened and distorted sounds to keep you safe?
A: "The is a full on system Kissen wants that I said no to that I've now warmed up to. I'm not commenting on it because it's sooo f*cking big. It's so huge for sleeping. Sleeping is important because we are putting it on logout. If you try and log out your creature is going to go to sleep. People are going to see that you're trying to log out.
    This combat logging sh*t that you've seen, never going to happen again."

Kissen says in chat: "I want dino hypo nightmares."

Q: Can the Deino drown dinosaurs by dragging them into the water?
A: "Yes you can. Yes you 100% can."

Q: If most dinosaurs are able to catch fish in some capacity, how will primary fishing animals such as Suchomimus or Spinosaurus be able to fish more efficiently than the likes of Utahraptor or Tyrannosaurus?
A: "I mean, you ever see a lion try and fish? Exactly. That's why Tyrannosaurus doesn't fish. There are mechanics that are given to them that make this easier."

Q: What are the plans with the DNA bars on the character screen?
A: "As you've seen the elder system is there now. There's a few other things, it's mostly for the perks though."

Q: Is there any solution to stream sniping?
A: "Don't stream. That's the universal solution to it. What I have wanted to do for a while is remove the ability to invite people from a far. You actually need to do it with a radial menu up close and very specifically there is no scoreboard unless you're an admin. You can't see who's on the server."

Dondi goes on to say: "Dinosaurs will have a type of map that wherever they start at, the rest is just fog of war, and then once they've moved through it shows the island."