Hello Survivors! Welcome to the fifth issue of the ARK Digest! For those who missed the previous issues, check out the Announcement section on the Steam Community Hub and be sure to catch up with what you’ve missed. It’s been a helluva week, seriously! The last time we had a Digest we had announced that had sold over 100,000 units in 12 hours. One week later, this figure has more than quadrupled. We’ve sold about 500,000 copies! The game is a massive success and we really appreciate all the support and help you’ve given us in getting this far. This is a promise that we won’t let you down, we’ll create a magnificent game together and we will release something truly special! Not only have we have we sold that many copies, but also we have maintained top 10 on Steam regularly, even at times holding the top 3 spot! For a new game this is an incredible feat, no other early access game has ever had such a successful start! We have become the fastest growing Early Access, seriously the amount of hours you guys have already played is staggering! By tomorrow afternoon we’ll have likely hit OVER 7,000,000 HOURS! That’s nearly 800 YEARS of GAMEPLAY… IN JUST OVER A WEEK!! Everyone at the Studio is over the moon and we’re all buzzing to get working even harder! If you thought you were impressed by our work ethic before, get ready for something even better. We started off rough with an average Steam review of 44% this has now switched to a mostly positive review rating of 72%! Though we aren’t going to get complacent. We’re going to aim higher and higher to ensure that this is the best open world survival game to ever exist! You can count on it. And Steam isn’t the only place we’re being noticed! Since we’ve launched we have regularly held a top 5 spot on Twitch! At times, the biggest-stream on twitch has been ARK: Survival Evolved! There have been TONS of footage, loads of fun, laughs and even a few tears! The amount of passion shown towards the game is nuts, we cannot believe it, so thank you everyone! We’re here for you! [h1]Big News![/h1] For those of you who haven’t been aware, we’ve been hosting a special event-filled week, known as “Jurassic ARK Week”, in the run-up to our favorite dinosaur movie on Friday, Jurassic World! We’re hosting loads of daily competitions, giving out prizes and have a lot planned for this coming Friday where we’ll be releasing our Jurassic ARK Content patch! There’s loads to come and you guys will love it :). http://steamcommunity.com/games/346110/announcements/detail/249168568957770835 Check out the announcement page if you want to stay up to date, and definitely take part. It’s a lot of fun and all it takes to win some prizes is to play ARK and be creative! Which most of you are doing already :] <3 [h1]Your questions, Our answers![/h1] [h1]Survivor, Dribi asks, “Have you set a date for the mac version?”[/h1] Answer: Yes! We’re excited to announce that we can finally confirm the release date of the Mac and Linux client to be the 25th of June! We can’t wait to see our buddies from other platforms join us on the ARK! Hopefully you’ve all kept in touch and informed via the announcement page and you’re ready to begin your journey :D [h1]Survivor, Azamataz asks, “Is there lore behind the implants and the obelisks? If so will you be implementing clues to a story or lore into the game at any point?”[/h1] Answer: You do not realise how many times we get asked this question! It’s become an hourly experience for some members of the team, and we absolutely love it! The fact that you guys are so excited about the game and the desire to learn more, it truly means a lot to us. As for your question… Absolutely, and it will BLOW YOUR MIND! The lore plays a key part to the game and it is essential to the upcoming Ascension game loop. Ooh, what’s Ascension you ask? Well.. that is a question indeed! ;) It’s going to be some epic Matrix-level plot developments; soon we will be adding the in-game ruins and clue systems that flesh out the story and provide more quest-based objectives to progress. You’re gonna love it! [h1]Survivor, CoLS Firestar asks, “Will there be more sound options soon? There’s no mic settings either so local mic chat is very difficult to hear because you can’t adjust it at all.”[/h1] Answer: You know what, you’re right. That would be incredibly useful to have. In fact, we’ll work on implementing that as soon as possible! [h1]Survivor, Valdyeus asks, “Why do you not turn off reflection as it would help with FPS?”[/h1] Answer: Ditto! This is something that we’re actually working on right now and hopefully we will have it implemented as soon as possible. We want you guys to be able to reach higher FPS and if you want to disable reflection to reach that, it will definitely be a thing! [h1]Survivor, jeremylinaf asks, “I've fallen in love with the Pteradon, and spend a lot of time hunting them in my own secretive way which I would never share so my band of merry nerds can ride them, will there be an upgrade to that dino soon?”[/h1] Answer: Will there be an upgrade? hmm.. I’ve heard some news travel about a particular creature that goes by the name Quetzalcoatlus.. We’d say that’s definite upgrade ;) [h1]Survivor, ULiopleurodon asks, “Liopleurodon?”[/h1] Answer: They’re magical! ;) [h1]Survivor, Lurk asks, “Will dinosaur husbandry/farming become a thing?”[/h1] Answer: We’re working on it :). Hopefully we’ll be able to provide some information soon! But it’s something we’re all very keen on and think can help take ARK’s lifecycle simulation to the next level. [h1]Lurk also asks..”Will insects come a thing? I'm thinking giant prehistoric dragonflies and bees nests that if you disturb you get a nasty bite from and the possibility of allergies?”[/h1] Answer: [url=http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=458926833][img]http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/30744620652179949/D297B4E75BAC9D07673F0748FF9F6FBDB7BAB547/[/img][/url] ...and I hope you aren’t afraid of ants :P.