IamA The Stomping Land Development Team. You helped us reach our Kickstarter Goal last year. Ask us Anything!

Why are there only 60 servers with 24-16-10 people when there are gonna be hundreds of people trying to get in, possibly thousands? I can get in a game fine, but trying to join one with more than 1 friend is impossible and playing with friends is the only reason i want to play this game.

We're rolling out more servers as we speak. Private hosting is available through BlackBoxServers or you can host your own server using this method

Does this mean 1 by 1 or will there be an update which will bring like x amount more servers because it;s pretty hard to gage which which are full and which are not when they fill up instantly :D

it's pretty hard to gauge which which are full and which are not when they fill up instantly

This is something that will be addressed as optimization occurs.

Blowpipes with poison or Bow and Arrow with poison?

Why not?

So after playing for 10 hours now (was a backer) there are some points I would like to know about:

1. I enjoy the crafting system with no virtual items. do you plan to keep that even with more complexity in the future?

2. Were there any problems with hackers yet? Do you have systems/plans to deal with that?

3. A huge point in gameplay is the pitch black night, forcing you to either be very stealthy but don´t see much or use light making you a beacon. Why did you decided on this (great) mechanic and is there anything you plan to do in the futuer using the darkness/light contrast?

4. Do you plan on making an ingame tutorial or do you want to leave that job o the community?

5. What went horribly wrong in your development? What are you proud of?

6. Where do you think this game will be in one year?

1. The goal is to keep the crafting system as practical as it can be without getting too complex. Grab a resource, stack it, then craft. This is similar to how a backpack system would work, but the physical action of doing it creates a connection that we've really enjoyed.
2. No hackers yet, but it's early. We'll have to deal with them on a one by one basis as it comes up.
3. Night time is an interesting change of pace because either players have to chose to expose themselves with light, or congregate to common areas, creating conflict either way.
4. An ingame tutorial would be possible, though outside players have already covered most of that through youtube and streams.
5. There weren't any horrible incidents, though the number of new challenges are endless. I'm mostly happy that people are playing with us now.
6. In a year the game will have all of its featured dinosaurs, in addition to much smoother gameplay.

I also made a little intro series on our Vimeo

taking a look at rust their starting was amazing they had the same thing start with a rock end up with guns but they changed so much the game has pretty taken a dive because of cheaters.. What changes do you plan on having to keep this from happening to The Stomping Land?

Jig posted a sort of road map here if you're interested in the direction we plan on going.

As for cheaters, it's early still, but they're something we'll have to deal with on an as they come up basis.

1. At what rate do you intend to add the animals into the game? A couple every few months? Big packs every half a year?

2. When do you intend to replace the placeholder galli?

3. How many more types of buildings can we expect?

4. Will we be able to sail between islands?

5. Will we see more than the original 15 animals eventually?

(btw: Grats with the first release, you have come along way)

1.) The additional animals will be added as their animations and other assets are completed. We'll probably end up doing like a, 'Gallimimus Week,' 'Parahelicoprion Week,' etc.

2.) During Gallimimus Week :)

3.) Buildings and other craftables are something that we intend to expand upon as they make sense for the game. For instance, we plan to add a see-saw into the game because it'll be a fun thing to see and to see how players come up with ways to use. The same is true for the planned Catapult

4.) Kcin has a canoe modeled :)

5.) Perhaps, but let's wait to get these first 15 implemented

Puertasaurus and Parahelicoprion?

Am I choosing? Puertasaurus.

1. Are there any plans to show your gear on your character? As seen in the older videos.

2. What is the goal of the game? Is it log on and just kill or will there be something to actively work towards(so more like DayZ or more like Rust)?

1.) It was taken out because it was interfering with the customization system which looked cooler than seeing your bow.

2.) Actively working towards surviving long enough to tame the large dinosaurs. As the game progresses you'll want to defend your tribe/camp.

Why no Macintosh support?

No Macintosh programmer on staff.

1. Anyway for me to boost fps, when could more graphics settings be added
2. what games inspired you to make TSL.
3. Nighttime is seriously dark, anyway for it to be lighter

1.) At the moment, no. We plan to have some toggles in the video options to help improve performance in game.

2.) Basketball.

3.) I gave this question to; /u/kcintsl, he says use a torch :)

Will we be able to spawn together if we play in a group of friends? Would make it a lot more fun (:

interesting suggestion!

What are your favorite dinosaurs?

GovOstrich: Ankylosaurus

Kcin: Austroraptor

I have been waiting for this game for so long. Haven't had the funds to purchase yet however. BUT I WILL! Any way my question: How hard is it to hunt and kill a T-rex? and what are the bonuses of doing such? Since I have not played the game yet is there any sort of achievements to show off to your friends that HEY LOOK I KILLED THAT!?

The T.Rex isn't currently implemented. Steam Achievements are planned.

Will we be receiving different models of fishies?

How close to completion are the Puertasaurus and the Paraheli?

Will multiple people eventually be able to ride the same dinosaur?

Is the canoe going to be added during Parahelicoprion week?

1.) There are 3 total fishies modeled atm

2.) Puertasaurus has a couple of animations and some AI that needs implemented first. Paraheli same thing.

3.) Eventually you'll be able to drag players/teammates like in the early Styracosaurus video.

4.) I'm not sure.

3 Fishies?

So the Coelacanth and maybe the Parahelicoprion. What's the third (or second)

Or is this classified?

Para is a Chimera :) (Are Chimera fish?)

Bawitus (sp?) and something else whose name escapes me.

wow, i'm glad i saw this ama, didn't know the game existed. How did you manage to build what sounds (from reviews on steam) a great game for 120k? Did you raise more money elsewhere? doing it in spare time instead of fulltime?

Nope, just Kickstarter funding. The three of us quit our jobs and moved in together and worked on the game together. It's been a rewarding experience.

[deleted]

That was a proof of concept video. Many of those concepts are still forthcoming but lack the polish to be currently implemented or have been disabled for other reasons like to ensure better server stability while we optimize server side.

and others were cut for design reasons, such as the inventory. Jig discusses the reason for the inventory change in another comment in this thread.

Will servers be paid or can we make free ones ourselves ?

here

Thank you for this ama and pf course making the game !

I'd like to know how many players a server can handle . I' love to have big tribe battles with many players.

Currently servers can host up to 24 players, though that is experimental.

12-16 is more optimal at the moment.

We plan to implement higher population servers as we continue to optimize up to 32/64 populations.

We also plan to have multiple maps and custom player map making in the future.

What's you guys history in education? Did you study game development? I'm currently studying game-programming at a university, and i'm curisous! Game looks awesome so far btw!

We each went to the same art school. I got a degree in graphic design, Jig and Kcin got theirs in Animation. Jig worked for Bethesda and Trendy before starting SuperCrit to make The Stomping Land.

Are more secure buildings/resource storage going to be added, as now it's really easy for people to steal and destroy other peoples stuff.

What do you think of the idea of raiding (something like rust)?

Yes, more buildings and resources will be added.

I am someone who is not exactly into dinosaurs but have brought the game and am waiting for my friends to come online to play (we all planned to play it together and have been waiting for release for a little bit now). It seems like the game may be reaching an audience of gamers who are interested in the game and the concept but never have played games with a prehistoric context. Thus:

How'd you manage to reach a broad audience with what seems like a special interest game?

What do you think is appealing about the game that makes people want to play it despite not having a particular interest in dinosaurs?

1.) I think the survival genre accomplishes reaching a broad audience. To expand on an answer elsewhere in the thread, dinosaurs might be a special interest to some, but they satisfy our goal to create an AI enemy that emphasizes difficulty and cooperation for the players. I believe that is attractive to people interested in the genre.

2.) One of the goals of the game is to enable player creativity. This will become more apparent as we implement the camouflage/foliage system where players can literally pick things up off the ground and place them on their character. Creating a custom Ghille Suit/Outfit.

Other means of doing this would be by implementing certain elements such as the Catapult and the See-Saw which have no intended purpose; just functionality. What players do with them will be interesting.

1.Do you guys have plans on improving the mechanics of movement or adding more mechanics such as a dodge roll?

2.What are the plans with world geometry? currently arrows stick into invisible boxes on the rocks and hills.

What movement mechanics are you referencing?

world geometry needs some hit box adjustment which will be improved upon in a future patch.

Who is your favorite character from Jurrasic Park I and your favorite dinosaur?

Also, congrats on all the hard work! Serious question would be, What were some of your greatest challenges to overcome during the Dev process?

Kcin: Ian Malcom

Jig: Ian Malcom

GovernorOstrich: I've never seen it...loljk, Philosoraptor.

Why dinosaurs?

We wanted to emphasize difficulty and cooperation against the AI and dinosaurs satisfy those conditions.

I cant connect to a server and cant really find anything online to help me out. I click a server and it says laoding for a long time and nothing happens or it goes back to the first page where you choose online or solo....Any ideas?

try [url=http://www.thestompingland.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=1516]this[/url]

If you click a server and can move your mouse, you wont be able to load the server. So cancel out, reload the game, then try to join a different server. It seems to be that if a server goes full while you're trying to load into it this happens. Day 1 shenanigans that will be addressed.

Can you describe your development environment: engine, programming language[s] used, etc.

Unreal 3, Unreal Script

Will you add a modern time expansion? So the whole setting is placed in the future (with dinosaurs of course)

but you'll use guns as clubs because guns are broken in the future!

Months ago in stream chat I asked if you had plans to subvert the culture of KOS that's so prevalent in this genre and you said yes. I see nothing in the game to support that claim. Do you have anything you can say to give us confidence that this problem is being worked on?

Most people don't like being murdered constantly and many players try games like Rust and Dayz only to quit days later. I hope you really do aim to make a game that includes those players without necessarily disabling PvP entirely.

We created the Shield as an answer to KOS. I expect team work to be more and more necessary as more predators enter the island.

Every time I try and connect to any server, it just sits at a load screen and doesn't ever load (I left it alone to try for 30 minutes). However, my friend who I bought the game for as well, loads right in. And I know my PC is better than his. Is this a frequent bug or is there something I am missing?

It's a common bug to this patch. I address it and others here

The game is lagging to the point where I can barely play it. Is this because of my computer or the game?

Maybe both? Probably more to do with optimization than anything else though. I run it just fine but I'm on beast mode computer though I still get server related lag things. It'll all be improved upon as more time is given for optimization and development.

Do you have plans to include the allosaurus or the biggest carnivores like the carcharodontosaurus or giganotosaurus? btw how many pms have you received asking for a free game?

planned dinosaurs

3,720 PMs

have you thought about any other applications of the catapult like getting into some of the flying dinosaurs nest to get eggs for food, and stuff like that

we're going to add the catapult and it's functionality then let the players decide what to do with it

Will there be any graphic options to make the game more appealing? it looks okay now, I would like to be able to set everything to ultra and set view distance further

The game 'as is' is a first pass at the lighting and environment. It's still being worked out and will experience some tweaks.

and additional video settings will come with that.

Why do solo games not save?

currently a bug

1. what inspired you to make this
2. What was your favorite part of making this?
3. Did you ever consider giving up?
4. Do you have any tips for other indie game developers?

1.) We like Survival games. Dinosaurs. And felt like making a game. 2.) The learning experience and milkshakes 3.) Frak no! 4.) (assuming someone just getting started with an interest in making their own game) You'll learn more from yourself than you will from anything else. I'd also add a 'theme' from band camp; Power through Perseverance!

Where do you see the game in a year feature wise?

in a year we plan to be in a full release state. So 15 dinosaurs and loads of fun things for players to make use of like catapults and see-saws!

Mouse controls seem a bit floaty, also is there any plan on making some graphics changes like shadow resolution and such?

Regarding graphics changes, more things will be added to the video menu. Shadow resolution/toggle is a likely candidate.

Are wing-suits or tree-houses confirmed? Thanks!

wing suit model is done.

Me and 3 friends were playing and we got killed by a speed hacker (very very fast run and fast axe). Do you know about this problem?

yes, it's being looked at.

In the near future are you guys going to include more dinosaurs such as Velociraptor's?

This is the current list of planned dinos

You guys have most actions re bindable but I have one huge suggestion, for players like myself(have played every game using esdf to move instead of wasd to have more buttons available and it's just more natural feeling as your hand is normaly in this position to type), or people with disabilities that are not able to use traditional wasd movement. It's so hard to get used to wasd after yrs of playing with esdf. In short please make the movement keys re bindable. Other wise it's looking amazing so far keep up the good work!!!! Sry for rant just very import to me =]

haha, I understand. I bind ESDF when I play anything that needs more than 10 key binds. I'll add this to the list of requests.