The Isle DevBlog #64 details 2k skin upgrades, pteranodon flight rework, and multiple dino tweaks

DevBlog #64 for The Isle is live on Steam and it’s mostly about polish – old skins getting a resolution upgrade, a flight rework for pteranodon, and a host of animation, audio, and balance fixes across the roster.

2k skin upgrades and cleanup

The art team found itself with a mixed bag of 1k and 2k creature textures after the custom skin system landed, so the plan is straightforward: roll everything up to 2k and do a subtle cleanup pass so older skins sit better next to recent work. Fred posted examples from the upgrade run below.

Director commentary, UI, and color palettes

The director’s entry is predictably blunt about bug hunting and the grind. The UI is said to be near completion with only a few screens and popups left, after which hints and tutorials will follow. Color options have been temporarily trimmed in testing builds so the team can expand patterned palettes without letting players run wild with off-theme colors. There will be a player-server option to allow full palettes or a color wheel for those who want unrestricted visuals.

For context on the devblog cadence and recent work, we previously covered DevBlog 62 outlines Rex hordetest and new dinosaurs.

Flight changes – pteranodon

Pteranodon flight stats were overhauled this month: aerial stamina costs have been lowered across the board, momentum in flight carries for longer, and there’s an extra turn mechanic to keep aerial handling nimble. The team says flight work is largely done and attention will move to giving pteranodon stronger terrestrial options, including a more violent ground game.

Animation and creature work

The animation team is focused on the camarasaurus and wrapping up the quetzalcoatlus rig, which now includes crest dimorphism for females and a juvenile edit. Oviraptor locomotion is next so it can be plugged in alongside baryonyx, kentrosaurus, and austroraptor. Austroraptor, kentrosaurus, and baryonyx have had basic locomotion, functionality, and lifecycles implemented, and the team will push more media in Phase Three.

Audio and foley

Sound has finished core austroraptor work and completed kentrosaurus core vocalizations. Will is working on foley for large animals to enable dynamic footstep audio that changes based on weight.

Balance and growth changes

There’s a batch of targeted balance tweaks and growth updates. Highlights include:

• Tyrannosaurus: fixed an early juvenile spot that let it hit harder than intended; crush spar initiation adjusted so it no longer pins and one-shots equal-weight targets.
• Maiasaura: thirst decay reduced; tweaks to CC and stagger on defensive attacks; a hidden passive will get a small boost to match its ‘good mother’ role.
• Omniraptor: latch decay reduced so it hangs on larger creatures longer.
• Beipiaosaurus and herrerasaurus: oxygen decay greatly reduced.
• Growth curves: larger animals now have more overlap with smaller sizes, growth times slightly shortened and shifted toward the elder phase so animals spend more time as adults.

Gateway and world content

Gateway outposts are being expanded with new buildings and larger location shells taken from GUTS locales, plus a new sanctuary near the highlands is planned.

HordeTesting branch and media

The post closes with a HordeTesting branch update and a big image dump showing animations, rigs, and creature interactions. Here are a few of the gifs the team attached.

If you play on HordeTesting, expect the usual mix of bug stomping and odd behavior while these systems iterate. The tone of the post is a mix of small triumphs and the low-level rage that comes from digging through edge-case bugs – perfectly normal for a live development cycle.

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Source: Steam