Frontier Development Interview – Jurassic World Evolution 2

I have been covering Frontier’s games and DLC packs for a while now and I got the incredible opportunity to interview a few members of this fantastic studio in relation to Jurassic World Evolution 2’s latest DLC pack, Prehistoric Marine Species. I also took this chance to ask the team some other questions related to the Jurassic World/Park franchise as a whole and even tested my luck and see if they would be nice enough to slip a few things that could potentially be on the horizon in future packs or games.

Frontier Development is super friendly and answered my main questions and I was so happy with the response I received. You can sense the passion that goes into Jurassic World Evolution 2 and their love for the franchise as a whole.

I asked Senior Producer Orcun Adsoy What was their favourite thing about the new pack, get off to an easy start with the questions. It’s also nice to get to hear what the people working on the game feel towards the content they produce and Orcun replied

“It’s great to be giving players so much more content for their lagoons, including completely different styles of marine reptile that haven’t been seen in the game before!”.

I couldn’t help but agree. The pack does come with reptiles that we haven’t seen in this game or the previous one and they certainly bring a lot to the lagoons for guests and players. I then went on to ask If Jurassic World was a real theme park, would you go? and Orcun’s answer made it clear that some thought has already gone into this question.

“In a world where the Jurassic Park/World films existed? Absolutely not! I like to think I’m fairly adventurous, but the health and safety standards leave something to be desired!”

Then I said yeah then What dinosaur would you not want to come face to face with when Jurassic World inevitably goes wrong? And the response was a surprising one, I thought it might have been the Indominus rex or Rexy herself but no it was the Atrociraptors

“I think the Atrociraptors featured in Jurassic World: Dominion are both frighteningly relentless and horrifyingly dangerous. I’d want to remain as far from them as possible. Unless I happened to possess the laser used to control them…”

with that answer, I made a quick beeline for the door.

Next, I thought I’d take a shot at asking Lee Dalton (Principal Artist) What was your favourite dinosaur in the new pack? Lee replied with an unbiased answer and said

“I’m a fan of all the Prehistoric Marine Species Pack dinosaurs – it’s a fun pack with a good range of creatures.”

However, Lee did show a bit of favouritism for the Archelon by saying

“The Archelon stands out as it is quite different to anything we have done before. It’s an aesthetic design but still has that primal menacing quality from its size and hooked beak.”

Though, I didn’t want to stop there. I found the Principal Animator, Amy Hook and picked her brain to see what the hardest dinosaur to animate from an animator’s point of view in the game as a whole and why. I studied computer game design when I was a university and got to dabble in a bit of animation. I learnt how to rig, motion capture and a bunch of other cool things that bring video game characters to life and Amy replied by saying

“The trickiest family of dinosaurs to animate aren’t really dinosaurs! The Pterosaurs have proven to be more complex than most since we need to work out what they do with their wings when they’re not flying. Pteranodons especially have an odd foot configuration. If you picture bats, they have a forelimb configuration not unlike our own arms – albeit with incredibly long fingers to carry the wing membrane, however, Pteranodons have an additional joint. That additional joint, if you squint, is actually their wrist that’s been elongated, not unlike horses or deer. So, when we look at references of bats landing or taking off, we have to make allowances for that extra joint, which really makes the pterosaurs a fun challenge!“

I was surprised at this as I would have thought it would have been one of the aquatic reptiles or one of the bigger carnivores, so finding this out was interesting. I then went on to ask What her favourite dinosaur interactions were and her response didn’t surprise me as I also love the sinosauropteryx. Amy said

“There are so many good ones it’s difficult to choose from them all! If I had to choose, then I’d choose the playfight that the Sinosauropteryx does. She’s already a cute animal and that playfight is so mischievous you can’t help but adore her more.”

Even though they weren’t from this current DLC pack the sinosauropteryx were in the Feathered Species pack which I also got the pleasure of covering.

Moving away from the Artists and Animators I caught up with Game Director Richard Newbold and asked can we hope to see more attractions added to the game. For example, the Hot air balloon rides that we saw in JPOG. Sadly, this question was answered with the following

“We don’t have anything to announce regarding future content.”

This in a way is promising as they could be working on something similar but due to NDAs and confidentiality, I wasn’t able to say at this time. So obviously when I followed up can we hope to see more hybrid dinosaurs added in future content? I got the same answer. I then took a different approach hoping to maybe get an answer from Richard if I asked him What features would like to implement into future DLC or games. And you never guess what his reply was… you guessed it correctly if you said

“We don’t have anything to announce regarding future content.”

I do feel like my questions could have ventured away from trying to dig and uncover something potentially on the horizon but Richard has his lips sealed. Maybe next time Richard.

Going back to the Artists I thought I’d pick Lee’s brain again and ask what dinosaur would you like to be added to the game Lee’s answer was one that I could tell probably went through his head a lot as he replied with

“A difficult question, there are many to choose from – there are many I’d love for us to explore.”

As a huge lover of dinosaurs, I could see where Lee was coming from as there are hundreds of species that would be very welcomed as an addition to Jurassic World Evolution 2.

I managed to get a chance to ask Audio Design Manager Michael Maidment what is the top three dinosaur roars in your opinion and two of them I figured would pop up in there but Michael’s second choice surprised me. This is what Michael said:

• “T Rex – The original, inspiring and setting the tone for the Jurassic Universe
• Alamosaurus – although not 100% a roar, the interplay between the vocalisation, animation and music as it emerges from the hatchery is one of my favourite moments in the game
• Raptors – Again, in some instances, it’s more of a bark than a roar, but the velociraptor vocalisations were amazing – the kitchen scene in the original movie was so well done, but takes on a new light when you find out the animals that the recordings came from…”

I agree that the T Rex will always be a staple for the Jurassic World franchise but I do love the Raptors and how they interact with one another and communicate.

Who doesn’t love a community manager within a gaming company I was lucky enough to ask Senior Community Manager Jens Vaaler if you could rank all the Jurassic films from best to worst what would your order be and Jen’s response was one that showed that each film held special places in this fans heart.

“They’re all so unique and special it’s impossible to rank. They all hold a special place in our hearts. Personally, I say watch them all in sequence as a dino-marathon, with dinosaur-themed snacks and beverages!”

I mean if you ever have a spare weekend I’m up for a Jurassic Marathon, Let’s say at the Frontier offices. I’ll bring the snacks and beverages.

The last two questions I asked the Frontier Team for the question that would be on anyone’s mind If they could be any dinosaur from the Jurassic World/Park franchise which one would they be?

The responses from the team were a good mix and showed the diversity and love for the dinosaurs that lived millions of years ago. Michael Maidment, the Audio Design Manager said

“The Lystrosaurus was actually completely voiced by one of our sound designers here, so he’s already been a dinosaur for a day!”

Richard Newbold, the Game Director followed up with

“Triceratops. A big gentle giant but also one hiding a very pointy, menacing threat if you were to mess with me.”

Amy Hook, Principal Animator took a curve ball and said

“Suchomimus. The idea of chilling on a beach eating fish sounds really appealing!”

Lee Dalton, Principal Artist said

“Homalocephale is the bests boy”

Showing love for the little guys and finally, Jens Vaaler, the Senior Community Manager finished it off with

“There’s something incredibly appealing to me about being a Brachiosaurus. Just a big, lumbering prehistoric cow that just hangs out, eats some leaves, eats some more leaves, and then just strolls calmly along.”

Being a lover of the Brachiosaurus and when it first appeared on screen in Jurassic Park one holds a special place in my heart so this answer rang true for me the fact that I’m tall so to be even bigger would be amazing. The last question I thought I could divide the team and see which franchise whether it be Park or World held the most fans at Frontier and their answer was again, one that showed the passion that comes from the team

“We could never pick a favourite! We of course love the Jurassic World films, but we also enjoy the nostalgia of the original Jurassic Park, and even recently put out a free update full of decorations from the film to celebrate its 30^th anniversary!”

I went away a very happy bunny, I thought I got to know a bit more about the people who make this fantastic game that I hold so dear to my heart. I have forever been a dinosaur lover and an even bigger Jurassic franchise nerd. So being able to talk to the people who are bringing these dinosaurs to life providing me with more memories and getting to build multiple parks to my own design and pleasure was a huge privilege and I thank each and every one of you for your time and response. I hope to do it again in the future if you would have me. Until next time.

Frontier Development Jurassic World Evolution 2 Trailer

After reading that interview why not delve in the Jurassic World Evolutions yourselves by heading to https://www.jurassicworldevolution2.com/

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