While I was quite impressed with Jurassic World Evolution 3’s preview build when I played it last week, we at GameWatcher also had a number of questions a hands-on demo couldn’t answer on its own. Thankfully, Frontier Developments allowed us to interview principal designers Sandro Sammarco and Michael Evans, who shed some light on what’s changed between entries and the collaboration with Universal.
First up, I asked them which was the biggest piece of feedback they’d taken to heart coming from Evolution 2. Frontier has traditionally listened to its community to alter and develop entire systems and mechanics, and after experiencing for myself how this new game implements much-awaited elements and tweaks to great effect, I wondered whether the path forward was a no-brainer or a more complex discussion.
Sammarco immediately pointed out it wasn’t a single thing (or two) which shaped the development. Instead, he said: “It was all about core pillars… They (the community) all asked for a laundry load of what we wanted as well.” A key bullet point which I think the publisher/developer might be underselling is the campaign, but Evans brought it up as another key area the team wanted to deliver on after the second game’s tutorial-shaped one: “If you wanted to really speedrun to the credits, it’s 10 levels (maps), 15-20 hours. If you wanted to actually go back and five-star every park and enjoy yourself, 80-100 hours.” Like in the first game, the campaign can be played for as long as the player wants even if there’s a definite ending and more modes waiting.
About the collaboration with Universal, they had nothing but good things to say. But we were especially curious about how it all looks like when Frontier is the entity bringing a new prehistoric species into the Jurassic canon versus the movies leading the charge. If you can remember, Evolution 1 already included the massive Giganotosaurus, which wouldn’t be seen on the big screen until Jurassic World: Dominion. The movie then completely redid the design to fit its needs. As a result, the third game presents two variants of the same dinosaur… How does that conversation work and what are the restrictions?
“They’ve been fantastic. They’re really understanding because of the needs of the game, but there was also a great guidance which we listen to.” This, of course, also applies to the campaigns of all three games, which bring movie characters like Dr. Ian Malcolm into the fold. For the most part, it seems Universal is happy to let Frontier play in its sandbox until the movies need to ‘redo’ something. The devs had “no idea” about the familiar Dunkleosteus head that briefly appears in the latest movie though.
Richer customization tools and the ability to upload creations to the Frontier Workshop, which turned Planet Coaster 2 into a far more enduring game, also raise a few questions, such as how moderation will work and whether it took some convincing to get the folks at Universal on board. Surprisingly, it seems that wasn’t hard to figure out: “It hasn’t been an issue,” Evans confirmed right away. “They have an approval process, so we share the blueprints we’re putting in the game by default. That’s it. You can create whatever you want.” As for the moderation, he explained the Frontier Workshop will only feature and “filter to the top” creations that “will be moderated” so, hopefully, “you should only see a fantastic set of really good, community-donated blueprints that you can use.” This suggests a ‘direct exchange’ of user-made content will be possible, while the things actually presented inside the Frontier Workshop will go through filters, but it all remains to be seen in the launch build of the game.
Of course, with new terrain tools, custom content, and much better decoration options at the forefront of Evolution 3 (plus more complex interactions between the animals), it’s safe to say PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S might struggle when parks get too large and heavy. I asked them about how this was addressed, and it seems Frontier went for a solution quite similar to that of Fallout 4 & 76’s base-building system: “In this game, the ‘complexity meter’ is like a combination of dinosaurs and the pieces that make up the scenery and modular buildings. When it becomes an issue on console, you see when you’re getting close,” Evans explained. At the same time, he shared this is the main reason why some species share certain animations and behaviors; it’s all an effort to make the load as light as it can be without compromising the game’s design.
“If you want more of one thing, we don’t want to restrict you, but there’s a cost to everything. You can have less grandiose blueprints and have more dinosaurs,” the developers added. There are no ‘hard limits’ to certain elements/animals, but an overall ‘budget’ consoles must swim below. As for the PC version, I was told it’s “uncapped” as usual in this type of games. After all, simulators are the best stress tests in gaming.
In my preview, I also wrote about improvements made to the more basic management side of the game. Menial tasks are now kept to a minimum… at least once you spend enough money on buildings and devices which keep most of the parks’ daily hiccups in check. It’s freeing stuff which has a big impact on how the game is paced, so I asked the devs about how they successfully responded to the negative feedback about that part of Evolution 2. “What they do is they automate repairing and resupplying, so if you plan well, you can automate your response to disasters and focus on things that matter… It’s another layer of management, because they require power, and you have to make a decision of how many to have and where to put them,” Evans said.
Sammarco then explained perfectly how Evolution 3 feels – now that I’ve played it myself – versus its predecessors beyond the obvious additions (with juvenile dinos at the center of the show): “We reduce the friction and let you focus on the things that you want to focus on. We have all these juvenile dinosaurs now and dimorphism, so there’s a lot of new stuff in there. We want to allow you to manage out the stuff that’s more low-level so you can focus on the big things.” And of course, Sandbox mode allows players to turn pretty much everything on and off, shaping the challenge and restrictions to their liking.
Last but not least, I inquired about the antagonists that have been repeatedly teased over the course of the marketing campaign, which appears to be Chaos Theory’s DLN group. At this point, it’s safe to assume they’re being saved for launch, but you never know for sure. “As we get closer to launch, there might be more stuff we reveal,” Sammarco admitted, but the goal is to save something for when aspiring park managers jump in.
Jurassic World Evolution 3 roars into PC (Steam, Epic, Xbox app), PS5, and Xbox Series X/S on October 21. Stay tuned for our full game review at launch and extensive coverage as dinosaurs rule the Earth again.
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