Carnivores: Phantasmagoria mod

Howdy again. Things are looking a bit different around here- First off, work has been a bit more slow compared to previously so there will likely not be another report at the end of this month unless something majorly dramatic happens and this report will be shorter than the last 3, but I want to cover a few things here in regards to major updates to the mod's themes and concepts. The first part of this article will be very text heavy, but there are screenshots, concept art, and Phantasmagoria's main new composed theme later on. I have updated the mod's text description and summary to better reference the new themes and ideas, removing mention of "the Dragon' as this is no longer pertinent to the main story and themes of the mod.

First, A few weeks ago I announced Jurassic Park Revolution: Director's Cut. Not only did this mod announcement make the front page of ModDB, but it now has over 1100 views, and I would love to thank everyone for being so invested and interested in this side project of mine as well as to Tormer for allowing me to make it. This will remain more of a passion side project than my main focus and I'll pop in to work on it now and again between focusing on Phantasmagoria.

Second, is a huge announcement regarding the old creature roster. It has been dramatically changed and overhauled, with an entire new theme in mind. The original roster was almost exclusively asian dinosaur species, as the original mod of A New World was keenly focused around the Bleeding Rose Feathered Dragon, or Hadesiutyrannus/Yutyrannus cruorosa. Now that that is no longer the mod's focus, and because this asian theme had nothing to do with the overhauled name, it has been changed. As Cruentomarinyx, a strange and surreal horrific and scary dinosaur named after a folklore icon ("Bloody Mary" is part of its name), I decided to apply these as the theme to the mod's roster. The overhauled roster now entirely is comprised of strange and bizarre creatures, those with spooky/scary/monstrous names, ones named after pop culture, spiritual, or otherwise zeitgeist beings, etc. This does NOT affect the Steve Kirk/Wayne Barlowe primary fixation for the artstyle of the dinosaurs, but instead changes which dinosaurs and creatures are chosen. Further below will be a link to a spreadsheet containing the full planned roster for the first 5 maps (6 still being kept under wraps as a secret), but I will go over the core main roster and what will happen to them here;

Fukuisaurus > Scrapped > Iani (relative of Tenontosaurus) replaces it, named after the Roman god of change and transitions, to represent the change of this mod from New World.

Beipiaosaurus > Scrapped > replaced with Jakapil, a strange armored dinosaur unlike any others.

Sinornithosaurus > renamed > renamed into Adasaurus, will keep its existing concept design.

Dilong > unchanged, as it is a holdover from the original New World dating back as far as 2012, and has been in every iteration of the mod in some way or another.

Agathaumas > unchanged, as it is my favorite dinosaur and is quite bizarre.

Saichania > Reworked > Will be made into Zuul, the Ankylosaur famously named after Ghostbusters, and be given a brand new deisgn to fit with the style and aesthetics.

7th slot unrevealed > still in talks with Daubeny, but will likely be replaced.

Huaxiaosaurus > renamed > Kerberosaurus, keeps the model and skin, just renamed, a dinosaur named after Cerberus, guardian of hell.

Cruentomarinyx > unchanged, as the theme was chosen around her.

Tyrannotitan > unchanged, as it is a holdover from the original New World and "Tyrant Titan" fits the name concept, referencing the ancient greek titans.

Here's the full roster, including all secondary huntables. The entire roster has been greatly overhauled, and you may notice some changes.

First is that, due to the change in theme, the concepts and names of some of the maps have changed. Here I will share all the revised area descriptions;

Area 1: Everautumn Weald

PRIMARY INSPIRATION: New England (in particular Maine and Massachusetts), Halloween aesthetics, Rural Farmland and Autumn Forests

An island made of multiple rings that form sub-biomes around one another. The outermost ring is a craggy, rocky beach that leads to the sea with low-lying fog across the shoreline. This leads up into open wide plains with sparse ponds and trees across much of the area, forming the largest sub-biome. These large plains Around the large mountains that ring the center of the island is a dense autumnal forest with an intertwined canopy of red, yellow, orange, and green. A small mountain range forms a circle around the center of the island and just off to the top left, creating two unique smaller sub-biomes. The first sub-biome is a dark green temperate swamp with cypress trees and large ferns and murky water. The second sub-biome, the one the region is named after, is a coniferous forest surrounding a low point near the center of the island, where it becomes dense and foggy. Surveyors who visited the forest’s depths reported body aches, hearing strange noises that others could not, and symptoms similar to radiation poisoning, meaning excursions into the depths of the forest are ill-advised.

Area 2: Loch Boscovich

PRIMARY INSPIRATION: Loch Ness, Carpathian Mountains, Himalayas, Mt. Fuji

A mountainous region surrounding an enormous Loch to the south of the region. Flowing out from the loch, a river carves a canyon around the locale, cutting the area in two around the center. When DinoHunt survey teams arrived, great bridges were already in place across the river canyon, believed to be built by the Ancients, and the area was thus named in honor of the primary DinoHunt Xenoarchaeologist, Arturo Boscovich. Rocky crags overlook the lock, home to nesting pterosaurs taking a rest on their migrations, and the lowlands leading up to the mountains are densely covered in flowers, giving the area a very beautiful aesthetic. The mountains to the north are dotted with sparse bamboo and trees and crystal clear ponds, making them very hospitable regions for quite a few species of wildlife. The highest accessible parts of the mountains are quite snowy, limiting visibility amidst a high-altitude frigid forest. Strange melodic sounds can be heard echoing throughout the canyons and shores of the loch, though a source has never been properly identified, interrupting the typical calm and stillness of the area.

Area 3: Hallowed Gravewood

PRIMARY INSPIRATIONS: Slavic Pine Forests, American Redwood Forests, The Rotten Vale (in concept), Genndy Tartakovsky's Primal

A dark and dense redwood forest with a twisted history. Enormous redwood trees tower high into the overcast sky, with a dense layer of ferns and fog along the forest floor, with differing levels of thickness depending on where one is in the forest. Enormous bones of titanic sauropods dot the area, far larger than any life form currently known on the planet. These are believed to have died due to some form of disease, as it appears many died in close approximation of one another. The deaths of these giants released immense nutrients into a small forest that grew over time into one of the densest forests with some of the tallest trees on the dinosaur planet. Giant dinosaurs such as Tyrannotitan and Kerberosaurus cannot appear in the forest due to being too large to properly navigate it, leading to other dinosaurs to fill in their niches instead. Many of the forest's trees are slashed with deep gouges, marking the territory of a ferocious predator that has only been seen as great hands reaching from the darkness. The western part of the forest seems to have recently been burned and petrified, with sparse plant growth and an abundance of charcoal, making it a common site for dinosaurs to come to find extra nutrients. Surveyors who entered the forest reported hearing whispers or seeing things darting between the trees, but no two could corroborate the exact same noises, leading reports to be dismissed.

Area 4: The Riven Wilds

PRIMARY INSPIRATIONS: WWD Ep6, the Gobi Desert, Sahara Desert, MHTri Sandy Plains and Volcano

A large diametrically opposed arid expanse to the far south of the Aberrant sector. The area is divided in two as indicated by the name, with a brief transitional region between them. The Northern part of the area is a rocky, volcanic crag at the base of a volcano, featuring a mix of geothermal activity such as lava pools and tar pits, as well as an ash forest with several unique species adapted to the harsh region. It is also the nesting grounds of sauropod species in the Aberrant sector, their young finding safety in the craggy environments and consuming the nutrient-rich flora in the highly enriched ash forest. The middle of the region is a dark streak of black rock and sand where the two halves seem to have almost mixed together over millennia, creating a natural 'stroke' around both halves of the zone. The southern region is a uniquely blue desert. The sand is, for unknown reasons, entirely blue in color, with much of its wildlife exhibiting similar colors. The region is very warm due to the proximity of the volcano, though is not inhospitable or desolate, with a variety of uniquely blue fauna.

Area 5: The Devil’s Vineyard

PRIMARY INSPIRATIONS: The Red Queen’s Garden, Kudzu overtaking forests, Roses, Blood Lily Island (Deltora)

A foreboding and sinister-looking locale at the northern tip of the main landmass of the Aberrant Sector seethed in deep sanguine red. This locality is the closest of this sector to the Arctic Sector, though it is still fairly temperate, and it rarely becomes more than just ‘chilly’. Vast fields of roses grow across the region, as well as red trees and plants that seem to be ‘infected’ by these roses, which seem to be a parasitic strain of flowering plant convergently evolved to Kudzu. What isn’t seethed in deep red is instead devoid of color altogether, as if the very life essence had been drained from the land by the bloody flowers. The area is unique for its wide variety of sea life, seemingly unaffected by the spread of the roses on the shorelines. To the far east of the area is a dense, vast field of uninterrupted roses, though the few surveyors who did enter this part of the locale never left, so venturing into this region is ill-advised. Sightings of a “Devil” that tends to the roses were discussed among surveyors who looked for any signs of their missing companions in the fields before quickly deciding against venturing further into the flowers, hence the area’s name.

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In addition, the cryptids for most areas themselves have been changed. While I will not reveal them here, or in any article for that matter going forward, I have left their names hidden in the roster sheet, with dashes representing the characters in their names, so for those who would like to theorize, feel free, it's part of the fun to hear people's theories. The cryptids are based on creatures of pop culture, folklore, and cryptozoological hunts from around the world, themed after and heavily integrated into the story, lore, and concepts behind each of the maps.

Alright, after all that text, let's get into the main prominent focus of the work I've been doing, overhauls to area 1's objects and look, continuing from the last article. Taking visual influences from games like Silent Hill, various Resident Evil games (especially 4 and 7), as well as chasing a strong Halloween feel in general, here's a bunch of pictures showing the progress regarding the map's visual overhaul in atmosphere and quality.

The plains are now far more ominous and misty, with darker plants and dying trees helping to add to the atmosphere. The beaches are now covered in rocks, with low lying fog obscuring the shore and lower parts of the plains rolling in from the sea.

The autumnal forest now is much darker with more tightly packed trees, casting shadows on the ground.

The conifer forest has been given a complete overhaul w/ updated trees and plants, and a new pass on the forest's fog.

Hard to believe the ground textures have remained unchanged since A New World's alpha demo, with how different the map looks and feels now. The swamp has also been given an overhaul using trees ported from Duke Nukem Endangered Species to add to the dark and overgrown atmosphere, thanks to Golden Frog Studios for sharing these with me.

The textures have yet to be overhauled, and will be one of the next steps, as well as the creation of further models to rough out a couple more areas of the map. There will likely need to be heightmap changes, but I plan to add some areas of interest to the valley passages between the mountains that lead to the center forest as well as some other changes, which I will not reveal at present. I am looking quite forward to fleshing it all out and finally being able to say that I have completed a Carnivores map.

I would like to also highlight some more concept art that has been drawn, by my friends TrikeDucket and MarinaTheWitch, for designs for the Mihunekisaurus, Beishanlong, Deuterosaurus, and an updated design for Phosphorosaurus:

Lastly, and most special of all, I would like to share the new and original composition for Phantasmagoria's main theme, by my friend Gay_earth_witch (or gay_earth_witch), who has made a perfectly fitting 90s/2000s style sci-fi piece befitting mystery and danger in an unknown new and alien world with an edge and bite to it for the theme and I couldn't be more happy with it to finally have a proper original score composed for the mod, please check it out and support her work: Soundcloud.com

Thanks for reading, and have a spooky rest of the month. Until the next one, keep being phantasmagorical.