'ORION: Prelude' is an indie Sci-Fi shooter (FPS/TPS) that. Supporting up to 10 players and offering 2 game modes. An email arrived from Orion: Prelude developers, Spiral Game Studios. One of the original co-founders of Rock, Paper, Shotgun, I tried to leave. Having just played ArmA 2 for the first time (thanks to the Steam sale), I was.

ORION: Prelude @ KickStarter - Carrier’s Revealed

We are back as previously promised. We will be posting insanely large updates every Monday for the duration of our KickStarter event.
Things have been overwhelmingly positive since our launch at KickStarter last week. We could not be happier with the reaction from the community and we hope to continue blowing your minds in the following weeks.
Many people are asking how they can help us with our KickStarter promotion - and there are quite a few ways!

• 01 - Help spread the word! Tell your friends, your families
• 02 - Share it with Facebook - Tweet it on Twitter.
• 03 - Come to the Spiral Community and interact with us
• 04 - Contact websites that you think we should be posted on - the extra views always help!

We appreciate you guys being so persistent and helpful with helping spread the word of our cause. If you simply like indie developers or just want to get into a gun fight with a T-Rex as badly as we do - all the help counts!

CARRIER’S REVEALED

Up until now you have seen quite a lot of “placeholder” content. This includes the characters, dinosaurs, weapons - pretty much everything. We have been working endlessly to finalize the new content - and we are ready to show you the first pieces!
Today marks the official reveal and announcement of the finalized design and style for the human faction - The Carriers. We’ve gone back and had quite a few artists re-establish the foundation for these bad asses - and now they are even more badass because of it. Featuring a much more slick, near-body and panel design, we are proud to show off the Assault class.

The great thing about this reveal video is that a lot of hardcore / long-term fans will probably notice something. Yes, you do see the predecessor to one of the most popular source beta maps - ‘Reactor’. The content used in this scene are the same pieces that were built for the remake of 'Reactor’ on the new technology.
We have captured some high-definition screen-grabs from this reveal. Some folks have approached us thinking this was CGI - we want to clarify that this video was filmed and captured in real time using in-game assets. There was absolutely no post-processing done afterwards - this is how the game looks.

60% FUNDED - 3 WEEKS TO GO!

We are proud to say that ORION: Prelude has already reached 60% of it’s pledged amount. We actually had hit 50% in the first two days - this says a lot from you guys and means more to us than we could ever place into words. We appreciate your support, your donations, and your attention. We are happy that there are other people just as fond of dinosaurs as we are.

LIMITED EDITION REWARDS

While we are getting close to our pledged amount, $10,000 is our bare operating minimum. We truly hope to get a bit higher than that and we have created our reward packages with that in mind.
We are extremely proud of the packages we have put together, including access to unreleased screenshots, videos, personalized thank you letters with unreleased screenshots, possibilities for in-game advertising in intelligent ways, limited edition armors and weapons, and even the ability to get put into a game! These are limited time and will only continue until the KickStarter promotion is over - so do what you can while you can!

SILVER PACKAGE UPDATED

We posted an update a few days back talking about how we worked with KickStarter to add a few incentives towards the Silver Level donation ($50) to make it a bit more enticing for our supporters.
People were posting that they believed there wasn’t much to pressure the to go for that level of a reward and that they were either going for the Bronze ($10) or Gold ($100) because of it.
We are officially adding the following rewards FROM the Gold level TO the Silver level:

• ORION T-Shirt (upon launch of e-store)
• Signed Concept Art Poster (of your choosing - 4 pieces)

IN THE PRESS

We had a crazy first week at KickStarter. We couldn’t be happier with the results and in return we grabbed a lot of interest from quite a few interesting groups and people. We did a bunch of interviews, which you guys will be seeing through out the next couple of weeks, we are going to be in Igromania, Russia’s #1 gaming magazine.
We have had some seriously cool people say some seriously charming things about us and what we are doing. We grabbed a few quotes and would like to share them with you:

“For those of you who want, nay demand, the highest quality visual experience in your first-person shooters, ORION: Prelude has answered the call. I’ve watched ORION’s game trailer about eight times now because it’s just that good. The media has been giving ORION lots of love, describing it as “HALO meets Jurassic Park,” and if you check out that trailer, you’ll see why. This is one Multiplayer Beta you will NOT want to miss.” -KickStarter

“In my time, a lot of Kickstarter initiatives have come and gone. There is, after all, only so much disposable income willing to be given out for the day’s good cause. I can’t predict what will happen to ORION: Prelude, but I can say that Spiral Game Studios certainly put the effort in.”-Destructoid

You can read more about our presence in the press and where we are being featured on our brand new 'Press’ page conveinently located on our main page. Head on over to it to see more:
http://spiralgamestudios.com/press

INTERVIEW @ THUMB CULTURE

As previously mentioned - we did quite a few interviews with the press this last week. We absolutely love sitting down and doing one-on-one interviews and answering any questions. If you work with a website and would like to contact us for an interview, podcast, exclusive media - we would love to collaborate with you. Please forward all inquiries to:
press@spiralgamestudios.com
The first interview to go live is our one-on-one with Thumb Culture. Here are a few excerpts:
Q: Dinosaurs? Why? What part do they have in gameplay? Can you ride one?
A: Orion is derived from the same comet that created Earth. This comet contained the prerequisites to the prokaryote cells that began life as we know it. Evolution thus took the same path on both planets - resulting in dinosaurs during the same age as Earth. But why are there still dinosaurs? Due to the many (7) moons (a moons gravitational pull decreases the amount of comets that reach a planet) and essentially chance - Orion didn’t not experience a devastating natural disaster to wipe out the dinosaurs - while Earth did.
Q: Is there any sort of Coop? Or is the multiplayer purely PvP?
A: ORION: Prelude will be launching with 3 game modes right out of the “box”. That includes Lockdown CTF, which is the competitive mode, VITAL, which is the objective emode, and Cinematic Co-Op which is taking the place for the lack of a single player. This mode allows for 4 players to play as the Carriers in specifically designed missions. These missions are objective based and allow you to fight against different dinosaur and alien enemy types.
You can read the full interview here.

BRAND NEW GAME BUILD MEDIA

We also have yet another gift - brand new media from the developer game build. These were taken from the same developer build, version 0.0.4. These images were captured exclusively for the interview with Thumb Culture and we hope you enjoy them.

A HUGE THANK YOU

We cannot express how humbled and appreciative we are of the support you guys are giving us. We are working endlessly and ferociously in attempts to wow you guys every single Monday.
We encourage you check back every week as we are going to have tons of awesome goodies to share with you. You guys are awesome - and we couldn’t be happier with your support. Thank you!

Notes

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About Us

Spiral Game Studios intends to bring the fun and excitement back to the action genre, by focusing on its core values: intuitive gameplay, tight controls, frustration-free designs, and competitive, skill-based challenge. These elements are found in some games; sometimes a game incorporates a few of them. Rarely will you find a game that focuses on every aspect of a 'fun' game, and those that do are the games that players still come back to decades after they were made. We hope to stay true to these values by introducing our first project: Orion.

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What is ARK: Survival Evolved?ARK: Survival Evolved has been out for a little under a year now, and it has made a pretty big impression on the gaming community. In ARK: Survival Evolved, players find themselves on an island, and they run around and gather resources, research technologies, and build shelter with the intention of surviving as long as possible. The greatest threat that you’ll encounter on this island? Dinosaurs. The game hasn’t left early access yet, which means that it isn’t entirely finished yet.

Still, there’s a lot of content there, and the game has seen a lot of popularity over the last few months.However, ARK: Survival Evolved isn’t perfect. There are a couple of issues with glitches and optimization. Some users just generally feel like the development team isn’t quite as active as they could be. Maybe you’re one of those users, maybe you’re getting bored with the game, or maybe you’re just looking for something a little different. Regardless, if you’re reading this, it’s because you’re looking for an alternative to ARK. I have managed to dig up a handful of games that exhibit certain traits and qualities that I think a fan of the original concept may appreciate.

Without further ado, here’s a list of the top five best games like ARK: Survival Evolved. 5. ORION: PreludeAs it is, the multiplayer survival/crafting genre has become kind of saturated. The genre was originally pioneered by games like Minecraft, and it has only become more and more popular as time has gone on. In my opinion, the only thing that separated ARK: Survival Evolved from its competitors early on was the use of dinosaurs as an enemy.

Dinosaurs are cool. That’s an objective fact. People love fighting dinosaurs. ORION: Prelude takes this concept to the next level, in my opinion. In this game, players are able to do combat with a variety of different dinosaurs, using all different kinds of weapons and vehicles.

This game feels a lot like Destiny to me, if Destiny took place entirely on a planet that was inhabited by dinosaurs.I really enjoy the story behind this game, if nothing else. The developers behind this game started with ORION: Dino Beatdown, which was widely considered one of the worst games of 2012. It was one of those games that YouTube Let’s Players bought with the intention of ripping on for twenty minutes straight. They took the criticism to heart, and they used it as motivation to create update after update, crafting the game into the hidden gem that it is today. I feel like I should say, this game is far from perfect. But it’s really, really good. Combat is fun, multiplayer is relatively active and co-op is some of the best that I’ve experienced in an indie title. If you love fighting dinosaurs in ARK, this game is perfect for you.

Plus, if you have issues with how the development team behind Survival Evolved has handled the game, you’ll love the guys behind ORION: Prelude. They’re ridiculously dedicated and passionate, and they work around-the-clock to ensure that this game is as successful as possible. Primal CarnageLike ORION: Prelude, Primal Carnage is a game where players engage in dinosaur-based combat.

I really struggled with deciding whether to place this game above or below ORION: Prelude, but my judgement came down to one thing, which I’ll get to in a minute. I feel like the biggest issue that you’ll find in games that involve fighting large creatures is that they often feel sostatic. Games like God of War give us these insane, immersive boss fights, where it really feels like this monster that you’re fighting is as big and as dangerous as you would anticipate. As good as they are, I feel like games like ORION: Prelude and ARK: Survival Evolved often make it feel like you’re fighting regular enemies, that just happen to be really large.

There are some cool little animations and attacks, but for the most part, you pick a big part of the dinosaur, you mash a button, you win. I think that Primal Carnage kicks things up a notch, and makes dinosaur-human combat a lot more fun for both sides.Yeah, I said both sides. In this particular game, you’re able to play as both human and dinosaur. I was initially hesitant when I heard about this game. The notion of flying around and taking down snipers as a pterodactyl sounds silly, but it somehow works. Each class of dinosaur comes with different stats and abilities, which makes fighting the individual dinosaurs a lot more interesting. Gameplay and combat feels much more comprehensive, which I really enjoy.

It’s not quite as skin-deep as I feel other dinosaur games tend to be. The only reason why I decided to place this game lower on the list is because, although they’ve pretty much perfected the whole “dinosaur” thing, ARK: Survival Evolved isn’t only about dinosaurs. It’s about doing what you have to do, and it’s about survival. Primal Carnage is primarily a competitive multiplayer game. It’s a fantastic competitive multiplayer game, but I think that there are better fits out there for someone looking for an ARK: Survival Evolved alternative. 3. 7 Days to DieNow, for something a little different.

If you’re familiar with my articles about survival/crafting games, you probably know by now that I have nothing but nice things to say about 7 Days to Die. In this game, you play as a person who is dropped into a post-apocalyptic worlds. You need to survive several different zombie waves, with nothing but your own instincts to guide you. Right off the bat, this game seems pretty different from ARK: Survival Evolved. The dark, barren setting contrasts with the more vibrant island that you find yourself living on in ARK. Still, I think you’ll find that the crafting and community aspects of 7 Days to Die are very similar to what you’ll find in Survival Evolved.

This game involves a lot of build-up, a lot of preparation, and a lot of fast-paced action. I think it’s perfect for someone looking for an ARK: Survival Evolved alternative, even though it does seem very different on the surface. One of my favorite parts of this game is how comprehensive the crafting interface is. In my opinion, it’s the best that any survival/crafting game has ever seen. This game is a lot more difficult than some of the other games on this list, if only because the player has so many options, and so much to do. Do you go and live in an abandoned house, or do you make your own from scratch? Do you prioritize scavenging or crafting?

Do you want to play alone or in a group? It’s really easy to find yourself overwhelmed by this game, which is a trait that I think it shares with ARK: Survival Evolved. I recommend 7 Days to Die to pretty much anyone looking for a new survival/crafting game, because it’s such a rich game to play. I think that if you give it a shot, you’ll really like what you find. 2. Far Cry: PrimalIf there’s anything to be said about Far Cry: Primal, it’s that it’s an absolutely gorgeous game. Honestly, this game is by-far the best looking game on this list. The picture to the left doesn’t even fully do it justice.

It’s really, really nice to look at. This game looks like you would expect a AAA game released a month ago to look. Games aren’t all about graphics these days, though. Luckily, Far Cry: Primal is much more than a pretty face. In this game, you play as Takkar, a lowly hunter. You live out your life as a prehistoric hunter, using your abilities to tame wild animals to move up in the world. I like to think of Far Cry: Primal as like some weird Grand Theft Auto-type game that just happens to take place during the Mesolithic era.

You start off as a nobody, and you use your abilities to rise to the top, dealing with all different kinds of drama and battles along the way. Out of every other game in this article, I think that this game feels the most like ARK: Survival Evolved. Sure, there are no dinosaurs, but you’re out here running around this majestic, beautiful open world with stone tools, evading these different, dangerous predators. Still, there’s one big issue. This game doesn’t support any kind of multiplayer. Toribash die hard.

If you’re someone who is looking for an ARK: Survival Evolved alternative to play with friends, this game isn’t the best fit. However, I think that Far Cry: Primal is a damn fine game, and that it perfectly sates the appetite of anyone looking to get their “caveman game” fix. It looks great, it feels great, and its story is actually pretty good. If you don’t mind playing single-player over multiplayer, I highly suggest that you give this game a closer look. You probably won’t regret it. RustI really had trouble deciding where to place Rust on this list.

I knew going in that it was one of the best survival-based multiplayer games around. It’s popular, it’s well-supported, and it’s a lot of fun.

There are no gimmicks. You run around this area, and you survive.

No zombies, no dinosaurs, no aliens, no nothing. Just you, a few friends, and the harsh wilderness around you. But like I said at the beginning of this article, I feel like the majority of ARK: Survival Evolved’s identity is surrounding a gimmick. One of the first things that you talk about when you discuss this game is the vibrant, prehistoric-esque island setting. Rust doesn’t have anything like that. Far Cry: Primal has the same general setting that people might be looking for, but it lacks that multiplayer aspect that I think a lot of people enjoy in ARK: Survival Evolved. So ultimately, my decision came down to this: What is more important to people who play ARK?

The atmosphere, or the community? Call me a bleeding heart, but I think that a lot of people will choose community over atmosphere, every time.Unlike Far Cry: Primal, Rust lets you have all different kinds of entirely unique experiences.

Don’t get me wrong, Far Cry: Primal’s gameplay can be really varied. But you can’t play that game and make new friends. You can’t have forge an alliance with someone who lives on the other side of the world. You can’t stalk and kill a griefer who has been hassling everyone on the server all day long. I feel like, even though dinosaurs are a vital part of ARK’s identity, the player community is an even bigger one.

With Rust, it’s pretty much the same thing. People love playing this game with friends. The developers work hard to provide regular updates, the game is fairly well-optimized for a game in early access, and the crafting/combat systems are surprisingly good. It’s one of the first games that started out in that survival/crafting genre, and I think that it has lasted this long for a reason.

Sure, it isn’t flashy, but when you play Rust, you’re able to engage in a player community that feels much, much bigger than a couple of dinosaurs. I think that’s definitely something worth being a part of.