Animalkind Alpha #1 Tips & Tricks
You may have heard already, but we’re making a game. And that game is Animalkind. For those who took to Steam to sign up for our first-ever Alpha playtest, we wanted to dive just a little deeper into how you can make the most out of your time in Animalkind. So, without further ado, here are some recommended tips and trips for Animalkind Alpha #1 straight from the team behind the game, courtesy of fellow community team member BG.
Gameplay
Alpha 1 includes a special introductory island where some of the characters of Animalkind are introduced and tutorials help illustrate how to play the game. We really, really, really recommend starting with the intro world by selecting 'TUTORIAL' when you first open up the game. If you’re the kind of person who doesn’t like reading the manual, just know that there is some fun stuff on that island too!
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Here are some fun general gameplay tips we think might be helpful:
- Sitting (with "C") while moving will cause you to slide. You can really gain some speed going down hills. We’re curious to see how much speed you manage to build up!
- Try picking up items as an animal and throwing them into your mech. If your animal is holding an item when they jump into their mech seat, you can press E to collect what you’re carrying. Your animal can pick up some surprising things… and bring them inside mech.
- Besides letting you place items, the item placement tool also lets you pick up and move existing items. The main island (not the introductory one) has a loooooot of items that are prepped to be moved around, so see what you can find.
- The bulldozer (first introduced in the intro island and kept into the main island) helps you flatten and dig out tunnels into hills, but if you want a larger cave it's better to buy the Terrain Edit Subtract tool from Sam for easier terrain removal.
- There is a beach ball somewhere on the main island. It has some special physics interactions on it. Have fun!
- Speaking of hidden treats, the main island has a handful of other things for you to find. You’ll want to hop out of the mech sometimes (by pressing “V”) in order to explore in animal mode!
There are quite a few decorations available in the game, some from the shop that Sam opens up and some from the crafting table. The more you play, the more you can explore and find new ways to unlock some special items. This will also grow as the game continues to develop, but for now, in this Alpha, we want you to get familiar and comfy with the different characters to talk to and the different ways to accrue goodies for your island.
You might feel a little anxious about picking up everything on the island and tearing down the trees for wood. Most items in-game that are a part of the natural world will respawn if you give them time, and you can also trade in treats for wood with Sam if you’d prefer to leave the trees alone. Choices, it’s all about choices.
Speaking of choices:
- There isn’t much point in swimming out towards the edge of the world. Seriously. You’ll run into an invisible wall. Don’t say we didn’t warn ya!
- There are tools that unlock on the main island that let you add and remove terrain. These are VERY powerful so be RESPONSIBLE with them. You should know that you can remove enough terrain to create new areas of water, but you can’t add terrain to areas of water. So leave yourself some island to work with!
- If you ever get stuck somewhere, there is an special get-unstuck tool in the menu. Press “M” and hit the “Help, I’m Stuck” button. Boom, teleportation and no questions asked.
- Our animal NPCs don’t climb very well right now, so avoid building their homes too high up. But there is no reason you can’t build extra houses anywhere you want!
General:
- There is an in-game menu that allows you to change your character, character name, or even respawn your character if you get stuck. This menu can be opened by pressing “M” while you are in the game world.
- If you want to help us address bugs in the game, sometimes we’re going to ask for a log. There is a guide to how to find them in our FAQ on our website.
Also on the theme of bugs, it can be helpful to report them and provide us some context on what you were doing before encountering the bug and what effects you noticed from the bug you encountered. Screenshots are great too! To submit a support ticket, you can find instructions on how to do that in our Discord, which has instructions in the #welcome channel.
Mini-games:
There are mini-game aspects to the game, such as cooking and fishing. There’s nothing better than kicking back and relaxing with some chill survival, right? Here are some tips regarding those types of activities:
- To kick off fishing, you’ll want to talk to Sam (the materialistic squirrel) and do some favors for her in order to unlock it.
- To fish, you’ll need craft. Side note: for the purpose of the Alpha, we recommend not having more than one fishing rod in your inventory. There’s a known bug that can mess with how the rod appears and interacts with the mech suit, but keeping only one in your inventory is a neat workaround.
- Once the fishing rod is equipped, walk up to any body of water and you’ll see a prompt to fish by pressing “E.” Once cast, you’ll see a fish mosey up to the bait. Click your right mouse clicker (if on mouse and keyboard) to “pull”.
- You’ll note a green bar on the side. Some fish, especially the rarer ones, take a few pulls before you can catch them for yourself. A smiling emoticon or a sad emoticon will appear if pulled too early or too late. So how to pull? The fish will grab the bait, pull once. Then the fish will dive a little lower into the water. Once you notice it bobs back up a little from its mini-dive, pull again. Rinse and repeat until you get the “You caught a ‘x’ fish” pop-up!
- There are five types of fish in Alpha 1. Some are easier to catch and some are rarer than others. But you can find any of the varieties of fish in any large area of water. See if you can catch them all!
- The fish you can catch in-game are fairly valuable to Sam and can also be cooked! There is no end to the fish too, so how many treats can one accumulate in the Alpha… let us know!
For Extra Funsies:
Honestly? This is an Alpha, which means it’s an early build of the game and we’re wanting to do some stress-testing goodness while introducing you to the world of Animalkind. So go ahead, do your worst, and try to break the game. It helps us know what areas people like a little wiggle room for things like that while also showing us the areas of the game that need a little additional tender, love, and care. Explore the bounds, explore how to smash right through them, and explore your creativity by fleshing out your island. We want you to have fun, that’s the most important thing.
Before you go ham in the Alpha, just a friendly reminder to make sure you’re drinking that water and prioritizing that self-care! You can’t be your kindest, most dope self if you’re not taking care of yourself first. In the meantime, we hope to see you on the island and we can’t wait to share even more in the future.
Catch ya next time, friends.
“I should go,”
🐾 Hippy
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