The Isle does have a rather bloated theoretical roster, I feel like the devs would realize the problem with having such a bloated roster without defined biomes. Once they have added in 20 or so animals. Once they see how some aren't being played seriously (Hipsi and Dryo). Walking with Dinosaurs fan here, for those who remember the Big Al special will remember seeing Dryosaurs following behind a Stegosaurus to eat what stego stirred up, but acted as scouts for danger. Imagine if there were in-game incentives for doing hypothetical cross species team ups. Also, was not expecting Children of the Omnissiah to be in an Isle video, Praise be the Machine God

I think this is an issue that can be solved by one of the more controversial ideas that the devs proposed, one that I don't think is flawed on its own. The idea of a Roster Split. Different servers having different selections of playables available to the player. With planned roster of over 60, splitting it into different hypothetical ecosystems could create a tangible way of solving this issue while maintaining the playable variety. Let's say there's about 3-4 different types of server, a "Small tier" server, which contains things down to the size of Hypsi and, up to, say, the size of Tenonto or even Magy as the apex herbivore of the ecosystem, while something like Megalania could be the apex predator. For a Mid-tier server, the smallest you would get would be a few of the larger members of the small-tiers, like Omni, Herrera, and similar, but go up to something like Allo being the apex carnivore of that tier, and so on. This way, any individual ecosystem would have a little over or under 20-ish playables to choose from, with a small amount of bleedover from the other servers' rosters. With a maximum of about 4 "ecosystems", let's say, Small, Mid, Large, and Apex-tier servers, they could even include things from outside their weight class that feel appropriate, or based on general player preferences. Such as including Omniraptor in the large/apex-tier servers so people can have their pack-hunting experience against something like a Shant, and also appealing to general audiences, generally appealing to the average dinosaur/jurrasic park fan.And of course, for people who want to have an extremely varied experience, they could also have at least 1 "all playables available" server to play on. Obviously there are issues with this, mainly with the spread of playables in each tier and how some tiers would be more abundant than others, and there could be some redundancy, especially if there's 4 tiers, there would be an excess of bleedover between mid, large, and apex if that were the case. But I do think that something like this is the simplest solutions to having that many playables without it also ruining the player experience. It would also help to offset a lot of the game's balancing issues, I think.

When it comes to the isle a lot of those creatures will for sure overlap with each other in playstyle and that to me is the biggest issue, over bloating the roster doesnt make it better, it just makes a lot of classes that had time, money and resources wasted in it possibly being obsolete in the end.

if i was making a dinosaur survival game i would make it so each map represented a different biome, and you could only play certain creatures on certain biomes, so i could have a very karge playable roster, while not feeling too similar.

Honestly I don’t think aquatic ecosystems work in these games :/ it’s basically opening up and entire new world! That is not only needs its own small tiers mid tiers and apexes! But it’s own biome diversity and it’s own set of rules and such! I find it quite foolish to attempt to make two entirely separate ecosystems that need the same amount of love and care as the other! And expect and even number of players to play in both of these realms 💀

I think it's important to remember that the devs want servers to be able to customize their own playable roster. Servers can enable and disable certain creatures which would help reduce the overlap in species. Plus the devs are trying to make each playable as unique as possible. Gateway migration would also help with persuading creatures to go to specific areas. Also I'd imagine that eventually they'd increase the playercap per server, gateway is supposted to have been made with performance specifically in mind. They've said that tile hitch no longer exists and that they reduced memory by 50%. So hopefully with the better performance, the servers could handle more players which would allow for more people playing the same species as others so it's not as isolated. Either way, AI would also help fill in the required creatures for carnivore diets.

Keep in mind that people who own servers will be able to pop cap certain dinos, as well as taking out entire species. So that mechanic could be prove to be really helpful in order to sustain the ecosystem in the isle. People would have 68 species to choose from when creating their server, but could limit it down to a selected 16 or 20 which are specially picked to make the ecosystem work. They could also establish a 2nd server with different species compared to the first one. I'm not saying that this will completely fix the issue, but it will likely help a lot. Another issue that will probably arise from this is that people will want to play a certain dino, but will have to join server after server in order to find it, causing them to join a server they don't like, just to play x dino.

X Zaguer, you need to do a video where you give off your opinion about the future playables in the isle and which should be cut off completely. Interested in your opinion about most.

I think one really good way to solve roster bloat is to set your game within a certain formation or time period on continent. As this way Mother Nature has already solved this issue for you.

Another thing to consider when making the roster is to use every nook and cranny of your map. Eg.: If you got a lot of mountains and cliffs, then implement some dinos that will use them, will be able to climb them or even live on them. When it comes to terrestriav vs. semi aquatic vs. aquatic vs. flier... I would say consider how much area each environment takes on the map. If water is only making up like... 15-20% of the map, and there are very few elevations safe from terrestrial animals, then add very few semi-aquatics and aquatics, add few fliers only, making sure to focus on terrestrials.

I think there should be no limit for the roster, everyone should be able to play as their favorite dinosaur ( I myself can't wait to play as Corythosaurus! ) and niche overlapping isn't something bad, if anything, the competition between two species for the same resources will make the game more exciting!

There's really only one way I can see the game pulling off 62 playables. Each map could have it's own exclusive creatures, there would likely be a few universals, but a majority of the individual map's roster would be unique. I think this would solve just about every issue with the roster. It would help even out the player base, would make it easier for the devs to balance each creature, and would make each map feel even more unique, then with just different biomes.

i just mauled some kfc while watching this

I think something else to consider is how players can track one another, I feel path of titans maps are way too large than they need to be when considering server size and seeing as you can’t track anyone with scent and entirely rely on coincidence or sound which people are very hesitant to use anyways cause they don’t want to be found, whereas the isle allows you to track players per player activity, e.g. overpacking or heaps of corpses

By the time they get to the 62 playables it's likely that servers will be able to hold a lot more players than they can now, even though if they aren't the easiest solution is to remove them and with that you can have various server with different sort of dinos

I like all of your concept analysis I hope you keep up with how the animal was like in real life and how you think it’ll work in game. Hope you keep it up.😊❤❤❤

I can't express how much effort goes into your videos, they're just so good and I can say I love this video

This is tough for me, I get the points, but I also love having a diverse array of playables to choose from. Although I do agree that the isles roster is a bit, too bloated. Though it is nice to know that some listed earlier here have been confirmed to be scrapped, namely titanoboa and rauisuchus. I also would vote for removing charchar and possibly Cory. What I mainly want to devs to focus on regarding this issue is better servers than can handle higher counts

It'd be cool if they had sort of a rotating roster that way they can add all the different dinos they want to without compromising viability and balance. The map could even rotate as well to bring an entire new feel to the game every few weeks/months

Shrinking the roster will shorten the games lifespan. Most people who play the isle do so because it’s fun to play a new game as a new animal. Once you’ve ran through the tiny rusher, it usually gets boring and people leave. That’s why the isle (and all of these games) have this population trend. A new playable gets released and the servers are flooded full for weeks. Then the population plummets down to its very small active player base. Even once all the mechanics are in the game. The reality is that the thing that will keep most people playing the longest will be a huge roster from which to pick and play. When I die as a deino I jump in as a teno, when I die as a teno I try a beipi etc… and I’m not alone. After running through the current tiny roster, it becomes boring. The large roster is what kept legacy alive. Shrinking the roster will be devastating to the game. Contrary to what the people who think “roster bloat” is a problem, believe. Nobody behaves organically in this game anyways. So the idea it’s harmful to have a large roster because it’ll made large herds less common, isn’t a real argument. There’s no large herds NOW despite the roster being tiny. People will be people and most will always form small herds or packs. So I don’t think this is an issue. Especially with private servers as they’ll be able to customize the roster if they wish.

For me, the perfect list is one that emulates the roles of an ecosystem. Type: A medium-sized predator, a large one, a small one and an even smaller one; a herbivore of steep terrain, another small one with agile movements, another specialized in camouflage, one like a Stego, ankylo, a ceratopsid or a hadrosaurid; Whether you like a therizinosaurid or a spinosaurid for calm and less active gameplay, as well as a sauropod. The way to handle this would be to lower the collection score that players can collect so that, the next time they spawn, they can use them, this also determining the players ability to survive... or just a random choosen by the game itself

Not only is playstyle overlap a concern but knowing The Isle's shakey and sluggish development history and if they really commit to the roster that they want, I wouldn't be surprised if the game was finally finished when I reach 40.

Woah made it in time but honestly the thought of an expansive roster would be cool seeing as you can play as any dinosaur the user wants me cant wait for trex and allosaurus honestly and cant wait for gateway to release

This may be a weird take but I hear you mention only playing carnivore a lot, In POT herbivores are kind of an issue, The numbers they are in, The balancing issues with them especially eotrike, And others, I wanna see what you think about them, Maybe it could be a video but idk

The Isles' dinosaur roster should strike a balance between not being too long nor too short for several reasons. A roster that is too extensive might lead to dilution of resources, making it challenging to adequately care for and manage each dinosaur species. On the other hand, an overly limited roster could result in a lack of diversity and reduced visitor appeal. Striking the right balance ensures that the park offers a variety of species for visitors to enjoy while also maintaining manageable operations and conservation efforts, ultimately creating a more sustainable and engaging experience for all.

I think what would be most ideal for the vision the develops have might be divvying up playables into specific era-themed servers. It would provide the variety that both devs and players want, while also making it easier to balance all the playables (as they'd really only have to be balanced for their particular ecosystem). And, of course, community servers would be able to mix and match as they desire. They already have admin features which would make this super easy. It'd certainly be an extremely unique experience that no other game provides; I honestly kind of hope they take this route.

They should implement a quota like in the old Isle in 2016. Forcing people to play each species.

1. This is a game after all and I do not think having a big roster would hurt it in the slightest(even if we end up with 60+ species)... Like this every player could choose their favourite dino and have fun with it. 2. You are totally forgetting about AI dinos.. They could fill up those big maps with lots of AI creatures to make it feel lifely, to represent all species and to populate empty world. Obviously there is still a lot of work to be done with AI, but that's gonna be the future. 3. This game is far from being realistic, with working ecosystems (herbi / carni ratio and realistic herds), epoch accuracy, dinosaur accuracy and so on.. and don't forget, humans will be in it as well. 4. There will be a multitude of servers that are going to focus on realism in the future (smaller roster, more rules yada yada). Perfect for players who really want to focus more on roleplay. 5. And maybe once the majority of the game is finished and the team can focus more on optimization + the upcoming future technology... MAYBE then, the server size can be increased to 200 or even 300 players.

A roster of 20 seems reasonable, but then there should be more opportunities for dinosaurs to move from one biome to another while still retaining an advantage through diet or terrain so there's more biodiversity with the same amount of animals which is probably what the devs are trying to achieve with migration. And yeah you're right about flyers and aquatics having the issue of being their own groups and bloating the roster, and while with aquatics semi-aquatics can resolve this issue and another. If we have large estuaries in maps like gateway, semi-aquatics and marine aquatics could mingle (if we assume there would be salinity in the game) and this would also allow marine creatures to interact with land animals. Either way the planned roster is way, way too much

A very large map with multiple biomes and extensions, many species to choose from "modded creatures aswell" and a lot of creatures put as an AI aswell (configurable), 500 player servers. My wishes.

You should do a whole video on the isles roster and witch dinos should be picked

I disagree with assigning a value to the optimal size of the playable roster for The Isle, given that the way The Isle functions has it to where not all animals are made equal in how much value they contribute to the environment they are in. A Tyrannosaurus Rex, as a Roster Playable, can fit up to 3 playstyles during it's growth, the animal itself is much more complex but also grants many more gameplay possibilities, than, say, a Hypsilophodon. Due to this gigantic distinction in the complexity and value between The Isle playables, assigning a number, even if it sounds logical, might not be given what playables you can decide to fill that slot with. I'd argue a Roster composed solely of Triceratops, Tyrannosaurus Rex and Shantungosaurus can provide greater value and complexity than a roster of Diabloceratops, Albertosaurus, Maiasaura. Both these examples have the same number of playables (3), but in practice, the first Roster has, bare minimum, 8-9 animals (given that growth stages ARE an animal in it of themselves), while the second Roster might only have 6 playables (2 growth stages per animal), thus making the first Roster far more valuable than the second even though they have, in theory, the same number of playables on them.

I also had the idea for a dinosaur survival game, where every map simulates a different formation

Excellent point being made, the only way forward for a large roster is an increasingly large player server population, which is directly tied into performance, something that game engine UE5.3 and above will have to be optimized to provide, hope this happens

Honestly it would be really cool if they did servers that were different eras. I'm sure community servers will already beyond this but having official servers take that leap and have a server that's only the Jurassic. Or Cretaceous I think would be really cool

for me i like that there is much dinos to choose from, if a dino is bad that no one plays it it's kinda like an ecosystem, when you add a species that is way better than other species in the ecosystem some secies will go extinct, some species can just go extinct by others. if someone thinks something else please tell, me maybe your opinion is better

The best way i can think to solve this issue would be that community server probably, only have 20 or so different species turned on or if you look at the server petits pieds if one species is too over populated then you turn it off until some die

So basically. A Certain amount of dinos in the roster should only be allowed instead of having all kinds bunched up together. Makes sense tho

One thing i always thought about is how you could play around the tier system around families, having the bigger and the smaller species be AI, and giving th playerbase 2 to 3 alternatives in between Like taking the spinosaurid family, you have the irritator as the small ai, spinosaurus as the boss ai, and the players can play around with baryonix, ichtyovenator, and suchomimus as respectively the smaller fast on land and bad on water bary, the fast on water slow on land ichtyo, and the tankier jack of all sucho... If you need to réduction the roster, you first take out the medium one, then the small Ai, and if needed the small one

I appreciate the effort that went into this video but you gotta also understand that people are going to play what they want if they have the choice anyway. So I don’t think it matters having a bloated roster in itself, what matters is the time it takes to finish it and whether or not it delays other things. I’ve said it before elsewhere but no matter what, you’re going to have the majority of the player base choosing the biggest, baddest carnivore or herbivore no matter what. Most players don’t wanna fill a smaller niche. That’s why everyone chooses Carnos in The Isle and now they have cerato so it’s a little more split. But as soon as Allo/Rex/Spino/Trike/camara/etc. comes out, everyone is gonna be playing those almost exclusively. I personally like playing medium or small sized things on The Isle or PoT because it’s usually faster paced.

Its possible the Isle is just keeping its mind open that way should plans change (as this game often has in the past) they have lots of options to choose from. In character design characters are often initially over designed so that when layers are stripped back and changes are made to characters they aren't left of a total husk of what the original character used to be, here I think they are just trying to keep the roster as large as possible as to have the most options should they decide to call it quits on implementing more species.

Honestly the size of a roster matters less so long as they are all unique. If every character is unique from one another, than they will all be played. Even if some are played less frequently. Of course it's a good idea to remove redundant characters though

Ma man put on mechanicus music for his background, glory too the omnissiah! XD

They can solve the problem of not having enough players playing each species by increasing server size to around 200. They could also make an AI spawn system that spawns in species no one is playing, like not many people tend to play the small prey animals like the dryosaurus, so if the ai spawn system detects that then it will spawn more of them in.

Honestly, I feel like the map could use a small increase AND they should make server sizes 127 like battlebits. Also I feel like they only need a FUN 24 dinos to play.

The mystical tree music 💀

I always had the idea of certain map exclusive species, for example maybe you could only play charcar in a dessert environment, or maybe hera in maps that have large forests. But idk

I wonder if visible log-in/spawn screen bonuses for choosing to play an under-rep'd species would encourage player diversity 🤔

i realized today... since i started playing the isle... I ended highschool back then, finished my 4 years apprentiencship, got my final job diplom, moved out of my parents place, got myself my first own home and... the isle?

I think 30 dinos is my preferred range with more ability to branch but only if they upped server numbers

4:24 great take and i couldn’t agree more. path of titans is the main game i play and it suffers tremendously because of the example you explain

I believe that a dinosaur rotation system with the same or similar functions would work better, for example, every 1 week swapping group A of playables for B of playables on the map. But this would only work on community servers.

really like the discussions in these videos. i love game design and such. but who made that song though? absolutely fire

dang that isle roster looks awsome. I want megalania, and titanoboa!!!!!!

Solution: The server and not u choose the dinosaur u play with, u will born in a egg, ur family will be either a other player or AI. Solution 2: bring back progression. Solution 3: Make it singleplayer only with belivable and good AI + coop mode. All these solutions make it safe to balance

I think that they could definitly add more herbivores without a negative effect if some of them could communicate to different species.

an unbalanced roster leads to unicorns, the cerato was so outclassed in legacy that if you picked it you were probably alone for the foreseeable future.

Damm this man solves every problem i wish he had his own devs and make his dino survival game it be amazing he uderstands theese games more then the creators themselves probably never happaning but one can dream xd

Amazing video as usual !

So ig the server capacity should be upped to 175-200 or the devs should add alot of dino Ai(I want the isle to have a single player mode)

If they wanted us to play in groups why don't they make a system where there is a required number of certain species and until that requirement is met certain species can't be played.

I can't find the music credit, what is that last track in the video called?

Next video: what dinos should/shouldnt be in the isle

they need to have Pteranodon ability to land on tree branches that hera can end up climbing. and ability to build nests on them.

How Big does a roster need to be. 42. Thats perfect, thats Always perfect, everytime for everything.

If they want to have that big of a roster than they have to up the player count by a lot. I’d say at least 600 minimum if they want to do the herd system the way you described. but I doubt that’s even possible with current limitations of todays technology.

Well it only makes sense to add every animal from every time period in the game same goes for Path of Titans

Yeah the isle will reach 62 playables when my grandchildren are grown men and women. Feel like the devs kinda derailed abit after deino/pteranodon. This new fresh playstyle (literally the reason why they remade the engine in the first place) could've & should've been more at focus. (maybe a bigger, harder to grow flyer such as hatz or quetz?)

Would say 7 Carnivores, 7 Herbivores, 7 Omnivores. So we get about 21 playables and then they can fill up 59 AI Animals to get up to 80 :D

The games never gonna come out specifically because of how many animals they have to make. Think about how long it takes just to add 1-2. And you want me to believe that theyre gonna make all 62??

The titanaboa to 😮😮

Would a dinosaur game be successful is it had a roster of 15 terrestrial species?

10:19 litraly the isle right now

What song is used at 7:00?

Ive been looking for the name of the song in the intro! what is it called?

Oh dang I made it!

Its funny how some of those tips you give to help this devs and their games already exist in the dinosaur survival Prior Extinction, looks like somebody already had the idea first XD.

We NOT getting the 62 Dino’s and y’all know it 🤣🤣🤣

9:00, wont they be adding dino ai

It creates decoys that that do damagp

20 is not enough if half of them are troodons dryos beipis and hipsies 💀

I dont like your solution for the simple fact that it will just negate any sort of stealth this game has, which is barely any. Ive never been a fan of the "big must be slow as shit" balancing that has taken over PoT. I play sucho a lot, but itll go for rex as well. If i want to catch another player, for food, i have to hide and wait for something to get close enough that i *might* be able to kill it. Even if i land several blows, if they have an equal or larger stamina bar and/or greater movement speed, i am left in the dust to starve. Thats why ill always prefer the isles combat over PoT, because its more realistic. I dont like the isle nor do i play it, but PoT just has too much emphasis on speed/stamina that i dont care for. All encounters in PoT have extremely predictable outcomes because of this. The dino with the higher speed/stamina total will either (A) choose to run away, or (B) choose to fight to the death. The slower/less stamina player simply has no choice in their interactions.

16 playables max is wild. I would get bored and uninstall in a couple hours max.

I just want them to add the aphexes, the classic dinosaurs and that's it. They are going too long with those little dinosaurs that soon no one will play

They need a full console release on this, would probably kill Path of Titans. I actually prefer Path of Titans but its in a bad state right now and these devs should take full advantage of it, even though I play this game Im thinking of going back to Ark when it releases even if it hurts my channel its better than playing a broken game with a player count declining daily.

Yeah idk, until the isle has a roster so big as 62 humanity has already destroyed itself and noone will be able to play it, so i dont think its so bad, they take so much Time to release them, thats a problem for the far faar future

when evrima is done and dusted legacy will be replaced by full roster Isle, and evrima will remain small roster

Some of these Dinos seem useless, such as sucho and Barry Barry is pretty much useless when you can pretty much get the better and stronger sucho.

if they do ocean biomes/aquautic, it should be its own seperate map bottom line. its gonna be too empty like POT. its just too much at once.