Dinosaurs Fall From the Sky in Ark: Survival Evolved, Thanks to New Mod Tools

New mod tools for Ark: Survival Evolved have been released today, as has a new game mode made by the developers using the tools now available to the public.

Studio Wildcard describes the Ark dev kit as "a streamlined version" of the Unreal Engine 4 editor meant to "simplify the creation and sharing process" for Ark mods. With it, you can build any number of things for the popular dinosaur game, including new creatures, weapons, items, maps, and game modes.

You can download the dev kit now through the Epic Games Launcher (which is also used for the Unreal Engine, as well as Fortnite and the new Unreal Tournament). If you already have the launcher, you'll see a new tab for it at the top of the screen. Otherwise, you can sign up and grab it for free from Epic's website.

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Coinciding with the launch of the dev kit, Studio Wildcard is hosting an Alienware-sponsored contest with a total of $25,000 in prizes, plus various gaming PC hardware like a GTX 980 TI. Details on how you can enter are available here. Alternatively, you can make some cash off the game by reporting online hacks.

Studio Wildcard has also released a new game mode in the form of a total conversion mod, which you can grab for free now through the Steam Workshop. Survival of the Fittest is essentially a more-involved version of a traditional deathmatch; every round takes place in a modified version of Ark's island where your goal is to kill all other players.

You'll still do many of the same things you do in the main game--level up, gather materials, tame dinosaurs--while also dealing with an always-shrinking dome that this all takes place inside of. To further mix things up, special events take place every 30 minutes that can take the form of things like freak weather or dinosaurs being dropped from the sky. You can see some screenshots of the new mode in the gallery above.

Ark remains an early access game on Steam, though it's also set to eventually come to Xbox One and PS4. In just a week on PC, it sold more than 400,000 copies. It normally costs $30, but you can pick it up right now for $24 on Steam or $22.49 on Amazon.