"A Wilderness Survival Game immersed in a Simulated Ecosystem... with Dinosaurs!"
Dino System is a game that's part-ecological simulation sandbox game and part-wilderness survival.
The player can either manage a late cretaceous ecosystem (in a way akin to certain older games like Sim Life or SimEarth) in "god mode", or play as a human (and possibly in the future, a dinosaur) trying to survive for as long as possible in the late cretaceous.
The game is currently early access, but the developers update it regularly with more content coming in the future. The game's website can be accessed here
This game contains examples of:
- Cruel Player-Character God: In god mode (not to be confused with this god mode as Dino System's god mode is a normal part of the game, not a cheat mode) the player can either create a thriving peaceful ecosystem or a hostile wasteland nothing can survive in. The player can also create lightning strikes to terrorize or kill dinosaurs with, as well as start forest fires. The game even encourages this by telling the player once they’ve died in survivor mode and entered god mode to get "revenge on nature."
- Endless Game: Currently it's impossible to win in survival mode; one can only play until either dying or quitting. Although it's also impossible to "win" in god mode, it's not possible to lose in god mode either so the trope doesn't apply to it.
- Feathered Fiend: The small carnivore, Troodon, is completely covered in fluffy brown feathers and will hunt the player when hungry. Though they currently are the only animal that can be practically killed, even just one can still easily kill the player.
- Herbivores Are Friendly: Subverted; unless attacked, most herbivores are usually quite placid and ignore the player. Which can make it all the more surprising during survivor mode when a calm male Triceratops enters breeding conditions and suddenly starts trying to kill the human survivor. Even outside of breeding conditions, if the human survivor startles a dinosaur it may strike him, except this time it won’t attempt to chase or kill the survivor once it realizes he’s not a threat.
- Never Smile at a Crocodile: Deinosuchus will be added to the game in the future.
- Wizard Needs Food Badly: In survival mode, the player has to eat and drink regularly, not only to live but to keep up his strength (via protein) and put on fat reserves (via taking in more calories then used) for times when food's scarce.
