A new ARK update coincides with the recent addition of Disney’s Steamboat Willie to the public domain. “Super Steamboat Willie,” is a demo within ARK: Survival Ascended that shows off the game’s Development Kit.
The trailer features Mickey and Minnie riding dinosaurs and firing machine guns, in case you wanted to see how the public domain move was going.
The dev kit has been available with ARK since the beginning. But this new update adds a powerful new game framework, allowing modders to create entirely new games within ARK.
As an example, Super Steamboat Willie is a pretty darn impressive side-scrolling platformer (which does not feature dinosaurs, nor guns) that takes place in the unique, 1920s black and white cartoon world. And apparently features two player co-op?
It looks a lot like Cup Head, which was directly inspired by that era of animated movies.
Players can apply the Steamboat Willie Cosmetics and other custom cosmetics to any game.
And thanks to Survival Ascended, ARK mods made on PC can now run on console. Over 1400 mods include weapons, armor, creatures, game modes, and maps can be downloaded through the in-game mod browser, and feature cross-platform play.
ARK: Survival Ascended is available on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. It’s rated T for Teen.
