A Tour Through Ark Nova Digital

From designer Mathias Wigge, Feuerland’s Ark Nova has created quite a name for itself since its tabletop release in 2021. Receiving accolades from critics and fans alike, the game shot to the top of many people’s “favorite heavy strategy games” lists and has been sitting comfortably there ever since. We know a lot of fans have been waiting a long time to see a fully-featured digital version, and we’re excited to bring it to Steam Early Access this Thursday!

As a game with such a substantial table presence, let’s take a look at how our version of the iconic zoo-builder compares to its tabletop counterpart!

The Sights, the Sounds

We strongly believe in honoring a game’s “identity” when we convert board games to digital, looking for opportunities to add thematic flavor in a way that honors the spirit of the tabletop counterpart.

Ark Nova Digital is loaded with fun flourishes, with peaceful music that evokes both serenity and ambitious curiosity, an entire menagerie of animal noises that accompany the cards you play, fluid animations, and much more.

Fitting a Big Game into One Screen

There is a lot of information on display at all times in the tabletop version of Ark Nova, and fitting it all onto a single screen without it feeling cluttered is not an easy feat. This and other areas of UX and gameplay are the kinds of things we’re looking for from you all as feedback throughout the Early Access period.

Here are some ways we’re looking to make the deep strategy game screen-friendly:

• Expandable Tableaus: In Ark Nova Digital, you’ll find high-information game elements (such as the card row, Association Board, score track, and more) organized into tableaus, which you can toggle on and off in order to free up screen space.
• Hover Visibility: Hovering over almost anything will reveal additional information. Cards, for example, are a small size on the screen, but expand to full detail when you hover your cursor on them. You’ll also find helper text in abundance this way, saving you a trip to the rules page if you ever need help with iconography.
• Opponent Zoos: Key information about your opponents is shown on the left side of the screen, and when you need a closer look, you can click to see their full zoo too.
• Zooming: Zoom in or out to customize the appearance of your zoo on screen to fit your playstyle.

As you play, if you run into something that gives you pause or that’s not intuitive, or that you have questions about, we’d love to hear from you in Discord, in-game feedback, or the Steam forums. Learning from your real experiences is a big part of the Early Access push as we get ready for full release, so let us know what you think!

Digital Gameplay Modes

In addition to the gameplay you love from the tabletop original, Ark Nova Digital offers many ways to play, with a variety of options for both solo and multiplayer. Here are the modes that players can expect to see in Early Access:

Solo Modes

Versus AI: Ark Nova Digital allows you to play with AI opponents with three levels of difficulty (and a few more “Unfair” levels on top of that for added challenge). This allows for fully single player games, and you can also include them in your multiplayer games to fill up player slots!

Solo Play: In addition to being able to play single player games against AI, there’s also a separate Solo Play mode where you have no opponents at all, and you’re instead racing against the clock! Solo Play games give you a set number of rounds in which to achieve victory, along with adjustable difficulty levels.

Challenges: Challenges are a fan-favorite feature of Dire Wolf games, and you can bet we haven’t forgotten them here! Challenges are special scenarios with unique rules and starting conditions, and Ark Nova Digital comes with 13 of them, along with Expert variants for each one. Can you complete them all?

Special Exhibits: Special Exhibits are special scenarios with unique rules similar to Challenges, but they change every three days, providing an experience that refreshes for added replayability. Special Exhibits also have rules modifiers that will boost your score if you play according to their conditions, along with global leaderboards!

Multiplayer Modes

Online Multiplayer: Ark Nova Digital provides a robust amount of options for online play. Play against friends online in async or live play, or face off against strangers in open lobby games (along with the ability to include AI opponents). You can also customize your Map Mode and toggle Peaceful Mode, which turns off “Attack” abilities. 

Pass and Play: Pass and Play allows for human control of each participant in the game. This is most often used for multiplayer games on a single device, but you can also use it solo as a method to level up your game! Turn on an AI and control 2-3 “players” with radically different strategies!

Interactive Tutorial

One of the biggest benefits of board games in digital format is the ability to teach the game with visual aids, animations, and interaction. Ark Nova is a deep game, and for new players enjoying it for the first time in our digital version, we want to make the learning process as easy as possible.

The interactive tutorial in Ark Nova Digital can get players on their feet within three five-minute sessions of learning, followed by a practice game that’s specifically designed to be a good primer for new players. New to the game, or trying to get your friends hooked?  We’d love to hear your feedback about how well the tutorial gets you in the door!

Play Ark Nova Digital in Steam Early Access

Thanks for joining us on this little tour of Ark Nova Digital! We’re excited for you to jump into the game yourself, and you’ll be able to do just that when it releases in Steam Early Access on Thursday, December 5. Be among the first players to build a thriving zoo by wishlisting the game on Steam today!