The Arkitekts Workshop: Episodes 1-3 and The ARKitekt's Challenge Yourself Contest for Steemian ARK Gamers! Win 2 SBD!

I want to introduce to you a new segment that I am writing about [and plan on being a part of] within the ARK: Survival Evolved gaming community. I've already missed out on three episodes and will likely miss out on the fourth, but I am primarily here to spread the word on this cool new project that a good friend of mine is working on.

This goes hand in hand with the possibility of future streams, as I wouldn't mind bringing my own builds to the table, and maybe some sneak-peak previews while we wait on the next episodes. It seems that no matter what happens in my life gaming will always be a part of it. This opportunity I couldn't pass up! So if you like ARK, own it, or plan on getting it, you will want to keep up with this series!

Probably one of the best titles I've ever played, there are literally thousands of hours worth of gameplay that come with this game. Don't believe me? Try it for yourself and you won't be able to disprove my claims! When it comes to the price of games, some would say that you can gauge how good a game is with how many hours you get per dollar spent on said game. ARK surpasses this guideline by a long shot.

I have over 900 hours myself and have never gotten to true end-game, and just to point out for reference, The Arkitekt has over 4,000 hours logged and still playing!

What is ARK?

ARK: Survival Evolved is an action-adventure survival game developed by Studio Wildcard in collaboration with Instinct Games, Efecto Studios and Virtual Basement
src.

• You start off with nothing and wearing nothing but underwear.
• It is up to you to collect needed materials to build armor, weapons and establish a base.
• All while avoiding the dangers of hungry creatures that lurk all around you.
• You tame and breed dinosaurs of all kinds. Breeding dinosaurs means stronger dinosaurs.
• Build and create to your hearts content.
• Open World Survival with beautiful, immersive maps.
• The dinosaurs are your best tools and key to true survival.

Between ARK and Fallout 4, these two games are what brought my desire to learn survival skills. The survival genre has really taken off and I feel that ARK is most certainly underappreciated. There are many ways to build and establish yourself within the game, and there is quite an extensive modding community that really brings out the potential that it has.

The Arkitekt's Workshop: Episode 1 - Cathedral of the Impending Dawn

Introduction to the Project

In the video above, we showcase to you the massive building potential that ARK has and what you can create with it. Brought to you by The Arkitekt and his counterpart Blue, together they bring you a series intended to encourage your creativity. Of course, this is using mods, it is truly original work built by a one of a kind creator that continues to build mindblowing structures within the ARK community time and time again. A perfect introduction to the project, and a great example of what you should expect in the coming episodes and way of showcasing the beautiful architecural designs that this game is capable of.

The Arkitekt

When it comes to gaming, this man has probably done it all. Not only has he done it all, but he can do it again. While time is a huge factor, he puts more time and effort into the quality of his work than most. A true pillar of the ARK community (Pun Intended). With his permission, it is my honour to present to you The Arkitekts Workshop.

Proceeds for this series will only help the project further!

I have had the pleasure of playing more than one game with this top-notch gamer and have been witness to him breaking multiple rage-inducing games down into the simplest of individual mechanics to make them work for the player, not against them. He's that good. Now I wish I was simply glorifying this and merely making bold statements, but this is not the case, as the video above gauges the dedication and effort he puts into his work.

You don't have to be a gaming god to build in Ark. While this idea has existed for some time in the community, we've proven otherwise. You just have to have ambitions and a dash of creativity to see them come alive. You have to stop believing a box with 2 types of walls is the best you can build, and then you'll actually try to build it. - The Arkitekt

The Arkitekt's Workshop: Episode 2 - The Hidden Gardens

Unlimited Creativity

We invite you to join us in this unique expresion of creativity to inspire you and realize that you too can create. All it takes is dedication! In this episode, Blue gives us inspirational and motivating words that explains further what this project is about. It is a primary focus on the building capabilities within ARK: Survival Evolved.

Blue

I had the pleasure of watching Blue come into the game as a brand new player and has proven to be just as capable in creativity. The pillar holding up the pillar, we have "The Lady Arkitekt" who has 1/8th the play time and with enough enthusiasm can create what I consider masterpieces within ARK and by far more than what I can come up with.

Or can I?

With the creative mode Blue and The Arkitekt have put together, she's been able to really express herself and has helped create these amazing builds showing even me a whole new avenue to explore within ARK that I am actually excited about. I too can express my true building potential without having to work for the materials needed. Whether you're a new player, an old player, a skilled player or a casual player, creativity is your window to expression here!

We want to inspire and foster a creative community in ARK that explores a part of the game that at present is extremely under represented by showing what can be done. What we've done is rented a server and with the help of some very handy mods, customized our own creative mode! -Blue

The Arkitekt's Workshop: Episode 3 - The Crumbling Ruins of Atlantis

Be Inspired and Create!

In this episode, we showcase an intense build and if you ask me, it is the most complex one yet. I mentioned above that The Arkitekt is prone to turning the most complex mechanics of a game into the simplest steps. If you observe the video above, you will see that there are leaning towers included in the build. This was actually an accident! That was a bug that was created with the Structures+ Mod that helps these builds become a possibility.

The Arkitekt and Blue were able to showcase this bug so well that it's actually been included in the next update for the mod! Amazing!

Anyone can build! It's not about recreating builds, it's about creating your own. As explained in Episode 2, ARK is a sandbox game that doesn't quite have a creative mode. This means that in order to express your creativity within ARK it would require an extreme amount of grinding for materials in order to build megalithic structures and massive castles filled with decorations and secret rooms to get lost in.

Harvesting materials is all part of the game and is actually fun due to the dangers that always lurk behind the next bush and creates an intense, immersive environment. It creates a sense of adventure and truly expressing your creativity is still possible, but not building quickly. Thanks to Blue and The Arkitekts efforts to put together a 'creative mode' server setup, there is no limit to your creativity and having an amazing structure takes no time at all! This means YOU can build and the sky is literally the limit!

So "Make Building in ARK Fast!" comes to mind, because when you build fast, you can iterate even faster, and tweak those designs down to the tiniest details in the amount of time you would've otherwise just had the foundations down.

We welcome you to join us in watching our future episodes!

ARK: Survival Evolved Custom Creative Mode

Step 1

These are the mods that were included to make these builds a possibility:

• Structures Plus Building Evolved
• Castles, Keeps, and Forts Medieval Architecture
• Platforms Plus
• Eco's RP Decor
• Eco in Wonderland
• Resource Stacks 2.0
• Eco's Garden Decor
• ecoTrees

If you want to set up your own ARK Creative Mode simply install the mods above by subscribing to them in the Steam Workshop and enable them when you start your server and follow the steps below:

Step 2

Once you have these mods installed you go to /steamapps/common/ARK/ShooterGame/Saved/Config/WindowsNoEditor and put these lines into GameUserSettings.ini, then save and close the file.

[ServerSettings]
ActiveMods=731604991,764755314,719928795,741203089,702828089,630601751,880871931,670764308
PvEAllowStructuresAtSupplyDrops=True
PreventSpawnAnimations=True

[StructuresPlus]
NoFoundationsRequired=true
CampfireCraftingSpeed=1000
ChemistryBenchCraftingSpeed=4000
CompostBinCraftingSpeed=1000
CookingPotCraftingSpeed=1000
ElementCatalyzerCraftingSpeed=1000
FabricatorCraftingSpeed=1000
ForgeCraftingSpeed=1000
FireplaceCraftingSpeed=2000
FridgeCraftingSpeed=1000
GrinderCraftingSpeed=1000
IndustrialCookingPotCraftingSpeed=12000
IndustrialForgeCraftingSpeed=1000
IndustrialGrillCraftingSpeed=1000
MortarAndPestleCraftingSpeed=1000
PreservingBinCraftingSpeed=1000
ReplicatorCraftingSpeed=12000
SmithyCraftingSpeed=1000
SPlusCraftingStationCraftingSpeed=1000

Step 3

Once you've done that, in the same folder, open Game.ini and paste these lines, then save and close the file:

[/Script/ShooterGame.ShooterGameMode]
StructureDamageRepairCoolDown=0
PerLevelStatsMultiplier_Player[0]=1.0
PerLevelStatsMultiplier_Player[1]=1.0
PerLevelStatsMultiplier_Player[2]=1.0
PerLevelStatsMultiplier_Player[3]=1.0
PerLevelStatsMultiplier_Player[4]=1.0
PerLevelStatsMultiplier_Player[5]=1.0
PerLevelStatsMultiplier_Player[6]=1.0
PerLevelStatsMultiplier_Player[7]=100
PerLevelStatsMultiplier_Player[8]=1.0
PerLevelStatsMultiplier_Player[9]=1.0
PerLevelStatsMultiplier_Player[10]=1.0
PerLevelStatsMultiplier_Player[11]=1.0
PerLevelStatsMultiplier_DinoTamed[0]=1.0
PerLevelStatsMultiplier_DinoTamed[1]=1.0
PerLevelStatsMultiplier_DinoTamed[2]=1.0
PerLevelStatsMultiplier_DinoTamed[3]=1.0
PerLevelStatsMultiplier_DinoTamed[4]=1.0
PerLevelStatsMultiplier_DinoTamed[5]=1
PerLevelStatsMultiplier_DinoTamed[6]=1.0
PerLevelStatsMultiplier_DinoTamed[7]=100
PerLevelStatsMultiplier_DinoTamed[8]=1.0
PerLevelStatsMultiplier_DinoTamed[9]=1.0
PerLevelStatsMultiplier_DinoTamed[10]=1.0
PerLevelStatsMultiplier_DinoTamed[11]=1.0
PerLevelStatsMultiplier_DinoWild[0]=1.0
PerLevelStatsMultiplier_DinoWild[1]=1.0
PerLevelStatsMultiplier_DinoWild[2]=1.0
PerLevelStatsMultiplier_DinoWild[3]=1.0
PerLevelStatsMultiplier_DinoWild[4]=1.0
PerLevelStatsMultiplier_DinoWild[5]=1.0
PerLevelStatsMultiplier_DinoWild[6]=1.0
PerLevelStatsMultiplier_DinoWild[7]=100
PerLevelStatsMultiplier_DinoWild[8]=1.0
PerLevelStatsMultiplier_DinoWild[9]=1.0
PerLevelStatsMultiplier_DinoWild[10]=1.0
PerLevelStatsMultiplier_DinoWild[11]=1.0
bAllowPlatformSaddleMultiFloors=true
bAllowUnlimitedRespecs=true
bDisableStructurePlacementCollision=true
bAutoUnlockAllEngrams=true

Step 4

Once you have added the settings above, whitelist appropriate admins and enter this cheat after logging in by pressing tab to open the console:

cheat giveitem "Blueprint'/Game/Mods/Castle/MiscItems/PrimalItemStructure_CKF_AdminVault.PrimalItemStructure_CKF_AdminVault'" 100 1 false

and you're ready to go! Place the Admin Box (or a few) and you can build without going anywhere. I had to place an S+ Crafting Station so that I can mass produce foundations until I leveled to 100. It only took about 5 minutes to set up 3 crafting stations and before I knew it I was done and ready to find a location to build on. Show us what you can do! We want to see how creative you can be! Now, on to the Contest!

The Contest - Win 2 SBD

If you are not signed up to Steemit and happened to fall upon this post, you too can join by signing up, posting a video showcasing your build (as shown in the above three episodes) and upvoting this post. For the time being, I will set the contest to end 7 days after this post was made. If no one signs up within the first 6 days, I will edit out the contest from this post. I decided to leave this as a 2 SBD Open Bounty. If I haven't commented below that a winner was announced, then there is 2 SBD to be claimed here.

Rules:

• Upvote this post
• Create your own custom creative mode ARK Build
• Record a short video showcasing your build like the first three episodes shown in this post.
• The video MUST have your @steemit username in the video so as to avoid cheating. It has to be your build!
• A Screen shot of your entire build may be permitted but I will ask to be invited to your server and check it.
• Upload your video
• Post your video submission or screen shot on this post as a comment and you're all set!

We welcome and encourage you to participate and submit a video! We've provided a quick set-up guide on how to quickly get your own creative server going so that you can submit your builds to win.

The winners video will be showcased at the end of the next episode so if you're the only contestant, you're gaurenteed 2 SBD! Builds will be judged by me.

Thank you for reading and I hope that you join us! Until then, stay tuned for the next episodes of The Arkitekt's Workshop!

@bitfiend