{"id":74282,"date":"2019-09-06T18:19:38","date_gmt":"2019-09-07T00:19:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/durango-wild-lands-takes-gamers-to-world-of-dinosaurs\/"},"modified":"2019-09-07T00:19:38","modified_gmt":"2019-09-07T00:19:38","slug":"durango-wild-lands-takes-gamers-to-world-of-dinosaurs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/durango-wild-lands-takes-gamers-to-world-of-dinosaurs\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Durango: Wild Lands\u2019 takes gamers to world of dinosaurs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=5e007ad0-3262-487c-a410-be48bde03d00&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1125\" alt=\"A Tyrannosaurus rex attacks a train in the introduction to the mobile game \u201cDurango: Wild Lands.\u201d The South Korean-made game takes place in a prehistoric land called Durango that is populated by dinosaurs and pioneers.\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">A Tyrannosaurus rex attacks a train in the introduction to the mobile game \u201cDurango: Wild Lands.\u201d The South Korean-made game takes place in a prehistoric land called Durango that is populated by dinosaurs and pioneers.<\/span><span class=\"credit\">Courtesy of What! Studio<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>Search for \u201cDurango\u201d in your phone\u2019s app store, and one of the first results you\u2019ll find, surprisingly, is a dinosaur-centric mobile game called \u201cDurango: Wild Lands.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The game, developed by South Korea\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/what.studio\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">What! Studio<\/a> and published by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nexon.com\/main\/en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Nexon<\/a>, is an online multiplayer game in which players from around the world come together in a world full of dinosaurs to found a new civilization. The game launched in Korea in January 2018 and was made available globally on iOS and Android in May of this year.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video wp-block-embed-youtube naviga-video-embed\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/sZM38ZZlLrA\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>In an email to <em>The Durango Herald<\/em>, What! Studio said the game revolves around pioneers exploring a prehistoric land, fighting and taming its fauna and building a new society from its raw resources.<\/p>\n<p>In what the developers say is purely a coincidence, players begin the game on a train that is quickly beset by portals that warp it into the primordial landscape where it is then attacked by dinosaurs.<\/p>\n<p>The game is the brainchild of Eunseok Yi, the head of What! Studio and producer of \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/durango.nexon.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Durango<\/a>.\u201d He previously led the team that developed another massively-multiplayer online role-playing game called \u201cVindictus.\u201d Eunseok wanted to refocus the team\u2019s skills to innovate a game with more freedom, however, in a setting that differed from the common sword-and-magic fantasy worlds many mobile games occupy.<\/p>\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=9e73cff0-86f6-4844-b8f4-63accfcb0e11&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" alt=\"\u201cDurango: Wild Lands\u201d launched in January 2018 in South Korea and was made available globally in May of this year. It has reached over 12 million cumulative downloads between iOS and Android.\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">\u201cDurango: Wild Lands\u201d launched in January 2018 in South Korea and was made available globally in May of this year. It has reached over 12 million cumulative downloads between iOS and Android.<\/span><span class=\"credit\">Courtesy of What! Studios<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>Within the game, \u201cDurango\u201d is the name of the world players occupy, navigate and tame. The studio said that it knew the name \u201cDurango\u201d belonged to several real-world cities and locations and that its Basque root word, \u201cUrango,\u201d referred to a settlement close to water. This is appropriate, they said, because much of their game involves crossing oceans to find new islands to settle.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c\u2018Durango\u2019 is a word that evokes wonder,\u201d the studio said in the email.<\/p>\n<p>As for the train that players ride in the game\u2019s introduction, What! Studio said it\u2019s a metaphor.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019d like to think trains represent moving from one place to another,\u201d the studio said. \u201cThe process of watching the scenery change and a new land come into view is not only a physical movement but also an emotional one. The train at the beginning of \u2018Durango: Wild Lands\u2019 signifies exactly that; the beginning of a fresh start in an unknown prehistoric land, filled with weird and wonderful dinosaurs, hope, action and excitement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhichever train you take, whether it be the one in Durango, Colorado, or \u2018Durango: Wild Lands,\u2019 the next destination becomes a chance place for an adventure into something new.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Since its debut, the game has passed 12 million downloads. It is very popular in Thailand, Brazil and Russia, What! Studio said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re still scratching our heads over this: Do dinosaurs appeal more in these regions?\u201d the studio said.<\/p>\n<p>At the end of August, Nexon launched a \u201cVolcanic Islands\u201d update to the game, featuring a new area in which players can set sail for islands covered in ash and smoke, molten lava and active volcanoes while encountering more ferocious creatures and getting their hands on better loot.<\/p>\n<p><em class=\"mwc_shirttail\"><a href=\"mailto:ngonzales@durangoherald.com\">ngonzales@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Korean-made game has exceeded 12M global downloads<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":74283,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[2095,4224],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-74282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-games","tag-gaming-and-lottery"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74282"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=74282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}