ARK: Survival Evolved gets mod contest and Survival of the Fittest battle mode added

Studio Wildcard has announced a new battle mode and mod contest for ARK: Survival Evolved. The contest, which uses the new Dev Kit, puts to use the Unreal Engine 4 to create a new “Mod” that best exemplifies the judging criteria. Players can submit diverse island maps, underground environments, game modes, new structures and items for a chance to win over $25,000 in cash and prizes. You can signup for and view the rules of the contest over on the offcial site, but the rewards are pretty hefty for those of the creative mind:

●      Grand Prize (1st Place): $15,000 USD, Alienware Area-51 Desktop, and a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti Graphics Card
●      2nd Place: $5,000 USD, Alienware X51 Desktop, and a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 Graphics Card
●      3rd Place: $2,500 USD and a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 Graphics Card

The development team has also added in their own "Survival of the Fittest" mod that places a new battle mode into the game. Every 30 minutes, a random environmental event takes place ranging from dinosaurs dropping from the sky, major storms coming through the island or even a radar beacon that reveals where all the players are located on the island. In order to join the contest, you must have the Dev Kit which you can download for free from the Epic Games Store.

ARK: Survival Evolved is currently only available on PC, but a PS4 and Xbox One release is due before the end of the year. With many games sponsoring mods now like Fallout 4 and Witcher 3, it's good to see studios sponsoring this kind of creativity. Let us know if you plan to join the contest and show us your best mod! Good luck.