An interview with Jurassic World Evolution 2 Senior Producer, Orcun Adsoy

Jurassic World Evolution 2 recently released a free update celebrating 30 years of Jurassic Park. It featured a ton of throwbacks to some of the most memorable moments from the original film that started it all, and we were fortunate enough to interview Orcun Adsoy, Senior Producer on Jurassic World Evolution 2 on a whole host of topics, including what were the most fun features to include, what an honour it was to work on the game, and what the franchise means to him.

What were the first nods or ideas that came to mind first that you wanted to include in the 30th anniversary update?

As a team of Jurassic Park fans, we immediately had a number of decorations we knew we had to make a reality. A statue of Mr.DNA, the Les Gigantes mural, the towering Jurassic Park gate and the wonderous scene of skeletal dinosaurs and banners within the visitor centre.

Then we naturally had a wealth of requests from our community, in particular their desire for the log decoration, the Jurassic Park fence and the pile of… well. Anyway, we had plenty of ideas come from the players’ side too, which was great!

Which features were the most fun to design when working on the update?

Getting Mr.DNA right was a rather iterative process. Looking back at the few scenes of him in the original film, then trying to understand exactly what made his distinctive look, then trying to communicate that to a 3D model. Not only that, but presenting him as a ‘real’ sculpture you might see in a real theme park, connected with bits of metal, rather than his various components miraculously floating in thin air. While it took time to get him just right, the end result looks great!

Are there any references you wanted to include but didn’t have the chance to?

Certainly with such elaborate, finely detailed sets, Jurassic Park had so many references we could include, but we wanted to focus on the most iconic moments and make sure they were well presented in Jurassic World Evolution 2.

What are some of your favourite moments from the original film?

Dark, storming and with mysterious vibrations in my cup of water. The reveal of the T. rex, and subsequent carnage has to be one of the most iconic scenes in cinema to date, and my favourite moment across all the Jurassic films.

That, or every time Dennis Nedry appears on a computer screen saying, “ah ah ah, you didn’t say the magic word”. Both were pretty good.

Jurassic World Evolution 2 Interview: What does the Jurassic Park franchise mean to you?

As with JWE2, it’s a mix of adventure, discovery and dread. The idea that these wonderous creatures filled with beauty and intelligence might also be the very thing which ends up hunting us – or an unfortunate park guest.

Do you have any specific memories of watching the film for the first time?

I believe I was about five years old when it came out (sorry to any readers I just made feel very old!). Having watched it so many times over the years, I’m afraid I can’t even recall when I first saw it.

What’s your favourite dinosaur from the movies?

Strangely, I’ve always loved the giant ill triceratops. The amount of detail they got into the animatronic, the gentle breathing and small flickers of realistic life were really beautiful. 

I also just appreciate examples of a craft being performed to an exceptional level, which I saw all the work surrounding that animatronic to be.

It helps that from my youngest years, Ceratopsids were always my favourite family of dinosaurs.

How much of an honour is it to work on the update/Jurassic World Evolution franchise?

Game development is the process of working closely with some incredibly intelligent and creative people, to build something that countless people play and experience. So as always, it’s an absolute honour to spend my time with these people, creating such an awesome game.

That joy is then always heightened when you have an active and excited audience as JWE2 has. Afterall, we make games for people to enjoy and experience.

When did the decision to work on an anniversary update come about?

From the very beginning of development, authenticity to Jurassic World and the wider franchise has been a central pillar of JWE2’s design and culture. Combined with Frontier Developments’ heavy emphasis on nurturing our games post-release and free content delivery, we always knew we’d want to celebrate this important anniversary with our players.

Do you have any special memories of working on the update?

Any update in which you deliver a literal pile of dung is going to result in a lot of in-jokes, sighs and eye rolls in responses to puns. Glorious.