Crash course · applies to every revival

Game systems, in one page

The original design is what every fan server reimplements: twelve skills, four island types, material chains, tameable dinosaurs, clans — and a food system that is your stamina bar. Here's the condensed version.

Server variations

Revivals mostly follow the original systems, but details vary — Primoria replaced Personal Islands with shared Village Islands, XD Lands adds a market city hub, and rates/content differ per server. When in doubt, check your server's Discord.

The 12 skills

Everything is level-by-use. Jump to a cheat sheet:

Backstories & jobs (character presets)

  • 8 jobs × M/F = 16 presets, each with its own 2-gender intro story and a head start of skill Lv. 20 in its specialty:
Starting job → the specialty it comes pre-leveled.
JobSpecialty (Lv 20 head start)
SoldierMelee
UnemployedDefense
Office workerConstruction
TechnicianWeapon/Tool crafting
Flight attendantTailoring
StudentGathering
HomemakerCooking
FarmerFarming

Islands

Tamed 🏝️

Your personal island. Place a free Domain; constructions don't lose durability; expands with your level. No wild dinos.

Civilized 🏙️

Stable islands with cities and markets — the social hub (like Kota Raya).

Unstable 🌋

Appear and disappear at random; the richest resources; warp holes; unstable savanna & volcano seas archipelagos.

Savage ⚔️

PvP islands with outposts only and high-level resources. Historically closed in 2019-07; in revivals, PvP is confined to a couple of islands.

Warps move you 2–4 islands per trip; carry loot back through cargo warp holes to keep it.

Crafting

  • Material-processing chains → tools, weapons, clothing, buildings.
  • Same recipe + different material = different item — bone/metal/leather pass hidden attributes (e.g. 720 recipes / 2,407 items in Primoria).
  • Cooking includes specialized food recipes and brewing; medicine also lives in the Cooking tree.
  • Skill XP only comes from items in your skill's level band — when a recipe stops paying, move up a tier.

Dinosaurs & pets

  • 70+ animal kinds. Tame with special herbs & taming pens — Lv 30+ dinos need a Lv 13 clan building for better odds.
  • Raise, ride mounts, use pack animals (e.g. ~300-slot carriers); pets have stats and growth stages (Young → adult; alphas exist).
  • Tip from the 2019 guide: one fast mount (raptor-types) + two high-carry pack dinosaurs; no feeding needed — summon, transfer, re-summon.

Clans, co-op & PvP

  • Clans: levels, perks, ranks, clan battles, shared banks; clan buildings gate some taming tech.
  • Co-op: rescue downed players for rewards; temporary parties vs big creatures; smiley-emote chat gives a small buff to nearby players.
  • PvP: limited rulesets on Savage islands only (in revivals).

Meta systems

  • Titles from “University of Durango” radio courses — switchable bonuses that boost specific activities (see the attribute table).
  • Status effects, Comfort, the Encyclopedia, and Personal Communication Center missions.
  • Item attributes & status effects ride on materials — the crafting depth is the point.

Music

8 instruments, an in-game composer, songs shared via codes, and campfire concerts for up to 6 players. 🎶

Food & energy (eating well)

Food is the energy resource — every action drains it and eating is the only way back. Raw berries/coconut/palm carry you early; later you need real cooking. The tier list, easiest first:

The easy, filling progression from the 2018–19 guides.
FoodGateWhy it's good
Skewer (꼬치구이)—any edible + a branch + a fire; shortest cook time — cook twice for “well-done”. The everyday solo food until ~Lv 20 (stops training cooking at Lv 19).
Stone Plate Grill (돌판구이)Cooking 20the standard energy food — never burn it, “burnt” massively cuts recovery
Steam ×2 “찜찜”Cooking 25the mid-game energy jump
회찜찜 (sashimi → steam ×2)Cooking 401 meat = 3 foods, ~80% of an energy bar per piece — the staple
Meatball (완자)—with steady meat, the best pre-40 food: mortar only, no workbench, instant; gives a Str buff
Boil (삶기)—removes food toxicity and upgrades ingredient level to the water's level (Lv 30 meat + Lv 60 water → Lv 45 meat)
Simmer (끓이기)—warmth + thirst removal for cold zones
  • Mass-produce: Cooking Fire (아궁이, 2 jobs) / Hearth (부뚜막, 3 jobs, Construction 40) — four hearths pump out 12 회찜찜 at once.
  • Skill grind: skewers → salt from seawater (Lv 25+) → spice production.

Food by buff

Which dishes carry which stat buff (player guide).
BuffFood
STRMeat Stuffed Bread, Hamburger, Meat Lover Pizza, Seasoned Grillade
DEXPizza, Cream Cake, Hamburger, Stuffed Bread, Sausage
AGIVeggie Pizza, Veggie Stuffed Bread, Veggie Juice
PERCream Cake, Aged Cheese, Tteokbokki, Spicy Chicken, Cheese
CHAFruit Pizza, Fruit Stuffed Bread, Aged Pizza, Fruit Juice
WILLGrape Wine, Caterpillar Pizza, Caterpillar Stuffed Bread
Max energyRaw Fish, Sushi

Baking & seasoning (advanced)

Baking chains and the boost each last-step seasoning adds (player guide).
DishProcess chainLast-step seasoning
Pizzagrains → steam ×2 → grind → Grain Flour → seasoned stone plate → Bread Dough → Pizza (slice → steam)herb → STR/AGI/WILL; sugar → DEX/PER/CHA; salt → STR/PER
Stuffed Breadsame chain as pizza, shaped as a loafsame seasonings
Cream Cakesame chain with Cake Doughsugar → DEX/PER/CHA (salt → STR/PER)
  • Only the last process's extra boost sticks — it overwrites earlier ones, and identical boosts don't stack. Bugs add a WIL buff.
  • Hamburgers don't carry ingredient boosts; always brew grape wine for the WIL Lv 20 buff; how you process coffee beans doesn't extend coffee's effect.
  • Buff duration: Lv 20 bread/pizza/cake ≈ 1 h 20 min (Lv 19 pizza 1 h 17 min; Lv 17 bread 1 h 2 min; Lv 4 hamburger ≈ 40 min; Lv 5 aged cheese ≈ 32 min). Steaming adds Status Effect Duration Lv 5; a seasoned stone plate adds Lv 2.

Filler food: raw fish

  • Process meat/fish/crab → 3× raw fish, then steam them — cheap bulk energy.
  • Big Lv1 / Marbling Lv4 meats make more energizing fish (Big > Marbling at the same item level).
  • Steam, BBQ, stir-fry and deep-fry remove the max-energy bonus; boiling or smoking keeps it.
  • Boosts sitting on raw fish don't extend your real buff food.
Two rules that save you

Eat while standing still — the eat animation must finish, otherwise you only get the “full” marker without the recovery. And don't burn stone-plate grills — “타버림” is a huge energy loss, not a small penalty.

Sourcing: About. Cooking skill route: Cooking cheat sheet. Material & tool buffs: Crafting details.