ARK MAKER by Wildcard
What initially ran under the project name ARK World Creator is now manifesting as ARK Maker. Here, Studio Wildcard is not only delivering a simple map-building tool, but also an in-game development environment directly within the client of ARK: Survival Ascended (ASA). Without having to go through the memory-hungry ARK Dev Kit and fully cross-platform on all systems (including consoles), players get control over assets, objects, and gameplay logic. This was announced yesterday at IGN Live 2026 in Los Angeles by co-founder Jeremy Stieglitz.
The integrated level design tools allow adding, removing, and modifying any element in three-dimensional space. What particularly stands out is the depth of the customization options:
- Mesh and material overrides: Properties and surface materials of objects and meshes can be overwritten directly in the game.
- Visual and acoustic assets: Particle systems, light sources, and all audio effects can be freely placed and configured in detail.
- Component architecture: Every single component and property of an object is editable. Players can program their own, freely configurable game objects and save them as templates.
The actual "revolution" for the sandbox genre is the integrated logic and scripting system. Through Lua, new gameplay functionalities can be implemented directly in the game. Since the scripting system has access to the full Blueprint API, complex game mechanics, triggers, and tailored behaviors for objects can likely also be implemented. Performance issues and new bugs probably included ;)
The distribution of custom creations is completely automated. Custom Arks and modifications are shared directly through the game (likely via Curseforge's mod browser). As soon as a player connects to a multiplayer session running a modified ARK Maker construct, the client automatically downloads all required data in the background.
It was also revealed that the modder Applez has been officially hired as the "Lead" programmer for the development of ARK Maker. He brings experience in the field of in-game manipulation through his mod Ultimate Map Tool. In addition, Wildcard officially informed in May that other Unreal veterans have also been hired by the studio. (Update: It is unknown whether they are also working on this project, or are more heavily involved in UE5.7 Upgrade and Genesis 1 & the integration of former ATLAS features, for example).
It is not the first time that Wildcard has built upon the expertise of the modding community. This symbiosis has a long tradition in ARK: The "Tek Drill" by the modder Zarthan was adapted back then and permanently integrated into the game as the Tek Bunker. Modder Garuga also set standards, with various creatures from his well-known "Additions Ascended" mod series being adopted directly into the official game canon.
The release of ARK Maker is planned for the 3rd quarter of 2026... subject to change, as this takes place in the Wildcard time zone.
