Fall DLC 2023 Speculation

[AndyZoos]

All in all this is my ranking of DLC possibility and chances.

Medium to High Likelihood

-Highlands/Mountain
-Drylands/Desert
-Oceania/Islands
-South America/Amazon Pack

Medium Likelihood

-Dedicated Large Flying Birds Pack (maybe leaving this for PZ2)
-Nocturnal Pack (implementing circadian rhythms)

Low to Medium Likelihood

-Petting/Children's Zoo (more reptile, amphibian, invertebrate, small bird exhibits alongside petting animals) (tricky to animate animal-visitor interactions and a lot of work creating numerous exhibits)
-Aquarium pack adding manatee, beluga, ect.

Low Likelihood

-Extinct animals pack

Ultimately support will last until AT LEAST Q2 2024 OR possibly Q2 2025. Frontier game launches are at the end of the year, so it makes sense to cut off support for existing games by mid-year. We know they have a major game due next year and in 2025. I just don't see Q2 2023 being the last DLC pack.

Given that they've shifted away from regions, I've simmered on my hopes for a second South America pack of any sort, sadly... And getting the maned wolf with the Grasslands DLC only cemented that further. Not that there aren't still plenty of animals people want from that part of the world. It just feels less and less likely. So I might bump that down to medium.

For me, my #1 most likely pick for the summer DLC has to be Oceania/Islands because we're probably getting an animal pack and that theme would provide several highly-requested (and unique!) species that are pretty varied. Drylands/Desert would be my #2 though I think so many of those animals could fit into other packs...

I could definitely see a Highlands/Mountain DLC for fall. "Vibe-wise" it would definitely fit for that part of the year. A little cooler, a little more beige and grey, etc. My one qualm/concern with that option is that it would be a scenery pack and I guess I'm just not sure what they might do scenery-wise. Maybe some more rustic wood and stone pieces? I'd love for them to do a less-themed version of what they did for the Arctic DLC.

I feel like every DLC cycle I start off feeling low on the likelihood of birds or a petting/children's zoo style pack... Then get excited about the possibility (and start daydreaming about being able to designate certain habitat animals as "ambassadors" that can walk around the zoo with an educator for talks! Then immediately realize how wrong I was. Haha. So I'm just going to shrug and say "nah, maybe in a sequel though" for those. And just be pleasantly surprised if it ever actually happens. Haha.

 

[jcp011c]

Given that they've shifted away from regions, I've simmered on my hopes for a second South America pack of any sort, sadly... And getting the maned wolf with the Grasslands DLC only cemented that further. Not that there aren't still plenty of animals people want from that part of the world. It just feels less and less likely. So I might bump that down to medium.

South America is mostly all about the Monkeys now anyways. There's other wants but I think a Rainforest pack is best, which probably wouldn't come until the Q4 at earliest, if at all.

Of course, there's still plenty of non-rainforest animals - the Spectacled Bear, Mara, Rhea that could be added other ways, but ultimately the cries for more Monkeys overshadows any other South American offerings.

 

[AndyZoos]

While it definitely depends on the next pack's theme, one pattern I could see is a Summer Temperate animal pack and leaving this to be a Petting Zoo/Children's Zoo/Farm scenery pack. Sure, there's ways to tie that into the spring theme but there's just as many to tie in to the fall theme.

Of course, Drylands and then Islands for all is also a possibility. I'm leaving a Rainforests out of the equation, but I feel like the two big possibilities for summer are Drylands and Temperate type themes. The two big scenery packs for the fall being Islands and Petting Zoo etc.

I talked about this a lot during the second to last DLC cycle but... A Children's Zoo/Farm Scenery Pack could have a lot of potential to add some really cool building pieces to the game. A horizontal slat wood wall set, new shingle roof pieces, new dirt paths, new feeding troughs, new fences, etc. From a species perspective they could include "exotic domestics" to keep it interesting. Depending on how they labeled it (e.g., "Children's Zoo") they could add new interactive components, etc. At least here in the US people are still very much thinking about farms in the fall too... Harvest season and all that.

And hey, if they ever opt to go with a Children's Zoo-style DLC theme? Would be a perfect time to implement scaling. And a restaurant-style viewing system for meerkat and prairie dog habitats!

And RE: your post about about SA... There's plenty of other animals people want. But monkeys are mostly driving it (and realistically they'd only do one per pack). Personally, I'd like a few more monkey species, ocelots, tamandua, and a porcupine. However they wind up in the game is fine by me. Haha.

 

[Marvinb]

Given that they've shifted away from regions, I've simmered on my hopes for a second South America pack of any sort, sadly... And getting the maned wolf with the Grasslands DLC only cemented that further. Not that there aren't still plenty of animals people want from that part of the world. It just feels less and less likely. So I might bump that down to medium.

For me, my #1 most likely pick for the summer DLC has to be Oceania/Islands because we're probably getting an animal pack and that theme would provide several highly-requested (and unique!) species that are pretty varied. Drylands/Desert would be my #2 though I think so many of those animals could fit into other packs...

I could definitely see a Highlands/Mountain DLC for fall. "Vibe-wise" it would definitely fit for that part of the year. A little cooler, a little more beige and grey, etc. My one qualm/concern with that option is that it would be a scenery pack and I guess I'm just not sure what they might do scenery-wise. Maybe some more rustic wood and stone pieces? I'd love for them to do a less-themed version of what they did for the Arctic DLC.

I feel like every DLC cycle I start off feeling low on the likelihood of birds or a petting/children's zoo style pack... Then get excited about the possibility (and start daydreaming about being able to designate certain habitat animals as "ambassadors" that can walk around the zoo with an educator for talks! Then immediately realize how wrong I was. Haha. So I'm just going to shrug and say "nah, maybe in a sequel though" for those. And just be pleasantly surprised if it ever actually happens. Haha.

I mean to each their own but i can totaly see an Amazonian animal pack happening. Probably aint gonna happen back to back with the tropical pack but definetly something i would enjoy

-Ocelot/Margay
-Coati
-Howler
-Red footed tortoise
-Spoonbill
-Second monkey
-Tamandua
-Macaws WE (what a dream huh?)

 

[AndyZoos]

I mean to each their own but i can totaly see an Amazonian animal pack happening. Probably aint gonna happen back to back with the tropical pack but definetly something i would enjoy

-Ocelot/Margay
-Coati
-Howler
-Red footed tortoise
-Spoonbill
-Second monkey
-Tamandua
-Macaws WE (what a dream huh?)

Definitely don't get me wrong. That pack is kinda the dream, TBH. But I don't realistically see that happening. They may switch it up and do a region-focused pack because so many of those picks truly are glaring gaps in the roster... But I doubt it.

 

[YesIndeed]

I mean to each their own but i can totaly see an Amazonian animal pack happening. Probably aint gonna happen back to back with the tropical pack but definetly something i would enjoy

-Ocelot/Margay
-Coati
-Howler
-Red footed tortoise
-Spoonbill
-Second monkey
-Tamandua
-Macaws WE (what a dream huh?)

They gotta pit the arrau River turtle over the tortoise. TURTLE SUPREMACY.

 

[MMaire]

I think the Child Zoo Pack is, apart from the seasonal aspect, perfect at this stage of the game. More than a mini farm pack, I imagine a more hybrid formula capable of satisfying more players by adding mechanics specific to child visitors. It seems to me that there is a formula that would satisfy as many people as possible.

For this, first of all, it is necessary to make it possible in this pack to build a mini farm. It is not unanimous but it is an option widely requested by people and it must be taken into account as a possibility offered in this pack.
Secondly, the roster must be sufficiently well chosen so that those who do not want a mini farm can still use the species in exotic habitats.

Finally, it seems to me that for such a pack to be accepted or even considered a major advance in terms of game mechanics, the update and the props it adds must be numerous and of high quality. For this, it seems to me that if the emphasis is placed in a significant way on the child visitor and his experience of the visit, then we could have really interesting and fun things.

Here is an idea of what the pack could look like, first in terms of animal roster :

• Somali Wild Ass (Africa)
• Watusi (Africa) or Zebu (Asia)
• Alpaga (South America)
• Vietnamese Pig (South Asia)

+
- Nubian Goats and/or American Pigmy Goat (Walk Exhibit)

My idea is that only the goats will be in a Walk Exhibit with specific animations (visitor interactions, feeding).
Nothing prevents you around your Walk Exhibit, to build a mini farm area with walktrough habitats or not. The other animals in the pack could thus be presented in a mini farm, like others already present in the roster such as the Llama, the Emu, the Wallaby, the horse.

To allow for this, half of the props in the pack will be focused on farm and construction items. (100 props)

You can also consider presenting the Somali Wild Ass, Watusi, Zebu, Alpaga, Vietnamese Pig in dedicated habitats, in geographical areas or in shared enclosures with other species as in a safari.

On the update side, I think it should focus on two aspects of the child visitor experience: fun and education.
Ideas :

• Added "school class" visitor group type
• Added "Feeding experience" for Child, supervised by educators or animal keepers. Available for several types of animals, not only those of the pack. Especially monkeys, giraffes...
• Added Playgrounds with a lot of differents props
• Added Zipline as activitie or/and locomotions. Point A to Point B. Visitors could "fly" above the animals.
• Added Souvenir/Gift Shops
• Added much more educational items like those we already had on gorillas, giraffes, on many species of the game and make systematic this kind of items on each animal of the next packs.
• Added animal carousel attraction
• Add in the information shops the options of "animal sponsorship" as possible money entry

To specify that I will keep the Dromadary Camel for the summer pack that I would see on the Drylands. This would not prevent adding the Camel to a mini farm if desired.

For me, such a pack which on paper was not sexy because species that were not exotic enough, too common, would become so thanks to an intelligent and more thematically hybrid roster and many new gameplay features.

What do you think?

 

[Chris1983]

In my opinion a South America/Amazon Animal Pack would offer much more than just monkeys.
First of all I would love to see a Coati species in game. I really hope we'll get one cause I guess it is easy to code, since we got the racoon with the Twilight Pack.
Also I'd love to get the Spectacled Bear cause the last bear we got with a DLC was the Sun Bear, and it is the only SA bear specias.

Of course monkeys would be essential for a region pack like this. I would choose two very different species.
The howler monkey and the golden lion tamarin.

Other animals I really want to have ingame are the Peccari, the Patagonian Mara and the Greater Rhea. But I could also imagine Tamanduas, Ocelots and Bush Dogs.

Not to speak of all the birds from the area that are iconic zoo animals, not matter if as WE animals or Habitat Animals. I'd love to build mixed habitats also for South-American non-flying birds (or at least birds that wouldn't need to fly in PZ), like Scarlet Ibisses and Roseate Spoonbills. Or Screamer Birds and all the ducks that live there

 

[synthetase]

I keep saying we don't need more scenery, that there's no more themed items that we need, etc. But I've been repeatedly proven wrong! Yeah, I want more animals and will be really bummed if support ends without a tree kangaroo, secretary bird, ocelot, Tasmanian devil, a few more monkeys and so on being added to the game but... I understand the approach. And frankly, while I do think we have plenty of heavily "themed" items there's still a range of foliage and more generic zoo pieces that could be added to the game.

Ultimately, my semi-realistic pipedream is for them to end the year with two strong packs using the alternating pattern (e.g., summer DLC will be animals; fall DLC will be scenery; and final December DLC will be animals). From there, assuming this is the last year for formal support, free updates, etc. it would be fantastic if they just continued on without free updates and just released animal-focused DLC for another year or two. Maybe with a few smaller prop or foliage-focused DLC packs in-between (e.g., a set of 10-20 new plants from a given region, a pack of signs for base game animals in the new/current design, gardening tools, things to help put together parking lots and so on).

That would really help to round out the roster and would be a pragmatic way to expand foliage options, fill-in the gaps with smaller things that may not fit fully into a given theme, etc. And so long as the DLC are still selling nicely? No reason for them to stop expanding on the paid DLC options.

All that said - I'm banking on the fall DLC being another scenery pack (assuming summer is animals).

The reason I want all animal packs! People play zoo games for animals.

 

[YesIndeed]

The reason I want all animal packs! People play zoo games for animals.

I mean I'd say I'm a builder but I felt pretty happy with pieces after conservation and to make my builderness happy I'd prefer more animals to Build for.

I think we'll probably see one more scenery pack this year but if content goes into next year (Which I feel like it will) I would be pretty happy with more animals.

 

[Existentialist Knight]

I think the Child Zoo Pack is, apart from the seasonal aspect, perfect at this stage of the game. More than a mini farm pack, I imagine a more hybrid formula capable of satisfying more players by adding mechanics specific to child visitors. It seems to me that there is a formula that would satisfy as many people as possible.

For this, first of all, it is necessary to make it possible in this pack to build a mini farm. It is not unanimous but it is an option widely requested by people and it must be taken into account as a possibility offered in this pack.
Secondly, the roster must be sufficiently well chosen so that those who do not want a mini farm can still use the species in exotic habitats.

Finally, it seems to me that for such a pack to be accepted or even considered a major advance in terms of game mechanics, the update and the props it adds must be numerous and of high quality. For this, it seems to me that if the emphasis is placed in a significant way on the child visitor and his experience of the visit, then we could have really interesting and fun things.

Here is an idea of what the pack could look like, first in terms of animal roster :

• Somali Wild (Africa)
• Watusi (Africa) or Zebu (Asia)
• Alpaga (South America)
• Vietnamese Pig (South Asia)

+
- Nubian Goats and/or American Pigmy Goat (Walk Exhibit)

My idea is that only the goats will be in a Walk Exhibit with specific animations (visitor interactions, feeding).
Nothing prevents you around your Walk Exhibit, to build a mini farm area with walktrough habitats or not. The other animals in the pack could thus be presented in a mini farm, like others already present in the roster such as the Llama, the Emu, the Wallaby, the horse.

To allow for this, half of the props in the pack will be focused on farm and construction items. (100 props)

You can also consider presenting the Somali Wild , Watusi, Zebu, Alpaga, Vietnamese Pig in dedicated habitats, in geographical areas or in shared enclosures with other species as in a safari.

On the update side, I think it should focus on two aspects of the child visitor experience: fun and education.
Ideas :

• Added "school class" visitor group type
• Added "Feeding experience" for Child, supervised by educators or animal keepers. Available for several types of animals, not only those of the pack. Especially monkeys, giraffes...
• Added Playgrounds with a lot of differents props
• Added Zipline as activitie or/and locomotions. Point A to Point B. Visitors could "fly" above the animals.
• Added Souvenir/Gift Shops
• Added much more educational items like those we already had on gorillas, giraffes, on many species of the game and make systematic this kind of items on each animal of the next packs.
• Added animal carousel attraction
• Add in the information shops the options of "animal sponsorship" as possible money entry

To specify that I will keep the Dromadary Camel for the summer pack that I would see on the Drylands. This would not prevent adding the Camel to a mini farm if desired.

For me, such a pack which on paper was not sexy because species that were not exotic enough, too common, would become so thanks to an intelligent and more thematically hybrid roster and many new gameplay features.

What do you think?

I am very much in favour of a childern-focused pack.
However, for the line-up of animals, I would propose a mix of pettable species and charismatic species, that may be considered fun to watch for children. I would image something like this:

1. Porcupine or Mara: small critters are always helpful for rounding up the animal roster of a section and region, and both are quite adorable (at least to me)
2. Coati or a Squirrel monkey: arboreal animals for South america also wouln't go amiss
3. A dwarf goat: Very common in zoos, and it would allow for a petting/feeding interaction with guests in walkthrough enclosures. I am, personally, gainst handling them as a WE animal, for an animal of that size and mobility it would feel to limiting. Moreover, if they established a guest-animal-interaction system for enclosures, it could also be used for animals like the lama, wallaby or fallow deer.
4. Maybe an alpaca or a donkey? Havent really decided on this slot yet.
5. A collection of birds for the walkthrough exhibit, I could very well image the rainbow lorikeet or budgerigars as optimal candidates. However, this would mean birds have to implemented,and I don't know if this will actually happen any time soon.

I adore your ideas about the new update features/game mechanics regarding children, especially the school classes. Here are a few more ideas I came up with:

• Guests groups with children have another guest need like "need for active play", which is satisfied by the children using a playground-style guest facility
• Guests with baby carriages or handcarts - I've been to a zoo with friends who are parents to a small child, I just now realized how important it is to consider these carts in zoo design, and it might also level the way for the inclusion of guests in wheelchairs

 

[jcp011c]

So I guess we have a pretty good idea of the general theme of the Summer pack and what almost certainly won't be coming in it.

I'm still going 100% for my woodands/temperate pack roster:
Wolverine
Tasmanian Devil
Wild Boar
Northern Brown Kiwi
Exhibit: Bald Eagle (still holding out hope here)

Though I'd love for it to just be the animal pack roster I've been madly posting about to include:
Snowshoe Hare
Spectacled Bear
Wisent

I feel like the next two packs will be a temperate/Taiga/Woodlands type of theme and rainforest/Amazon type of theme in that order. Especially if they end up being the last two packs. For me, pipe dreaming Bald Eagle, Toco Toucan and 4 Anniversary Macaws would fill out my most basic wants for Exhibit birds.

 

[YesIndeed]

I'm ready to Fire up this thread the second the summer packs roster comes out lol.

 

[PnGLINNyo]

Okay, so what do we got for themes .
It's fall, so taiga, temperate, or even nocturnal to an extent. Animal wise, we got Spectacled bear and Tasmanian Devil high from meta wishlist. If we don't get baboons here, they still got a chance for Highland theme.

 

[YesIndeed]

Okay, so what do we got for themes .
It's fall, so taiga, temperate, or even nocturnal to an extent. Animal wise, we got Spectacled bear and Tasmanian Devil high from meta wishlist. If we don't get baboons here, they still got a chance for Highland theme.

I'm thinking an Alpine pack is likely. Spectacled bear and takin would finally get in and I'd love a dove or woodpecker maybe in the WE.

 

[jcp011c]

Now that we've got the list for the Arid pack....I really really hope the next pack will have more than one animal I was keenly interested in. How much longer will we have to wait for a theme for the Tasmanian Devil?

At any rate, likely candidates for the next pack are islands, Temperate/Woodlands/highlands or Children's/petting zoo

 

[yoav_r]

Children's/petting zoo

Playgrounds have just been leaked but have not been adverised in the update, so maybe they are for the fall pack.

 

[Lelka]

Ehh, TBH I don't have a high hope on playground...

 

[DarthQuell]

Ehh, TBH I don't have a high hope on playground...

There was already a pic

 

[SuzieSky]

I'm going to guess temperate with cabin/lodge scenery. ABB (saving spectacled for mountains), Tasmanian Devil, Wild Boar, Wisent, Pudu, Raccoon Dog, and Echidna all seem like good choices with Pheasants (I think they will be easiest to animate) as the first walkthrough bird.

An aviary WE expansion would be the dream though.