I wonder if part of that is that the planned update was gonna take a bit of effort, so it was easier to use pre-existing rigs. Like I’m not saying the new models aren’t amazing, they are. I don’t think it’s a surprise we didn’t get something new like a bunny, which would probably have taken quite a bit of effort. Part of me wonders if the Barnyard dlc was planned due to both being highly requested, but also easier for the office to make.
Maybe they had the team work on this new dlc coming up, if it has some complicated stuff like monkeys I can see the new update also requiring fixes to the current climbing system.
I've always thought this was part of the plan with JWE2. Get the two remaining packs done and out of the way before soft-announcing the re-upped partnership with Universal and that they've got the next Jurassic Park CSM game in the pipeline. And how do you do that? Skimp on one pack and balance that out by making the other (mostly) loaded with fan favorites.
I think it's a different scenario for the Barnyard pack as far as timing goes. There's less pressure and they've got a (relatively loose) schedule for the console DLC that they're going to need to stick to. And, TBH, the Planet Zoo community has higher expectations for content in our packs in contrast to JWE so... No sense in rushing it. They've already told us it would be out in the "coming months."
Part of me has always wondered how long it takes for the whole, rigging, modeling, texturing, animating, and coding process is. I imagine they have multiple groups working at different times.
I could be wrong here, but from what we know they can create animation sets pretty quickly. And at this stage in the game, they have some decent rigs to start with. I'd imagine
most of the time is spent on texturing and coding/testing all of the different in-game interactions that have to take place.
There's also the aspect of research (which is done by an entirely different team). Getting the animal sounds, determining what plants should/shouldn't be in the habitat, what enrichment items make sense, and so on. I think that's always an understated part of the process that people often forget about! Not that I think this substantially adds to the time...
But has anyone noticed the socials are very quiet? The last posted May 31st. I know they have done radio silence before, I just thought it was interesting.
Definitely quiet. But I think that's probably more due to there just not being much to say and there being a lack of a dedicated person to that team than anything else. Which is kind of a bummer TBH... I'm a little surprised they aren't trying to showcase workshop creations, hype console more, etc.
This is very random but I always really thought it would be
super fun if they did tours of zoos that people uploaded to the workshop. It always felt like a missed opportunity (and one that, to be frank, would have been a bit more entertaining than watching the streams where they just played the game IMHO).
