DLC18 discussion and predictions

[CharlieXGaming]

zookeeper collection has the glaringly obvious addition of zoo keeper mode which is unlikely but I can see things like mascots, changes to the maintenance systems or just general not animal stuff such as elevators hotels and keeper cars being added.

YESSS staff carts I completely forgot! Would definitely be amazing for a keeper collection pack! Just think for the trailer of the pack we could have these cool transitions of a zookeeper driving to all the places and revealing each animal with its name. Mascots are also a good one, shouldn’t be too hard considering they are already in PC.

These 2 together would be perfect and probably ideal for a free update to go along with a Keeper Collection pack.

 

[AndyZoos]

Staff carts and mascots would be "fine" additions but honestly wouldn't move the needle at all for me. As a primarily sandbox player I'd much prefer they focus on additions to anything but the management systems. Haha.

I get that others would be into it so I wouldn't begrudge their addition but... It just wouldn't excite me.

 

[CharlieXGaming]

As a primarily sandbox player I'd much prefer they focus on additions to anything but the management systems. Haha.

But we’ve gotten so many things for sandbox in like - all the updates, and considering management is where the game struggles the most, that’s the area that needs the most (or at least a little) attention.

Plus it’s not like it’s something that’s completely useless in sandbox, you can still have staff driving carts on paths or make staff only roads for the carts. And mascots would essentially be like educators just wandering around.

 

[AndyZoos]

But we’ve gotten so many things for sandbox in like - all the updates, and considering management is where the game struggles the most, that’s the area that needs the most (or at least a little) attention.

Plus it’s not like it’s something that’s completely useless in sandbox, you can still have staff driving carts on paths or make staff only roads for the carts. And mascots would essentially be like educators just wandering around.

Those things don't add much to management, though. If anything the keeper carts and mascots would make management easier rather than add a challenge or a new dynamic. It wouldn't necessarily add any more depth or make things more interesting, or even more "unique" for the player (and let's be real -- mascots don't really educate people much). It's just another avatar for things that already exist in-game... From my perspective, at least.

Keeper carts could get keepers from point A to point B quicker which is helpful in bigger zoos. But, realistically, you wouldn't need unique paths. In real zoos those things just honk and make people move. So there's no real challenge there either...

There's a lot that could be done for management. But personally, I'd prefer things that might add a new challenge and/or encouraging creativity and unique implementation for those that want it. Composting, selecting certain animals as ambassadors (with animal demonstrations getting unlocked when critters are trained up), having certain animals have specific enrichment likes/dislikes, new interactive guest features (playgrounds, touchpools, puppet shows), animatronic exhibitions (e.g., dinosaurs, cryptids), new shop types (e.g., "food carts" that are 1/2 the size of the stands with options like pretzels, cotton candy, and popcorn). Things that encourage creativity while also giving the player new options to earn a profit, encourage efficiency, promote lore, etc.

It's all a matter of taste but I'd prefer to focus on things beyond "here's an educator dressed like a giraffe that waves at people" because all that requires is plopping a new staff member down.

 

[Mr-Hyrax 2]

I think it's obvious that our next pack will 100% be a bird pack which will include flying birds, I am not lying trust me, I know what I am talking about, I know math, you know 1+1=11 and stuff like that so trust me I am a genius and if you do not believe me then you are a coward and a disgrace. I mean, look at the options.

I mean, how could Frontier not add all these wonderful specimens, it would be one of the stupidest decisions in gaming history. So that's why the "Birds of a Feather Fly Together to Migrate to Warmer Areas right before Winter Animal Pack" will be the next pack to come
(not making fun of anyone who wants birds especially the first 3 I depicted, I just did this for dumb fun, honestly I really want a pelican and I believe it's likely)

 

[Captain Callum]

anyone know how to edit the banner at the bottom of comments I cant seem to figure it out

If you click on your profile , there is a signature tab which allows you to add text and stuff to display.

 

[KönigDerKaffeebohnen]

Staff carts and mascots dont add any management though, they just add stuff, which is a big difference.
Mascots add....next to nothing? Like what are they gonna do? Walk around and improve guest happyness? Maybe assist educators and give them an extra boost? okay cool so now what? I add a few to my zoo and they do their think and make my zoo marginally better while i can just forget them? That fire and forget approach doesnt fix any management issues it just adds fluff and dont get me wrong fluff can be great but this game needs deeper management not wider.
Carts are better but not really. They do provide something valueable in speeding up keepers but to do what? So that your workzones can be messier and less well organised? If all they do is make keepers faster, that just takes away from the little management depth the game currently has as we get even less punishment for planning and organising things badly.

New management features should all check these boxes imo:

• 1. Have the player activly consider them while planning/maintaining their zoo
• 2. Offer decisions to be made
• 3. Interact with the current game loop or in the best case add to it without unnessecary tedium
• 4. Ideally doesnt bother those that just want to play like they allready did

Lets take the educator for an example:

• 1. Building animal education points is an active design prompt the game is giving us to make cool new areas next to our habitats
• 2. You can decide which animals you want to designate an education point to and what routes for tours to feature in your zoo
• 3. Actually planning and setting up guided tours and to a lesser part the animal talks offers a distraction from building to take a break when your brain is out of creative juices but still something meaningfull to do
• 4. If you dont do this, you only loose out on higher education in your guests

And the educator is still a very light example so lets go for my favorite, staff and staff room specilisation.
Just imagine being able to upgrade a keeper hut and being able to choose a food type it can prep faster or for a staff room that every staff that uses it gets a small speedboost for some time after visiting or that it gets space for 1 extra person to use it at the same time. For staff, we allready got being able to train them with a level from 1-5, so why not give them perks to unlock at lvl 3 and 5 that we as the players can choose, for example faster walking speed, extra wellfare when taking care of a certain group of animals (primates, birds, crocodiles, cats, snakes, etc) or a happyness boost for guests when a vendor works at a specific type of store.

• 1. Work zones for specific animal groups or shop types that the staff and buildings are specialised in => actual management reason for grouping similar animals for something like a cat house
• 2. You can activly choose perks when upgrading your staff and buildings => more customisability and individuality
• 3. increases the pay off of setting up efficent work zones and gives some small yet fun decisions inbetween regarding the perks you choose
• 4. It only serves to make things better for those that engage with it and everyone who doesnt has literally no changes

It also would fit a zookeeper pack perfect as its literally about more individuality in your staff, so thats also a win

 

[AndyZoos]

New management features should all check these boxes imo:

• 1. Have the player activly consider them while planning/maintaining their zoo
• 2. Offer decisions to be made
• 3. Interact with the current game loop or in the best case add to it without unnessecary tedium
• 4. Ideally doesnt bother those that just want to play like they allready did

Lets take the educator for an example:

• 1. Building animal education points is an active design prompt the game is giving us to make cool new areas next to our habitats
• 2. You can decide which animals you want to designate an education point to and what routes for tours to feature in your zoo
• 3. Actually planning and setting up guided tours and to a lesser part the animal talks offers a distraction from building to take a break when your brain is out of creative juices but still something meaningfull to do
• 4. If you dont do this, you only loose out on higher education in your guests

And the educator is still a very light example so lets go for my favorite, staff and staff room specilisation.
Just imagine being able to upgrade a keeper hut and being able to choose a food type it can prep faster or for a staff room that every staff that uses it gets a small speedboost for some time after visiting or that it gets space for 1 extra person to use it at the same time. For staff, we allready got being able to train them with a level from 1-5, so why not give them perks to unlock at lvl 3 and 5 that we as the players can choose, for example faster walking speed, extra wellfare when taking care of a certain group of animals (primates, birds, crocodiles, cats, snakes, etc) or a happyness boost for guests when a vendor works at a specific type of store.

• 1. Work zones for specific animal groups or shop types that the staff and buildings are specialised in => actual management reason for grouping similar animals for something like a cat house
• 2. You can activly choose perks when upgrading your staff and buildings => more customisability and individuality
• 3. increases the pay off of setting up efficent work zones and gives some small yet fun decisions inbetween regarding the perks you choose
• 4. It only serves to make things better for those that engage with it and everyone who doesnt has literally no changes

It also would fit a zookeeper pack perfect as its literally about more individuality in your staff, so thats also a win

This is the point I was trying to make, but much better put with solid/concrete examples. Haha. The keeper hut example is actually a great one because that could influence where you actually build habitats in your zoo (or how you make decisions as far as what to do with a habitat if you decide you don't want to have certain species in that area anymore).

One other thing that would be interesting is getting bonuses for upgrading older habitats, bringing in brand new species, and hyping about those specific things in the press, etc. I think it would add a lot to the game to be able to pick what things are hyped up about your zoo via PR, press, social media, etc. And this would tie so nicely into animal encounters and ambassadors too. Okay, now I'm daydreaming about a new facility that's a "modular education station" similar to what we have for gift shops but a bit more intense...

 

[RightWhale]

1. Have the player activly consider them while planning/maintaining their zoo
2. Offer decisions to be made
3. Interact with the current game loop or in the best case add to it without unnessecary tedium
4. Ideally doesnt bother those that just want to play like they allready did

I have said something like this before, but I want to say it again.

Provide a new kind of guest facility: the classroom. I’ll use your 4 points to go around it.

1. Not mandatory to add to zoos, but like other facilities it’s a special box. You can build around it, adding to whatever style you want your zoo to have!
2. Increases your zoos education level, while also being a decent stream of income! It can cost something like $300 per month, per child. Hiring an educator while also maintaining the kids happiness (they may require more education points, easier to see animals (telescopes may help here), and more interaction) will be the most important part.
3. It’s 100% up to you, it adds to the building and management game loop. Once you finish building it and deciding the prices, and hiring the staff, it will be up and running! Currently like most of the games gameplay loop, offering low management with more focus on creative building. Basically once it gets set up it should be able to run on its own.
4. It’s a 100% optional stream of income. You don’t lose much by not having it.

 

[AndyZoos]

It's also important to remember the key aspect of the way Frontier Describes these games. They aren't business simulations but "creative management sims."

There's a reason the word "creative" comes first, I feel. For better or for worse, I don't think the game is really meant to offer a ton of deep-dive management considerations beyond the habitat design/animal considerations.

 

[RightWhale]

It's also important to remember the key aspect of the way Frontier Describes these games. They aren't business simulations but "creative management sims."

There's a reason the word "creative" comes first, I feel. For better or for worse, I don't think the game is really meant to offer a ton of deep-dive management considerations beyond the habitat design/animal considerations.

I still think some optional management options wouldn’t be bad, I’m fine with the management being bare bones, but I still think we need more.

 

[BiologicalHorror]

From a management/zookeeper side of things I wish we could click on some things like animal enrichment items, trash on the ground, overflowing bins, etc. and watch our character avatars clean them up/refill these items. Like as the zoos owner I want to take a more active role in its management. Maybe while at work or avatars wear a new type of uniform.

 

[RightWhale]

From a management/zookeeper side of things I wish we could click on some things like animal enrichment items, trash on the ground, overflowing bins, etc. and watch our character avatars clean them up/refill these items. Like as the zoos owner I want to take a more active role in its management. Maybe while at work or avatars wear a new type of uniform.

Yeah I like how ZT2 and Zoo Tycoon for the Xbox did it. I can run around my zoos and to save money do as much of the work as possible. Or I can spend and hire a keeper. It was a completely optional management system, which I don’t think would be too hard to do in PZ. They honestly don’t even have to add a character model, just have things “poof” to being fixed/ filled/ cleaned.

 

[AndyZoos]

I mean, functionally, being able to do that would be a huge help regardless... I don't even need my avatar to do it. Haha.

There's nothing more frustrating than being told Animal X is starving and on the verge of death and your keeper is too busy with other stuff to deal with it. Just let me click the feed tray and fill it up myself, thank you very much! LOL

 

[RightWhale]

I mean, functionally, being able to do that would be a huge help regardless... I don't even need my avatar to do it. Haha.

There's nothing more frustrating than being told Animal X is starving and on the verge of death and your keeper is too busy with other stuff to deal with it. Just let me click the feed tray and fill it up myself, thank you very much! LOL

I think I nearly broke my mouse clicking the “call keeper button” when for some reason all my animals were starving to death. I really think having a “fine, I’ll do it myself button” would really fix some of the issues I have had with the jank of the AI sometimes.

Obviously part of it could be I need more staff, I think another part of it is how time works in game. Within the span of an hour a couple months have passed, but during that time maybe my keeper attended to the animals only a handful of times. It seems the animal management/ care is on a completely different time than how time works in game.

 

[KönigDerKaffeebohnen]

I mean, functionally, being able to do that would be a huge help regardless... I don't even need my avatar to do it. Haha.

There's nothing more frustrating than being told Animal X is starving and on the verge of death and your keeper is too busy with other stuff to deal with it. Just let me click the feed tray and fill it up myself, thank you very much! LOL

At the same time that would undercut the management side of the game even more

 

[AndyZoos]

Obviously part of it could be I need more staff, I think another part of it is how time works in game. Within the span of an hour a couple months have passed, but during that time maybe my keeper attended to the animals only a handful of times. It seems the animal management/ care is on a completely different time than how time works in game.

It's 100% the way time works. It's super wonky. Which... I get. People would be complaining if they had to wait 2 hours of gameplay time for babies to be born or whatever. But ultimately, I think it would just be better if the staff were more responsive when clicked/dragged to a new location too.

It's not as bad as we're all making it sound most of the time but... There's room for improvement. Haha.

At the same time that would undercut the management side of the game even more

TBH, I feel like the implementation of that system isn't very effective in the first place so... I'm fine with this. You can manage as well as you want but there's going to be scenarios where a super well-trained zookeeper with nothing else to do just doesn't get there in time.

 

[Britches]

I think it's obvious that our next pack will 100% be a bird pack which will include flying birds, I am not lying trust me, I know what I am talking about, I know math, you know 1+1=11 and stuff like that so trust me I am a genius and if you do not believe me then you are a coward and a disgrace. I mean, look at the options.
View attachment 395445

View attachment 395446

View attachment 395447

View attachment 395448

View attachment 395449

View attachment 395450

View attachment 395451

View attachment 395452

I mean, how could Frontier not add all these wonderful specimens, it would be one of the stupidest decisions in gaming history. So that's why the "Birds of a Feather Fly Together to Migrate to Warmer Areas right before Winter Animal Pack" will be the next pack to come
(not making fun of anyone who wants birds especially the first 3 I depicted, I just did this for dumb fun, honestly I really want a pelican and I believe it's likely)

Don't forget him:

 

[Baryonix82]

My Island Animal Pack Idea.

• Matchie's Tree Kangaroo (EN)
• Diademed Sifaka (CR)
• Banteng (EN)
• Southern Elephant Seal (LC)
• Marine Iguana (VU) [the subspecies who lives on Española Island. Because it is the most colorful subspecies]

• Atlantic Puffin (VU)
• Blue-spotted Tree Monitor (EN)
• Macaws or Pigeons (WE)

 

[Milurian]

This is the point I was trying to make, but much better put with solid/concrete examples. Haha. The keeper hut example is actually a great one because that could influence where you actually build habitats in your zoo (or how you make decisions as far as what to do with a habitat if you decide you don't want to have certain species in that area anymore).

One other thing that would be interesting is getting bonuses for upgrading older habitats, bringing in brand new species, and hyping about those specific things in the press, etc. I think it would add a lot to the game to be able to pick what things are hyped up about your zoo via PR, press, social media, etc. And this would tie so nicely into animal encounters and ambassadors too. Okay, now I'm daydreaming about a new facility that's a "modular education station" similar to what we have for gift shops but a bit more intense...

I agree a huge part of zoo is there marketing give us more of that let us make better custom sign a social media page or just something more than just marketing stars

At the same time that would undercut the management side of the game even more

I honestly feel it wouldn't because the "management" is already so surface level and pathetic. I am definitely not the only who sits there spamming the call keeper button because for some reason they just cant do what you want instead of calling a keeper who is going to get stuck, never arrive or cancel their action which you need to babysit as they get to where you need them to be, you simply do it your self management would still be present since you now need to balance your time as well. It would also allow for more complex exhibits such as islands or exhibits with food up high since you wouldnt be restricted by where a keeper can reach the only downside your responsible for it.
We also already have examples of this with the emergency capture and replacement feature both tasks which can be done by staff but you can also do manually for a fee.