I've thought about this a bit. I think it might work well in a sense to have people pick their top 100 animals in Planet zoo and their top 50-100 not in the game, but I worry that many participants won't know what is and isn't in Planet Zoo currently.
Preparing for PZ2 metawishlist
- Thread starter Stygi
- Start date
I think it'd be best to just link to a list of animals in PZ in that case
That might be one way of going about it, bit I still don't like the idea of forcing people to include animals they don't want, someone might want the entire roster to return whereas others might want hardly any to return
Imo if users are allowed to update their list once a year or after releases then a history of each previous list should be kept.
If the intent was to have the list only for base game animals then 100-150 animals is a good number but if the intention was for the overall life of the game then I am fine with a higher number.
I just think more animals means more work for those keeping the list.
I am also fine to ignore subspecies and just say “generic giraffe, generic zebra, etc.” but users are going to end up listing subspecies anyway so some sort of plan needs to be in place.
If the intent was to have the list only for base game animals then 100-150 animals is a good number but if the intention was for the overall life of the game then I am fine with a higher number.
I just think more animals means more work for those keeping the list.
I am also fine to ignore subspecies and just say “generic giraffe, generic zebra, etc.” but users are going to end up listing subspecies anyway so some sort of plan needs to be in place.
Ok, so looking through what everyone said we have the following:
- No subspecies
- Do not separate animals by continent/ biome/ group etc.
- Do not separate animals by presumed gameplay (habitat vs. exhibit/wte exhibit as an example)
- It can include flying birds and aquatics, as that would be a presumed selling point for the sequel.
- The list is for a base game PZ sequel, do not add future dlc wishlists. That’s for a different metawishlist.
- 100-200 animals is fine, but preferred 150 animals (double the current base game roster)
- Your list is up to you, it can be nearly all PZ1 animals returning, or you can do a mix of old and new. Or you don’t like any of the current animals and are doing 100% new.
8. Save old versions of the list so they can be referred to in future
As per my suggestions and what I seem to be picking up, it’s best to treat this like a base game roster wish. DLCs and those wishlists are a separate thing for later!
I think light moderation would be needed, or even just flat out telling people: no subspecies, your submission will be noted as a “zebra”. It might ruffle feathers but if people don’t follow the rules they can perform their own Herculean task and make their own list with rules.
I think saving an old version of the list can be useful for a DLC starting point. Like say one of the top requested animals is a hyacinth macaw, but the scarlet made it into PZ2. Then we can start the DLC metawishlist and we would know “ok, the hyacinth was unaided and ranked very high”
Funny thing about your examples is that giraffes and zebras are split at the species level, unlike similarly famous carnivorans. Reticulated and Masai giraffes are as genetically distinct as lions and tigers for example.
Oh yea the subspecies thing is going to be confusing for giraffes and other animals where there is a debate on what counts as a species/subspecies. I think we might need to stick to one specific taxonomy. For mammals I would recommend sticking to what the ASM database considers a species as that is the most reliable source. For birds, it'd make sense to use eBird.
AFAIK the only one that's currently debated is whether or not reticulated giraffes are a subspecies of Northern giraffe. The rest is pretty clear and shut though.
Agree with all but I don’t see why 5 needs to be specified. I’d assume people just indicate which species they want. Already deciding now what’s base game and what’s not makes no sense. I’d just treat it as a list of the most favoured animals that should make it into the game.
I think it’s mostly as a way to keep people organized. Like I can imagine some people adding more animals with: I want these for DLCs later. When the whole point is this is just for a base game.
Like a good example: I think base game PZ2 needs a duck, I would personally pick the white faced whistling duck. If I however start adding more animals with the purpose of: “ I want to see the fulvulous whistling duck, but not right now” the list would start to get bogged down and heavy.
Also I think some people have already mentioned “future DLCs” so I really want to emphasize this is base game expectations.
I have a feeling it will overcomplicate things. I'd just pick the 150 animals I consider most essential. I don't see why anyone would decide now which of their preferences should be in the main game and which in a DLC. Wouldn't you always prefer to have them in the main game?
You would think, but if we get 100s of submissions from 100s of people things get complicated. I was mostly thinking it would be good to cover our bases.
Otherwise I would agree, you would think people would just include what they want in base game.
People are already restricted by the number of submissions. They'll indicate the 100/150 animals they most want. I don't see why it matters whether that would be as a base game or DLC species. To me it seems like everyone would want their species in the base game. The only reason to want something as a DLC species is if it doesn't come in the base game.
There's also no point in telling people to not include DLC species, because we can't enforce it anyway. So to me it would be another arbitrary criterium similar to having x flying birds, x fully aquatic species and such. It's a rule that doesn't really add anything but confusion.
If in the first game the number of animals in the base game was 74, I suppose that in a possible sequel, the number of animals in the base game could be increased to at least 100
55 Habitat Animals
15 Flying Animals
15 Exhibit Animals
15 Full Aquatic Animals
55 Habitat Animals
15 Flying Animals
15 Exhibit Animals
15 Full Aquatic Animals
Well there's an unannounced management sim coming in 2026 from Frontiers. Should it be PZ2, it's best we have the wish list at least two years before release so that some of the species would be included in the base game roster. With that in mind and Planet series always released in early November, my personal opinion is that the wish list better start around the release of PC2 and keep updating it till at least the actual release.
With the emphasis on at least. I'd assume most habitat species will be transferred to PZ2.
What about we aim for January? It's the start of the next year and people will have some time to enjoy the last(?) PZ DLC.
Perhaps this month we could make a private group with the hosts of the list to discuss practicalities.