tbh none of the animals in zookeeper or Eurasia are oddballs. Maybe the Saiga, but it still was decently requested. Zookeeper’s least requested animals are at least known.
DLC 19 Speculation
- Thread starter USzoofan42
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Really from the breakdown of that list, the only two real oddballs were the Dama Gazelle (with one paltry vote,l can't get much less requested than that!) and the Asian Water Monitor. All of the other animals were ranked medium to very high - from what I could tell almost all of them in the top 100 spots from the time of that packs' release, and most of those within the top 25 and higher.
Even the nile lechwe?
I remember saiga and quokka were fairly up. And doesn't surprise me since they are popular even outside this forum and among broader audiences.
Lechwe had 1 vote if I remember correctly
Of all the "nobody was asking for it" picks across DLCs, it's fair to say that the lechwe has arguably aged the best, right?
I remember when Wetlands dropped there was a lot of "eh, two ungulates nobody asked for whatever" but now, I think they're actually pretty well-liked as a species in-game.
Im curious to see if they will break away from their old formula, if one can even call it that.
The approach of 1 or 2 really requested animals and than a bunch of lesser ones probably worked really well to "water down" the animals and always keep more highly requested ones for later dlcs.
But when there are no more later dlcs that doesnt really matter. That paired with coaster not getting off to an ideal start makes me wonder if they will just cram as many highly requested animals in the next pack(s) to get as much revenue as possible.
They already seemed to deviate form that with barnyard (which was a special case to be fair) and zookeeper which the animals were on average more requested than in previous packs
The approach of 1 or 2 really requested animals and than a bunch of lesser ones probably worked really well to "water down" the animals and always keep more highly requested ones for later dlcs.
But when there are no more later dlcs that doesnt really matter. That paired with coaster not getting off to an ideal start makes me wonder if they will just cram as many highly requested animals in the next pack(s) to get as much revenue as possible.
They already seemed to deviate form that with barnyard (which was a special case to be fair) and zookeeper which the animals were on average more requested than in previous packs
I've been saying this for a while. I really hope a "final" DLC keeps a heavy focus on the higher-requested animals. Maybe even all top 10. I'm not sure how likely or reasonable that feels but... It's never felt impossible to me.
There's also a part of me that wonders if the last pack was always meant to be larger but they split it in half to spread-out revenue a bit more, balance resourcing for the team a bit better, etc. And, yeah, Zookeeper brought some highly-requested animals into the game... If the next pack were to brought in 5 of the top 10 species and two others from the 11-20 slots? They could still "go out with a bang" while keeping things manageable.
I'm feeling this way/thinking this because Zookeeper still felt like a very odd pack to me. Yeah, it had requested animals but... Just something about the mix of them and how they just blatantly ignored species from the top five felt very odd to me and still does. And the "scenery" pieces still just... I dunno. It feels weird to the theme, almost like it wasn't meant to be part of it and they pivoted. I can't help but feel like some of the "celebration" pieces were intended as a free update/anniversary gift, but they plugged it into the DLC and are saving something else for what's next.
Of course, this all hinges on the assumption that the next pack will be the last. But either way: I feel like they pivoted in some way with Zookeeper. It's still a banger pack in my eyes. But I can't help but wonder if it was meant to have a different format and breakdown...
For me its the spectacled caiman and water monitor.
the first is imo the perfect crocodilian, nice size so it fits in most settings, terrariums and tropical houses and big and small zoos.
The second is just a nice replacement allmost to for the much worse looking nile monitor as a more lowkey monitor species
I still don't like it's inlcusion. Should've been a another bird or a water deer. Or the waterbuck.
Idk i think the celebration stuff fits pretty well in there. The whole pack is obviously themed around the 5 years aniversary, so having party tents and other festive decoration makes sense to me.
And to be honest while i dont really vibe with the theme as a whole alot of the scenery pieces were still top notch imo. Steel wire cable was something i felt was really missing for the construction piece pallet, small metall pieces are always handy, super thin rope is super usefull for all sorts of stuff and even the big tent pieces work well for tarps and even shade structures.
I'll easily agree, I ended up liking the lechwe way more than I anticipated. Now I'd say it's my favorite antelope in the game aside from the gemsbok
The spectacled caiman is probably my #2 in that space. A surprisingly versatile critter as far as habitat types you can plug it into.
Mileage is gonna vary by person with any of this stuff, so I hear that. Haha. I just think, in general, the community has come around to it.
I'd definitely trade out the buffalo we got in that pack for any of the above species, though!
To be sure, I'm not saying any of the pieces are bad. I love the scenery in that pack -- but it doesn't fit the theme of the pack itself. I'm glad we got it however we did, so I'm not saying any of this is necessarily bad...
I just feel like part of it was originally meant to be part of the free update (maybe the tents, the signs, and some of the other decor). But they realized they'd want to do another pack. So they split it up into two, shifted some more general zoo/zookeeper-themed scenery out to a later pack, and moved the free update stuff into the DLC and added more content.
This is obviously just pure speculation. But it seems like the kind of thing that might happen. And as much as I love these pieces? It's just weird to give us "party" pieces with a pack named "Zookeeper" rather than, say, some of the more general zoo items people have been requesting.
- South American Coati
- Musk Ox
- Grey-crowned Crane
- Patagonian Mara
- Black Howler Monkey
- Bush Dog
- Golden Pheasant
- Rock Hyrax
- Tree Kangaroo
- Blackbuck
- Mantled Guereza
- Mandarin Duck
- ABB
- Scarlet Ibis
Still misses the Echidna and a lagomorph and a NA deer...
If we get the musk ox instead of the blackbuck and no tree kangaroo... I will scream. LOL. Especially since it would probably have the same fur issues people griped about with the highland cattle.
I would probably hope for something more like this:
- Secretary Bird
- Goodfellow's Tree kangaroo
- South American Coati
- Black Howler Monkey
- Bush Dog
- Blackbuck
- Walrus
Maybe in a Forest, Tree-dweller and Final DLC these two animals would be fit.
I dont mean they dont fit in a theme together, i mean from a developement point of view. They both need a completely new set of animations and everything. And especially with the smaller team i dont see that happening. The only way i think would be to go for another capuchin or maybe squirrel monkey instead of spider or howler
I disagree with tree-kangaroos being demanding. You're pretty much half way there with koalas and you're at the other half with wallabies. And something like howler monkeys are fairly easy to derive from capuchins. The most resource-intensive pack IMO is the North America Animal Pack, and no pack since then has reached a similar complexity in animal behaviour.
I agree I feel like people over estimate how much work goes into a “new rig” they’re all derived
I don't think that it influences the fact of us getting more news, but do know that quite a lot of tech/gaming companies have flexible working hours which means that people often get to choose when they start and stop. There's plenty of developers that are night owls and start very late, and there are early birds that start very early (I start at 7:30 am for instance haha), so I think there's a chance they now have a few more night owls on the team
