Exhibit animals/terrariums are limited and how to (potentially) fix them

[Mealie]

OK, this is a long one, but I feel I have to say it.
Planet Zoo seems like it’s panning out to be an amazing game, but one thing has really disappointed me since its reveal, the terrariums/exhibits (I’ll refer to them as terrariums, because an ‘exhibit’ can be any animal display in a zoo, not just terrariums) Here’s the problems I have with the terrariums, with a proposed solution after to make the terrariums more creatively freeing:
1) No Customisation
There are only a few designs of terrarium, which I’m sure will become stale very quickly. If you’re building a reptile house then I highly doubt you’d want to see the same exhibit design over and over again. In real zoos, the terrarium designs often differ from each other, with some being bigger or smaller, with different themes between them. Even if Frontier adds more terrarium designs I don’t think it will take long before people get tired of those designs as well. I do understand there is some customisability in that you can change the lamp or rock, but overall the exhibit remains unchanged and won’t be too different from the other terrariums. The terrariums seem to really just be a page taken from Zoo Tycoon 2013, with exhibits looking the same, little customisation and little creative freedom. This really contrasts to the rest of the game which is immensely creativity and customisation based.
2) Way Big
Other problems I have with the terrariums are that some of them are unreasonably big for their animals. That immense space of the terrarium is more than what any zoo would give small animals like spiders or poison dart frogs.
3) Static
The animals in the terrarium don’t actively move around. They just sit around and only move to another spot when you aren’t looking. I would have thought that Frontier would’ve had them animated in a loop to move around (like in ZT 2013) since they are in a fixed environment. Personally this doesn’t bother me so much and you’ll see me mention in my solution to make terrariums more customisable.

I’m not only going to moan about the problems, but I think I have a potential solution to make terrariums match the customisation and creative freedom of the rest of the game:
I think instead of giving us the full terrarium, just give us the platform the animals sit on (the rocks, branches, ground piece or even glass panels). With the platforms we can place them where we want and then build around them to make our own exhibit/terrarium. We should be able to link multiple platforms together which together will be seen as one habitat. The animals can then ‘teleport’ between the platforms in their exhibit when the player is not looking, like they already do in their current terrarium setup. By only having the platform, players can then go in and build around the platform to make their own custom terrariums with unique shapes and designs. This solution makes it so that terrariums match the creative freedom of the rest of the game and means that developers won’t have to develop a movement system with the small animals but just have the ‘teleportation’ mechanism that’s already in place.
I’m not knowledgeable with game design, but I feel like it’s an idea that could and should be implemented.
Sorry for the long read, I just feel this could be a proper feature in the game.

I've included I diagram to better show this

 

[NeedPlanetZoo]

I kinda agree, the terrariums and inhabitants are not as exciting as the 'normal' enclosures. I doubt however that this will get much love before the release. I am hoping for a DLC, maybe including an update for the base game, featuring Birds and a rework of the terrariums with more (almost fully) customisation. Because mechanic wise both seem very similiar to me. Or maybe a bigger DLC featuring a lot of terrarium animals, including a gameplay update even for the base game. I am feeling rather optimistic that someday this will be improved but it might take a while.

Oh and amazing frog!

 

[Chris Simon]

While this is indeed cool, I look at it from realistic angle.
I mean, the terariums are just a piece of furniture. Something to put inside the buildings so it looks cool but how often and for how long will you be actually watching it. Personally I think I'll watch it for about a minute after I've installed it and then never again as I'm tending to the rest of the zoo.

So, provided that most people (and it doesn't have to be an overwhelming majority - just a majority) are like me, this really isn't something worth the dev time, right now.

Maybe something to put on the long "to consider later" list?

 

[[VR] Deggial]

What I really like about your idea: it seems to be quite sensible and takes an already existing game mechanic into account. So it is not asking for a pipe dream.
Unfortunately, the game is way too close to its launch to change the design like proposed. Maybe Simon’s “consider it later” list is your (our) best bet.
On the other hand - and I am with Simon here, too - I don’t think, I am so concerned about the whole topic. I’ll rather use the precious RAM to decorate the larger and more visible habitats with lots of foliage than waste it to those small exhibits.

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

I’m not concerned about them. I’ve already thought of a bunch of creative ways to use what they have shown. I also understand that the critters are “mapped” to the space, so it would be harder to vary the space according to a players infinite combinations. I also consider they want to keep it a simple thing. For us to customize the glass walls, we’ll ask for a myriad of shapes and sizes...and what would be given would always fall short for somebody.

As for the “teleporting” when you’re not looking...Meh...it’s pretty much like that in real life. I have a bunch of frogs in a small ornamental pond. You can stare at them for an hour and they never move. Turn away for a second, and they’ve moved. Same with the praying mantis’s inhabiting my garden. They don’t move much.

I think what they have done is reasonable, and I’ve already planned on how to use what I’m given.

 

[Pteronura]

The only thing I'm hoping for is different sizes of terraria. The current one is pretty good for goliath frogs and boa constrictors, but I would love a bigger (double) size for the anaconda/iguana, a smaller for the poison frogs and invertebrates.

A terrarium house with all the same sized terraria would be kind of repetitive.

Don't really have a problem with the static animals. It makes sense to me.

 

[Mealie]

The only thing I'm hoping for is different sizes of terraria. The current one is pretty good for goliath frogs and boa constrictors, but I would love a bigger (double) size for the anaconda/iguana, a smaller for the poison frogs and invertebrates.

A terrarium house with all the same sized terraria would be kind of repetitive.

Don't really have a problem with the static animals. It makes sense to me.

I said I don't have a big problem with static animals. I in fact say that it could be utilised in my solution, which will allow us to determine terrarium size

 

[Pteronura]

And I didn't say you did.

 

[eulemur]

Different sizes would be enough for me personally, anything else would be a bonus. I'm just glad they're customisable enough that they won't all look totally identical next to each other in, for example, a reptile house. Though I would like to see some different biomes for some animals that don't live in the jungle - there's plenty of desert, wetland, grassland etc. herps that would be cool to have.

 

[Nicholas LionRider]

I do agree there should be some size differences (the bug and spider ones for instance are kinda massive) but I think the biggest thing they need is just variety in the terrariums themselves. Jungle terrariums are quite common, but they need to add in at least 1-2 more variants (I'd recommend a desert and river). The size issue if it were to remain isn't "too big" of an issue in my opinion, since I could artificially make a terrarium smaller by placing piece by piece walls up. The terrarium itself would be the same size but the visible viewing area would be smaller. The terrariums to me are like the mini exhibits in Zoo Tycoon Xbox, they had a few different themes (Arid Desert, Tropical Lawn, etc) and many animals would use the same bases. Planet Zoo just needs to reveal more themed "bases" for them.