Echidna are small, but in terms of scaling it's easier to add a small land animal than a small semi-aquatic one. How small are the baby crocodilia in game? I haven't bred gharial or salties yet so I haven't seen them myself. That might be a good indicator of whether it's plausible to add a platypus (but then, baby platypi would be smaller still).
Australian DLC Pack
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Echidna are small, but in terms of scaling it's easier to add a small land animal than a small semi-aquatic one. How small are the baby crocodilia in game? I haven't bred gharial or salties yet so I haven't seen them myself. That might be a good indicator of whether it's plausible to add a platypus (but then, baby platypi would be smaller still).
I’m speaking in terms of adult animals
I know you are. I was asking how small the baby crocodiles are because it might be good gauge on whether adding a platypus is feasible.
Platypus would be a great animal for an Australian pack. It is incredibly unique not only for a biologic standpoint, but also in appearance. Of course it would have to be a full habitat animal. Not only does it need a lot more space than a terrarium; we deserve to see it fully animated and swimming around its habitat. Frontier has already said unequivocally that mammals will never be exhibit animals.
I am not sure why everyone is so worried about size. This is high resolution game where we can zoom in almost infinitely. Besides it's size is equivalent to the ring-tailed lemur which is already in the game.
Two monotreme species would be great, but as that is unlikely, I would rather see the platypus in-game than the echnida. I think the platypus is more interesting both visually and behaviorally, making it the better choice.
*Body length is nose to rump length, i.e. tail length not included. This is the most commonly accepted value when comparing species. Many species do not carry their tails straight out behind them (e.g. lemurs) so including it as "length" is both deceiving and meaningless.
I included the Fennec Fox as an additional reference because this tiny species was included in ZT2, a game that had poor resolution and very poor zoom features, but we were still able to see and play with this animal. Also it seems many people hope to see this fox in PZ someday.
I am not sure why everyone is so worried about size. This is high resolution game where we can zoom in almost infinitely. Besides it's size is equivalent to the ring-tailed lemur which is already in the game.
Two monotreme species would be great, but as that is unlikely, I would rather see the platypus in-game than the echnida. I think the platypus is more interesting both visually and behaviorally, making it the better choice.
| Species | Scientific Name | Body Length* | Weight |
| Ring-tailed Lemur | Lemur catta | 39-46 cm | 2.2 kg |
| Red-ruffed Lemur | Varecia rubra | 53 cm | 3.3-3.6 kg |
| Chinese Pangolin | Manis pentadactyla | 40-58 cm | 2-7 kg |
| Nile Monitor | Varanus niloticus | 50 cm | 6-9 kg |
| Fennec fox | Vulpes zerda | 24-41 cm | 0.7-1.6 kg |
| Platypus | Ornithorhynchus anatinus | 38 cm | 0.7-2.4 kg |
| Western Long-beaked Echidna | Zaglossus bruijnii | 45-75 cm | 5-10 kg |
*Body length is nose to rump length, i.e. tail length not included. This is the most commonly accepted value when comparing species. Many species do not carry their tails straight out behind them (e.g. lemurs) so including it as "length" is both deceiving and meaningless.
I included the Fennec Fox as an additional reference because this tiny species was included in ZT2, a game that had poor resolution and very poor zoom features, but we were still able to see and play with this animal. Also it seems many people hope to see this fox in PZ someday.
NZFanatic I think you make an excellent point. Many of the babies in the game are tiny, certainly smaller than the proposed platypus. For example: lemurs, flamingo, ostrich, gharial, crocodile, and tortoises. But as you point out the baby crocodilians are the most relevant to this discussion, because like the platypus they are semi-aquatic. The game seems to have no issues rendering tiny gharial hatchlings, and they certainly seem visible enough.
My list would be:
Kangaroo
Wallaby
Tasmanian devil
Wombat
Cassowary
Australian white ibis
Quoll (has gorgeous spots!)
Koala
Kangaroo
Wallaby
Tasmanian devil
Wombat
Cassowary
Australian white ibis
Quoll (has gorgeous spots!)
Koala
We definitively need Wombats!
Under the assumption that they're currently working on small DLCs, I'd say the following are most likely in a 4-pack:
Edit: I would also hate to see Platypus as an an exhibit animal.
Where does this come from? I've never heard them called that in the UK. Is it an American nickname? No mention on wikipedia - if it's from catta why the k?
- Kangaroo or wallaby (just because it's iconic)
- Koala (again, an iconic animal)
- Dingo (easy wolf remodel - same as the arctic wolf)
- Emu (easy ostrich remodel)
- Tasmanian Devil (less iconic than the kangaroo/koala)
- Wombat (less iconic than the kangaroo/koala)
- Cassowary (more work than the emu)
- Tree-kangaroo (would love to see them but they're just too obscure)
- Platypus (not happening without diving animations - same as the penguin)
- Echidna (problematic model to make because of the spines)
- Anything water based (dugong, sharks, turtles, etc)
Edit: I would also hate to see Platypus as an an exhibit animal.
Where does this come from? I've never heard them called that in the UK. Is it an American nickname? No mention on wikipedia - if it's from catta why the k?
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![[VR] Deggial](https://forums-cdn.zaonce.net/data/avatars/m/47/47252.jpg?1553527110){kind=avatar}
When I searched the results showed kata on some English stuff as as well. Was just curious where the nickname originates, as I'd never heard of it before.
Makes sense if it's from the German name (if I search kata lemur I got English results, had to search lemur kata for the German ones, hence the confusion).
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I'm comparing adults to adults. Baby gharials are irrelevant.
So basically what people think this list will consist of is easier animals for the developers to add because most of them would be reskins.. or the animals added for this specific DLC will all be iconic? I am hoping the developers up their game and start surprising people.. because if they don't, chances are people are just going to keep getting upset.. Honestly tired of the easy way out over the quality of newer animals that might make the game more interesting.. It should not be about fast and easy..
Sort of. I think their game still feels very early accessey - I'm hoping there will be a decent amount of focus on fleshing out the base game (vs adding paid DLC). Things like adding more coat variations, making the community events suck less, redesigning the animal market, improving exhibits, fixing the bugs everywhere, etc.
I also hope at least some of their DLC team is working on swimming, diving and flying, so we can get marine & aves expansions at some point.
Iconic doesn't mean less effort - the koala and the kangaroo are both animals that would probably have to be made from scratch, and take quite some time (as one is highly arboreal and the other needs good jumping animations). I think a couple of brand new models, paired with a couple of remodels seems a reasonable expectation for DLC at the moment. I'm not sure why anyone would expect them to throw in oddball animals before fan favourites (lets face it, at least a couple of Australian animals should have been in at launch).
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No, it's entirely relevant, because baby crocodiles or gharials in-game are the only semi-aquatic thing of a comparable size to a platypus. What's hard to understand about that? VetGirl330 gets it. Since the discussion was around the animal's size, it's helpful to look at an animal already in-game that might be of a similar size.
These things are not mutually exclusive. Game developers don't focus their entire team on a single thing at once - DLC will be developed at the same time as updates to the base game, as demonstrated by the Arctic Pack (they didn't churn that out in the short time between 1.0.5 and 1.1, after all).
I wouldn't get your hopes up over true flying. Unlike swimming/diving, true flying is extremely difficult to animate outside of a specific path. A looped animation is entirely possible, like the pterosaurs in JWE (and, IMO, more plausible for PZ), especially if they're working with a pre-designed aviary like an exhibit. Diving and swimming are still difficult, mostly due to the insanely big hit-boxes most of the animals have, but there are less variables to deal with in an underwater environment than there are in an open-air one (largely due to the lack of foliage and other obstacles).
This was undoubtedly deliberate.
I'm reminded of the trainwreck that was Zoo Tycoon 2013. That was a Frontier game as well. The first version had exactly zero Australian or South American animals, so they released the Ultimate Animal Collection which added four new "habitat animals" (at least that game's version of them) and a bunch of "mini-exhibit" animals. We got the kangaroo, jaguar, puma, and llama (all of which included a bunch of reskins marketed as different animals). I wouldn't be surprised if they were planning a similar addition to PZ, hence the conspicuous lack of Australian and South American species, especially Australian.
But then you need to factor in baby platypuses. This is why I’m only focusing on adult sizes
And speaking of sizes, VetGirl’s comments disregard total length, even if the tail is longer than the body. I’m talking in terms of total length, meaning lemurs are 95-100cm long and not 30-40cm long.
Okay, let me try and make this super clear for you:
An adult platypus and a baby gharial are of comparable size. That is why we are discussing baby gharials/crocodiles. The baby platypus would obviously have to be smaller than the adult, but that goes without saying and isn't actually worth discussing.
VetGirl spelled out in her post why she didn't include tail-length. To summarise; actual biologists don't include tail length when comparing animal sizes because not all animals hold their tails in the same way (especially lemurs).
@NZFanatic: Why would a eastern grey be a walkthough-habitat species but not the red kangaroo? Both are perfectly fine for that purpose.
I agree platypuses are too small for a habitat. Echidna would be possible I think.
My top 5 would be kangaroo (either species) wombat, Tasmanian devil, cassowary and Australian pelican.
I think koala's are too arboreal; they would be too unrealistic when on the ground.
I don't care about dingoes, I consider them feral dogs, not actual a separate species.
I agree platypuses are too small for a habitat. Echidna would be possible I think.
My top 5 would be kangaroo (either species) wombat, Tasmanian devil, cassowary and Australian pelican.
I think koala's are too arboreal; they would be too unrealistic when on the ground.
I don't care about dingoes, I consider them feral dogs, not actual a separate species.
Male red kangaroos are far more territorial and far more dangerous than greys. Reds are like the buffalo of the marsupial world, greys are more like deer. I don't think I've ever seen a zoo walkthrough with red kangaroos, but I know of several that use greys.
I think that the weight (2.2kg) for ring tailed lemurs represents the average weight, while the one for platypuses is the maximum for males (females being considerably smaller). So platypus are a fair bit smaller than ring tails. More to the point though, platypus are VERY hard to spot in open bodies of water (I know exactly where a pair have lived for at least 5 years and only see them about 1/10th or less of the times I go there... the weather has to be perfect). That’s why the zoos that do have them (at least the ones I’ve been to) display them in exhibit-style (probably 2-3 times the size of the current exhibits in the game). Visitors to a zoo that kept platypus in an outdoor habitat would be pretty lucky to see them.