Disappointed with lack of coat variation in wolves

It was explicitly stated by Frontier in the beta forum that social interactions had been turned off. No assumptions there when the people making the game say they turned something off. I also spent hours watching for social interactions after the release. Not really playing, just watching to get an idea of frequency. At least for me that ended up being approx 1 interaction per hour. And if I hadn't been watching so diligently I would likely not have seen anything at all.
Yes, i know.. I said some features.. That's why i mentioned the social interaction as separate part in the end, so people wouldn't connect those 2 comments.

Well everybody had a different experience with PZ. I just played and noticed it.
 
The variation would also help to "bond" with our animals better and therefore make them feel more unique, no matter if they technically are or not. Let me mourn for a dead tiger for a few second, please. At the moment, animals are way too easy to just be "replaced". Plus, if color variations were genetic (like leucistic in game is, as far as I know), breeding for color would also be a new challenge and give players yet another variation in play style.
Yes! With many varieties, the over-exploited lecustics might actually become rare.
 
Some features were turned off, specifically, they said the animal interactions were turned off. I think it also applied to pattern variation, because in the beta the zebras for example had just 2 stripe patterns, whereas in the final game they have more.


Again, nothing about colour variations. I've noticed you all are constantly saying Frontier advertised colour variation but don't show proof of it.


I dont think it's that of a huge selling point, a detail that is very appreciated by animal lovers, yeah, but as said before most people won't care that much about it. I think you are misunderstanding what Frontier actually advertised, also I think you ignored my comment saying the video you use as proof does in fact not say anything about colour variations.

Don't get me wrong, colour variations would be nice, but this simply isn't the way to suggest them. All you doing is blaming frontier for advertising something that isn't in game, when they didn't advertise it in the first place. Can't we just make this a suggestion? I bet they would consider it, Frontier is known to listen to their community, if the community does it the right way that is.
I don't understand what you are trying to defend. Can we just accept that some things advertised are not present? And pattern variation is still very sparse, with only a few nearly identical skins. With zebra (or any patterned animal) the differences between individuals are very obvious, not these skins that have like one stripe look different. And this is more of a priority than you make it seem; many players feel like quitting the game because of the boring carbon copies.

No offense developers. Sorry we are all being demanding.
 
I just want to put up some sources that show the emphasis on individualism, realism, uniqueness and coat differentiation that was highly advertised by Frontier themselves, whether directly written into their promotional material or quoted in reviews.

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“[Each animal is an] individual with a distinctive look and personality of their own...”
The vast majority of animals are visual clones - the only visually unique animals are leucistic. Behaviour is exactly the same for each animal, influenced only by need bar decay.

“...the most authentic, most realistic animals in any game...”
A complete lack of colour variance is not realistic or authentic. This claim also justifies comparisons to ZT2, Jurassic World Evolution and, in fact, “any other game”. All of which have colour variants, even in extinct species.

“The individuality of animals seems to be a major theme...”
I argue that there is no evidence of this.

“...each individual animal stands out, with genomes affecting major things like behaviour to small details such as coat patterns...”
Again, there is no difference in behaviour between individuals. No difference in coat patterns besides leucistic animals, zebras and possibly male vs female (unrealistic as none of these species exhibit sexual dimorphism of coat colouration). This is not something that affects “every individual”.

“No two animals in Planet Zoo look the same, even within a species. Each individual has subtle differences in their appearance and personality that have been directly inherited from their parents. The way their stripes pattern, what shade of brown their fur is, if they have a playful nature...”
Again, every species besides zebras are identical clones, unless leucistic. Shades of fur colour differ only in male vs female, although again even this is not true for the vast majority of species. No behavioural differences are observed.

“Genomes determine an animal’s appearance (such as different stripe patterns on zebras)...”
Zebras are the only species with individual pattern differences. This should have been clearly stated, as this sort of information deliberately misleads the audience into believing that such details apply to all animals with patterned coats.

“Zoom the camera once more and you’ll see this writ large in distinctive markings...”
Again, this only applies to zebras.

I personally feel that these quotes are enormously and deliberately misleading, with some being blatantly false.

Hopefully coat variation is bugged and will be fixed. Otherwise, I hope that Frontier are currently working on coat variations to patch in (it would be amazing if some were added in this week’s patch). I hope this post explains why a lot of people expected coat variations and feel that they are a must in this game, and should be patched in as soon as possible - they are a valued and highly demanded element of this game.
 
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@marcnesiumHH Oh, interesting grab. This is exactly it, the “personalities” aren’t true personalities at all. They’re static “moods” created by how full their need bars are and they don’t differ by each animal. If needs are maxed and welfare is good, all of your animals will behave exactly the same: wandering around and ignoring each other or sitting still and ignoring each other. All while being physically indentical. So you could adopt that angry bear, pop him in a good enclosure and - boom! - nice bear.
 
I just want to put up some sources that show the emphasis on individualism, realism, uniqueness and coat differentiation that was highly advertised by Frontier themselves, whether directly written into their promotional material or quoted in reviews.

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“[Each animal is an] individual with a distinctive look and personality of their own...”
The vast majority of animals are visual clones - the only visually unique animals are leucistic. Behaviour is exactly the same for each animal, influenced only by need bar decay.

“...the most authentic, most realistic animals in any game...”
A complete lack of colour variance is not realistic or authentic. This claim also justifies comparisons to ZT2, Jurassic World Evolution and, in fact, “any other game”. All of which have colour variants, even in extinct species.

“The individuality of animals seems to be a major theme...”
I argue that there is no evidence of this.

“...each individual animal stands out, with genomes affecting major things like behaviour to small details such as coat patterns...”
Again, there is no difference in behaviour between individuals. No difference in coat patterns besides leucistic animals, zebras and possibly male vs female (unrealistic as none of these species exhibit sexual dimorphism of coat colouration). This is not something that affects “every individual”.

“No two animals in Planet Zoo look the same, even within a species. Each individual has subtle differences in their appearance and personality that have been directly inherited from their parents. The way their stripes pattern, what shade of brown their fur is, if they have a playful nature...”
Again, every species besides zebras are identical clones, unless leucistic. Shades of fur colour differ only in male vs female, although again even this is not true for the vast majority of species. No behavioural differences are observed.

“Genomes determine an animal’s appearance (such as different stripe patterns on zebras)...”
Zebras are the only species with individual pattern differences. This should have been clearly stated, as this sort of information deliberately misleads the audience into believing that such details apply to all animals with patterned coats.

“Zoom the camera once more and you’ll see this writ large in distinctive markings...”
Again, this only applies to zebras.

I personally feel that these quotes are enormously and deliberately misleading, with some being blatantly false.

Hopefully coat variation is bugged and will be fixed. Otherwise, I hope that Frontier are currently working on coat variations to patch in (it would be amazing if some were added in this week’s patch). I hope this post explains why a lot of people expected coat variations and feel that they are a must in this game, and should be patched in as soon as possible - they are a valued and highly demanded element of this game.
After this post, I think it's hard for the argument to stay viable. 😉
@marcnesiumHH Oh, interesting grab. This is exactly it, the “personalities” aren’t true personalities at all. They’re static “moods” created by how full their need bars are and they don’t differ by each animal. If needs are maxed and welfare is good, all of your animals will behave exactly the same: wandering around and ignoring each other or sitting still and ignoring each other. All while being physically indentical. So you could adopt that angry bear, pop him in a good enclosure and - boom! - nice bear.
Also (unrelated to the discussion) an aggression gene would be cool. Higher aggression means alpha fights happen more quickly and animals are harder to catch when escaped. On the other hand, animals with lower aggression have a lower appeal rating.
 
To add: I don’t want to drag Frontier for false advertising or misleading consumers. That isn’t my point. I just wanted to explain where the expectation came from.

All I want is for coat variations to be patched in, and for someone from Frontier to let us know that either:
a. The variations were never in the game but they’re working on adding them.
b. Variations are supposed to be in the game but they’re bugged - currently trying to fix it.
c. No plans to add any more variations at this point.

Right now, I’m only annoyed at the continued lack of response. I’m still “patiently” waiting for the same thing I’ve asked for since beta.
 
I just want to put up some sources that show the emphasis on individualism, realism, uniqueness and coat differentiation that was highly advertised by Frontier themselves, whether directly written into their promotional material or quoted in reviews.

View attachment 158965
View attachment 158966
View attachment 158967
View attachment 158968
View attachment 158969
View attachment 158970

“[Each animal is an] individual with a distinctive look and personality of their own...”
The vast majority of animals are visual clones - the only visually unique animals are leucistic. Behaviour is exactly the same for each animal, influenced only by need bar decay.

“...the most authentic, most realistic animals in any game...”
A complete lack of colour variance is not realistic or authentic. This claim also justifies comparisons to ZT2, Jurassic World Evolution and, in fact, “any other game”. All of which have colour variants, even in extinct species.

“The individuality of animals seems to be a major theme...”
I argue that there is no evidence of this.

“...each individual animal stands out, with genomes affecting major things like behaviour to small details such as coat patterns...”
Again, there is no difference in behaviour between individuals. No difference in coat patterns besides leucistic animals, zebras and possibly male vs female (unrealistic as none of these species exhibit sexual dimorphism of coat colouration). This is not something that affects “every individual”.

“No two animals in Planet Zoo look the same, even within a species. Each individual has subtle differences in their appearance and personality that have been directly inherited from their parents. The way their stripes pattern, what shade of brown their fur is, if they have a playful nature...”
Again, every species besides zebras are identical clones, unless leucistic. Shades of fur colour differ only in male vs female, although again even this is not true for the vast majority of species. No behavioural differences are observed.

“Genomes determine an animal’s appearance (such as different stripe patterns on zebras)...”
Zebras are the only species with individual pattern differences. This should have been clearly stated, as this sort of information deliberately misleads the audience into believing that such details apply to all animals with patterned coats.

“Zoom the camera once more and you’ll see this writ large in distinctive markings...”
Again, this only applies to zebras.

I personally feel that these quotes are enormously and deliberately misleading, with some being blatantly false.

Hopefully coat variation is bugged and will be fixed. Otherwise, I hope that Frontier are currently working on coat variations to patch in (it would be amazing if some were added in this week’s patch). I hope this post explains why a lot of people expected coat variations and feel that they are a must in this game, and should be patched in as soon as possible - they are a valued and highly demanded element of this game.

Thank you for finding the time to do such a post with actual compiled evidence for the people who claimed there is none.
Even though I support you all the way,I need to say that tigers,cheetahs,giraffes and snow leopards have some patterm variatons,too - not only the zebra.But they are still not unlimited possibilites,but rather a fixed number of variants and can occur multiple times.
The colour variations are most likely not bugged,they are simply not ingame.
Otherwise a well made post and thank you again,@Moonfox !
 
Even though I support you all the way,I need to say that tigers,cheetahs,giraffes and snow leopards have some patterm variatons,too - not only the zebra.But they are still not unlimited possibilites,but rather a fixed number of variants and can occur multiple times.
Oh really? That’s awesome! I’ll have to look closely at those species. That’s the sort of thing I want to see more of. Thanks for letting me know!
 
Really, the only screenshot I care about is the first one. That's the only one from Frontier themselves.
Individualism, realism, uniqueness is in the game, really depends on the extend of your expectation:
I agree, distinctive look gives a lot of room for discussion/expectation.
Pattern variations & scars do create a distinctive look, but it doesn't apply to animals without patterns.
(size gives an animal a different look, but when I think about distinctive - size doesn't come to mind at first)

The others are from other game sites. I always found game previews unreliable (stopped reading those after buying a few crappy games)

This is exactly it, the “personalities” aren’t true personalities at all. They’re static “moods”
Well, i posted this before but when it comes to agressive/defensive/challenging for alpha, there are differences.
Some male crocodiles/gharials/tortoises (I always have a lot of those) don't challenge for alpha status and don't cause any problems during their lifetime.
I have to admit I haven't tried putting the agressive crocs in a different enclosure with an existing alpha..
I did notice with 1 of my crocs, that he was close to a sprinkler enrichment item most of the times. Could be coincidence or just stuck in an area but item preference could be part of an personality. Really not sure about this one.
I did buy a female spotted hyena, which prevented different males from breeding, during her entire life-time. Maybe personality trait or just a bad mood?

To add: I don’t want to drag Frontier for false advertising or misleading consumers. That isn’t my point. I just wanted to explain where the expectation came from

I fully understand. But i think there's a clear distinction in Frontier news and news from a different source. Only 1 source mentioned difference in fur, maybe they were just plain wrong? Or they received a demo version which included this, and they were the only one noticing?
A while ago there was a topic about discussion about IGN (not sure about company) not receiving a review copy. It became clear that some players heavily rely on game info from game sites.
 

Bo Marit

Lead Community Manager
Frontier
Just for expectations' sake: new coat and pattern variations are not be in this week's update; we are looking into future possibilities to add more variations based on the discussion in this thread, but this will need some dev time.

Quick sidenote: pattern variations (Zebras, Giraffes, etc.) are in-game, they are based on genetics. Just like in real life, a juvenile will take patterns from its parents; if you've bred large herds, this could mean some repetitive patterns. We do want to look into adding more pattern variation; this would be a matter of our code team making a few changes so that there will be more individual patterns visible. We understand from the feedback here that this will make the game even more enjoyable, so that's something we're happy to look into.

Coat variations will also be addressed; this is a bigger change (as there's quite a few animals) so this will take time, but we hope that will make the animals feel more individualistic and realistic!

We will likely make these changes in a batch (so multiple animals at once), which might delay the date we're able to implement that into the game based on workload and team availability. Please let this be the clear answer that we have taken this feedback to heart!
 
Just for expectations' sake: new coat and pattern variations are not be in this week's update; we are looking into future possibilities to add more variations based on the discussion in this thread, but this will need some dev time.

Quick sidenote: pattern variations (Zebras, Giraffes, etc.) are in-game, they are based on genetics. Just like in real life, a juvenile will take patterns from its parents; if you've bred large herds, this could mean some repetitive patterns. We do want to look into adding more pattern variation; this would be a matter of our code team making a few changes so that there will be more individual patterns visible. We understand from the feedback here that this will make the game even more enjoyable, so that's something we're happy to look into.

Coat variations will also be addressed; this is a bigger change (as there's quite a few animals) so this will take time, but we hope that will make the animals feel more individualistic and realistic!

We will likely make these changes in a batch (so multiple animals at once), which might delay the date we're able to implement that into the game based on workload and team availability. Please let this be the clear answer that we have taken this feedback to heart!

There are times I have been frustrated by both the game and the communication style but I do GREATLY appreciate that when Frontier realizes that something is important to players they try to do something to address the issue (new game mode, animal aging, socializations). I think once this game has matured a bit into a finished base it's going to be great!
 
I really hope everything they advertised will someday be in the Game. It would make the Game so much better.
The different Fur-Patterns (at least for Tigers) need to be updated. I've bred Siberian Tigers a lot and I was happy when I saw one of them having some Spots in the Face instead of normal Stripes. It was really cool. But it seems like every Tiger I had, had exactly the same Pattern at the Tail

yeah, where are the promised angry bears I can trade with?

Source:
Source: https://youtu.be/8qgpleCdQq4?t=6741
They also mentioned every Animal will be like it should be, but why can I still only have one male Ring Tailed Lemur per Group and only 3 Spotted Hyenas if I don't want them to fight all the Time even though they've made a Pack-Update for Wolves and African Wild Dogs?
 
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Just for expectations' sake: new coat and pattern variations are not be in this week's update; we are looking into future possibilities to add more variations based on the discussion in this thread, but this will need some dev time.

Quick sidenote: pattern variations (Zebras, Giraffes, etc.) are in-game, they are based on genetics. Just like in real life, a juvenile will take patterns from its parents; if you've bred large herds, this could mean some repetitive patterns. We do want to look into adding more pattern variation; this would be a matter of our code team making a few changes so that there will be more individual patterns visible. We understand from the feedback here that this will make the game even more enjoyable, so that's something we're happy to look into.

Coat variations will also be addressed; this is a bigger change (as there's quite a few animals) so this will take time, but we hope that will make the animals feel more individualistic and realistic!

We will likely make these changes in a batch (so multiple animals at once), which might delay the date we're able to implement that into the game based on workload and team availability. Please let this be the clear answer that we have taken this feedback to heart!
Thank you so much!
 
Just for expectations' sake: new coat and pattern variations are not be in this week's update; we are looking into future possibilities to add more variations based on the discussion in this thread, but this will need some dev time.

Quick sidenote: pattern variations (Zebras, Giraffes, etc.) are in-game, they are based on genetics. Just like in real life, a juvenile will take patterns from its parents; if you've bred large herds, this could mean some repetitive patterns. We do want to look into adding more pattern variation; this would be a matter of our code team making a few changes so that there will be more individual patterns visible. We understand from the feedback here that this will make the game even more enjoyable, so that's something we're happy to look into.

Coat variations will also be addressed; this is a bigger change (as there's quite a few animals) so this will take time, but we hope that will make the animals feel more individualistic and realistic!

We will likely make these changes in a batch (so multiple animals at once), which might delay the date we're able to implement that into the game based on workload and team availability. Please let this be the clear answer that we have taken this feedback to heart!

Thanks for this statement, communicating like this is grand 👌
 
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