What's Next for Planet Zoo?
- Thread starter Baryonix82
- Start date
Very awesome video! 
I also watched this video. you are making really great videos.
I hope we see all the animals you're talking about in this game. especially aquatic animals.
I also watched this video. you are making really great videos.
I hope we see all the animals you're talking about in this game. especially aquatic animals.
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Hopefully branching out with animal picks.
Hopefully a lot more dlc. I think for awhile will get mixed packs with animals and building sets eventually a couple all animal packs especially if they follow the planet coaster style dlc which also will come every three months. I say mixed because in Amazon and Australia packs you will probably get themed building sets. I hope we get a lot more then basic animals which will hopefully include birds and much more. There’s tons of living animals of all types I’d still love to see in game.
Excellent list!
I think it's too optimistic.
Frontier knew we wanted a fox. We've wanted a fox since before launch, there were interviews where it was said we wanted a fox, and in the Arctic DLC we got another wolf.
I don't mind copy-paste animals, but I feel like this is indicative of what sorts of things we can expect. An Australia DLC can't go without a kangaroo, but that will take a lot of work since it's wholly unique and unlike any other animal in the game (unlike everything we got in the Arctic Pack, which were all similar enough to other animals that there can be cross-coding using animations from other animals spiced up with new ones). The kangaroo will be a from-scratch model, animation set, and AI, and will take a long time to get right. So, if they endeavour to create it, which they will have to, because we're talking about Australia, I strongly suspect the other animals we get in the DLC will be far more simplistic. Freshwater crocodile, dingo, perentie or lace monitor.
The video mentions these animals, but he also states that they are "less likely" because of crossover with existing animals. Well, we already know that Frontier isn't too worried about that - grizzly/Himalayan brown bears. Galapagos/Aldabra giant tortoises. Komodo dragon/Nile monitor. All very similar, all sharing the same animations, needs, AI, and so on. They did the same thing with Zoo Tycoon 2013 and the subsequent Ultimate Animal Collection; every animal in that game was a copy-paste of its core group. The sun bear, a bear unlike any other bear in the world, was just a recoloured brown bear.
They've already improved this method of content creation for Planet Zoo, I will grant them that, but they're still limiting themselves by taking the easy route with several animals. So I can't be too optimistic about future DLC's.
Of course, here's hoping I'm wrong. I certainly would rather be pleasantly surprised.
Frontier knew we wanted a fox. We've wanted a fox since before launch, there were interviews where it was said we wanted a fox, and in the Arctic DLC we got another wolf.
I don't mind copy-paste animals, but I feel like this is indicative of what sorts of things we can expect. An Australia DLC can't go without a kangaroo, but that will take a lot of work since it's wholly unique and unlike any other animal in the game (unlike everything we got in the Arctic Pack, which were all similar enough to other animals that there can be cross-coding using animations from other animals spiced up with new ones). The kangaroo will be a from-scratch model, animation set, and AI, and will take a long time to get right. So, if they endeavour to create it, which they will have to, because we're talking about Australia, I strongly suspect the other animals we get in the DLC will be far more simplistic. Freshwater crocodile, dingo, perentie or lace monitor.
The video mentions these animals, but he also states that they are "less likely" because of crossover with existing animals. Well, we already know that Frontier isn't too worried about that - grizzly/Himalayan brown bears. Galapagos/Aldabra giant tortoises. Komodo dragon/Nile monitor. All very similar, all sharing the same animations, needs, AI, and so on. They did the same thing with Zoo Tycoon 2013 and the subsequent Ultimate Animal Collection; every animal in that game was a copy-paste of its core group. The sun bear, a bear unlike any other bear in the world, was just a recoloured brown bear.
They've already improved this method of content creation for Planet Zoo, I will grant them that, but they're still limiting themselves by taking the easy route with several animals. So I can't be too optimistic about future DLC's.
Of course, here's hoping I'm wrong. I certainly would rather be pleasantly surprised.
The videos are not mine, they are from someone else, but as I consider them interesting I put them hereVery awesome video!
I also watched this video. you are making really great videos.
I hope we see all the animals you're talking about in this game. especially aquatic animals.
To be fair, keep in mind that Zoo Tycoon 2013 was made under the suffocating limitations of Microsoft at the time. And as for the kind of DLC they're working on, we don't know how they're splitting the work and what they prioritize. The Arctic DLC was barely a month after release, so I'm not too surprised it was very limited. Consider, for instance, they might have different people working on A: completely new animals, and B: "recolours/reworks" of old animals (like the Arctic wolf was). Like, more experienced employees for the former, newbies for the latter. The brand new, unique animals take longer to make, but can be withheld until there's enough of them to make a truly interesting DLC pack.
I don't want to be too optimistic, but Frontier described PZ as "the game we always wanted to make" (while making ZT 2013). And if Planet Coaster is anything to go by, we have 2-3 years of DLC coming, spread over about 12 packs. Plus, studios tend to get better at making games over time.
Me, I kinda hope there's more than 4 animals for some of the packs, because there's SO many great animals to put in the game. I'd also sacrifice new building pieces for a big aquatic animals expansion DLC, without question.
Really curious about that one, where did you get this info? And what kind of suffocating limitations are referring to? (isn't this just blaming the big company because ZT2013 wasn't the game people were expecting?)
Saw too many topics about similar topics. Like in PZ some users expected features from ZT, because "If ZT had that feature, it had to be in PZ".. Sometimes difficult to distinguish fact from assumption.
I'm also hoping for some bigger DLC packs than 4 animals in 1 pack, but I'm realistic and think/expect that "JWE and the Arctic DLC" logic applies to the upcoming DLC.
Anything more than that is a pleasant surprise.
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The Eurasian video is great!
For wolves, I'm not too keen on adding many more wolves. The current Timber Wolf needs an update on species (to specify the specific subspecies this wolf represents, like Eurasian grey wolf, or Northeastern grey wolf, or...) AND coat color variation. When this has happened, they can start thinking about adding other types of wolves that are not actually in the game yet and represent a different species/subspecies/niche.
For bears, I'm not too keen on adding many more either, especially not more brown bears. I do see the merit of adding different bear species like spectacled bear, sunbears, etcetera, but they're not high on my list.
The other animals that were mentioned, I'm all for.
What's best: the recently extinct animals pack suggestion! It's great to see it mentioned. I'm not sure I would have picked all of these animals, but they're all interesting in their own right.
For wolves, I'm not too keen on adding many more wolves. The current Timber Wolf needs an update on species (to specify the specific subspecies this wolf represents, like Eurasian grey wolf, or Northeastern grey wolf, or...) AND coat color variation. When this has happened, they can start thinking about adding other types of wolves that are not actually in the game yet and represent a different species/subspecies/niche.
For bears, I'm not too keen on adding many more either, especially not more brown bears. I do see the merit of adding different bear species like spectacled bear, sunbears, etcetera, but they're not high on my list.
The other animals that were mentioned, I'm all for.
What's best: the recently extinct animals pack suggestion! It's great to see it mentioned. I'm not sure I would have picked all of these animals, but they're all interesting in their own right.
I wish I could remember exact sources, but I remember reading a lot about it, before Planet Zoo was even announced. One thing that stood out to me was the claim that Zoo Tycoon was the last dumping ground of the "Kinect" technology, (remember "Kinectimals?") and that's why so much of it was "feed the animal out of your hand!" and "pet the animal!" as opposed to the actual building, like earlier ZT games were. (And was aimed perhaps at a younger audience.) Wanting to squeeze every last dollar from nearly-outdated technology is... very in-character for microsoft, unfortunately, and it's a shame that ZT fell victim to that, instead of getting a proper threequel. There's a LOT of valid criticism toward Microsoft in the past decade, that makes all this feel a bit too likely. Or at least, hard for me to deny.
That's my point, I don't see "likely criticism" from other Microsoft products as a confirmation for limitations by Microsoft. A bit too player/user assumptions imo
Taking a different direction for a game isn't the same as money-grabbing. But I think they made a big mistake on this part..
(Long running titles or new titles after many years have this same problem)
ZT2013 felt more like a mix between ZT and ZT2. A lot of people loved the interaction feature from ZT2. And I don't see Kinect (introduced in 2010) as outdated in 2013.
I know, the Wii was a lot earlier with this technology..
People mentioned ZT2 more than ZT, even though I prefer ZT1 more. Even on this forum people were hoping for a "zoo keeper" mode for PZ.
Btw, focusing on the XboxOne version - the Windows version is just a port of the Xbox game with some updated graphics.
But people wanted to play ZT on a PC instead of a Xbox and the biggest complaint (by far) is that this game isn't ZT/ZT2.
Good point they can be called animal demonstrations or something like that.
Can't come up with anything, but I think a demonstration would look like a "show" very quickly.
Some interaction between zoo keeper and animal would be nice, though.. At least for some animals