After a long period of silence Frontier has once again announced yet another free DLC to be released on Tuesday, August 25th. As I'm sure everyone here is quite exited about the much awaited and widely requested color variation feature as well as so many other aspects of the Update, let us continue on examining what else is coming on August 25th. For me the most important and exciting news regarding this free update were the bonus foliage, since it solidify my expectations that the next DLC from Frontier would be Oceania/Australia. At this point after seeing three new plant species from Australia in one picture, it is everything but announced, and in the next couple of days I'm sure we will learn more.
Let us however start discussing in this thread what each of our expectations are for the DLC and what would realistic be included in it. My first impression is based on the picture showcasing the vending machines, there are three plant species here (NOT CURRENTLY FOUND WITHIN THE GAME) native to this part of the world. As a landscape architect I have been around plants for decades, and two out of the three species I can positively 100% identify. There is a fern species member from the Platycerium genus, known as the Staghorn Fern, and even though there are 17 different species of it, they come from the land of down under. The San Diego Zoo has an impressive collection of them, and they are quite beautiful to look at. Next up, right behind the Staghorn Fern there is a Xanthorrhoea Quadrangulata (Australian Grass Tree) if you look towards the ground you will find many young specimens of this grass, another fantastic addition, as the game really lacked grass varieties. Lastly there are actually two Eucalyptus Species in the background, at first someone recognize one of them, but failed to mention the other as it was initially the case with me, but once i blew up the picture in my screen, I almost felt backward, since I had a very long time ago suggested that if Frontier ever released an Oceania DLC to include this magnificent and world famous species the Eucalyptus Deglupta (Rainbow Gum) native to the Philippines, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea. Even though this species is not native of Australia, it is a native of Oceania, and zoos the world over have been showcasing it as center pieces for Australian Exhibits.
As with every other free update before this one, a free set of rocks will be included as announced earlier today, and taking into consideration the plants that have already being shown by Frontier, I have to assume that the Iconic red rocks of Australia, a staple of this great country are finally coming to Planet Zoo. You have to love Frontier, as they do seem to pay very close attention to what real life zoos include when building geographic specific exhibits.
My expectation for the DLC is based on the current trend with the last two DLCs that were released, but also including a little shift in direction based on player feedback and the fact that Oceania was the most under represented major continents within the game. First off, when South America was released, there was initially a large amount of discontent from players, myself included based on the small amount of animal species included. Aside from the saltwater croc and a few exhibit animals, Oceania species are non existent in the game. When you add these two together, I do sincerely expect and hope to see a slightly bigger lineup. My expectations are 6 habitat animals and 3 exhibit, my prediction is that it will fall somewhere in the middle along 5 habitat animals and 2 exhibit ones.
As with every theme DLC, I expect lots of content that represents this region of the world. However I do hope/pray/dream that this time around foliage is more abundant, and there is a good chance for this, since not only Oceania has spectacular species, but many of their plants and trees are used by zoos as decorative foliage in visitors areas, so we might get a double benefit here if Frontier has done their due research. So far based on the plants/trees included in the free update, it seems they have. So my prediction is another building set (an outback theme maybe?) several aboriginal items from this region of the world, and a much more foliage focused DLC.
What are your expectations and predictions?
Let us however start discussing in this thread what each of our expectations are for the DLC and what would realistic be included in it. My first impression is based on the picture showcasing the vending machines, there are three plant species here (NOT CURRENTLY FOUND WITHIN THE GAME) native to this part of the world. As a landscape architect I have been around plants for decades, and two out of the three species I can positively 100% identify. There is a fern species member from the Platycerium genus, known as the Staghorn Fern, and even though there are 17 different species of it, they come from the land of down under. The San Diego Zoo has an impressive collection of them, and they are quite beautiful to look at. Next up, right behind the Staghorn Fern there is a Xanthorrhoea Quadrangulata (Australian Grass Tree) if you look towards the ground you will find many young specimens of this grass, another fantastic addition, as the game really lacked grass varieties. Lastly there are actually two Eucalyptus Species in the background, at first someone recognize one of them, but failed to mention the other as it was initially the case with me, but once i blew up the picture in my screen, I almost felt backward, since I had a very long time ago suggested that if Frontier ever released an Oceania DLC to include this magnificent and world famous species the Eucalyptus Deglupta (Rainbow Gum) native to the Philippines, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea. Even though this species is not native of Australia, it is a native of Oceania, and zoos the world over have been showcasing it as center pieces for Australian Exhibits.
As with every other free update before this one, a free set of rocks will be included as announced earlier today, and taking into consideration the plants that have already being shown by Frontier, I have to assume that the Iconic red rocks of Australia, a staple of this great country are finally coming to Planet Zoo. You have to love Frontier, as they do seem to pay very close attention to what real life zoos include when building geographic specific exhibits.
My expectation for the DLC is based on the current trend with the last two DLCs that were released, but also including a little shift in direction based on player feedback and the fact that Oceania was the most under represented major continents within the game. First off, when South America was released, there was initially a large amount of discontent from players, myself included based on the small amount of animal species included. Aside from the saltwater croc and a few exhibit animals, Oceania species are non existent in the game. When you add these two together, I do sincerely expect and hope to see a slightly bigger lineup. My expectations are 6 habitat animals and 3 exhibit, my prediction is that it will fall somewhere in the middle along 5 habitat animals and 2 exhibit ones.
As with every theme DLC, I expect lots of content that represents this region of the world. However I do hope/pray/dream that this time around foliage is more abundant, and there is a good chance for this, since not only Oceania has spectacular species, but many of their plants and trees are used by zoos as decorative foliage in visitors areas, so we might get a double benefit here if Frontier has done their due research. So far based on the plants/trees included in the free update, it seems they have. So my prediction is another building set (an outback theme maybe?) several aboriginal items from this region of the world, and a much more foliage focused DLC.
What are your expectations and predictions?
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This was even for me way to predictable and at least at the moment a theme I wasn't really looking forward to. So whatever will come AFTER this one, will probably be more exciting for me - unless it's fishes.
