Of course thi will never be allowed, people won't pay for dlc if modding can bring new content....I understand it, and I'm ok with it as long as the dlc are good.
Planet Zoo - Colour Variation
- Thread starter Chante Goodman
- Start date
That is literally not true, whatsoever. There will ALWAYS be people scrambling to buy DLC, regardless of whether modding can add new content or not. Modding is the main thing that tends to keep games like this alive- Zoo Tycoon 2 STILL has an active playerbase, to this day, thanks to the modding community.
But people will ALWAYS still want "official" content. Even the modders. Even the people who USE mods, would STILL want to buy the DLC. Most people don't like leaving DLC un-bought on a game they own, the vast majority of people will want the full content of the game, including DLC. The existence of mods does not, and will NEVER, change that. Modding can only ever improve a game, and its lifespan.
Take The Sims for example... the Sims has a highly active modding community, CONSTANTLY adding new content, entirely new scripts, new CAS items, open world is even being done via mods for Sims 4, and yet people STILL buy the DLCs. In fact, I'd argue the VAST MAJORITY of the playerbase still buys DLC, even if they use mods. It's the same deal for ARK, and MANY other games.
Mod support 100% determines how long a game will last and retain an active playerbase. I can tell you right now that if it weren't for mods, I would not be playing this game anymore. There are a TON of model inaccuracies when it comes to animal appearance(especially noticeable with the big cats, hyenas, and wolves), and many other issues that can be fixed with modding.
Modding does the complete OPPOSITE of what you're saying- modding is what keeps players of zoo games like this interested, and WILLING to keep playing and buying DLCs. Why would I buy a DLC for this game if I'm not going to even play with the base stuff at all anymore? There's only so long I can look at the cartoonified lion before I get tired of it. If it couldn't be modded and improved on... along with MANY other aspects of this game... then a lot of people, like me, would just give up on this game entirely because we're not satisfied with it and we can't even fix it with mods.
But even with the very small, minor modding capability we have currently- we still cannot add new animals, or code new animal behaviors, or anything. Modding for Planet Zoo is nowhere NEAR the level of Zoo Tycoon 2, and you know what that means?
Zoo Tycoon 2 will outlive Planet Zoo.
People will still be active in Zoo Tycoon 2 modding communities, buying the game, playing the game, for YEARS after Planet Zoo's fanbase fizzles out and dies. What happens when Frontier isn't releasing new DLC anymore? The game will die. People will get bored and move on because PZ doesn't have enough mod support to keep the game going longterm. After Frontier stops adding DLC, that's it. No more animals. No more scenery pieces. No more new content at all, period, unless they add in actual, fully functional mod support.
If Frontier added mod support, people ten years from now would find mods for the game that they find interesting, and go buy the game FOR those mods. They would ALSO buy the DLCs, because some mods will require DLC content to function. If a game's community is dead, and there hasn't been any new content for years... people will just stop buying, and stop playing.
Mod support can ONLY ever be a good thing, for the game itself, the community, AND the developers.
Very true. Love the party about the cartoony lion
@xTosca I agree modding would definitely keep the game alive longer but I believe we’d get a sequel before all that took place. Frontier had already mentioned they planned on sequels and continued support to successful game titles. Like Planco for example their will be a sequel someday it’s got too large of a following to not do one. Zt2 outlive planet zoo?? I don’t know I check in once in awhile to various zt2 sites and I’d say the state of the community is on life support. Sure people are still playing and designing but most veteran designers are not near as active and even if planet zoo was done I really don’t see people going back just because of modding. Don’t get me wrong the games been great but the game has been stretched beyond its limits.
Sequels are not a solution to a lack of content, because usually, the sequel just ends up being pretty much the same thing with better graphics, and sometimes even LESS content than the original game.(Looking at you, Sims 4.) Or, it ends up improving on some things and then making other things worse or removing old content altogether(for example, PZ is a "spiritual successor" to Zt2, and in many ways is improved, sure, but it is severely lacking in a lot of content that Zt2 had, for ex, pack/pride hunting, seeking out food before hunting, only hunting when hungry, mothers nursing offspring, mother predators teaching offspring to hunt...)
Just because a sequel is released should not mean the old game should basically have to be 100% abandoned bc there's no more new content for it. Mod compatibility has been proven time and time again to NOT negatively impact game sales or the developers of games in any way, and ALSO proven to extend the lifespan of a game, and even improve the overall perception of the game.
What would Frontier even do with PZ as a sequel at this point, anyway??
Just because a sequel is released should not mean the old game should basically have to be 100% abandoned bc there's no more new content for it. Mod compatibility has been proven time and time again to NOT negatively impact game sales or the developers of games in any way, and ALSO proven to extend the lifespan of a game, and even improve the overall perception of the game.
What would Frontier even do with PZ as a sequel at this point, anyway??
Well for one if diving and underwater animations weren’t possible because of engine limitations I’m guessing the sequel would more then likely feature a reworked engine or a more capable version. Plus when you factor in this is frontiers first crack at a all out zoo game im sure it’s somewhat of a learning experience as well. I’m sure theirs things you think about or community input or ideas you think of or things you would have implemented as I believe this game probably has at least a one yr plan set in motion from the day it launched. I would say zt2 was a overall improvement over zt1 even tho some prefer zt1. I believe a PlanCo 2 would be much improved over Planco. Also I don’t recall mother predators teaching offspring to hunt in zt2. This behavior is not very useful in a zoo setting anyway simply because captive animals have no need to hunt and therefore lack the instinctual behaviors wild animals possess.
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Doesn't matter if it's "not useful in a zoo setting", because not everyone who plays these games plays it the conventional "zoo" way, and instead like to create wildlife parks, and those kinds of behaviors add extra flavor to the animals.
Zoo Tycoon was a zoo specific game, but it didn't forcibly limit people to that the way PZ does. "It's not useful in a zoo" doesn't mean it shouldn't be included, or shouldn't be POSSIBLE to include via modding.
But the point is... Frontier needs to loosen their stance on mod support. The fact that they haven't by now in 2020 when modding is... a norm in the gaming community for pretty much any singleplayer game of this nature(and other types of games such as ARK, Skyrim, Sims, etc...) is... kind of ridiculous, to be honest. This is the type of game that needs to have modding compatibility- and I can GUARANTEE you that the lack of mod support is keeping away a lot of potential customers.
Zoo Tycoon was a zoo specific game, but it didn't forcibly limit people to that the way PZ does. "It's not useful in a zoo" doesn't mean it shouldn't be included, or shouldn't be POSSIBLE to include via modding.
But the point is... Frontier needs to loosen their stance on mod support. The fact that they haven't by now in 2020 when modding is... a norm in the gaming community for pretty much any singleplayer game of this nature(and other types of games such as ARK, Skyrim, Sims, etc...) is... kind of ridiculous, to be honest. This is the type of game that needs to have modding compatibility- and I can GUARANTEE you that the lack of mod support is keeping away a lot of potential customers.
I will always buy DLC, and would choose the DLC option over a mod every time, since DLC is perfectly designed to run with the game, and fits the game style.
To me, mods are there to fill gaps until DLC is available, or in case the developers choose not to create that particular piece of content. I love mods and DLC equally, and having both is what keeps me playing a game for literally decades. The best mods require you to have bought the DLC relevant to the models, or new interaction added by the real game developers - a mod will very rarely be as seamless, detailed or high quality as the “real deal”, it will only be an edited version that might appeal to you better as an individual. I would love for Frontier to create every single species for Planet Zoo, with beautiful colour variants and morphs. The reality is that they will be limited by resources, and enabling modding (at least when they finish creating DLC) would give the community the variation and customisation that could keep us playing, and bring new players, for a very long time to come.
I played Zoo Tycoon 1 and 2 until the very day Planet Zoo released. I had every DLC you could buy, bought on release, and then thousands of mods. Modding gives people more reason to buy DLC, not less.
To me, mods are there to fill gaps until DLC is available, or in case the developers choose not to create that particular piece of content. I love mods and DLC equally, and having both is what keeps me playing a game for literally decades. The best mods require you to have bought the DLC relevant to the models, or new interaction added by the real game developers - a mod will very rarely be as seamless, detailed or high quality as the “real deal”, it will only be an edited version that might appeal to you better as an individual. I would love for Frontier to create every single species for Planet Zoo, with beautiful colour variants and morphs. The reality is that they will be limited by resources, and enabling modding (at least when they finish creating DLC) would give the community the variation and customisation that could keep us playing, and bring new players, for a very long time to come.
I played Zoo Tycoon 1 and 2 until the very day Planet Zoo released. I had every DLC you could buy, bought on release, and then thousands of mods. Modding gives people more reason to buy DLC, not less.
I echo this.
No denying mods can be great of course. I’m not against people who want mods. I won’t go that route with this game personally simply because it gets addicting then before you know it you have so many you can barely play with all of them then your choosing which ones to put in files and what to keep out. Frontier has never really been a mod supporter so I really don’t see it changing anytime soon but I guess you never know. So far the game has been enough for me. I know I don’t speak for everyone but this game has realistic animals with very few limitations on what you could build for them as to where zt2 had very cartoonishly done animals and decent exhibit building capabilities in vanilla form. Mods were absolutely necessary for zt2 imo. Now this game perhaps the only mods I could see wanting would be aquatic creatures if frontier chose to exclude them and the animations that go with it. I really think this is the only big question mark at this point. But I do think also if it’s not included it would be simply because it wasn’t possible not because frontier didn’t want to which in this case it wouldn’t work anyway which is why I brought the sequel to this game into play.
That's it! AND DLC has localization support. Modders tend to only do english versions, which usually will break your localized version. So no mods for me. But I think, Frontier might go in for mods as soon as there will be no DLCs anymore (many publishers do).
Looking at their other games.... they won't is what I think.
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I'm a massive official Frontier content advocate, as their artist work is just so incredibly beautiful, however I agree with everything you have stated here. Having much needed outside additions to this game, are not a thread to anything Frontier officially produces, if anything they go perfectly together. It promotes the game at every aspect and allows for a much larger creative platform.
In many cases as you mention so accurately things, animals specially are a clear improvement to many of us. The cartoonist aspect of many of the animals, the lion specially is something hard to ignore at times, and having that realism with the mod, was just amazing. This is something that Frontier could have easily managed if they wanted to, but of course their direction with the game was geared towards children I believe. The interesting thing here is that most of the players, at least here, seem to be adults. In fact this would make for an interesting thread i believe, and I would like to hear others opinions on the subject. But yes, modding should not only be allowed, but encouraged by the company.
PS: FOR THE RECORD, IF ANYONE WITH MODDING TALENT CAN FIGURE OUT A WAY TO CHANGE THE HUMAN CARTOONS TO REALISTIC LOOKING VISITORS AND STAFF (SIMILAR TO JURASSIC PARK EVOLUTION) I WILL LOVE TO TALK TO YOU.
The Humans in these Games look like that for a good Reason because if they would add too many Details, the Game would lagg way earlier. I think I've heard once that Jurassic World Evolution can have such realistic looking Guests because not every Guest that is really in the Park, is also shown walking around but in Planet Zoo, you can see every Guest that is in the Park
There are so many Posts here about Mod Support, I think it would be a good Decision to open a new Thread for it instead of using the one about Color Variations
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I think the main reason for not allowing mods is that it is harder to determine bugs if people have heavily modded games, as mods can always break your game, rather than worrying about future dlc sales. Could be both, but I bet the main reason is the one I stated.
But then again, I do not use any mods in my games so I just do not see the appeal of it. Mods are rarely on par with the official content for me.
But then again, I do not use any mods in my games so I just do not see the appeal of it. Mods are rarely on par with the official content for me.
That would save so much performance. It would be perfect for planet Zoo.
I have followed your suggestion, and opened a specific thread about it. I would love to respond to you there, since I do not want to further deviate from the thread.
Regarding modding, just wanted to point out this post made bij Jens Erik in the JWE part of the forum.
source: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/pc-mods.552774/#post-8650326
source: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/pc-mods.552774/#post-8650326
That is understandable, and the same very reason for many of us as a community to respectfully ask Frontier to change their views when it comes to this as it would only promote the game. Plus, isn't the Thememaker's Toolkit found in Planet Coaster and created by Frontier basically just modding? A revamp version of it in Planet Zoo that allows animals to be worked on would not be out of the question then, and add the human characters while we are at it. In short the blueprint for it is already there, created and supported by Frontier.
