Gameplay ideas (for franchise and challenge mode or even a new game mode called
Zoo manager mode (or difficulty level if you wish)). I really think that the game is not challenging at all in regards to gameplay. It becomes boring after a while. It must need to be necessary to make an effort to keep things running. After building for a while if I do everything correctly I can just abandon the game for hours and things just keep running, money accumulates and nothing happens. It just looks like a mini train maquette game and not a management game.
- Fulfil certain husbandry and conservation targets to be able to acquire certain species (for example elephants or pandas). It does not make sense that a beginners zoo with enough CCs is capable to adopt pandas, elephants or big cats without having a fully trained, qualified and experienced team for example. In real-world zoos these species are incredibly hard to obtain and keep. It is too easy currently in the game. You get a fine or the animals are taken away if you do not fulfil these criteria. This would represent not just a new financial and management challenge but as well your animals would be there to reach goals (conservation goals) not just to be actors on the stage/scenario (habitat) you built for them:
- You need to have 3 five start keepers and 1 five star vet to be able to adopt an elephant or 5 five start keepers and 2 five start vets to adopt pandas.
- You have to research about the species before you can adopt it. Eg: you have to reach level 3 of research to be able to adopt elephants and level 5 for pandas
- You have to participate in in-situ conservation projects to be able to adopt that species. Eg: you must pay for the panda conservation project in the wild (1Million per year or a percentage of your annual income/donations for that species) to be allowed to keep the animals in your zoo. If you do not pay the animals will be taken to another zoo and your reputation get hurt.
- reproduction targets. Eg: you must be able to breed an elephant in five years
- Release into the wild one animal of these species every 10 years.
- Keep up with the welfare standards or get punished:
- If the inspector finds animals in bad welfare in 2 visits in a row you are not allowed to adopt new animals until those problems get fixed and the inspector makes the next visit
- Veterinarian procedures must cost money! Costs with drugs, surgery, treatments, etc are usually a big part of a zoo's budget
- Animal breeding must be harder and realistic. Currently, it is way too easy and boring to breed animals. It does not feel rewarding and it even gets ignored in the way how easy and numerous it is:
- In real life, animals constantly lose offspring. Absorptions, dead newborns, low survival of cubs, etc. If the female suffers an episode of disease, hunger, fight, thirsty, stress etc, it increases the chances of losing its pregnancy. AND it also happening randomly because, well sometimes it happens. Animals have reproductive issues like we humans do. Some animals can be diagnosed as infertile after a couple of vet checks. Maybe a new function for the vet could be "check fertility"
- Pair compatibility: Sometimes, the male and the female you adopted simply do not like each other and will not breed. You will have to get new ones. Bad luck it happens.
- Make it more realistic: birds and reptiles must lay eggs. Mammals must nurse on their mothers!! Simple. ZT2 had it why not PZ?? It would be really cool if we could get models for "adolescent animals" a stage between infant and adult.
- High season and Low season: The number of guests should be lower in some months of the year.
- A system of small counter the clock challenges or non refuse challenges as we had in Zoo tycoon would be nice. eg: Adopt this animal that was seized at the airport. other eg. The local government banned circuses, adopt all the animals from the circus, or the local circus got bankrupt. The correct system of challenges/missions are a joke.
- Staff management should be harder. I never had staff quitting their job or really being annoyed by anything. Staff should be able to use vehicles, like small jeeps or golf carts. It would make them faster and save energy. We could even build "staff roads" for these vehicles.
Other:
- Camels and Bison need to be resized!
- Some object hitboxes need to be fixed: notoriously the arches and doors. How many times I have built a large stable or shelter and simply the animals do not enter in there because they have a huge hitbox.
- I would love to see animal gates (like in JWE) that you could use to manage your animal among multiple habitats.
- I feel that the model and animations of the okapi are somehow not correct. It looks like a too light and gracile animal, like if it was a gazelle or antelope. They can reach over 200kg and they are quite big.
- More shops, foods and drinks!
- More rides and attractions: eg paddling boats for guests to have fun in the lake.