Alright, let's get serious about birds...
- Thread starter TheDuckKnight
- Start date
Maybe so, yes. But, don't y'all hate it that the architecture doesn't always match the animal? I mean, the Egyptian meerkats is really weird. That's my train of thought...
Exactly. And I will destroy the other choices with my quick wit and likable sense of humor
Iām honestly so here for chickens!
There are some beautiful chicken breeds that I know we wonāt get but hey, thats what mods are for haha
would be nice to have one official one from frontier regardless though!
Just look at the Swedish Flower Hen, they come in so many cool colors and patterns
But I think the Plymouth Rock Chicken would be really cool too, their common striped pattern is really beautiful but they also come in other colors
(Canāt post pictures because Iām on mobile and half asleep haha)
This is of course by no means saying no to tropical birds, my pfp and favorite animal is a toucan after all
I want them all Iām not picky
There are some beautiful chicken breeds that I know we wonāt get but hey, thats what mods are for haha
would be nice to have one official one from frontier regardless though!
Just look at the Swedish Flower Hen, they come in so many cool colors and patterns
But I think the Plymouth Rock Chicken would be really cool too, their common striped pattern is really beautiful but they also come in other colors
(Canāt post pictures because Iām on mobile and half asleep haha)
This is of course by no means saying no to tropical birds, my pfp and favorite animal is a toucan after all
I want them all Iām not picky I genuinely don't think frontier would miss out on the financial opportunity that is birds. They could be planning to sell a bird themed pack later this year, I feel like it would be a massive seller with the amount of people clearly desiring birds, and having that big boost of sales would help them secure support for making more dlc for us into next year too. Business strategy wise, one of the next two packs being a heavy hitter in terms of success would be super crucial in the ability to continue. I think that's what they were trying to do with this pack by giving us much requested animals, and I am a tad disappointed with how some of the community handled their critiques. When it comes to launch I really hope it does make plenty of $$, as that can only look good when thinking about frontier continuing their pz support.
If they are dedicating resources to making birds, it would explain to me why some of the animals in this pack are somewhat "samey" I can tell the devs have put love into them, they look great! But if they're resusing old rigs to save time or resources while they dedicate the rest of their power to making birds work, then I'm super okay with that
If they are dedicating resources to making birds, it would explain to me why some of the animals in this pack are somewhat "samey" I can tell the devs have put love into them, they look great! But if they're resusing old rigs to save time or resources while they dedicate the rest of their power to making birds work, then I'm super okay with that
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My guess is they are working on (flying) birds or have them in the pipeline. It would be a missed opportunity from a business standpoint if they were not working on more birds given the high demand for them. Edit: The comment above beat me to it!
Also, there are still choices of birds that don't require flying mechanics because they are truly flightless. South America's Rheas, New Zealand's Kiwis and the large, flightless species of parrot, KÄkÄpÅ. The latter two are unlike any other animal in PZ. KÄkÄpÅs barely ever get a mention, possibly because they're not well known.
I wouldn't mind chickens in a Farm/Domesticated animals pack either.
Also, there are still choices of birds that don't require flying mechanics because they are truly flightless. South America's Rheas, New Zealand's Kiwis and the large, flightless species of parrot, KÄkÄpÅ. The latter two are unlike any other animal in PZ. KÄkÄpÅs barely ever get a mention, possibly because they're not well known.
I wouldn't mind chickens in a Farm/Domesticated animals pack either.
They have been discussed before but people don't consider them because they are not held in captivity i believe.
Better suggesting the kea if we want a new Zealand bird that's actually kept in captivity
They have been on display at Auckland Zoo and other locations for brief periods in recent history, and London Zoo kept them in the early 19th/20th centuries. The Auckland Zoo is also closely involved in their conservation, including providing funding and veterinary support to the recovery programme. So the bird would fit the conservation theme of the game even if it is not currently kept in captivity. This bird would likely be extinct if not for conservation efforts by humans.
GAAAAAHHHH!!! That would have been PERFECT, plus this king would finally make his PZ debut:
Well going by that logic we can suggest the Galapagos penguin and similar birds that were briefly held in captivity but valuable to the zoological community. I'm not trying to dissuade opinions but it's easier to stick to currently in captivity birds generally for speculation
THIS is what I don't understand more than anything. Like what, do they think habitat birds won't sell? Are they super, duper hard to make? Is there ACTUALLY a prejudice at HQ - "We don't talk about birds here, sonny".
Ever since 2001, birds have always gotten shafted in zoo simulation games, and I don't get it. I just don't get it.
I dunno, man. Like I stated, maybe feathers are a little difficult to make. Zoo Tycoon has the excuse that they are old games, but in the case of PZ, I'm just assuming that for some reason the current dev team struggles with birds while the JWE 2 team has more experience
I must imagine it is more intensive to make birds due to the individual feathers modelled - forcing the crane to take flight shows each feather has its own animations. Very few birds have been attempted in planet zoo especially ones with small complex feathers compared to the Devs in the jwe2 who likely carried over experience from jwe1. It's possible to assume the current Dev team struggles with the animations of birds leading to much more large birds or avoiding them all together
I really can't wrap my head around why they ignore birds so badly. It makes no sense to me.
The mammals we are getting now either feel like stuff we already got, or are on the odd end the average player might not know about.
And then we can look at birds, where we got plenty of recognizable animals left that also feels like something new.
Pelicans, Turkeys, Storks, Ducks, Swans, Pheasants, and so on. Even more, if we go into stuff for the exhibit.
Why are they avoiding this huge group of animals? If they at least could be honest about it being complicated or whatever, then the DLCs without them might end up being a little easier to enjoy.
The mammals we are getting now either feel like stuff we already got, or are on the odd end the average player might not know about.
And then we can look at birds, where we got plenty of recognizable animals left that also feels like something new.
Pelicans, Turkeys, Storks, Ducks, Swans, Pheasants, and so on. Even more, if we go into stuff for the exhibit.
Why are they avoiding this huge group of animals? If they at least could be honest about it being complicated or whatever, then the DLCs without them might end up being a little easier to enjoy.
I don't either. It's almost does a run down like this:
Can't have free flying habitat birds - okay, that's understandable. It would have been great but we can deal with it.
Can't have looped flying animation birds in WTE - not really sure why, and that definitely hurts, but there's still other types of birds for habitats.
Can't have habitat birds that could fly IRL but can't in the game - well, I don't really understand this at all. I don't. There's absolutely no reason I can think of that we can't have more birds like the RCC.
Iām trying to think if the "regular zoo goers wonāt like it" logic applies here. As a zoo guide I find that most people donāt really ask much for birds other then snowy owls because of Harry Potter, budgies because they know them as pets, parrots, penguins and male peacocks to take pictures of.
But that logic doesnāt apply to the game because if weād go by what regular zoo goers ask for/know weād have had an aquarium and petting zoo pack years ago
My best bet would be that the feathers are hard to get right to the amount of detail we know from frontier?
In Winter someone also pointed out that it would be unlikely to implement a tricky nee flying mechanic right before the holidays where support is slower because people are off work. Maybe the same applies to Easter?
Or maybe they donāt want to open that can of worms because there is so many options that people would be upset regardless of what they chooseā¦
Thatās why I think a bigger, slightly more expensive pack with a different mix between habitat and walkthrough is the only way to even do it the minimum amount of justiceā¦
However I think theyāll leave it till the end because it is sure to sell haha
(btw @TheDuckKnight this was not all directed at you, I know you just talked about ground dwelling birds in your comment, but it lead me to think of the other things in my comment haha)
Another thing about birds...there's also talk about the "missing" marine animals. Which I understand but hold out hope for a Planet Aquarium. Many zoos do not have much if any completely aquatic life. There's separate businesses for aquariums that specialize in that and having a separate game for that is understandable. Meanwhile, having a fully aviary type of facility is not that common. I can't see having a completely separate game for it. So it's like...if they don't make it into Planet Zoo, they just don't get represented at all (or very little)
OMG I'm a tour guide too at the Bronx! All the dads marvel at my HILARIOUS jokes when we get to the snowy owls!
"Uh oh, I think someone got a letter to Hogwarts!"
Standing ovation, every time.