Animal Wishlist

[AndyZoos]

Well, there's a difference between having a plains and a grevy zebra and having 5 AGOUTI SPECIES!!. I'm more on the former.

Also to Alkaline Andy: If you see pictures, the rhea IS practically a smaller version of the emu.

Would that need to be mutually exclusive, though? Both animal types that you're referencing wouldn't require extensive cosmetic revisions, I don't think. So more variety could be added to the roster. I agree that five species of agouti would be overkill, but why not have one or two species of agouti and two species of zebra? I'm hoping we get both of those things, haha.

I'm guessing this perspective comes from that 2013 Zoo Tycoon game (because I think they literally had 4-5 species of agouti) which... They, uh, went way overboard with different variations on the same animal. It was pretty absurd. Haha. I hope for quality and depth -- but also acknowledging that we definitely don't need every sub-species of every animal on the planet either.

 

[[VR] Deggial]

I might have to refine my previous post.

I am all for different subspecies (“reskins”), if they are from another continent and/or biome (hence different plant choice and resulting habitat variation) or the same continent/biome, but noticeable visual animal appearance.

I am not keen on barely visible differences (and a changed species name), but otherwise identical habitat requirements just for the sake of an increased animal roster.

 

[AndyZoos]

I might have to refine my previous post.

I am all for different subspecies (“reskins”), if they are from another continent and/or biome (hence different plant choice and resulting habitat variation) or the same continent/biome, but noticeable visual animal appearance.

I am not keen on barely visible differences (and a changed species name), but otherwise identical habitat requirements just for the sake of an increased animal roster.

I'm on the same page with you here... Sort of. If an animal is essentially the same as another in terms of size and shape and the only difference is the species name and maybe its location? I'm not too into that. Not paying for it, at least. But if it were bundled with a bunch of other DLC in a pack (where all of the other animals were more unique) or offered up for free? I wouldn't be mad at it, hah.

For example - I would imagine an exhibit for a Canadian lynx vs. a Eurasian lynx would be relatively similar (there's a size difference). If we only get a Eurasian lynx? I can suspend disbelief and incorporate that into a North American section f a zoo. I would prefer that we get that actual sub-species, but y'know... Take what I can get within reason!

 

[[VR] Deggial]

Well, N-America and Europe do have different plant choices (IIRC), so I would definitely like both kind of lynx!
Additionally, I totally agree on your argument of regional zoos! That’s why I would like an American bison as well as an European wiesent, even if the visual differences mostly boil down to size and color. (And vastly different biomes, of course!)

What I think of undesirable would be, for example a “Common Zebra” and a “Grevy’s Zebra”:

Common Zebra

Grevy’s Zebra

Sure, there are differences in the stripes and ear sizes and it’s great they do both exist ... but is this enough to warrant an additional animal in Planet Zoo? The biome (and of course continent) they live in is very similar and adding them wouldn’t add any new gameplay experience.

What also has to be considered, is the UI, in my opinion.
Currently, there is no other way to filter for an animal than to open the list and scroll through it until the desired animal is found. This is already a bit unwieldy and with more animals in the future, the situation won’t get better. I don’t think, cluttering it with just more of the same is beneficial.
(Unrelated to the topic of “reskins”, but still relevant: it would help quite a bit, if we would be able to set the filters directly from the animal’s details screen with a compfortable button click.)

 

[AndyZoos]

Well, N-America and Europe do have different plant choices (IIRC), so I would definitely like both kind of lynx!

What I think of undesirable would be, for example a “Common Zebra” and a “Grevy’s Zebra”:

Sure, there are differences in the stripes and ear sizes and it’s great they do both exist ... but is this enough to warrant an additional animal in Planet Zoo? The biome (and of course continent) they live in is very similar and adding them wouldn’t add any new gameplay experience.

What also has to be considered, is the UI, in my opinion.
Currently, there is no other way to filter for an animal than to open the list and scroll through it until the desired animal is found. This is already a bit unwieldy and with more animals in the future, the situation won’t get better. I don’t think, cluttering it with just more of the same is beneficial.
(Unrelated to the topic of “reskins”, but still relevant: it would help quite a bit, if we would be able to set the filters directly from the animal’s details screen with a compfortable button click.)

Trust me, I would prefer to have more options available even if the visual differences are subtle--and the animal is from a different region with different foliage, etc. I'm just saying that if I had to? I could get over that and create the habitat with foliage that doesn't quite fit that animal for design sake (e.g., if there was a Eurasian lynx? I wouldn't be above developing a habitat using North American foliage and just calling it a Candian Lynx). It's not ideal, but I could make it work to help my "vision" come to life.

But I'm all for variety in the game and would prefer more species even if they are similar... With exceptions. And I think your zebra example is a great one. There's differences, but it's too similar to warrant inclusion IMO, and I really don't think there would be much demand for that.

WRT the UI issue you're highlighting, I really hope that Frontier adjusts this in the future and allow for filtering. I would imagine this is going to happen at some point too, given how much you can "filter down" in PlanCo... It would make sense to be ale to do this based on animal type, species, sub-species, continent/region, biome, carnivores/omnivores/herbivores, land vs. aquatic or whatever.

And if they plan on adding more animals above/beyond those in the beta? It's going to be a critical (and very helpful) addition if/when it happens!

 

[Charmmy Colour]

And don’t forget, even if it’s almost the same, it’s still a different animal for the game! I mean, it will have a zoopedia entry, icons, market parameters, objects need to recognize if it’s suitable for the species, dialog lines, etc. I’m not suggesting that it’s hard (in the zebra case, it will surely be easy for a programmer, the changes are so minimal), but that it requires space and resources.

Sure, a single reskin won’t clutter the game. But “every subspecies in the world of wild dog/horse/feline” etc. would. And it’s not like you can pick and choose what animal you want of a DLC pack -except the animals are sold separately, that I’m sure no one wants-, so you can end with thousands of reskins that clutter the files and your experience.

As pointed above, that’s what happened to that terrible Zoo Tycoon console game, and at the end, no one praised the diversity of it, because what diversity it’s on ten slightly different subspecies?

 

[AndyZoos]

And don’t forget, even if it’s almost the same, it’s still a different animal for the game! I mean, it will have a zoopedia entry, icons, market parameters, objects need to recognize if it’s suitable for the species, dialog lines, etc. I’m not suggesting that it’s hard (in the zebra case, it will surely be easy for a programmer, the changes are so minimal), but that it requires space and resources.

Sure, a single reskin won’t clutter the game. But “every subspecies in the world of wild dog/horse/feline” etc. would. And it’s not like you can pick and choose what animal you want of a DLC pack -except the animals are sold separately, that I’m sure no one wants-, so you can end with thousands of reskins that clutter the files and your experience.

As pointed above, that’s what happened to that terrible Zoo Tycoon console game, and at the end, no one praised the diversity of it, because what diversity it’s on ten slightly different subspecies?

That game had issues above and beyond the absurd number of subspecies, haha. And I think Frontier was paying careful attention to what happened with that game versus what people really wanted out of a game like this... I just hope they didn't take the critcisim of the desire for variety the right way! People want a plethora of animals, but we don't need seven species of lion. I would argue that one is enough. Similarly? Something like tigers... There were 6. That's arguably too many. I would be fine with 2-3 (Bengal and Siberian; maybe Sumatran too).

Otters are a good example too. They weren't in Zoo Tycoon, but... There are 10+ species in the world. But I don't think we need every single one. Just a "representation." A river otter from somewhere in the world (North America, Europe), small-clawed otters (Asia), giant otters (South America)... That's enough. Obviously, there are otters elsewhere in the world but they aren't quite so common in zoos. And these species live in diverse enough climates to allow for variety across zoos. And they are all relatively different sizes. So it would make sense to have them all.

But I don't think we need a North American river otter, a Eurasian otter and a Southern river otter. They all look and act fairly similarly. Slight differences, sure, but not enough to justify inclusion IMHO. (That being said, if we do wind up with that I won't complain haha. The more, the merrier!)

 

[Silhouette]

See I'm apparently the black sheep that kinda enjoyed all the subspecies ZT2013 had xD Was it overkill? Yes, but also pointed out to me just how many different subspecies for animals there are. Never really thought before that there's actually different species of giraffe, or cougar, for example.

And people complaining now how they don't want any more bears... Man I loved all the bear species in ZT2013! Made myself a bear conservation park and was quite thrilled with that. Now, I wouldn't really be able to do that because as of right now we only have 3 different types of bears.

I get people want better diversity, I do. But it also shouldn't be said that no one would want a variety of sub species, just because they might not be vocal about it. While yes most of the community will want a larger variety of different animals, it should still be balanced out with "reskins" because there's going to be a group of people that will enjoy that too.

Subspecies in ZT2013 pretty much were carbon copies of one another but I'd hope with a larger budget this time around, Frontier would be able to put a bit more time into making them have a more aesthetically noticable difference between them.

 

[AndyZoos]

See I'm apparently the black sheep that kinda enjoyed all the subspecies ZT2013 had xD Was it overkill? Yes, but also pointed out to me just how many different subspecies for animals there are. Never really thought before that there's actually different species of giraffe, or cougar, for example.

And people complaining now how they don't want any more bears... Man I loved all the bear species in ZT2013! Made myself a bear conservation park and was quite thrilled with that. Now, I wouldn't really be able to do that because as of right now we only have 3 different types of bears.

I get people want better diversity, I do. But it also shouldn't be said that no one would want a variety of sub species, just because they might not be vocal about it. While yes most of the community will want a larger variety of different animals, it should still be balanced out with "reskins" because there's going to be a group of people that will enjoy that too.

Subspecies in ZT2013 pretty much were carbon copies of one another but I'd hope with a larger budget this time around, Frontier would be able to put a bit more time into making them have a more aesthetically noticable difference between them.

I think bears are another great example of variety "making sense." Sloth bears and sun bears have very different requirements and are from different regions from the current batch that we have in-game. And they look very differently as well! Compared to, say, the agouti "situation" in ZT2013. All from (relatively) the same region with similar appearance and requirements. That sort of variety is definitely important to me! Similarly, I think masai and reticulated giraffes would be nice--because of the size differences. And, frankly, in terms of keeping things interesting? It's fun to be able to say "This zoo has masai giraffes, but my other zoo has reticulated."

Sticking with animals of a smaller type, while I don't think we need a whole bunch of different agouti subspecies again? I think there's a case to be made for civets and mongeese, and providing a bit of variety there too if those get added in the game. Some of those subspecies definitely look very different, are from different continents, live in different biomes, etc.

I think a "balance" between the "reskin" thing we are talking about and brand new animal types is the way to go (at least in the beginning). That's really the only way to get true variety, right? Somebody said it earlier in this thread, but animals across the world are just... Similar. That's the way it is. And it's more efficient to use something as a base than to start something from scratch.

And to be honest, I think that would be important for the longevity of the game. For me, anyway, I'm really inspired by the animals. And how they can be "organized" within the game. And to do that you need a bunch of animals of each type. Given the allotment of animals at this moment? Most zoos are going to rely heavily on an "African plains" section. Which is fine and all, but it doesn't really inspire much in the way of creativity (for me, anyway) if the bulk of animals are all from the same biome or region, y'know?

All of this is to say that I am positive that with time? We'll get a whole lot more variety in the game! If people keep talking about it, at least.

 

[Charmmy Colour]

I hope if they decide to do subspecies, they give love to other continents at least. I get African animals are popular, but honestly I don’t care much for a lot of them.

 

[AndyZoos]

I hope if they decide to do subspecies, they give love to other continents at least. I get African animals are popular, but honestly I don’t care much for a lot of them.

I'm sure they will. Africa is really well-represented in the game thus far, but pretty much every other region is majorly lacking. I hope they put a focus on expanding the animals available in other regions first...

I think what would work really well, to help fill things out across all of the different biomes and regions is a variety of themed DLC packs. By continent/region, by biome, and by animal "type."

For example, if they did a North American DLC pack (~10 new habitat species with a spread of animal types plus other goodies), a series of biome(ish) packs with animals across the world from those biomes (temperate forests, wetlands, coastal, grasslands), and specific animal type packs (ungulates, canids, big cats, small cats) that would be a great way to be sure there's diversity so long as they plan it out (and I'm sure Frontier has a plan in place already for this).

South America, for example, is VERY light right now. But with a South American-themed DLC pack, a "rainforest" DLC pack (assuming there's 10 in a pack, they could do 2-3 from each continent that has that biome), and different animal packs (say they do one with "wild dogs" -- making sure the maned wolf is in there)... That could go a long way!

That's not to downplay how much work this would all take for the devs, but I would be so so excited if this is the approach that they took! Because I don't see any one DLC pack having enough animals in it to really satisfy the sort of variety I am hoping for.

 

[Barje]

As i said before, i agree with species that differ from themselves by something other than continent. If model/skin/biome/other thing is differ,this makes sense. Thats why im kinda tired of the himalayan brown bear idea,as it's just grizzly bear with basically everything same except living place. I like the idea of grevy's zebra(tight stripes)/plains zebra(wide stripes), siberian tiger(taiga,thick fur)/bengal tiger(rainforest,slim) reticulated giraffe(reticulated)/massai giraffe(more irregular pattern) and also im huge fan of bear difference,id like to have all of the species that have their own special pattern, brown bear,polar bear,giant panda,spectacled bear,asiatic black bear,sloth bear and malayan bear) i know we wont propably have all of them,but id appreciate it very much. Its not the case of XBOX zoo tycoon,where we had basically the same animals with different names.

 

[Maxsrysrm]

Let me think, saola could be in Vietnam Pack, I know