Aviaries and Birds

[LionKing94]

Hey guys! I know that many people have already made this idea before, but I think we should expand on it. So as you all know, we don't have enough birds in Planet Zoo. And there's the idea of having custom built aviaries. Although that does sound amazing, it might be a lot more complicated for the game devs than you think. So for this post, I want to give my idea of how we can still have aviaries and the types of birds we can have.

So I think that in order to avoid technical problems, we should have aviaries that are already made. They can come in different sizes and can even have different themes based on what species we add in. There can be different types of aviaries such as just having an old tree where the birds can perch themselves, birdhouses, and in the larger aviaries, guests can feed the birds. There's also the option of having zookeepers educate the guests by carrying birds and even others animals with them to let the guests get up close. So what species do you guys think should be the most qualified for Planet Zoo?

Thanks!

Macaws
Cockatoos
Cockatiels
Parakeets
Parrots
Toucans
Eagles
Hawks
Falcons
Owls
Pigeons and Doves
Vultures and Condors
Songbirds
Waterfowl (Ducks, Geese, Swans)
Kookaburra
Bee-eaters

 

[NZFanatic]

The idea of prefab aviaries has been raised many times as well. Personally I'd be happy with it but it isn't a very popular concept - the standards the community in general holds for PZ are very high and a lot of people think Frontier are miracle workers.

The aviary in JWE ought to be a good measure of what Frontier is capable of in terms of birds.

 

[NL_Mutso]

The aviary in JWE ought to be a good measure of what Frontier is capable of in terms of birds.

If they would add aviaries, my assumption would be a similar feature like JWE
Anything more detailed is a big plus.

 

[mikek21]

I would be okay with some species of birds as exhibit animals. I think the exhibits should be larger than what we have now for reptiles and insects and such, but still very similar. We should have the ability to change the backgrounds like we do today, and add appropriate furnishings. And maybe nest boxes that we mount on the walls, and when birds reproduce, the young birds emerge from the nest box.

I think exhibits like that would be good for small perching birds and maybe even small parrots and toucans. Similar to what many zoos have today. Of course the birds would need to have more animations than what the reptile and insects have. Would like to see them hopping and flying around from branch to branch.

Of course I still want the ability to design and build large netted aviaries. But birds as exhibit animals would be a nice addition too.

Ducks, geese, swans and pelicans would be nice so we can create waterfowl ponds. Cranes and storks would be good too. Shoebill storks would be awesome! And I love all species of hornbills.

Pretty sure Frontier will get birds into the games at some point. Will be interesting to see how they do it. Oh, and lets not forget penguins too!

 

[LionKing94]

If the aviaries are just like the ones from JWE, then I would be perfectly happy! And maybe we can even have different types of bats! Does anybody know what particular species of birds and bats that needs to be represented?

 

[VetGirl330]

Personally the big appeal of aviaries would be creating large mixed species indoor rainforests. In an individual cage an emerald fruit dove, for example, would hold little appeal for me or guests, but in a beautifully designed free-flight aviary with a half-dozen other tropical denizens it suddenly becomes the centerpiece of the zoo.
Of course not all birds are suited to mixed species aviaries. Raptors and hornbills are two popularly demanded groups that must be housed individually, but that doesn't mean there exhibits must be boring or small. A lot of zoos in recent years have been redesigning raptor enclosures to creative, free-flight aviaries.
For inspiration check out Eagle Canyon at Oregon Zoo:

Given how small and inappropriate some of the reptile enclosures are in the game, I shudder to see the same treatment with birds. Lining a bunch of birds up in pre-fabricated little cages would be a lot more like "PlanetPetStore" to me than PlanetZoo.
I don't have JWE but it seems like their aviary is just a larger pre-fab building that you slap down that happens to have a looped animation in it. I don't see how this is fundamentally any different than the aviary that was included in Zoo Tycoon 1 which was released in 2001.

 

[NZFanatic]

Given how small and inappropriate some of the reptile enclosures are in the game

Err...the largest exhibit reptile in the game is the green iguana, and the current exhibit size is just about perfect in terms of what zoos tend to have on display. I'd say it meets the minimum requirements quite easily. If anything, the exhibits are excessively large for most of the species available.

I don't have JWE but it seems like their aviary is just a larger pre-fab building that you slap down that happens to have a looped animation in it. I don't see how this is fundamentally any different than the aviary that was included in Zoo Tycoon 1 which was released in 2001.

The JWE aviary is huge, not anything like the Zoo Tycoon aviary. In any case, the whole point of the statement made was that the JWE aviary is pretty much the only gauge we have of what Frontier can do with birds. I also seriously doubt they'd be stupid enough to make aviaries the same size as the exhibits. Nobody has ever suggested that.

 

[mikek21]

I definitely want the ability to build large netted aviaries. And to be able to design them the way I want. But just thinking about that from a game design and animation perspective, how would that work? Is the whole aviary defined as one exhibit that keepers can tend to? I think we want it to be walk through for guests. Many average size species of birds will be difficult to spot (like in real zoos I suppose). They will need lots of flying animations in order to see them better. How will guests see them? There isn't a specific exhibit for them to stop in front of. Maybe a special aviary path with defined spots where quests would stop and look and be aware of the species in the aviary. Or maybe special perching trees where the birds land placed near the paths that guests would stop in front of. Seems like of lot of interesting game design challenges. Like I said before, I think Frontier will get more birds into the game at some point and it will be interesting to see how they do that.

 

[SotF]

With some of the bigger birds, it's possible that they could also modify the exhibit animal type thing and build from there.

Having a perch setup with display expansions and adjustments, and be something more like the zoos and parks where they take in injured birds who don't end up flying that much. Having something like the Exhibit cube as a base for it with different birds that could be put on it that move from perch to perch with different animations for it.

 

[LN]

Err...the largest exhibit reptile in the game is the green iguana, and the current exhibit size is just about perfect in terms of what zoos tend to have on display. I'd say it meets the minimum requirements quite easily. If anything, the exhibits are excessively large for most of the species available.

I agree.
Hardly any exhibit I see in real life Zoo's comes close to the minimum measurements the exhibits in Planet Zoo have (4x4x4 mtrs)*

*Still hoping for different sizes though