Boa Constrictor reveal! Plus some questions

BaconTheDragon

BaconTheDragon
Today is World Snake Day and the reveal of the Boa Constrictor comes with it!

https://twitter.com/x/status/1151144657432326145
Source: https://twitter.com/PlanetZooGame/status/1151144657432326145


As a reptile lover this is amazing to see, but I have a few questions.

Are the exhibits for terrarium animals all the same size? The enclosure dimensions seem similar to the iguana.

Will the animals move around their terrarium? Or are they attached to a specific location? This is a big one for me.

Is this the final Boa model? I might be too critical with this one but the head seems very "cartoony"

All in all im happy to see more reptiles in the game. I just hope they are as convincing as everything else we've seen so far.
Some of my favorite animals are the smaller ones and it wouldn't be right to give them any less attention than the headliners.

Thoughts?
 

nightcat

nightcat
BaconTheDragon said:
Are the exhibits for terrarium animals all the same size? The enclosure dimensions seem similar to the iguana.
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To quote Bo Marit on this one (from Twitter): "As far as I'm aware the base exhibits will all be the same size but you can change the way they look on the inside, and also you can hide them in scenery pieces. Will double check this for you :) "

I'm really excited about the terrariums. I think we will have a lot of possibilitys with the scenery pieces to make some very unique stuff and make it look like some terrariums are smaller or bigger.

BaconTheDragon said:
Will the animals move around their terrarium? Or are they attached to a specific location? This is a big one for me.
Click to expand...
I'm pretty sure they can move around, but I'm not sure if it's officially confirmed.

BaconTheDragon said:
Is this the final Boa model? I might be too critical with this one but the head seems very "cartoony"
Click to expand...
Have to agree with you there, but it could very well be that this is just a first look of the Boa and not the final model.
 

Bo Marit

Lead Community Manager
Frontier
BaconTheDragon said:
Are the exhibits for terrarium animals all the same size? The enclosure dimensions seem similar to the iguana.

Will the animals move around their terrarium? Or are they attached to a specific location? This is a big one for me.

Is this the final Boa model? I might be too critical with this one but the head seems very "cartoony"
Click to expand...

Hiya, hope I can help!

All exhibits have the same dimensions, but you can customise them through research (enrichment), and you can also clip scenery through it - meaning you could highlight a small part of the exhibit so that your guests can see a certain angle for example.
Exhibit animals at the moment do not move around their terrarium (they are all animated though), and appear on random places in the exhibit. This means you can have variety between different exhibits containing the same species.
As for the model, of course things are still in development and changes are still being made, but we are quite far in the development cycle so I wouldn't expect drastic overhauls on any models we've announced so far - unless we've specifically said so (e.g. the Indian Peafowl was a very early model and we've since made lots of texture changes).

Hope this explains!
❤ Bo
 

BaconTheDragon

BaconTheDragon
Bo Marit said:
Hiya, hope I can help!

All exhibits have the same dimensions, but you can customise them through research (enrichment), and you can also clip scenery through it - meaning you could highlight a small part of the exhibit so that your guests can see a certain angle for example.
Exhibit animals at the moment do not move around their terrarium (they are all animated though), and appear on random places in the exhibit. This means you can have variety between different exhibits containing the same species.
As for the model, of course things are still in development and changes are still being made, but we are quite far in the development cycle so I wouldn't expect drastic overhauls on any models we've announced so far - unless we've specifically said so (e.g. the Indian Peafowl was a very early model and we've since made lots of texture changes).

Hope this explains!
❤ Bo
Click to expand...

Thank you for taking the time Bo. I cant deny I'm a bit disappointed to hear exhibit animals wont be moving freely around their terrariums.This would bring so much more life to the them. With the way things are now they come off as glorified animatronics. Is there anyway this can be looked at further down the road in development or is it nearly too big a job?

Anyways, everything else I can live with lol. The use of scenery items to direct guest attention is a good idea and is kind of a creative challenge :)

The Boa's eyes are what really throw me off. They seem glued on top of his face rather than sunken into his scales.Other than that the model looks great, especially the pattern!

I apologize ahead of time because dealing with picky fans like me can be very difficult I know 😅
 

VetGirl330

V
Of course in any game there are going to be concessions. Right now the display animals seem to be one of those sacrifices. Since this is the first zoo game where we are even getting these smaller animals, I can deal with that at the moment. I admit that I am disappointed we won't see the animals move. Kind of kills the enrichment items, basking logs, etc. if the animals can't use them. I am seriously hoping this will be an area revisited in the future. Personally I am almost more annoyed that all the terrariums are the same size. How ridiculous is it that a spider and an boa constrictor are in the same size exhibit? I would be willing to pay for a DLC, even a pricey one, that corrected these issues in the future, and of course gave us more small animals to make a herp house.
 

BaconTheDragon

BaconTheDragon
VetGirl330 said:
Of course in any game there are going to be concessions. Right now the display animals seem to be one of those sacrifices. Since this is the first zoo game where we are even getting these smaller animals, I can deal with that at the moment. I admit that I am disappointed we won't see the animals move. Kind of kills the enrichment items, basking logs, etc. if the animals can't use them. I am seriously hoping this will be an area revisited in the future. Personally I am almost more annoyed that all the terrariums are the same size. How ridiculous is it that a spider and an boa constrictor are in the same size exhibit? I would be willing to pay for a DLC, even a pricey one, that corrected these issues in the future, and of course gave us more small animals to make a herp house.
Click to expand...

I agree with you 100%. I remember hearing in one of the E3 videos something Frontier had learned from JWE was that everyone had their favorite dinosaur and that every dinosaur had to be unique to fit the fans expectations. It looks like the ball was dropped a bit here in that regard, because my favorite animals are being overlooked. Exhibit animals should be expanded on in future updates and DLC. Im willing to be patient and pay for it, as long as its being worked on.
 

Swjosdotschka

Swjosdotschka
Meh. I'm sorry for the terrarium fans. In all honesty, to me it's more important that the bigger animals are well done, since we'll see them a lot more. But I can see it's a downfall for those of us, who are fans of snakes, reptiles and other terrarium animals. I keep my fingers crossed for you that this issues will be addressed in future updates. Seeing were JWE has come from and where it is now, I have high hopes. :)
 

Lizard

L
It's a shame they won't move around their terrarium however this is somewhat realistic. A lot of terrarium animals at zoos don't tend do to a lot, they'll be stood on a branch or curled up in a corner or nowhere to be seen, for the most part, movement tends to be minimal so it would almost be a waste of time for the devs to animate them.
I hope "and appear on random places in the exhibit" means each terrarium animal has a multitude of places in the exhibit it can be found. That would add more realism to them
 

Swjosdotschka

Swjosdotschka
Lizard said:
It's a shame they won't move around their terrarium however this is somewhat realistic. A lot of terrarium animals at zoos don't tend do to a lot, they'll be stood on a branch or curled up in a corner or nowhere to be seen, for the most part, movement tends to be minimal so it would almost be a waste of time for the devs to animate them.
I hope "and appear on random places in the exhibit" means each terrarium animal has a multitude of places in the exhibit it can be found. That would add more realism to them
Click to expand...
As far as I know the devs said in the E3 demo that the terrarium animals will interact with the enrichment items you unlock through reasearch. I guess that means they can be found at random places as well.
 

Bo Marit

Lead Community Manager
Frontier
"Animals change position within their exhibits (between a number of fixed points), but only off camera. If you move away from an exhibit and come back then your animals may be in different places, and they'll be animated in these places so not completely still like statues. They can't freely move around the exhibit space like full animals can their habitats - this would be very hard (and expensive) to do, especially if we were to achieve the same kind of visual fidelity that we do for other animals."
Just some extra clarification from our Lead Programmer, hope that helps!
 

Evolution

Evolution
BaconTheDragon said:
Yes that does clear up some concern for me! Initially I assumed they would remain in the same spot the whole time.

I would still love to see some varying terrarium sizes 😁
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I agree! I would love to see spiders, scorpions, bugs, and other smaller creatures in a smaller terrarium. Maybe, they're only going to have bugs/lizards that are big and easy to see. I just hope we get a variety, because I would personally love to see a snakes like the "King Cobra, Diamondback Rattlesnake, Sidewinder Rattlesnake, Pythons," turtles like the "Alligator Snapping Turtle, Red Eared Slider", Toads, and bugs of many variety.
 
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LN

LN
Bo Marit said:
"Animals change position within their exhibits (between a number of fixed points), but only off camera. If you move away from an exhibit and come back then your animals may be in different places, and they'll be animated in these places so not completely still like statues. They can't freely move around the exhibit space like full animals can their habitats - this would be very hard (and expensive) to do, especially if we were to achieve the same kind of visual fidelity that we do for other animals."
Just some extra clarification from our Lead Programmer, hope that helps!
Click to expand...

Great to get a devs response as well and clarifying this! (y)

I reckon they are still animated when fixed on their position but not moving around in the exhibit, otherwise they would still look like statues, and with the designers skills at Frontier I have no doubt these terrariums will look great.

Having them moved around off camera is a great solution to still have that little bit of randomness.

Evolution said:
I agree! I would love to see spiders, scorpions, bugs, and other smaller creatures in a smaller terrarium. Maybe, they're only going to have bugs/lizards that are big and easy to see. I just hope we get a variety, because I would personally love to see a snakes like the "King Cobra, Diamondback Rattlesnake, Sidewinder Rattlesnake, Pythons," turtles like the "Alligator Snapping Turtle, Red Eared Slider", Toads, and bugs of many variety.
Click to expand...

Maybe those tiny creatures will be something in the future. Maybe just like the "small attractions" from Planco.
 

Swjosdotschka

Swjosdotschka
With different terrarium sizes: Maybe we can clip two or more terrariums together and leave one empty? That way it might look bigger at least. Don'z know if it's actually possible, but if it is, that could be a workaround.
 

Unlimitits

Unlimitits
Matteo said:
That's a very clear explanation, thank you Bo.
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That was expected , It would be way more difficult to let them move in all kinds of forms through decorations , plants etc. In my opinion it would be way better if we can choose of a couple of sizes. Then I would be even more satisfied ;)
 

Vigilante

Vigilante
Too bad, I am also a huge fan of terrarium animals and would like to observe them in Planet Zoo. Just with the same enjoyment as I will observe the big animals in their habitats. Especially because I own a lot of terrariums in real life. 86 to be exact. ^^ Especially if Frontier also wants to integrate hermit crabs into Planet Zoo. These little guys move a lot and are really fun to watch. Also other animals move a lot. Snakes and iguanas are not as inactive as they often seem. If you take the time and spend half an hour in front of a terrarium, you quickly notice that they also move in the terrarium and also look for food or move to the lamp to sun under it.

I don't expect the same AI as will be seen with the big animals. That would probably be a bit too much. But it would be great if they could behave like animals at least when observing. The animals then climb on a branch or go down from it to eat at the bowl. Such little things would be great.
Like many other zookeepers I hope for a patch or a DLC to add these functions. Because also for me this topic will be an interesting point. :)
But I also have to admit that I'm absolutely hyped.
 

Whats0There

Whats0There
Just want to chime in here and thank Bo for the excellent clarification. No beating around the bush, just clearly stating what we can expect, that's my fetish. The decision to not make them as resource intensive as the other animals seems entirely reasonable to me. The obvious advantage of this is that it allows for a much greater variety of terrarium animals (including birds, I would figure), since the devs don't need to develop the full spectrum of animations and AI for each species. Having said that, animals being stuck in a single animation loop got boring very fast in ZTUAC, so I'm very happy to hear that at least they can be found in different places some of the time!
 
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