So, I've brought this up in threads in the past, but seeing as this game is now 2 years old and none of this has been added, or even discussed in a long while, I figured I'd bring this issue back up that I would really like to see addressed.
So, let's talk animal behaviors. As many, MAAAANY people have been discussing and complaining about since the game's release, and by this point I'm sure Frontier is aware there are glaring issues, the animal behavior in this game is... well... not accurate, in the least, for many animals. Sure, the animations are nice, the walk cycles and some species-specific behaviors are right, but when it comes to social groups or social behaviors or hell, even individual personality, the game is simply very lacking.
Animals have absolutely zero individual personality. Everything they do seems to be random, except for the occasional "motivator" such as the need to eat and drink pushing them to go eat and drink. Based on hours of sitting here observing animals, reading feedback here, and so on... the animals really do just act like robots. There is no individuality. Every single individual animal of a species acts exactly the same, all the time. There are no relationships between individuals, there is no personality. There are no lions that are naturally lazier or more laid back than others, there are no particularly feisty lionesses, or any kind of unique difference in personality behaviors. This game's biggest advertising point was that animals are supposed to feel like living, breathing individuals with unique looks and behaviors... so why, then, do we have none of that? At all? Whatsoever?
Yeah, sure, we finally got color variation in an update awhile back, but its system is very basic and very lacking for some species(such as wolves, for example), being a simple .fgm edit to tweak color values. There is no actual variation in coat patterns for many species that should have it(wolves included, again, not all wolves should have that same ticking pattern), there is only one "color morph" still, for all species(albinism or melanism, never both on one species, or any other color morph)... and it's kinda extremely disappointing. We don't get any updates except for bugfixes anymore between DLCs... so none of this has been addressed, in the 2 years since the game's release, when we'd been told before that it would be, and much of this was promised before the game came out in the first place.
Now, let's get to groups. The group system in this game is... bad, to say the least. Instead of basing group sizes on any realistic factors such as space in the enclosure, personality of individuals, relationships between individuals, whether the individuals are related, whether or not the animal is meant to live in packs/herds/large groups in general, it is instead based on some hard cap, an arbitrary "max number" of adult animals you can keep together at any one time, which is simply not accurate.
Not only is the system itself inaccurate, especially considering how even solitary animals can be kept in groups just fine in captivity, but the numbers given are also HIGHLY inaccurate. Bison can live in herds of around 200, with MULTIPLE subordinate bulls in a herd- and yet Planet Zoo will only allow a single male and 15 females max, no matter the size of the enclosure or ANY other factors, before they start fighting.
Lions have been known to have two or even three to five males together in a pride, co-leading. Of course, these are usually brothers or cubs that were raised together and left their pride together- but Planet Zoo would not even allow this in THAT situation. Animals in this game do not know eachother. They do not recognize eachother. They do not distinguish between family or stranger- it's, as soon as a male lion cub grows up, he and his father and brothers are all immediately trying to kill eachother. As soon as a wolf pup grows up, the whole group of wolves tries to kill eachother. There is no individualism, they all work the same, exactly as a hivemind, a bunch of robots.
They do not feel alive at all.
So, to fix these issues, I have a few suggestions that could effectively fix this broken social system and actually add depth to the animals, making them feel more like individuals as they are supposed to, as well as fixing the arbitrary max animals in group limit issue.
--- Personality: Animals need individual personality. Whether it's one animal being generally lazier, or more active, or more hostile and harder to get along with, or friendlier and more calm than others, animals need some kind of individual personality to them. They need individual traits. A lion that is more hostile than others and may snarl and growl and swat at others in the enclosure, or a male lion that is so calm and chilled out that, if paired with another male of similar personality, they will be extremely less likely to fight and may tolerate eachother. Some animals that are lazy and get tired quickly and are generally found lazing around, others that are super energetic and active and always running around and doing things, some that absolutely do not tolerate the presence of other animals and some that are unusually friendly for their species. Some could be skittish and nervous and become stressed more easily, being extremely submissive to other animals, and some could be overly dominant.
--- Social Relationships: Alongside individual personalities, there should be some kind of personal relationship system between individual animals in an enclosure. Think something Sims-style, but one-sided- as in, Animal A can like Animal B, but Animal B can dislike Animal A. For example- when certain values are met between individuals in an enclosure, when first introduced, they may start off their relationship as either neutral or hostile. This would depend on multiple factors- personality of the two individuals, the species and their general social behavior, and the amount of space in the habitat. For example- if you pair two animals together that are typically solitary, and both have hostile personalities, they might start off hostile towards eachother and fight. Of course, there's a chance for them to be "neutral" instead if they are a male and a female and the only two in the enclosure. However if you pair, for instance, two male tigers with super laid back and calm personalities, they would also be neutral. Add in a third with hostile temperament and that third tiger would be aggressive toward the other two.
After awhile, of individuals being housed together, relationships would gradually go up. Animals could go from "neutral" to "friendly" and would be bonded with eachother, able to co-exist completely peacefully with little to no hostility. Animals who are born and raised together would be much more likely to have a friendly relationship and be able to be housed together despite normal species social behavior, such as two tiger brothers being able to get along fine while two strangers may fight. Basically, animals should form realistic bonds and relationships with others, because that is how it works in real life. Not ALL tigers are incompatible with being housed with others. Not ALL male lions are incapable of coexisting with other males, especially ones they were raised with. Anyone who has ever introduced a new cat into a household full of existing cats should understand. Cats HATE strangers in their home, usually. Still, not all- some tolerate a new kitten immediately. But a lot of cats will be extremely hostile to a new cat in the house- lots of hissing and spitting and swatting... but after awhile, they calm down. They accept the new cat. They befriend the new cat and eventually can be found snuggling together in the cat tree. Cats who were raised together as kittens can be deeply bonded for life, but still react with hostility to new strangers(but not eachother.)
Animals in this game should behave similarly, instead of just mindlessly going on a rampage the minute their social group reaches a specific number value.
--- Differences in Herd Behavior: Animals that naturally live in massive, large herds or packs or w/e in the wild should be able to do so here as well so long as enough habitat space is supplied for them. Many species that are currently limited to one single male ingame will actually have multiple subordinate males in a single herd in real life- this needs to be possible ingame as well. Yes, keep an "alpha" system for species that actually have one naturally, but that should be it- occasional butting heads over alpha status, not "fighting due to incorrect gender ratio" or ""overcrowding"". Yes, there could be an alpha bull with a particularly aggressive, territorial personality, but that shouldn't be the norm- it should be an occasional personality trait for an individual.
--- Pack System Changes: With my other suggestions regarding animal social behavior, this opens the game up to changes in how group structure could work. Instead of animals immediately "joining a pack" when placed in a habitat, and being immediately joined together with EVERY other animal in the habitat, packs could instead be formed by individuals. For example, let's use wolves.
Two wolves are placed into an enclosure. The wolves are not a pack yet, and are neutral with eachother. The two wolves befriend eachother after awhile, and they 'form a pack' with eachother. Now, you have one pack in your enclosure. You introduce a third wolf. This third wolf is not automatically a part of the pack, and in fact has a hostile personality, causing fights between the new wolf and the 'pack members'. This third wolf is an outcast and is not considered a part of your other wolves' pack. If the habitat is large enough, the outcast will attempt to avoid the pack and find somewhere farther away to exist. You add a fourth wolf. This wolf is also an outcast, but this wolf gets along well with the other outcast. The two outcasts form their own pack. You now have two separate packs in your enclosure, who may butt heads with eachother if the enclosure isn't large enough for them to avoid eachother. If the habitat is large enough- for example, if you are playing a wilderness build and the entire zoo IS the habitat- then the two rival packs would mark their own, individual territories where they generally stick to, if both packs are provided with suitable locations within the habitat with accessible shelter and enrichment away from the other pack. If you do have two packs in one enclosure, but do not have enough space for them to avoid eachother, or you only have one 'den area' with shelter, food, and enrichment, then the two packs will be forced to interact with eachother through being forced to use items in the same area and may fight- or, potentially, merge if relationships can be improved. One wolf could even leave their pack to join the other if they breed with an individual within the rival pack, or some individual wolves may simply not fight wolves in the rival pack if their personal relationship is not hostile(more common between opposite sex than same sex.) Any pups born would automatically join their parents' pack. This would allow for much more dynamic and interesting interactions between animals, including pack rivalries or outcasts and so on.
We just need a lot more animal individualism, and better social behavior. Not only would this make the game about 100x more fun and interesting, giving people more of an incentive to actually KEEP PLAYING and not just get bored after awhile(a problem I myself have run into. I rarely play the game anymore, because I care more about the animals than building, and because the animal behavior is so boring and lackluster... I get bored and don't bother playing), but it would also add a bit more of a challenge as well, now managing animal personalities and relationships and potential conflicts that may result between individuals because of it.
Now, another thing.............
--- Realistic Prey/Predator Interaction Behaviors: Yeah, I know, "it's a zoo game", whatever. I've heard that argument against this a million times and I'm gonna be honest, I don't care. I would still like to see animals display their natural behaviors in a more realistic fashion if they are put in a position in which predators are interacting with prey, because not everyone actually likes to play the game as a conventional zoo, and instead opts for wilderness builds- there is more than one type of player that plays this game. There is nothing wrong with adding in something that just gives a bit more flavor and more gameplay options. Now with that out of the way, let me explain what I would actually like to see here. IN ORDER OF IMPORTANCE:
------------------------------- Hunting Only When Hungry: Realistically, predatory animals do not expend their energy to hunt just for fun(unless they're a domestic cat...). Animals do not go on killing sprees, they do not bother with a hunt if there is already food nearby. Predatory animals ingame should seek out food in their general vicinity first, BEFORE deciding to go after a prey animal in their enclosure. This means that if an entire pride of lions is hungry, and one of them kills a zebra- they should not ALL decide to also kill their own zebras, but instead share the zebra the one lion killed. They should also only even consider a hunt if they are hungry. Literally all that is necessary is to give eating priority over hunting and make predators only hunt when hungry.
-------------------------------Predator Avoidance: Even if kept in the same enclosure, prey animals should naturally try to avoid being too close to predators. Prey animals should have a certain radius around which they become stressed and uneasy if a predator is close by- this should NOT be based on the simple fact of sharing an enclosure(in the case of wilderness builds in which the entire zoo IS the enclosure, for example), but rather vicinity, similar to animals being stressed out by guests. If a predator gets too close, and remains too close for too long, the prey animal should begin to try and move further away, or attempt to scare or chase the predator off, in the case of more aggressive herd animals(Intimidation is already a gameplay feature, for example bison and wolves).
-----------------------------------------------ADDON, LESS IMPORTANT: Prey animals with offspring could be protective towards their young, attempting to shield them from any predators if a predator is spotted by the parents- or in some cases, herd animals could display shielding behavior of the adults forming a barrier with calves in the center of the herd.
-------------------------------Potential For Escape: Given a large enough enclosure, prey animals should have the capability of escaping a predator attack. Realistically, not every hunt is successful- sometimes, the prey animal is alerted and runs away, and is too fast for the predator to catch up with. Sometimes, the predator simply runs out of energy. Predators should not be able to always catch prey, 100% of the time, simply due to persistence. Realistically they would tire out eventually. In all my time playing this game, I have never seen a prey animal evade or outrun a predator trying to kill it. In fact, I can't even recall if they even ever try to run, or just stand there until they're pounced on...
-------------------------------Stalking: This one is one I won't be too pressed about if it's not added, but it'd certainly be a nice touch. When a predator decides to hunt, it should attempt to "stalk" its prey, by keeping out of line of sight and crouching low. When 'stalking', the predator will not trigger prey animals' predator detection by vicinity, but rather by line of sight. Plants and other objects would block line of sight, potentially allowing the predator to get very close before attacking. If the predator is spotted, the prey animal that spotted it would make an alarm call to alert any herd members, and the herd would immediately begin to flee. If the prey animal is alone, it would still make an alarm call and flee. If the predator is targeting a young animal, its mother would try to defend it depending on species.
-------------------------------Pack/Pride Hunting: If a member of a pack or pride is hungry and decides to initiate a hunt, the other animals in the group could join in if they are close by. This wouldn't even require special animations or anything- it could simply work the same as it does in Zoo Tycoon: the group stalks the prey together, then give chase together, and then use their generic attacking animation together until the animal dies. Would special animations be nice? Sure, but it wouldn't even be necessary for this feature to be added and functional.
NONE of these predator/prey interactions would require ANY new animations, except for "Stalking" adding a crouching stalk to predators. Everything else could use existing animations and behaviors, simply upgraded to add more flavor.
!!!!!!!ALSO, DISCLAIMER!!!!! I AM NOT SUGGESTING A LIVE FEEDING FEATURE. That is not what this is. I am NOT suggesting to add an actual "live feeding" game feature- I am ONLY suggesting that animals react more realistically to eachother in the event that they are placed together by the player or a predator escapes into a prey enclosure. The game ALREADY has predators hunting and killing prey animals, the game ALREADY has interspecies fighting, the game ALREADY has intimidation between species- I am simply asking for the existing systems to be refined and improved on and made a little more realistic, as the game's MAIN SELLING POINT was animal realism.
So, let's talk animal behaviors. As many, MAAAANY people have been discussing and complaining about since the game's release, and by this point I'm sure Frontier is aware there are glaring issues, the animal behavior in this game is... well... not accurate, in the least, for many animals. Sure, the animations are nice, the walk cycles and some species-specific behaviors are right, but when it comes to social groups or social behaviors or hell, even individual personality, the game is simply very lacking.
Animals have absolutely zero individual personality. Everything they do seems to be random, except for the occasional "motivator" such as the need to eat and drink pushing them to go eat and drink. Based on hours of sitting here observing animals, reading feedback here, and so on... the animals really do just act like robots. There is no individuality. Every single individual animal of a species acts exactly the same, all the time. There are no relationships between individuals, there is no personality. There are no lions that are naturally lazier or more laid back than others, there are no particularly feisty lionesses, or any kind of unique difference in personality behaviors. This game's biggest advertising point was that animals are supposed to feel like living, breathing individuals with unique looks and behaviors... so why, then, do we have none of that? At all? Whatsoever?
Yeah, sure, we finally got color variation in an update awhile back, but its system is very basic and very lacking for some species(such as wolves, for example), being a simple .fgm edit to tweak color values. There is no actual variation in coat patterns for many species that should have it(wolves included, again, not all wolves should have that same ticking pattern), there is only one "color morph" still, for all species(albinism or melanism, never both on one species, or any other color morph)... and it's kinda extremely disappointing. We don't get any updates except for bugfixes anymore between DLCs... so none of this has been addressed, in the 2 years since the game's release, when we'd been told before that it would be, and much of this was promised before the game came out in the first place.
Now, let's get to groups. The group system in this game is... bad, to say the least. Instead of basing group sizes on any realistic factors such as space in the enclosure, personality of individuals, relationships between individuals, whether the individuals are related, whether or not the animal is meant to live in packs/herds/large groups in general, it is instead based on some hard cap, an arbitrary "max number" of adult animals you can keep together at any one time, which is simply not accurate.
Not only is the system itself inaccurate, especially considering how even solitary animals can be kept in groups just fine in captivity, but the numbers given are also HIGHLY inaccurate. Bison can live in herds of around 200, with MULTIPLE subordinate bulls in a herd- and yet Planet Zoo will only allow a single male and 15 females max, no matter the size of the enclosure or ANY other factors, before they start fighting.
Lions have been known to have two or even three to five males together in a pride, co-leading. Of course, these are usually brothers or cubs that were raised together and left their pride together- but Planet Zoo would not even allow this in THAT situation. Animals in this game do not know eachother. They do not recognize eachother. They do not distinguish between family or stranger- it's, as soon as a male lion cub grows up, he and his father and brothers are all immediately trying to kill eachother. As soon as a wolf pup grows up, the whole group of wolves tries to kill eachother. There is no individualism, they all work the same, exactly as a hivemind, a bunch of robots.
They do not feel alive at all.
So, to fix these issues, I have a few suggestions that could effectively fix this broken social system and actually add depth to the animals, making them feel more like individuals as they are supposed to, as well as fixing the arbitrary max animals in group limit issue.
--- Personality: Animals need individual personality. Whether it's one animal being generally lazier, or more active, or more hostile and harder to get along with, or friendlier and more calm than others, animals need some kind of individual personality to them. They need individual traits. A lion that is more hostile than others and may snarl and growl and swat at others in the enclosure, or a male lion that is so calm and chilled out that, if paired with another male of similar personality, they will be extremely less likely to fight and may tolerate eachother. Some animals that are lazy and get tired quickly and are generally found lazing around, others that are super energetic and active and always running around and doing things, some that absolutely do not tolerate the presence of other animals and some that are unusually friendly for their species. Some could be skittish and nervous and become stressed more easily, being extremely submissive to other animals, and some could be overly dominant.
--- Social Relationships: Alongside individual personalities, there should be some kind of personal relationship system between individual animals in an enclosure. Think something Sims-style, but one-sided- as in, Animal A can like Animal B, but Animal B can dislike Animal A. For example- when certain values are met between individuals in an enclosure, when first introduced, they may start off their relationship as either neutral or hostile. This would depend on multiple factors- personality of the two individuals, the species and their general social behavior, and the amount of space in the habitat. For example- if you pair two animals together that are typically solitary, and both have hostile personalities, they might start off hostile towards eachother and fight. Of course, there's a chance for them to be "neutral" instead if they are a male and a female and the only two in the enclosure. However if you pair, for instance, two male tigers with super laid back and calm personalities, they would also be neutral. Add in a third with hostile temperament and that third tiger would be aggressive toward the other two.
After awhile, of individuals being housed together, relationships would gradually go up. Animals could go from "neutral" to "friendly" and would be bonded with eachother, able to co-exist completely peacefully with little to no hostility. Animals who are born and raised together would be much more likely to have a friendly relationship and be able to be housed together despite normal species social behavior, such as two tiger brothers being able to get along fine while two strangers may fight. Basically, animals should form realistic bonds and relationships with others, because that is how it works in real life. Not ALL tigers are incompatible with being housed with others. Not ALL male lions are incapable of coexisting with other males, especially ones they were raised with. Anyone who has ever introduced a new cat into a household full of existing cats should understand. Cats HATE strangers in their home, usually. Still, not all- some tolerate a new kitten immediately. But a lot of cats will be extremely hostile to a new cat in the house- lots of hissing and spitting and swatting... but after awhile, they calm down. They accept the new cat. They befriend the new cat and eventually can be found snuggling together in the cat tree. Cats who were raised together as kittens can be deeply bonded for life, but still react with hostility to new strangers(but not eachother.)
Animals in this game should behave similarly, instead of just mindlessly going on a rampage the minute their social group reaches a specific number value.
--- Differences in Herd Behavior: Animals that naturally live in massive, large herds or packs or w/e in the wild should be able to do so here as well so long as enough habitat space is supplied for them. Many species that are currently limited to one single male ingame will actually have multiple subordinate males in a single herd in real life- this needs to be possible ingame as well. Yes, keep an "alpha" system for species that actually have one naturally, but that should be it- occasional butting heads over alpha status, not "fighting due to incorrect gender ratio" or ""overcrowding"". Yes, there could be an alpha bull with a particularly aggressive, territorial personality, but that shouldn't be the norm- it should be an occasional personality trait for an individual.
--- Pack System Changes: With my other suggestions regarding animal social behavior, this opens the game up to changes in how group structure could work. Instead of animals immediately "joining a pack" when placed in a habitat, and being immediately joined together with EVERY other animal in the habitat, packs could instead be formed by individuals. For example, let's use wolves.
Two wolves are placed into an enclosure. The wolves are not a pack yet, and are neutral with eachother. The two wolves befriend eachother after awhile, and they 'form a pack' with eachother. Now, you have one pack in your enclosure. You introduce a third wolf. This third wolf is not automatically a part of the pack, and in fact has a hostile personality, causing fights between the new wolf and the 'pack members'. This third wolf is an outcast and is not considered a part of your other wolves' pack. If the habitat is large enough, the outcast will attempt to avoid the pack and find somewhere farther away to exist. You add a fourth wolf. This wolf is also an outcast, but this wolf gets along well with the other outcast. The two outcasts form their own pack. You now have two separate packs in your enclosure, who may butt heads with eachother if the enclosure isn't large enough for them to avoid eachother. If the habitat is large enough- for example, if you are playing a wilderness build and the entire zoo IS the habitat- then the two rival packs would mark their own, individual territories where they generally stick to, if both packs are provided with suitable locations within the habitat with accessible shelter and enrichment away from the other pack. If you do have two packs in one enclosure, but do not have enough space for them to avoid eachother, or you only have one 'den area' with shelter, food, and enrichment, then the two packs will be forced to interact with eachother through being forced to use items in the same area and may fight- or, potentially, merge if relationships can be improved. One wolf could even leave their pack to join the other if they breed with an individual within the rival pack, or some individual wolves may simply not fight wolves in the rival pack if their personal relationship is not hostile(more common between opposite sex than same sex.) Any pups born would automatically join their parents' pack. This would allow for much more dynamic and interesting interactions between animals, including pack rivalries or outcasts and so on.
We just need a lot more animal individualism, and better social behavior. Not only would this make the game about 100x more fun and interesting, giving people more of an incentive to actually KEEP PLAYING and not just get bored after awhile(a problem I myself have run into. I rarely play the game anymore, because I care more about the animals than building, and because the animal behavior is so boring and lackluster... I get bored and don't bother playing), but it would also add a bit more of a challenge as well, now managing animal personalities and relationships and potential conflicts that may result between individuals because of it.
Now, another thing.............
--- Realistic Prey/Predator Interaction Behaviors: Yeah, I know, "it's a zoo game", whatever. I've heard that argument against this a million times and I'm gonna be honest, I don't care. I would still like to see animals display their natural behaviors in a more realistic fashion if they are put in a position in which predators are interacting with prey, because not everyone actually likes to play the game as a conventional zoo, and instead opts for wilderness builds- there is more than one type of player that plays this game. There is nothing wrong with adding in something that just gives a bit more flavor and more gameplay options. Now with that out of the way, let me explain what I would actually like to see here. IN ORDER OF IMPORTANCE:
------------------------------- Hunting Only When Hungry: Realistically, predatory animals do not expend their energy to hunt just for fun(unless they're a domestic cat...). Animals do not go on killing sprees, they do not bother with a hunt if there is already food nearby. Predatory animals ingame should seek out food in their general vicinity first, BEFORE deciding to go after a prey animal in their enclosure. This means that if an entire pride of lions is hungry, and one of them kills a zebra- they should not ALL decide to also kill their own zebras, but instead share the zebra the one lion killed. They should also only even consider a hunt if they are hungry. Literally all that is necessary is to give eating priority over hunting and make predators only hunt when hungry.
-------------------------------Predator Avoidance: Even if kept in the same enclosure, prey animals should naturally try to avoid being too close to predators. Prey animals should have a certain radius around which they become stressed and uneasy if a predator is close by- this should NOT be based on the simple fact of sharing an enclosure(in the case of wilderness builds in which the entire zoo IS the enclosure, for example), but rather vicinity, similar to animals being stressed out by guests. If a predator gets too close, and remains too close for too long, the prey animal should begin to try and move further away, or attempt to scare or chase the predator off, in the case of more aggressive herd animals(Intimidation is already a gameplay feature, for example bison and wolves).
-----------------------------------------------ADDON, LESS IMPORTANT: Prey animals with offspring could be protective towards their young, attempting to shield them from any predators if a predator is spotted by the parents- or in some cases, herd animals could display shielding behavior of the adults forming a barrier with calves in the center of the herd.
-------------------------------Potential For Escape: Given a large enough enclosure, prey animals should have the capability of escaping a predator attack. Realistically, not every hunt is successful- sometimes, the prey animal is alerted and runs away, and is too fast for the predator to catch up with. Sometimes, the predator simply runs out of energy. Predators should not be able to always catch prey, 100% of the time, simply due to persistence. Realistically they would tire out eventually. In all my time playing this game, I have never seen a prey animal evade or outrun a predator trying to kill it. In fact, I can't even recall if they even ever try to run, or just stand there until they're pounced on...
-------------------------------Stalking: This one is one I won't be too pressed about if it's not added, but it'd certainly be a nice touch. When a predator decides to hunt, it should attempt to "stalk" its prey, by keeping out of line of sight and crouching low. When 'stalking', the predator will not trigger prey animals' predator detection by vicinity, but rather by line of sight. Plants and other objects would block line of sight, potentially allowing the predator to get very close before attacking. If the predator is spotted, the prey animal that spotted it would make an alarm call to alert any herd members, and the herd would immediately begin to flee. If the prey animal is alone, it would still make an alarm call and flee. If the predator is targeting a young animal, its mother would try to defend it depending on species.
-------------------------------Pack/Pride Hunting: If a member of a pack or pride is hungry and decides to initiate a hunt, the other animals in the group could join in if they are close by. This wouldn't even require special animations or anything- it could simply work the same as it does in Zoo Tycoon: the group stalks the prey together, then give chase together, and then use their generic attacking animation together until the animal dies. Would special animations be nice? Sure, but it wouldn't even be necessary for this feature to be added and functional.
NONE of these predator/prey interactions would require ANY new animations, except for "Stalking" adding a crouching stalk to predators. Everything else could use existing animations and behaviors, simply upgraded to add more flavor.
!!!!!!!ALSO, DISCLAIMER!!!!! I AM NOT SUGGESTING A LIVE FEEDING FEATURE. That is not what this is. I am NOT suggesting to add an actual "live feeding" game feature- I am ONLY suggesting that animals react more realistically to eachother in the event that they are placed together by the player or a predator escapes into a prey enclosure. The game ALREADY has predators hunting and killing prey animals, the game ALREADY has interspecies fighting, the game ALREADY has intimidation between species- I am simply asking for the existing systems to be refined and improved on and made a little more realistic, as the game's MAIN SELLING POINT was animal realism.
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