Eltanin Casciani
Community Manager
Hayo Zookeepers!
We're super excited about the Planet Zoo: Grasslands Animal Pack coming out tomorrow and we hope you are too! Before that though, we're back with another Developer Journal. Let's welcome someone from the Planet Zoo team to talk to us about the upcoming new Career Scenario! Are you ready to dive right in and learn all about it? Let's go!
Hayo! We're thrilled to have you take part in this dev journal. Can you introduce yourself a little bit for everyone tuning in?
Hey! My name is Kelly and I am a Graduate Scenario Designer for Planet Zoo, currently celebrating my first year with the company! For those unfamiliar, Scenario Design encompasses a lot of different elements that come together to form the Scenarios within the game, from the basic layouts to the challenges and objectives within.
The Grasslands Animal Pack comes with a new Career Scenario, can you tell us a little bit more about the new Scenario?
Of course! Our new Scenario follows on from the Twilight Pack's Career Scenario, although this time we will be visiting the Purmamarca Educational Reserve in Argentina! This is a small establishment that facilitates the rehabilitation of our animals and the education of students and visitors alike.
(Just an extra note: even though it continues on from the Twilight Pack story, you will be able to play and enjoy the Grasslands Animal Pack Career Scenario independently as we have designed the narrative to work both together and stand-alone).
Scenario designing is such a unique process in game development, what sort of research is usually done before creating any levels?
Before we start any Scenarios, it's important to look at our plans for the Pack and pick a location that best suits our theme. Then it's research, research, and more research to ensure we give our locations the justice they deserve when showing off their gorgeous landscapes.
Research into these areas does not just affect the look of the artwork and assets, as each location may have its own unique way of laying out buildings, roads, and pathways that we would want to capture in our design process.
The community seemed to find the previous Career Scenario in the Twilight Pack quite challenging, but rewarding! How do you balance each of the difficulty levels to be challenging but accessible to players for each skill level?
Personally, I try to create Scenarios with objectives that take time rather than anything that could result in the player going bankrupt so that no matter the skill level of the player, it is always feasible. Making sure our zoos are stable when running is also helpful as we would not want players going bankrupt whilst they ponder which animals to adopt.
However, this is not always possible, as seen in the Twilight Pack Career Scenario where the main challenge was profit and guest happiness. In cases like this where the player is starting in a failing zoo, there are many other aspects of the Scenario that we can tweak to help players such as starting profits and loans, or even within the Scenario design itself by providing ready-made habitats and closed shops ready for business.
Difficulty is definitely a factor in how much enjoyment our community get from these Career Scenarios, but we're curious to know the process behind creating compelling encounters in the game?
It was important for us to find a way to give the players information and tie off any loose ends, and in this case, the solution was Nancy! Where did she go after Dominic fired her? What has she been doing all this time? I for one definitely wanted to know! Fun, full, fleshed-out characters help to keep us invested in their stories, especially if we overcome some challenges together.
It's so interesting to understand more about how Scenario design works and all the intricacies behind it. What do you find is the most challenging part of creating each Career Scenario?
We have so many wonderful Scenarios and locations already in the game (and that's not even including all of the hard work our players put into their own unique zoo designs that we see on the Steam Workshop all the time!). The concept of creating completely new and unique Scenarios that they will enjoy as much as the others is a large task, as our player base is so creative and passionate about their designs (which we love!).
In contrast to the challenges, we'd also love to hear some of your personal favourite moments when working on this Career Scenario.
One of my favourite parts of all the Scenarios is the opening cinematic. It really gives you the opportunity to see the work you’ve done from a unique and unfamiliar perspective. Hearing the music for the first time whilst looking for the best angles really makes me smile.
What do you think stands out in the Grasslands Animal Pack Career Scenario compared to the other Career Scenarios?
Most definitely our new narrative and the Tour feature!
I cannot wait to hear player feedback and see the reaction to both the new story, and our new Guided Tours, which are utilised as objectives in the new Scenario. They are so unique compared to what we have in the game so far, and I have loved trying them out when playtesting.
Lastly, what is your favourite animal in the new Grasslands Animal Pack?
It has to be the Maned Wolf for me, their long legs make them look so elegant!
And that's it for another Developer Journal! Everyone give a huge thanks to Kelly for joining us and giving us such incredible insight into how the Career Scenarios are developed in Planet Zoo.
The new Planet Zoo: Grasslands Animal Pack launches tomorrow, 13 December, and you can wishlist it now on Steam. Join us tomorrow for a celebratory livestream where we'll look at the new Pack on Twitch and Youtube. Exciting stuff! See you there Zookeepers
We're super excited about the Planet Zoo: Grasslands Animal Pack coming out tomorrow and we hope you are too! Before that though, we're back with another Developer Journal. Let's welcome someone from the Planet Zoo team to talk to us about the upcoming new Career Scenario! Are you ready to dive right in and learn all about it? Let's go!
Hayo! We're thrilled to have you take part in this dev journal. Can you introduce yourself a little bit for everyone tuning in?
Hey! My name is Kelly and I am a Graduate Scenario Designer for Planet Zoo, currently celebrating my first year with the company! For those unfamiliar, Scenario Design encompasses a lot of different elements that come together to form the Scenarios within the game, from the basic layouts to the challenges and objectives within.
The Grasslands Animal Pack comes with a new Career Scenario, can you tell us a little bit more about the new Scenario?
Of course! Our new Scenario follows on from the Twilight Pack's Career Scenario, although this time we will be visiting the Purmamarca Educational Reserve in Argentina! This is a small establishment that facilitates the rehabilitation of our animals and the education of students and visitors alike.
(Just an extra note: even though it continues on from the Twilight Pack story, you will be able to play and enjoy the Grasslands Animal Pack Career Scenario independently as we have designed the narrative to work both together and stand-alone).
Scenario designing is such a unique process in game development, what sort of research is usually done before creating any levels?
Before we start any Scenarios, it's important to look at our plans for the Pack and pick a location that best suits our theme. Then it's research, research, and more research to ensure we give our locations the justice they deserve when showing off their gorgeous landscapes.
Research into these areas does not just affect the look of the artwork and assets, as each location may have its own unique way of laying out buildings, roads, and pathways that we would want to capture in our design process.
Wow! There is definitely more behind the scenes than people might think! So, after the research is done, what is your usual process for creating the new Scenario?
I usually start off with a paper design! This includes sketches and notes on what I want to achieve within the Scenario, including difficulty, any specific challenges for the players, and any new features that I would like to include within our objectives.The community seemed to find the previous Career Scenario in the Twilight Pack quite challenging, but rewarding! How do you balance each of the difficulty levels to be challenging but accessible to players for each skill level?
Personally, I try to create Scenarios with objectives that take time rather than anything that could result in the player going bankrupt so that no matter the skill level of the player, it is always feasible. Making sure our zoos are stable when running is also helpful as we would not want players going bankrupt whilst they ponder which animals to adopt.
However, this is not always possible, as seen in the Twilight Pack Career Scenario where the main challenge was profit and guest happiness. In cases like this where the player is starting in a failing zoo, there are many other aspects of the Scenario that we can tweak to help players such as starting profits and loans, or even within the Scenario design itself by providing ready-made habitats and closed shops ready for business.
Difficulty is definitely a factor in how much enjoyment our community get from these Career Scenarios, but we're curious to know the process behind creating compelling encounters in the game?
It was important for us to find a way to give the players information and tie off any loose ends, and in this case, the solution was Nancy! Where did she go after Dominic fired her? What has she been doing all this time? I for one definitely wanted to know! Fun, full, fleshed-out characters help to keep us invested in their stories, especially if we overcome some challenges together.
It's so interesting to understand more about how Scenario design works and all the intricacies behind it. What do you find is the most challenging part of creating each Career Scenario?
We have so many wonderful Scenarios and locations already in the game (and that's not even including all of the hard work our players put into their own unique zoo designs that we see on the Steam Workshop all the time!). The concept of creating completely new and unique Scenarios that they will enjoy as much as the others is a large task, as our player base is so creative and passionate about their designs (which we love!).
In contrast to the challenges, we'd also love to hear some of your personal favourite moments when working on this Career Scenario.
One of my favourite parts of all the Scenarios is the opening cinematic. It really gives you the opportunity to see the work you’ve done from a unique and unfamiliar perspective. Hearing the music for the first time whilst looking for the best angles really makes me smile.
What do you think stands out in the Grasslands Animal Pack Career Scenario compared to the other Career Scenarios?
Most definitely our new narrative and the Tour feature!
I cannot wait to hear player feedback and see the reaction to both the new story, and our new Guided Tours, which are utilised as objectives in the new Scenario. They are so unique compared to what we have in the game so far, and I have loved trying them out when playtesting.
Lastly, what is your favourite animal in the new Grasslands Animal Pack?
It has to be the Maned Wolf for me, their long legs make them look so elegant!
And that's it for another Developer Journal! Everyone give a huge thanks to Kelly for joining us and giving us such incredible insight into how the Career Scenarios are developed in Planet Zoo.
The new Planet Zoo: Grasslands Animal Pack launches tomorrow, 13 December, and you can wishlist it now on Steam. Join us tomorrow for a celebratory livestream where we'll look at the new Pack on Twitch and Youtube. Exciting stuff! See you there Zookeepers
