Good day, zookeepers!
With launch being just one week away, we are officially kicking off the countdown with a very special Developer Journal. Planet Zoo has been in development for two and a half years, and has had a huge team work exceptionally hard on bringing the life into the wildlife. Here's what some of them have to say about their favourite moments on the project, and what they're most looking forward to!
I'm Ollie Powell, I'm a Principal Animation Programmer and I've been at Frontier for five years! I've been working on Planet Zoo for a year and a half, and my favourite memory from working on the game was during the early days of developing the animals, when we put the West African Lion animations on the Galapagos Tortoise and he looked like a real mean dude.
Hey all, I'm Alex Mourant, I'm a Senior Artist and I started working at Frontier 10 years ago! I've been working on Planet Zoo for the last six months. I arrived very late on the project so missed out on a bit of the journey of the game's development, but when I started adding my work into the game I received such positive reactions from the team - so I would say that working with such hard-working and charming people was probably my highlight.
I'm Game Designer Emma Rydstrom, and I've been working on Planet Zoo for the last six months! I can't wait for the game to launch, as I'm really looking forward to seeing the cool habitats the community will build. The Common Ostrich is my favourite animal in the game.
Hello everyone, I'm Senior Visual Effects Artist David Crossland, and I've been at Frontier for six years. I've actually been working on Planet Zoo for the whole of the development cycle. Thanks to all the research that was required for the Hippopotamus's poo behaviour, I have ruined my YouTube recommendations! Even though I've spent so long looking at Hippos, my favourite animal in-game is the Timber Wolf. I cannot wait to see all the crazy zoo ideas the community come up with, that we haven't considered.
Hey everyone! My name is Marco Vergantini, I've been at Frontier for the last year and a half, and I work as a Character Artist. My favourite memory from development was trying to figure out the fur texture with my team and having fun with all the different animal furs. I've been really looking forward to seeing the reaction from people when they see all the animals in-game!
Hi everyone! I'm Gemma Craig, and I'm an Artist on the foliage team! I've spent the last 10 months working at Frontier and on Planet Zoo. The reaction from the community when we announced the project initially has to be my favorite memory. It was just amazing to see how many people were excited by what we were doing. I love the idea that we are giving people back a new and beautiful version of a game that was part of their childhood! I'm most excited to see people's creativity flourish within the game. I think we have given the community the best set of tools to do this and I can't wait to see what they create. I was blown away by some of the creations from the Beta and I can't wait to see fully functioning zoos with this level of creativity!
I'm Cheng Weng Kee (Kai), I'm an Animator, and I've been at Frontier for two years. I've been working on Planet Zoo for a year. I loved working on the Ring-Tailed Lemurs, especially anything related to their sleeping!
Heya, I'm Mark Thompson, I'm a Server Developer and I've been at Frontier for almost five years! I've spent a year on Planet Zoo. As part of the online team, we got to see just how popular the Beta was on launch day. I had my Beta Franchise set-up and waiting for testing, and I also kept an eye on the Animal Market. I called my Franchise Zootopia, which turned out to be the most popular Franchise name across all our Beta players! I'm looking forward to seeing how the online market develops and how players find their place in the trading space. I'm also looking forward to seeing some of the stats that come out of (most popular Species, most profitable franchise etc) playing the game.
I'm Senior UI Designer Montse Carné, and I've been at Frontier and on Planet Zoo for seven months. I've loved the milestone meetings, and seeing all the effort that the team has put into the game; it has been amazing.
Hello! I'm Stuart Heath, I'm a Functionality Tester, and I've been at Frontier for almost two years, and spent 10 months on Planet Zoo. For me, the best part of working on Planet Zoo has been the great banter as part of the Planet Zoo QA team including the introduction of Stripes (our giant cuddly Tiger). Overall, I've had the pleasure of working on a great project with a great team. Although we have a team Tiger, my favourite in-game animals are the Timber Wolves!
Photo of Stripes the Tiger!
Hey everyone, I'm Oscar Peterson, I've been at Frontier for over seven years, and I'm a Senior Animator. I've been working on Planet Zoo for about a year now. My favourite memory of Planet Zoo is seeing all the tech, like the weather and the fur, really come together and start to look amazing. Also, pooping. I love the African Elephants, and I'm excited to see the impossible, mega-zoos with all the crazy architecture.
Hello! I am Bernadine Pardue, I'm an Environment Artist and I have been at Frontier for under a year. One morning, when we came into work, we discovered there was an incredible bug in the game that made all of the animals really, really tiny, which was seriously cute! I love the Baird's Tapir, and I'm excited to see the interesting ways people incorporate animal climbing into their habitats.
I'm Principle Server Developer Ian Pettitt, I've been working on Planet Zoo for a year and I've been with Frontier for three years now. My favourite animal in the game is the Indian Peafowl. Looking back, my favourite memory was the first time I saw a vet collect an animal from the Trade Centre and place it in a habitat, as it was the result of so many people's hard work to get the entire system together. I cannot wait to see how the community use Franchise Mode and how they'll come together to achieve the Community Challenges.
Hi all, I'm Animator Clemence Lejeune, I've been at Frontier and working on Planet Zoo for eight months. Getting to see people play Planet Zoo for the first time at Gamescom and watching them get so hyped about it was a highlight for me. I love the Snow Leopard, and I've loved seeing the memes people have come up with surrounding the game.
Hello everyone, I am Victor Gil Lopez, I've been working on Planet Zoo for slightly over a year and I'm a Senior Animator. I had the task of animating the West African Lion cubs, and I look back on that fondly. Saying that though, my favourite animal in-game is the Red Panda! I can't wait to see the reactions from my zookeeper friends when they get their hands on the game for the first time!
Hey all, I'm Character Artist India Jones, and I've been at Frontier for over a year. One of the best things about working on Planet Zoo was testing out the fur shaders for the first time on a new animal, as they're always just a bit too fluffy to begin with. My favourite in-game animal is the Reticulated Giraffe, and I love seeing funny animal screenshots the community post on social media!
I'm Gameplay Programmer Philip Taylor, I've spent around four months working on Planet Zoo and I've been with Frontier for 14 months! I've enjoyed seeing cute things like Ring-Tailed Lemurs run across climbing frames (and also boxed animals ending up in places they shouldn't be). I'm really looking forward to some of unusual/complicated habitats that push what is possible with the terrain and barrier tools.
Hayo! My name's Jonny Cook, I'm a Senior Server Developer and I've been working on Planet Zoo for a year. When we launched the Beta, we saw so many players take part, it was incredible! However, as the team Lead responsible for the online aspects of the game, this was presenting more of a challenge than we were expecting. I adore the Crocodylus porosus, also known as the Saltwater Crocodile.
Hello everyone, I'm Senior Game Designer David Bamber, and I've been with Frontier for eight years, with over a year of that on Planet Zoo. My fondest memory was seeing predation work for the first time in-game, as it was a long road to get there! I'm super excited to spend some quality time with the animals, and I've got a soft spot for noisy Warthogs!
There's loads more people we could introduce you to, but we'd be here all day getting to know them! We're looking forward to welcoming a lot of people from the development team on the Planet Zoo livestreams in the future too, so you can meet team members from all the different areas of expertise behind Planet Zoo. You can check those out every Wednesday at 7PM GMT.
We'd really like to thank the community for all of their support over the last few months, since we first announced Planet Zoo and even before that, as so many have followed us from our other games. We're so close to launch now, and as a team, we collectively cannot believe that in just a matter of days, you'll be able to get your hands on the game we've created, loved and obsessed over for the last couple of years. We hope you enjoy it - we truly believe you will!
P.S. Did you know, 41% of the people we spoke to for this Developer Journal like pineapple on pizza! Make of that what you will!
With launch being just one week away, we are officially kicking off the countdown with a very special Developer Journal. Planet Zoo has been in development for two and a half years, and has had a huge team work exceptionally hard on bringing the life into the wildlife. Here's what some of them have to say about their favourite moments on the project, and what they're most looking forward to!
I'm Ollie Powell, I'm a Principal Animation Programmer and I've been at Frontier for five years! I've been working on Planet Zoo for a year and a half, and my favourite memory from working on the game was during the early days of developing the animals, when we put the West African Lion animations on the Galapagos Tortoise and he looked like a real mean dude.
Hey all, I'm Alex Mourant, I'm a Senior Artist and I started working at Frontier 10 years ago! I've been working on Planet Zoo for the last six months. I arrived very late on the project so missed out on a bit of the journey of the game's development, but when I started adding my work into the game I received such positive reactions from the team - so I would say that working with such hard-working and charming people was probably my highlight.
I'm Game Designer Emma Rydstrom, and I've been working on Planet Zoo for the last six months! I can't wait for the game to launch, as I'm really looking forward to seeing the cool habitats the community will build. The Common Ostrich is my favourite animal in the game.
Hello everyone, I'm Senior Visual Effects Artist David Crossland, and I've been at Frontier for six years. I've actually been working on Planet Zoo for the whole of the development cycle. Thanks to all the research that was required for the Hippopotamus's poo behaviour, I have ruined my YouTube recommendations! Even though I've spent so long looking at Hippos, my favourite animal in-game is the Timber Wolf. I cannot wait to see all the crazy zoo ideas the community come up with, that we haven't considered.
Hey everyone! My name is Marco Vergantini, I've been at Frontier for the last year and a half, and I work as a Character Artist. My favourite memory from development was trying to figure out the fur texture with my team and having fun with all the different animal furs. I've been really looking forward to seeing the reaction from people when they see all the animals in-game!
Hi everyone! I'm Gemma Craig, and I'm an Artist on the foliage team! I've spent the last 10 months working at Frontier and on Planet Zoo. The reaction from the community when we announced the project initially has to be my favorite memory. It was just amazing to see how many people were excited by what we were doing. I love the idea that we are giving people back a new and beautiful version of a game that was part of their childhood! I'm most excited to see people's creativity flourish within the game. I think we have given the community the best set of tools to do this and I can't wait to see what they create. I was blown away by some of the creations from the Beta and I can't wait to see fully functioning zoos with this level of creativity!
I'm Cheng Weng Kee (Kai), I'm an Animator, and I've been at Frontier for two years. I've been working on Planet Zoo for a year. I loved working on the Ring-Tailed Lemurs, especially anything related to their sleeping!
Heya, I'm Mark Thompson, I'm a Server Developer and I've been at Frontier for almost five years! I've spent a year on Planet Zoo. As part of the online team, we got to see just how popular the Beta was on launch day. I had my Beta Franchise set-up and waiting for testing, and I also kept an eye on the Animal Market. I called my Franchise Zootopia, which turned out to be the most popular Franchise name across all our Beta players! I'm looking forward to seeing how the online market develops and how players find their place in the trading space. I'm also looking forward to seeing some of the stats that come out of (most popular Species, most profitable franchise etc) playing the game.
I'm Senior UI Designer Montse Carné, and I've been at Frontier and on Planet Zoo for seven months. I've loved the milestone meetings, and seeing all the effort that the team has put into the game; it has been amazing.
Hello! I'm Stuart Heath, I'm a Functionality Tester, and I've been at Frontier for almost two years, and spent 10 months on Planet Zoo. For me, the best part of working on Planet Zoo has been the great banter as part of the Planet Zoo QA team including the introduction of Stripes (our giant cuddly Tiger). Overall, I've had the pleasure of working on a great project with a great team. Although we have a team Tiger, my favourite in-game animals are the Timber Wolves!
Photo of Stripes the Tiger!
Hello! I am Bernadine Pardue, I'm an Environment Artist and I have been at Frontier for under a year. One morning, when we came into work, we discovered there was an incredible bug in the game that made all of the animals really, really tiny, which was seriously cute! I love the Baird's Tapir, and I'm excited to see the interesting ways people incorporate animal climbing into their habitats.
I'm Principle Server Developer Ian Pettitt, I've been working on Planet Zoo for a year and I've been with Frontier for three years now. My favourite animal in the game is the Indian Peafowl. Looking back, my favourite memory was the first time I saw a vet collect an animal from the Trade Centre and place it in a habitat, as it was the result of so many people's hard work to get the entire system together. I cannot wait to see how the community use Franchise Mode and how they'll come together to achieve the Community Challenges.
Hi all, I'm Animator Clemence Lejeune, I've been at Frontier and working on Planet Zoo for eight months. Getting to see people play Planet Zoo for the first time at Gamescom and watching them get so hyped about it was a highlight for me. I love the Snow Leopard, and I've loved seeing the memes people have come up with surrounding the game.
Hello everyone, I am Victor Gil Lopez, I've been working on Planet Zoo for slightly over a year and I'm a Senior Animator. I had the task of animating the West African Lion cubs, and I look back on that fondly. Saying that though, my favourite animal in-game is the Red Panda! I can't wait to see the reactions from my zookeeper friends when they get their hands on the game for the first time!
Hey all, I'm Character Artist India Jones, and I've been at Frontier for over a year. One of the best things about working on Planet Zoo was testing out the fur shaders for the first time on a new animal, as they're always just a bit too fluffy to begin with. My favourite in-game animal is the Reticulated Giraffe, and I love seeing funny animal screenshots the community post on social media!
I'm Gameplay Programmer Philip Taylor, I've spent around four months working on Planet Zoo and I've been with Frontier for 14 months! I've enjoyed seeing cute things like Ring-Tailed Lemurs run across climbing frames (and also boxed animals ending up in places they shouldn't be). I'm really looking forward to some of unusual/complicated habitats that push what is possible with the terrain and barrier tools.
Hayo! My name's Jonny Cook, I'm a Senior Server Developer and I've been working on Planet Zoo for a year. When we launched the Beta, we saw so many players take part, it was incredible! However, as the team Lead responsible for the online aspects of the game, this was presenting more of a challenge than we were expecting. I adore the Crocodylus porosus, also known as the Saltwater Crocodile.
Hello everyone, I'm Senior Game Designer David Bamber, and I've been with Frontier for eight years, with over a year of that on Planet Zoo. My fondest memory was seeing predation work for the first time in-game, as it was a long road to get there! I'm super excited to spend some quality time with the animals, and I've got a soft spot for noisy Warthogs!
There's loads more people we could introduce you to, but we'd be here all day getting to know them! We're looking forward to welcoming a lot of people from the development team on the Planet Zoo livestreams in the future too, so you can meet team members from all the different areas of expertise behind Planet Zoo. You can check those out every Wednesday at 7PM GMT.
We'd really like to thank the community for all of their support over the last few months, since we first announced Planet Zoo and even before that, as so many have followed us from our other games. We're so close to launch now, and as a team, we collectively cannot believe that in just a matter of days, you'll be able to get your hands on the game we've created, loved and obsessed over for the last couple of years. We hope you enjoy it - we truly believe you will!
P.S. Did you know, 41% of the people we spoke to for this Developer Journal like pineapple on pizza! Make of that what you will!
pineaple on pizza -Purrlease don´t! 
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