Is it possible for these goals to be fulfilled while climbing? A lot of animals have a static idle animation while climbing - could a variant of this also fulfil a sleep need? Additionally, if the arboreal feeding platforms could be filled remotely (like the underwater feeder), this could potentially remove another reason for an animal to go to the ground. There may be some very good reasons that wouldn't work, but it feels to me like those changes would make arboreal habitat animals stick to their climbing frames a bit more.
🐾Developer Journal - Tropical Pack🐾
- Thread starter Lydiah Moon
- Start date
Lydiah Moon
Community Manager
Just popping in to say Thankyou so much for all the love for the development team and it's so nice hearing all your excitement and responses to this pack's dev journal!
Just under an hour to go! I'm sure everyone is so excited
Please accept my appreciation for these "behind the scenes" look. Sharing a development journal is so educational. Ahem, Frontier Devs, you have knocked it out of the park with so many of the newest packs. Please continue to be forward thinking, but please consider a rework on some past animals. Each new pack makes them appear slightly dated. Truly, in my case, the only one that is mandatory for me is the Lion. I can't help but think tht if you released it today, we would have a spectacular "king of the jungle".
Regardless of the above, I am thrilled with the direction of the game and your choices. I thank you for all the hard work!
Regardless of the above, I am thrilled with the direction of the game and your choices. I thank you for all the hard work!
I always like to read the journals and learn a little about the backgrounds of the game.
We all just ask for an animal or something else, and often we get what we want. But often people forget that there is so much work and thinking to get it all done!
When I read these articles I get an idea about all the puzzles that must be solved before an animal can make it onto the game and the more I appreciate all the work that you are doing for us.
Well ,now I'm thinking about it, I wonder if there are animals that didn't make it (yet) to the game because it is too hard to implement them?
We all just ask for an animal or something else, and often we get what we want. But often people forget that there is so much work and thinking to get it all done!
When I read these articles I get an idea about all the puzzles that must be solved before an animal can make it onto the game and the more I appreciate all the work that you are doing for us.
Well ,now I'm thinking about it, I wonder if there are animals that didn't make it (yet) to the game because it is too hard to implement them?
Well deserved! The Sloth was a major undertaking and to me, I feel like there was a big effort to try and get it in as a habitat animal, and that is just wasn't possible or realistic. As well as the other animals being done as well (in this and all the DLC). Frontier should be proud, even if they're not bringing everyone everything they want, they're doing an amazing job.Just popping in to say Thankyou so much for all the love for the development team and it's so nice hearing all your excitement and responses to this pack's dev journal!
I have an idea that could have made the sloth a habitat animal, but I'm not sure if it would have even been possible. I think you could have provided the players with different tree shelters. These trees could serve as enrichment items / shelters that sloths could interact with by climbing onto. The trees could also have a hollow where a pool of water could be stored. The tree could also provide leaves for the sloth to eat. That would mean all 3 of it's needs (shelter, food and hunger) could all be maintained with a single object, which would reduce the problem with the sloth being unable to reach it's needs in time due to it's speed. Zookeepers could restock the tree with fresh leaves and water whenever needed. Players could use multiple tree shelters inside their larger sloth enclosures to ensure the sloth always has a place to go if needed. That way it can wander around on the ground a little bit without getting too far away. Another way you could have done this is by giving the sloth a much reduced space requirement. Meaning that players could contain the sloth within a tight space if they wished to build a small enclosure. If the sloth had it's energy meter tweaked too it could get tired for longer so would spend more time in the tree shelters resting than on the ground wandering around (while it rested it wouldn't get thirsty or hungry as the shelter appeases those needs). I'll admit I'm not an expert on what you do, I'm just a person who plays your games so maybe what I'm suggesting is impossible.
I understand why you made it an exhibit animal, but I won't pretend I wasn't disappointed when I found out it wasn't going to be able to interact with the enclosure I wanted to build for it. When I heard about sloths in planet zoo, I immediately thought about the mangrove forest I wanted to build and I couldn't wait to see my sloths swimming around in the water. It was sad when I realized that wasn't going to be a thing because they won't interact with the environment I built. I generally play this game for the freedom and creativity aspect, it's fun to see animals interacting with the environments I build. It's not really fun to see them inside a box that was already prefabbed. I'd rather see the sloths hanging out in trees prefabbed for their needs, with occasional venturing on the ground for brief periods, than sloths on constant animation loops inside a box with prefabbed climbing frames.
On a final note. I understand sloths will spend a majority of their life in the jungle canopy when in the wild. They will however venture onto the ground when faced with no branches to travel across such as when roads are concerned. Considering this is a zoo and enclosures will not be jam packed full of thick tree vegetation I think it would be natural for the sloth to be venturing across the ground to travel from tree to tree or to new climbing frames. If a sloth ever found itself in a habitat where trees are spaced out I'm sure they would travel on the ground to get to new trees. It's just they come from habitats where there are dense canopies so never do that normally. Gibbons very rarely venture onto the ground either, but will do it when they have to (especially in captivity).
I understand why you made it an exhibit animal, but I won't pretend I wasn't disappointed when I found out it wasn't going to be able to interact with the enclosure I wanted to build for it. When I heard about sloths in planet zoo, I immediately thought about the mangrove forest I wanted to build and I couldn't wait to see my sloths swimming around in the water. It was sad when I realized that wasn't going to be a thing because they won't interact with the environment I built. I generally play this game for the freedom and creativity aspect, it's fun to see animals interacting with the environments I build. It's not really fun to see them inside a box that was already prefabbed. I'd rather see the sloths hanging out in trees prefabbed for their needs, with occasional venturing on the ground for brief periods, than sloths on constant animation loops inside a box with prefabbed climbing frames.
On a final note. I understand sloths will spend a majority of their life in the jungle canopy when in the wild. They will however venture onto the ground when faced with no branches to travel across such as when roads are concerned. Considering this is a zoo and enclosures will not be jam packed full of thick tree vegetation I think it would be natural for the sloth to be venturing across the ground to travel from tree to tree or to new climbing frames. If a sloth ever found itself in a habitat where trees are spaced out I'm sure they would travel on the ground to get to new trees. It's just they come from habitats where there are dense canopies so never do that normally. Gibbons very rarely venture onto the ground either, but will do it when they have to (especially in captivity).