Baby Dinosaur entities for "Petting Zoo", list:
If any kind of
"breeding" won't be a thing, that doesn't mean there's a zero chance of any baby dinosaurs to be implemented somehow. The in-game dinosaur entities are worked through professional AAA fields, so there's a lot of challenges for them to include babies, growing systems, and so fourth for all dinosaurs, especially since lots of them are included in priced DLCs, including skin variants. Which was why I suggested before that, should
"something" (whatever that
"something" should be) like that be implemented, be limited to a certain low number of selected species. But, if no such "breeding" will be a thing, whether or not they would be using baby dino models or what not, there's another alternative I've been thinking of.
Previously, way back when, I suggested that if a "petting zoo of sorts" be a thing, it would be a good idea to implement more small dinosaur species along with it. However, because this game aims to be
primarily faithful to its source material, they might not be able to do that with "more small dino species", and instead might be able to do it with baby dinos of existing adult dinos! The petting zoo in
Jurassic World, the
Gentle Giants Petting Zoo, contains only young dinosaurs of already existing on-screen species as adults. Perhaps they could do something similar here.
Now, as I previously speculated before, I doubt this "petting zoo", or whatever it shall be called with the film's inspiration, would be something you can place, because of how this game is made as a whole. Instead, I see it as a pre-built structure entity that you can't remove either, just like an arrival point or an operations center, but where you can still hatch baby dinos. To make things easier, how about keeping their animation rigs the same as the adults, just with entities at a much smaller scale? And instead of dying of old age, they can just move back inside some kind of shelter or what not (the same place where they will come out after hatching them), despawn, and can be either soled for profit or placed somewhere in your park. No habitat required until respawned (placed) as adults, and maybe no diseases or being able to be tranqued?
These baby dinos would be their own dino entities of already existing in-game species, instead of new species. And like before, it would be very limited to what kinds you can choose from, meaning, there won't be a choice of every dinosaur in-game to have such form for the structure. As such, I've chosen at least 15 dinos that could work, all of which are from the base game. I don't how many it would take to make it one or more too many to work on, but I did my best, number wise, with some reasonings.
1. Gallimimus: Baby versions of this dinosaur exist in the petting zoo in Jurassic World, on-screen.
2. Apatosaurus: Another species whose baby versions exist both in the attraction and on-screen in the film. Especially where one was being hand fed and another being hugged.
3. Triceratops: Little trikes exist on-screen where children can ride them, although I think that detail alone would be too much to ask as it sounds impossible. But it they do exist on-screen as well as the petting zoo itself, and if the legacy skins are to be used, this can be a chance to use the designs the baby trike from
The Lost World film (the same model design as the planned but cut baby trike for the first JP film). Although, I'm unsure if that would be possible since that means more models to work on.
4. Parasaurolophus: Another dinosaur seen at the
Gentle Giants Petting Zoo in the background, albeit miniature sized models of the adults. Since paras are a classically known dino, why not give it a baby model too? With the legacy skins, it would add more skin choices, but when does it become too many models and meshes to ask for for this idea? That's the question.
5. Stegosaurus: Yet another dino seen in the background of the petting zoo on-screen. Baby stegos aren't made for the JW films, and I'm not sure if any would appear in
Dominion. But if any are to be made, there's your break right there. A baby stego was made for
The Lost World: Jurassic Park, so if legacy skins are to be used for the concept, this would be a good opportunity to bring the 1997 baby stego incarnation in-game!
6. Ankylosaurus: A well known dinosaur that would be a good choice for such concept, especially since one, by the name of
"Bumpy", is the main dino character of
Camp Cretaceous. If some kind of "Bumpy look alike" skin option is to come like, theoretically, in a DLC/update for a supposed second season of the show sometime after the Switch port's release, that would be a good opportunity to make a baby "Bumpy look alike" for the concept.
7. Corythosaurus: Another classically known hadrosaur that I think would feel rather unfair if left out in a basic sense. By the way, young corys were seen during the herd stampede scene in
Jurassic Park III.
8. Brachiosaurus: A very famous dinosaur in the franchise that would be cool if given a baby version. However, because brachis have a total of
18 skins in-game, meaning there might be more models to deal with, I'm not sure if the dino as a whole would be a thing, or if the legacy skins as a whole won't be a thing for the entire concept as there would be
so much work to do there, along with the others I'm listing.
9. Nasutoceratops: Cute baby nasutos have existed in the film series since
Battle at Big Rock, and a prop of one is being used for the filming of
Dominion, meaning they are at least planned for the next movie.
10. Maiasaura: A non-crested hadrosaur that would add not only some variety, but also to bring in the dinosaur known to be a "good mother" by Jack Horner, who consulted in the JP films and JWE itself, to life as little babies in-game, even if both them and the adults won't be together.
11. Struthiomimus: It is the very first and one of the easiest dinosaurs you can get and purchase, so why not do something similar here?
These next four dinosaurs are carnivores, especially since baby carnivores exist in the film series as well. So, this "petting zoo" won't really be something for guests to walk along beside any dinosaur, as that sounds too much to ask for, but they can walk in and out of the path areas protected by fencing. Now, I imagine teh petting zoo having more than one enclosure, so you can have them separated, but if you mix them (if that can be possible) I wonder how that would work, animation and AI wise? I don't know about the last part.
12. Velociraptor: Baby raptors have existed since the very first
Jurassic Park, and baby versions of the Raptor Squad exist in
Fallen Kingdom. So, they could do it to the base game skins and, possibly, the JP and Raptor Squad skins, as long as the whole thing doesn't become too much to work on along with the rest of the dinos that get JP legacy skins.
13. Tyrannosaurus rex: A baby rex was a central focus in
The Lost World film, and it has one of my favorite sounds in the series. Combine that along with the dinosaur being a very famous dinosaur, why not?
14. Spinosaurus: This is another famous large carnivore in the franchise, so why leave it out over just one? It doesn't sound or feel fair enough without further clarification. Plus, this can add some good variety.
15. Indominus rex: Although this dinosaur hybrid's baby model was never properly seen as a whole, it still appeared on-screen. Imagine what it would be like to see a full baby indo model? This can be a good opportunity, as well as adding some good variety
if carnivores are to be added to the roster.
And this is it to the concept dino roster option list, should baby dinos are to be added as well as a "petting zoo" (if you can even call it that).
