Discussion Thread #3 - What do you wish you'd known before starting your first zoo?

[Eltanin Casciani]

Hayo Zookeepers,

We’re back again for another discussion topic! Last month was a lot of fun, and we’re excited to keep this going here on the forums.

Before we get started, as always, remember that this is a place for us to all enjoy chatting as a community. Please do keep in mind that these threads have set topics and refrain from discussions outside of that or they will be removed by the moderators – but don’t fret! We’ll still be keeping an eye on the rest of the forums for your feedback, suggestions, creations, and more!

So, without further ado:

What do you wish you’d known before starting your first zoo?

 

[Eltanin Casciani]

I don't actually have input for this one since I've only ever played a chunk of the career mode! I'm looking to start building my own projects soon though, so I'm very excited to use this thread for learning tips & tricks from the best

 

[LN]

I'd wish I'd knew all the release dates for the DLC's, so I know when I need to start on a habitat for a particular animal in one of the DLC's.

 

[Bearcat9948]

I'd wish I'd knew all the release dates for the DLC's, so I know when I need to start on a habitat for a particular animal in one of the DLC's.

This is unironically a very good answer, because it would help out with zoo planning a lot. I scrapped an entire park file when the SEA pack was announced because I didn't have space to put in binturongs, and if I can't put binturongs in my zoo, what's the point?!

 

[Tobs]

Don't start with the entrance!

 

[Francesca Falcini]

Donation boxes, donation boxes, donation boxes! I spent the longest time on my first zoo struggling to break even, until I started placing them! Such a gamechanger!

 

[Jens Erik]

That it's okay to hit the pause button if you need more time to build something. Just needed to make sure I don't spend too much money. Maybe more Donation Boxes?

 

[Leaf Productions]

Oh god, where to begin?

I had a beautiful first zoo. For some reason, I wanted to do a Greek-themed zoo, with an acropolis for Gorillas, a marketplace for exhibits, a ton of exhibits based off of real Greek buildings and stuff, I miss it sincerely! The one thing I regret was deleting it though, for some reason I always deleted my zoo's because I didn't like them, and it always haunted me for leaving them behind. I had such a great time making it that I wish I could go back to it.

Big F.

 

[Eltanin Casciani]

Don't start with the entrance!

This is really interesting to me since I see lot of people doing exactly this - why do you think you should start elsewhere, and where would you recommend starting?

 

[Mjmannella]

I'd wish I'd knew all the release dates for the DLC's, so I know when I need to start on a habitat for a particular animal in one of the DLC's.

Thirding this. A roadmap would be extremely handy for players wanting to plan their zoos out!

 

[Vigoga_97]

There's many things one should know or keep in mind before opening the first zoo. Here are some personal tips for newcomers or those struggling with their zoos. I always play in sandbox mode, but I think they can be useful for other game modes!

My zoos start long before I open the game. I always try to make sketches by hand of the entire zoo and the main facilities and enclosures. The benefits of doing this previous study are many, but the main ones for me are:

• It greatly increases performance. Things build faster and better if you have a picture in mind and some plans on your desk.
• They allow to distribute the enclosures and facilities in an orderly and realistic way (either because you want to keep your star animals away from the entrance, place your shops in the optimal spots, or because you want to avoid your keepers having to walk through the entire zoo to get to the enclosures from their work cabins or staff rooms!).
• You can plan in advance which slots to save for future DLCs (always recommended if you don't know what's to come! ).

Also, I always recommend dedicating the first hours to terraforming the map. Flat zoos can get boring over time, while unevenness forces you to find creative solutions. I also usually keep in mind the geographical and historical context on which I want to base my zoo, since adding lore to your park makes it something unique and special. And don't focus too much in your entrance and parking lot! Building an enclosure first may help you to get a nice building style that you can later use for the entrance building and the rest of the park!

Bonus picture from my main zoo (Naturoscope), which has always been planned in advance! ️

 

[ZSHplays]

You don't need to use the in-game barriers to keep the animals in. Null barriers and building pieces give so much more opportunity for beautiful habitats.

 

[justGoron]

Not a lot of intersting stories from my first zoos because I started them with the intent to learn and get better at the game before starting something big. When I did eventually start something big though... So many mistakes. I started recreating a real life zoo, which was too big to fit in the map, so I shrunk it down. But not enough, so I had to jump through some hoops to get everything to fit. I also rotated the zoo to make it fit "better" (it doesn't) which now causes the sun to be in the wrong spots compared to real life.

A lot of "things I wish I knew sooner" can be solved by redoing a building or an area, or are just things that help make things better or faster next time. But sometimes one rooky mistake cascades into something so big you'd have to restart your whole zoo to fix it. Too bad.

(PS it would be great it we could somehow move the position of the sun since because of the way it moves all the zoos you create are technically on the northern hemisphere (casting shadows to the north) which kinda blows for people wanting to make realistic zoos that are located below the equator. It could depend on the location you pick for your zoo on the globe for instance)

 

[Tobs]

This is really interesting to me since I see lot of people doing exactly this - why do you think you should start elsewhere, and where would you recommend starting?

It really depends. I've seen people building majestic entrances and parking lots... and then they burn out. Or halfway through you realise it was the "wrong" style for your zoo.

My advice is to start building habitats, and as you decide how your zoo is going to look like, and you get a better feel, then build the entrance.

Ideally plan ahead, but that sometimes doesn't work (like my case).

 

[peafowl]

That the terrainpaints are different from biome to biome! I wanted to make a botanical garden in the middle of the desert but the grass paints were too dull for it to really work.

 

[Famine]

That if you buy a load of animals right off the bat you'll quickly run into, ahem, money issues!

 

[Leaf Productions]

This is really interesting to me since I see lot of people doing exactly this - why do you think you should start elsewhere, and where would you recommend starting?

It's good sometimes to develop the "vibe" of your zoo from your exhibits rather than your entrance sometimes. At places, you'd first develop this grandiose entrance, meanwhile the contents of your park won't necessarily reflect the entrance that you have. Every zoo I've been doing recently, I've been just developing my parks from the inside-out, doing trails of exhibits first before I even touch the entrance. It helps you to build more of a story and more of a general theme that gets reflected on the outside of the park.

Not to mention parking lots are living hell

 

[Swjosdotschka]

I'd wish I'd knew all the release dates for the DLC's, so I know when I need to start on a habitat for a particular animal in one of the DLC's.

To be honest, even if you meant that ironical: Yes! A roadmap would have helped planning out better and actually keeping my first zoo for a longer period of time. And that, as a result, would feel less overwhelming than starting a zoo over and over and over again.

I tried to do a theming in Unity that is not region related and teherefore lets room to include dlc animals more easily, but that didn't work out as good as I thought it would.
Other than that I don't know what I would have want to kno before starting my first zoo, but actually before starting any habitat: The actual size and requirement of each animal. Habitats are soooo often out of scale that I have to rebuild several times. I wish I would have a placeholder for every animal, that we could place down to build in scale.

 

[markun]

I wish I knew that I’d get there eventually. I’d say that I underestimated what a steep learning curve it would be. I still struggle with making buildings. Exploring zoos and blueprints from the workshop helped enormously but I had a frustrating start.

 

[avietar]

Spam donation boxes.

Place ATMs! Guests can and do run out of money to spend. If you want to milk them for all they're worth, ATMs are your friend.

Build shops, because guests quickly get hungry and thirsty and will spend lots of money there. Also don't forget bins and caretakers, or you'll end up with a filthy zoo.

Place viewing areas away from the main path, or it will clog with guests.

Don't place high profile animals near the entrance.

Make sure your main path 'loops', so your guests don't need to turn around and clog your main path.

Most exhibit animals breed like crazy and quickly die, especially when played on >> (very fast)

Build with %rotation instead of free rotation, so everything easily aligns in your design.

What I did in my first zoos: place cool animals near the entrance, on a single path, too few donation boxes, forgetting ATMs, and not placing shops at all. Also placed many exhibit species for easy and quick money, then forgot them and ended up with empty vivariums. And my buildings were crooked because I only used free rotation.