The zoo nerds are just more powerful than the dino nerds
DLC18 discussion and predictions
- Thread starter Leaf Productions
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Honestly, June feels too early for something that was said to be "later this year". If it was going to be June I'd think they would have said summer instead of later this year.
The community is notoriously extremely bad at estimating how much effort goes into creating the animals. Calling an animal like the sloth bear and the takin "more or less just reskins" is absolutely wild and shows little understanding of how much work goes into model and texture side of making an animal and an overestimation of how much the animation side of the animal plays a role.
Putting the swan as "the high effort" one, implying it isn't also using a tweaked flamingo animation set on the other hand shows how easy it is for people to misinterpret things. The majority of people never realized the Tasmanian Devil is on a readjust raccoon animation set and the vast majority still hasn't noticed all the animation work that went into the Nile Lechwe, an animal most people would classify as "a mere reskin".
With the exception of the spider monkey, which would be the first animal that requires a bigger overhaul because it uses its tail much more than any of the other monkeys we have, none of the animals mentioned would have to start from scratch or wouldn't have an animation set they could remap. Coati, tamarin, howler, mara and pelican all fall in the "adjustments to an existing animation set + adding a few new ones" which have been done for animals like the takin etc., whilst animals like the tree kangaroo require readjusting existing animation sets and adding a new climbing animation set which is something they've done for koala etc.. Again, nothing that Frontier hasn't done before at this point.
This is not a personal jab to you here, but the whole "1 to 2 high effort animals and the rest are clones" rhetoric is something that has lived in people's minds and is honestly quite easy to disproof if you take a look under the hood of the game.
I just hope they continue the trend with waterbirds! Pelicans please! 
The barnyard pack could've at least have added a mallard! It would make it so much better
The barnyard pack could've at least have added a mallard! It would make it so much better
Perhaps, im no expert at all at modelmaking etc. Tho i gotta say that maks some picks in the past even werider to me
If we go based on what we predicted this time last year its probably an island pack since that was the leading theme besides drylands which came true. I wasnt part of that thread originally so I may be wrong. It could also be highlands which was the major theme for the fall and winter threads last year.
The process of picking animals probably starts way before the budget is put in place, during blue sky planning. A lot of those factors will help define the broad roster first and foremost, and afterwards they'll narrow it down what can be done within the (time) budget but also what can be done within the mechanics of the game, etc. etc.
I think some of the picks that landed weird for us might have been picks they thought were nice animals, animals that fit the theme, etc. At the end of the day, you'd be surprised that a lot of software decisions are also made because the team wants a certain thing in their software (whether it's games or other kinds of software), not everything is always determined by the numbers. I'm glad, otherwise I wouldn't be doing the job I do
Yeah, I am sure there will be alot of "Only the X and Y animals are useful to me" and the like no matter what pack will consist off. It is very hard to please everyone when the animal needs are so individual. It is better to expect that the roster wont be just top 8 animals from meta wishlist and that there will probably be some oddballs/picks you would personally not make. Easier that way to not get dissapointed.
Yeah but they then used most of the flagship animals of the mountain, and islands pack especially in the oceania and eurasia packs.
A mountain pack i can still see, tho probably as a scenery one with something like spec bear, baboon, markhor and monal.
An Islands animal pack does have alot of very cool candiates, but those are mainly of groups frontier usually largely avoids. But mostly its ship has probably sailed because 3/4 of the main island pack animals people threw around back then are now in game.
But, Javan langur, tree kangaroo, crowned pigeon, radiated tortoise, nene, aye aye, atlantic puffin and tuatara would be one hell of a pack
Yeah that i already imagined. Gotta be quite the monkeyphobic ungulate fanclub over thereThe process of picking animals probably starts way before the budget is put in place, during blue sky planning. A lot of those factors will help define the broad roster first and foremost, and afterwards they'll narrow it down what can be done within the (time) budget but also what can be done within the mechanics of the game, etc. etc.
I think some of the picks that landed weird for us might have been picks they thought were nice animals, animals that fit the theme, etc. At the end of the day, you'd be surprised that a lot of software decisions are also made because the team wants a certain thing in their software (whether it's games or other kinds of software), not everything is always determined by the numbers. I'm glad, otherwise I wouldn't be doing the job I do
I have a question, if the selection of animals has been made from the beginning, or as many people on the forum said, the DLC and the animal lineup of the DLC have been decided a long time ago. It has nothing to do with the complexity of model production. So what considerations did they decide on the current lineup of the Farm DLC? There are obviously better choices.
Spider monkey aint expection, if you put howler in adjustment category.
Maybe local Cambridge farms noted these as important heritage farm breeds? Not much else to go on to validate why they chose these exact ones. Highland cow and American donkey are obvious choices for a petting zoo pack, the others it gets a little more difficult to say why.
I hate ANY theme next.
I want 20 last needed animal pack, with
Baboon/gelada
Markhor
Shoebill
Pelican
Honey Badger
Marabou stork
Pheasants
Muntjac
Secretary bird
Gerenuk
Spectacled Bear
Howler monkey
Walrus
Musk ox
Gaur
Ocelot/serval/pallas cat
Echidna
Tree kangaroo
Blackbuck
Scarlet ibis
And some more I forgot
I want 20 last needed animal pack, with
Baboon/gelada
Markhor
Shoebill
Pelican
Honey Badger
Marabou stork
Pheasants
Muntjac
Secretary bird
Gerenuk
Spectacled Bear
Howler monkey
Walrus
Musk ox
Gaur
Ocelot/serval/pallas cat
Echidna
Tree kangaroo
Blackbuck
Scarlet ibis
And some more I forgot
since literally all but 2 animals are european only one of those is from outside britain probably proximity made most of the choices. I still have no idea what possessed them to choose the alpine goat out of all the goats. The highland cow has been the most common pick for cow breeds in speculation for a while alongside the watsui so that is no surprise.
They likely didnt start planet zoo with this particular pack or roster already in mind they do plan them in advance but I would say maybe a year or 2 at most.
So....maybe my previous guess was right?
Yeah probably, we know frontier visits UK zoos for inspiration and research so a barnyard dlc very much could of meant local farms to save costs on travel.
If this is the case, some of my previous guesses should be correct. I have some pictures of the "island" area of Chester Zoo. I think... I think... they may have been "inspired" by more than just animals. .
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I've long speculated that the majority of issues with monkeys is that the tails and the climbing system don't mix well. We for the vast majority have primates/monkeys that haven't got long tails or ones that can realistically keep their tails upwards during a lot of animations; so I guess that might be the reason. Again, we don't know, but I think the most logical reason is some technical reason we're not aware ofYeah that i already imagined. Gotta be quite the monkeyphobic ungulate fanclub over there
It would explain why for instance the lemur lacks an animation where it has its tail like this, even though it's quite common for them to do so.
It's not that it has nothing to do with complexity of model production, it's that it's not the only criteria that will eventually end up deciding whether an animal gets added or not.
Also, at this point in time, I'd be surprised if any model is still made from scratch but I'd also be really surprised if they made animals out of other animals (the way most modders do). Either they have a library of base-model animals (generic big cat, generic pig, generic antelope) of which they can start, or they have a library of base pieces (pig feet, cat paws) they can start their models with. That's a much more efficient way of doing things then to go "Oh we had a warthog let's make a domestic pig out of that", because that's just making things harder for no reason.
DLC line-ups are indeed done months in advance, you need to be able to plan and check if it can be done in the proposed budget, so even the animals of the next pack are most likely already set in stone at this point.
Nah, I disagree. For me it's the same story as the lemur and it lacking the tail stuff I mentioned earlier. You can still somewhat get away with making a howler that doesn't use its tail for locomotion. It's not perfect and it would be better with it, but it's a "you squint and its fine" Planet Zoo approach.
With spider monkeys, their tail is so inherently important to their locomotion and the image you have of them in your head, it simply doesn't have that grey area that the howler has. With the howler its the vocalizations that become the main feature everyone wants them to get right first and foremost, because they're know for that.
The Tropical Pack was HEAVILY inspired by this area, and Chester Zoo on the whole. The Islands area is one of the best themed exhibits in the UK!
With Chester soon to be opening a ‘Heart of Africa’ Savanna themed area, I wouldn’t be surprised to see something inspired by this!