Do planet zoo game developer really know what we want in planet Zoo game ???

[NL_Mutso]

They'd be out of their minds to try and charge for an expansion pack of $51.95 USD with the same level of content. No one would ever buy that.

Actually quite a few members on this forum mentioned willing to pay that much, only 25 animals for $50. (that's pretty close to that)
Agree with you that's an uninteresting expansion pack in 1 purchase - mentioned something similar multiple times. Don't expect many people paying that.

Comparing the base game content with DLC content is something you can't do right. Try do to this with other games as well and you come the same conclusion as well.
But I think that people who have an issue with PZ on this part, have an issue with DLC in general or with other games as well - which is a good/fair POV.

What I do think is unfair, is that the $ 9,99 DLCs doesn't have the same amount of content among them (no exhibit animal / less building pieces / no new scenarios)
And approx. $1,99 per unique animal is a fair price. When it comes to "clones", that's a different story imo.
Think it's pretty good value for it's money. That amount of extra playing hours for $ 9,99 is not something you get with a lot of games.

And the "concept of math" comment, nice to see on this part of the Frontier forum how the other side of that argument is downplayed (or an attempt to?)

 

[NL_Mutso]

But my main point was that “If you don’t agree with every single thing this company is doing, shut up and go away” is a pretty poor argument

Most people just don't bother with such companies. So basically boycott or don't buy their products at all.

When it comes to video games, a lot of people don't buy EA or Activision/Blizzard games, because they disagree with their views.
Or buy their stuff at a discount.

 

[Bearcat9948]

I mean I stand by everything that I’ve said. At the end of the day, I’m critical because I care. If I disagree with something I’ll speak up about it.

For me personally the only other scenarios would be PZ is everything I could want it to be, so I have no need to speak up and be critical of Frontier OR I just completely give up on the game/company and lose all care. I’d rather the former option be where we end up.

I’ve said pretty much all I need to say about the issue though.

 

[Danny_zoo]

I think it comes down to what that player is getting out of the game, and how much of a value they see in the game in general. How important is this game to you or anyone else? For example the wife and I visited the VOID a little while back, before it closed down for good. The VOID was a virtual reality experience operated by Disney World Resorts in central Florida that allows you to fully immerse yourself in the world of star wars. It was a truly fantastic experience, that takes the video game experience to a whole new level. However when you take away, all the prep before the experience, getting the equipment on, and learning how to properly use it, the actual virtual immersion experience lasted no more than 15 minutes. The cost of those 15 minutes of gameplay, 60 usd. If a Planet Zoo DLC cost half of that, and I get thousands of hours spreading into years worth of entertainment out of it, then I consider that a fantastic deal. That is the way I look at it, because both of the experiences are video games at their core, providing visual stimulation.

 

[random goat]

Of course,

To summarize arguments on DLC: Many People have advocated/want at least 4 DLC’s per year and a free or cheap animal monthly. Three DLC’s will not be enough and people will be impatient. They also want these four DLC’s to have double the animal content and more game features without taking out any scenery or scenarios. So they want them coming quicker and with more animals for a better price point...and they would like a monthly animal release as well

Just wanted to answer this because it is simply not true. People who want more animals in general suggest different options to tackle this (by far the most common) request. Other than perhaps the sporadic user that comes to rant and then leaves the forum without further notice, the consistent forum users are not asking for free animals nor monthly animals on top of more animals in each of the 3 yearly DLCs, etc. We're just suggesting alternatives: either increase the number of animals in each DLC, or increase the number of DLCs. If that DLC model doesn't change, offer a monthly surprise animal, or new game-changing features/challenges to compensate the low amount of animals. Even on this very thread (and others) some people have stated that adding only 2 additional animals in DLC would mean the world to them. Also I don't recall any of these suggestions being followed by a request for "cheaper content". I don't think any of this is unreasonable by any means. In fact, I believe most of these suggestions come from people who want this game to keep being successful and have a long lifespan. With the current model, there is a peak of players when a DLC releases but after 1-2 weeks the vast majority stops playing for 3 months. That doesn't look very promising to me...

To be fair...some have said Frontier will need more resources allocated to planet zoo, but in the past, that has devolved into topics saying Frontier needs to hire more people to make sure what we want is accomplished. Or they should take resources from other games to help the game I enjoy most.

We are not "entitled to this expansive post release content", but we're entitled (I guess) to have an opinion if we bought the game. I, like some more forum users, think that this game would benefit from maintaining the resources that were allocated to PZ until the game came out, which now have partially been transferred to other projects, most likely. The game has sold very well (said by Frontier) and would have so much to offer, so many possibilities, so many new features/animals if more attention was put on it.

 

[WingardiumLevicoaster]

Worth mentioning that the amount of time it takes a modder to do something is not comparable with development at a professional level within a company. Frontier have said before with regards to rides in planet coaster that each takes a minimum of 2 weeks. Many much longer. Several teams of people work on each thing. Research, design, animation, QA. It has go through all sorts of testing, sign offs and processes to make it to production on top. I think we can apply similar to animals.

 

[LN]

With the current model, there is a peak of players when a DLC releases but after 1-2 weeks the vast majority stops playing for 3 months. That doesn't look very promising to me...

I have to confess this actually also is sort of my problem a bit. Its the updates that get me back. Besides the occassional chill session.

But not only because of the game thought.
i also find it hard to allocate enough time for playing the game due to my busy week schedule (even with Covid).

Half an hour for instance is just too short to actually do things.

 

[DarthQuell]

I wasn't saying it's bad to have an opinion or be disappointed. I'm saying don't get fed up. So far, we've gotten many things that were announced or supposedly announced. Why act like Frontier doesn't care or act like they ignore us? Why act like we deserve better when all it is is a pastime, to have fun. We don't deserve Planet Zoo, it was given to us anyway. Essentially, it is a gift. You don't take a gift from someone and say: "Hey, I think I deserve more"

 

[Bobble2017]

The player base could seem to drop simply because people have more than one game to play , I have a lot of time on my hands because i am retired and have approx 20 - 30 games on my PC to choose from , because i am not currently playing PZ doesnt mean i have given up on it , Far from it i still love the games i just like to vary which one i am playing
It seems PC is finished with on the Pc , i still play it though because i enjoy building the rides and seeing them all working

I have some games on my pc i have had for years and still occasionally play them , I understand that for a games company they have to be profitable or they won't survive so they have to pick and choose what they can release and how much content they can put in each pack , usually based on the man hours it costs them to make the pack ,

For me Frontier are nowhere near as bad as EA for money grabbing with less and less content and more and more packs , Just look at The Sims 4 , base game , expansion packs , stuff packs , game packs and now set packs and each one gets smaller and smaller and dearer . I think someone worked out to buy everything it was somewhere in the region of over £ 500 for that one game , And that is now the 4th version of that game

For me Frontier have done an awesome job with all 3 of their games i have , PZ , PC and JWE

 

[12344321]

Worth mentioning that the amount of time it takes a modder to do something is not comparable with development at a professional level within a company. Frontier have said before with regards to rides in planet coaster that each takes a minimum of 2 weeks. Many much longer. Several teams of people work on each thing. Research, design, animation, QA. It has go through all sorts of testing, sign offs and processes to make it to production on top. I think we can apply similar to animals.

But someone pointed out at that rate for PZ it would have taken them 3 years just to make animal models...I would bet a lot of money it doesn't take that long.

 

[Danny_zoo]

Worth mentioning that the amount of time it takes a modder to do something is not comparable with development at a professional level within a company. Frontier have said before with regards to rides in planet coaster that each takes a minimum of 2 weeks. Many much longer. Several teams of people work on each thing. Research, design, animation, QA. It has go through all sorts of testing, sign offs and processes to make it to production on top. I think we can apply similar to animals.

That is of course understandable and how I would imagine that it works. At the same time, most of the modders as I understand it work either alone or in small partnerships with other modders, the Planet Zoo team has an entire company behind them that provides support and additional resources if needed to get the job done and stay within schedule. I do agree that making comparisons between the two is non sensical. With much respect to the modders for their passion and support, I have to say that the Planet Zoo team are also at the very top of the industry in what they do, so something that might take a modder a substantial amount of time to figure out, might be of no consequence to them.

In regards to the PC rollercoasters and rides, it makes sense as there are a number of alterations in the design, but could we say the same of altering a Red Ruffed Lemur currently present in the game into a White and Black Ruffed Lemur? One thing that I have always thought about is how versatile those rides in PC are, with the current lineup and choice of designs plus customization of the loop by players, anything is pretty much possible there. So it is fair to say that in that world, the Frontier team did a fantastic job and accounted for almost every possibility a player might want added to the game, with the exception of water parks.

Planet Zoo is such a complicated and different project, did they underestimate the scope and level of content needed to built realistic zoo simulations? We are not back in 2001-2008 when players would receive a random selection of animals, call it a zoo and call it a day. Frontier's release of Planet Zoo, their base game, set new standards, it raise the expectations of things to come, and the player base is eager to see the game grow at a slightly bigger pace than they planned for. It is fair to say however, that they kind of set the mood for these expectations, with the base game.

 

[TFG21]

But someone pointed out at that rate for PZ it would have taken them 3 years just to make animal models...I would bet a lot of money it doesn't take that long.

Assuming they had the same number of people working on base game as they do now, which I would doubt. I imagine it takes way fewer people to maintain and create additional content for a game than building a game from scratch, and a lot of those people who were initially involved in developing the base game have probably been moved to other projects

 

[WingardiumLevicoaster]

But someone pointed out at that rate for PZ it would have taken them 3 years just to make animal models...I would bet a lot of money it doesn't take that long.

They can work on multiple simultaneously depending on teams capacity. Just that one can't be created in one week. E.g. multiple animators, multiple designers. Not 2 weeks for the entire team to create a single animal.. as in several being worked on at once for initial development. Later on for DLC maybe 1 or two at a time, as some treams may be scaled down a bit to work on other projects. Some of the QA phases may be all changes combined for a release that have to be done every time regardless of how many new items/features. I'm not a game Dev, but I am a software developer and this is how things tend to work when scaling projects. Also frontier have spoken at length about their process of developing assets for games on streams, at events and more including time. Which also fits in my experience on working in multiple teams of different disciplines within a software project.

 

[12344321]

They can work on multiple simultaneously depending on teams capacity. Just that one can't be created in one week. E.g. multiple animators, multiple designers. Not 2 weeks for the entire team to create a single animal.. as in several being worked on at once for initial development. Later on for DLC maybe 1 or two at a time, as some treams may be scaled down a bit to work on other projects. Some of the QA phases may be all changes combined for a release that have to be done every time regardless of how many new items/features. I'm not a game Dev, but I am a software developer and this is how things tend to work when scaling projects. Also frontier have spoken at length about their process of developing assets for games on streams, at events and more including time. Which also fits in my experience on working in multiple teams of different disciplines within a software project.

I apologize I found that very confusing, but my understanding is multiple animal models can be worked on at the same time?

And if that's the case, fantastic because that means there's no excuse to making larger dlc with more animals!

 

[WingardiumLevicoaster]

I apologize I found that very confusing, but my understanding is multiple animal models can be worked on at the same time?

And if that's the case, fantastic because that means there's no excuse to making larger dlc with more animals!

Team capacity.

 

[Khaidu]

Do planet zoo community even know what planet zoo developers want in their game?

 

[Danny_zoo]

Do planet zoo community even know what planet zoo developers want in their game?

That would be interesting, and I would not discard it as a possibility. The devs might blow all of our expectations away with an eventual larger than life DLC. That would truly be the biggest irony of it all, if after all the silence by Frontier on DLC size questions and complaining of many of us, they were to close the series with a monumental DLC. Very possible, and maybe it was their idea from the very beginning, who knows? But I like your suggestion, and the way you did it.

 

[FoxyDee]

I feel like the era of large expansions is sadly over for most games. Gamers are usually not willing to wait for long periods for new content. I guess we around here would, but we are kind of hardcore on the game.

Whatever side you are on, I think 6 animals per pack with a slight price increase would be a nice compromise if the company is not able, or do not want to have larger packs for one reason or another (more likely tbh). Of course, that wont stop people from wanting more. But it would be a nice gesture towards their community.

 

[nutrit]

I am far from complaining and I really like current dlc concept. But of course if it’s possible I would love to see 6 animals instead of 4. But this is very unlikely to happen.

I would even more like to see new animal every month sold separately. That would be the best thing ever.

 

[Aramar]

I feel like the era of large expansions is sadly over for most games. Gamers are usually not willing to wait for long periods for new content. I guess we around here would, but we are kind of hardcore on the game.

Not only gamers. We live now in a society that wants everything as fast as possible. For example, with the streaming services, a lot of people complained when Disney+ decided to launch an episode per week instead of the full season at once. People don't want to wait anymore, and we have so many alternative products that we don't need to wait. If I have to wait to see a tv series, then I will probably watch other tv series which is already available. If I have to wait 6 months for a DLC, I will probably move to other game. That's why I think larger DLCs that require more time to be created are not very likely to happen. For a business, it's better to launch smaller DLCs more often, so that people keep coming back to the game and don't lose their interest or move to something else.