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

[random goat]

Indeed, if we have a lot of species the only problem would be some additional lag when loading the animal market. The same happened in ZT2 when you had many downloaded animals. But nothing would change, as far as I'm aware, in terms of game performance while actually playing, managing or building.

Also, it's been countless times that people have suggested adding continent, biome and/or taxonomy filters in the animal market, which would alleviate this potential lag. Another option which would make everything easier and less laggy would be having only one slot per species, instead of the 2 males and 2 females that we have now. Once you click in that slot, another tab would open where you could choose the gender, the coat variation and even the genetic quality and the origin of the animal (pet, another zoo, rescued, etc.). This should be feasible at least in all offline gamemodes and would make the animal list much shorter.

 

[NL_Mutso]

I actually do agree that PZ shouldn't need to compete with PK, but it just appears to be the case. Now I will say the "content creator" issue I mentioned isn't really an issue of PZ so much as the content creators chasing the next big thing

I'm not fully conviced that will happen, we'll just see. Maybe seen too many indie companies claiming to be the next big thing and don't deliver. A few years ago saw some articles about 75% of indie games will remain unknown to the general public or fail (mainly marketing issues).

But some have been highly successfull, Stardew Valley. and even City: Skylines (not an indie) taking over the #1 spot from Simcity when it comes to city building. Simcity messed up big time with that - that game should've never been released in that state. The problem with EA is, they "fix" it to a certain degree and if that fails, just pull the plug and City: Skylines seized their moment.

Hope the game will be successfull. You are right about certain features (why don't we have that) but PK will have it's own issues.
Also don't know if it's smart to release a sim & management game as early access. You'll need to update those features on a regular basis because the ea version will be basic on many features.
In the end: I think PK will "suffer" like PZ does, on YT seen people expecting this game to have certain features or eventually get certain features (not announced by dev).
At least the people on Discord are trying to lower that expectation: "It could take a few years to get all promised features etc. Or maybe they have to cancel certain features.

We got some people talking about the game but you need to have some interest in dinos.
Some people keep mentioning it, but will they actually buy it or just use it as comparison? (Like: PK has this, Frontier please add this to the game)
I think building habitats for dinos/extinct animals isn't interesting if those animals aren't interesting to you in the first place. Again same applies if you aren't that interested in zoo animals.

Issue is PK I believe is the wakeup call that PZ is gonna need to realize, no, your community is not really "on board" with the current roadmap. The current dlc setup. The current content output

There are similarities with PZ before launch on this one.
I'm not sure that's the view of the entire community.
Btw, who knows how long it will take to get DLC with PK.
My concern with PK is that the game will be in a very basic state when they release it and people will abandon it before it actually becomes a complete game.

 

[Bearcat9948]

I’m not sure that’s fair as I don’t see anything that suggests a consensus on aquariums whether for fish or aquatic mammals or a huge demand. It’s not a priority for me, for example, and when it comes to cetaceans I’m actively opposed as are many/most people here.

I'm not picking a side on this issue (as far as small aquariums fish etc. I'm fine either way) but I just want to take this opportunity that the PZ forums are not the only place that the PZ community is active. There are several hundreds more people on the PZ subreddit for instance, than there are here, and what is popular here is not necessarily popular there, and vice versa. I just wanted to throw that out there because I think sometimes people on here forget they're not the only ones who discuss what they want for the game in a forum like setting (and I'm not saying this about you Markun, just a general statement).

I can say that aquarium features are definitely more requested on the subreddit then they are here, but I think most people there are against things like cetaceans being added.

 

[Swjosdotschka]

I heard the "we need wahles and dolphins" argument mostly from americans (no offense) and to me it's just a sign of cultural differences. Where in most parts of europe it's seen more and more critical and would maybe even harm Frontier with their customer base, in the us market it would maybe hurt them not to do it. I know some US players aren't even aware that it is a controversal topic here and that most of us don't have their opinion only from the black fish documentary.

I'm absolutely sure it's not the "only right direction" and that there is no otehr ways of prolonging and saving the games lifespan.

 

[DarthQuell]

Well, Frontier announced that something will be happening this month. The way they're saying makes me think (remember, I'm kind of new here) that they're adding some special feature. I could be wrong, I likely will be wrong. But who knows what their long-term plan is. It could even be that they already are going to add all the requested features, but they're waiting for the right time

 

[LN]

I heard the "we need wahles and dolphins" argument mostly from americans (no offense) and to me it's just a sign of cultural differences. Where in most parts of europe it's seen more and more critical and would maybe even harm Frontier with their customer base, in the us market it would maybe hurt them not to do it. I know some US players aren't even aware that it is a controversal topic here and that most of us don't have their opinion only from the black fish documentary.

I'm absolutely sure it's not the "only right direction" and that there is no otehr ways of prolonging and saving the games lifespan.

I'm glad the EU has taken this topic seriously. Dolphinarium in the Netherlands is under serious scrutiny by the Dutch government because of the bad conditions the animals live under.

I'm not saying this should be an example to the rest of the world, but at least they are doing things to make living conditions for these animals better in some way.

I've been there on a visit 3 years ago and raised serious questions to myself wether it is good or not, more so compared to other Zoo's. It's a delicate subject, that's for sure.
And different opinions about that are all over the world, which complicates things even more.

 

[Swjosdotschka]

Well, Frontier announced that something will be happening this month. The way they're saying makes me think (remember, I'm kind of new here) that they're adding some special feature. I could be wrong, I likely will be wrong. But who knows what their long-term plan is. It could even be that they already are going to add all the requested features, but they're waiting for the right time

They announced the other DLCs in almost the same way. Last time they (in my opinion intentionally) leaked the aquatic pack and we thought that meant a bigger DLC. It didn't. They will release update 1.5 with a new feature, but not really a deep one. And they'll announce DLC 5 and it will probably have 4 habitat animals and 1 exhibit animal + scenery pieces. We currently don't have any indication that they actually listened and will be doing something different this time.

 

[random goat]

Well, Frontier announced that something will be happening this month. The way they're saying makes me think (remember, I'm kind of new here) that they're adding some special feature. I could be wrong, I likely will be wrong. But who knows what their long-term plan is. It could even be that they already are going to add all the requested features, but they're waiting for the right time

There was nothing in the February Catch up post indicating that a new special feature or that big changes are coming. It just says that something will most likely be announced. A few months ago it was said that they were looking forward to end the year with a high note and we got the Aquatic pack and diving animations. Don't get me wrong, it was the best pack/update hands down to me. This time around it could be something major or it could well be adding 3 additional food/drinks stands and that's it.

Besides implementing diving animations to more animals, some UI improvements (looking at you, animal market filters) and performance improvements, I expect either of these in the next update:
-"Zoomakers toolkit".
-Animal personalities.
-Overhaul on the exhibit boxes system (more sizes, shapes and customisation).
-Improved hitboxes and burrowing mechanics.
-Brachiation and polishing climbing animations.
-Improvements in the path system (more flexible system, less strict with water, kerbless paths, null paths, vista points, invisible path blockage, etc.).
-Petting zoo and/or functional playgrounds.

Regarding the DLC itself, I sadly don't expect anything different from the 4+1 animals and ~200 building pieces formula.

 

[WingardiumLevicoaster]

Take this with a pinch of salt in case they change their strategy but if we follow what happened with Planet Coaster, once they are done creating the scenery packs, there might be animal packs like the rides collections. PC had 2, each with 10 rides. It seems likely that eventually this will happen.

 

[Swjosdotschka]

Besides implementing diving animations to more animals, some UI improvements (looking at you, animal market filters) and performance improvements, I expect either of these in the next update:
-"Zoomakers toolkit".
-Animal personalities.
-Overhaul on the exhibit boxes system (more sizes, shapes and customisation).
-Improved hitboxes and burrowing mechanics.
-Brachiation and polishing climbing animations.
-Improvements in the path system (more flexible system, less strict with water, kerbless paths, null paths, vista points, invisible path blockage, etc.).
-Petting zoo and/or functional playgrounds.

Wow, you are optimistic! I wish I was... so far they haven't even added diving animation to any other in game animal (though they said they would do), so I wouldn't even be surprised, if they sell us a diving polar bear as the next big update and give it deep dive requirements in addition to the already ridiculous space requirements. ^^ 8 meter deep 2000 qm deep dive area for a polar bear, how's that?

 

[NL_Mutso]

I'm not picking a side on this issue (as far as small aquariums fish etc. I'm fine either way) but I just want to take this opportunity that the PZ forums are not the only place that the PZ community is active. There are several hundreds more people on the PZ subreddit for instance, than there are here, and what is popular here is not necessarily popular there, and vice versa. I just wanted to through that out there because I think sometimes people on here forget they're not the only ones who discuss what they want for the game in a forum like setting (and I'm not saying this about you Markun, just a general statement).

I can say that aquarium features are definitely more requested on the subreddit then they are here, but I think most people there are against things like cetaceans being added.

I think it shifted down the line, the marine mammals discussion was mostly during beta/early release and somewhere last year those threads barely show up anymore. The extinct animals threads were a thing back then, now they are almost extinct.
More aviaries threads showed up on this forum last year.
Recently someone pointed out it's not the best for the game that only 1 part of the community gets a vote on new content. I hope the most requested features from all platforms gets some form of attention in PZ (if technically possibly ofc).

I've been there and raised serious questions to myself wether it is good or not, more so compared to other Zoo's. It's a delicate subject, that's for sure.

Visited the first time when i was a kid (school trip) during the time one of the Free Willy movies came out. A long time ago but back then, also controversial education for some..
Last year the Dutch version of John Oliver picked this as a topic and highlighted the unnatural behaviour of dolphins and how they use the educational parts of a law to maintain their population. I agree, it's a delicate/controversial subject and will always remain one. With the cancel/boycott "culture" on social media, companies can choose to avoid such controversies.
Think it's cultural differences as well.

 

[random goat]

Take this with a pinch of salt in case they change their strategy but if we follow what happened with Planet Coaster, once they are done creating the scenery packs, there might be animal packs like the rides collections. PC had 2, each with 10 rides. It seems likely that eventually this will happen.

Yep I wouldn't be surprised if they took this path too. In that case, though, I would hope they considered at least adding 4-5 scenery items specific to each animal too (signs, statues, decoration).

Wow, you are optimistic! I wish I was... so far they haven't even added diving animation to any other in game animal (though they said they would do), so I wouldn't even be surprised, if they sell us a diving polar bear as the next big update and give it deep dive requirements in addition to the already ridiculous space requirements. ^^ 8 meter deep 2000 qm deep dive area for a polar bear, how's that?

Yeah maybe I am!!
I honestly think that "only" implemeting diving animations to... say the polar bear and the gharial would be a veeery shallow update for Frontier. I really expect something a bit more meaningful on top of that. I hope I'm not wrong

 

[Aramar]

Besides implementing diving animations to more animals, some UI improvements (looking at you, animal market filters) and performance improvements, I expect either of these in the next update:

Another possible new feature is the highly requested customizable images. They specifically said that wasn't in their plans for 2020, so it might be in their plans for 2021.

Redarding the UI, if they add the search bar to the zoo market and the "select all" for staff, I will love the update.

 

[DarthQuell]

Who knows. My problem is I keep thinking a major update will revolve around animals, but it could also be improved UI, customizable building pieces (more than what we have, I mean) (maybe even customizable animal signs), or possibly an update revolved around guests/staff. Obviously, I prefer new animal features, but the rest is welcome, too

 

[Danny_zoo]

Another possible new feature is the highly requested customizable images. They specifically said that wasn't in their plans for 2020, so it might be in their plans for 2021.

Redarding the UI, if they add the search bar to the zoo market and the "select all" for staff, I will love the update.

I do hope that at some point this feature becomes part of the game. I have been asking for a system similar to PC billboards since day one. Frontier did elaborate that early on they ran into complications implementing this in the game. I have literally placed the building of several zoo projects on hold for over a year because of this. It is a game changer, because being able to add images into the game will elevate the realism and customization of zoo to a whole new level.

This of course would only be important for the creative side of the game, those only interested in management would not get anything out of this feature. However when you look at every single zoo out there that has been created, all other things aside, the lack of character and customization are a direct consequence of not having this feature in the game. Zoos are full of signs, info boards, accent walls, billboards, etc. Having none of this in Planet Zoo really makes the game look very sterile.

 

[Swjosdotschka]

I'd like to have bilboards. But as PZ currently is more a building simulator, I really wish they would put more focus on improving the animals. More personality, animations etc.

 

[paul78]

I believe their YouTube connection is partially to blame for this. I guess will see if there’s a major difference between the way PK does things or if it will follow a similar pattern. I do like the building pieces as I feel both are necessary for a good game but it does seem like the animals have taken a backseat to the sort of theme style game PZ seems to be more of at times.

 

[Danny_zoo]

I'd like to have bilboards. But as PZ currently is more a building simulator, I really wish they would put more focus on improving the animals. More personality, animations etc.

Yes Swojos you are absolutely right it is primarily a building simulator, to build zoos, and this feature would go a long way towards that goal. Since I built in a different style that most and using different methods I have realized that one of the biggest downfalls of most zoos created using the game, is the lack of attention to the visitor viewing areas.

Even the most detailed builds completely overlook or entirely neglect these areas. It makes sense, because there is almost nothing to be placed there in the game right now, most of the signs created just have some random lines, etc, not only they do not fit in with the level of detail of other props in the game, but they are out of scale and bulky.

It is understandable that if someone created a very realistic and visually dramatic viewing experience, they would not want to place too many of those there, because it would take away from the realism and appeal, so what is the point in building them? However when you look at the overall look of real life zoos, this is a big part of their identity. Having this feature will elevate the level of a players building design to new levels.

 

[Danny_zoo]

I believe their YouTube connection is partially to blame for this. I guess will see if there’s a major difference between the way PK does things or if it will follow a similar pattern. I do like the building pieces as I feel both are necessary for a good game but it does seem like the animals have taken a backseat to the sort of theme style game PZ seems to be more of at times.

The building pieces allow us to create the zoos, and they are very much needed, as it is diversity of foliage, features to allow us to import images so we can finally have realistic fonts etc, however, as you said the animals are the reason for all of it, so they are in my opinion the most important component. It is like a beautiful restaurant, with panoramic vistas, ambiance and a terrific location. What is this restaurant without a good menu, or a very limited amount of food, and the worse part, is that they have the best chefs in the world and equipment, it is a waste of a kitchen.

 

[Danny_zoo]

I’m not sure that’s fair as I don’t see anything that suggests a consensus on aquariums whether for fish or aquatic mammals or a huge demand. It’s not a priority for me, for example, and when it comes to cetaceans I’m actively opposed as are many/most people here.

I understand both sides of this, and there is plenty of justification for each I believe. As you said Markun, an Aquarium expansion is not a priority for me either, mainly because the zoo side of things is in need of so many features, species and scenery to finally live up to its promise. However, assuming Frontier has no plans for a stand alone Aquarium game (this would still be the way to go) once some of the very lacking areas have been improved, and the current gaps in the zoological roster have been tackled, could it work?

I have actually changed my mind about this, as it would be amazing to be able to combine some of the Aquarium features with the Zoo ones and create parks that can carry that vibe and style well. The game has serious technical performance limitations already that really cripple creative gameplay. Really detailed and realistic zoos are not possible if you want to also experience a game that does not lag excessively, so the real question is could their out of date game engine handle all of this under one le ? If the answer is no, then no I would not want to see fish/crustaceans/marine mammals at the expense of primate species, small mammals, ungulates, reptiles, amphibians, a large selection of common zoo animals still missing from the game, and of course the biggest elephant in the room, birds.