Exhibit DLC

[daringStumbles]

It seems like there are a lot of features surrounding Exhibits that people want:

Aquariums: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/exhibit-rework-aquariums.574085/
Different Sizes: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/large-exhibits.587681/

I know aquariums are a bit of a hot topic, but seems like expanding Exhibits would be a great way to add aquarium features without solving for some of the more complicated water habitat issues.

I think having something like a Deluxe Exhibit DLC would be a great way to expand some of the base functionality of exhibits while fulfilling these types of requests. I think there are a few features that would add a lot to exhibits:

Updating this list periodically to account for other posted suggestions:

Window Panel Images:
* More 3d panels to select from
* Custom Images as background panels
* Inward-facing glass dome edges (magnify the contents, guests can lean closer)

Aquariums:
* Temperature becomes water temperature
* Maybe humidity becomes amount of water circulation or ph or salinity of the water

New Exhibit Sizes:
* 8mx4mx4m, 12mx4mx4m, etc
* Taller exhibits: 8mx4mx4m, etc
* Join multiple exhibits into a single one after initial construction/"turn off" glass panes where two exhibits meet
* Exhibits smaller than 4x4

New Exhibit Shapes:
* Round/Cylindrical exhibits
* Octagonal

Exhibit Animal Changes:
* Species Enrichment in larger exhibits

Additional Animals:
* Aquatic Marine Animals with the addition of Aquarium Tanks (Octopi, Jellyfish, Seahorses, Various Tropical fish)
* Aquatic Freshwater Animals (Axolot, Freshwater Turtles, Any freshwater fish, including Piranhas)

 

[12344321]

Such a proponent of this! The exhibits literally suck and then PZ charges us for one in each DLC...it just takes the spot of a real habitat animal. Make exhibits worth our money!

- For instance larger sized exhibits and maybe the ability to join exhibits together?

- What about different shaped exhibits? Taller ones for arboreal species and long horizontal ones for large snakes or desert toirtoises

- Speaking of tortoises, I would love to have some exhibit animals that benefit from species enrichment. Ie. Desert tortoises or lizards that can be housed in the same exhibit (a large exhibit)

- Aquarium exhibits are brainless...we already have Paludariums (land and water) and terrariums (terrestrial species) it's time to incorporate aquariums (fully aquatic exhibits) and we could get things like jellyfish!


These ideas are all off the top of my head, I'm not sure what Frontier has been waiting for over the past 2 years....

 

[daringStumbles]

Such a proponent of this! The exhibits literally suck and then PZ charges us for one in each DLC...it just takes the spot of a real habitat animal. Make exhibits worth our money!

- For instance larger sized exhibits and maybe the ability to join exhibits together?

- What about different shaped exhibits? Taller ones for arboreal species and long horizontal ones for large snakes or desert toirtoises

- Speaking of tortoises, I would love to have some exhibit animals that benefit from species enrichment. Ie. Desert tortoises or lizards that can be housed in the same exhibit (a large exhibit)

- Aquarium exhibits are brainless...we already have Paludariums (land and water) and terrariums (terrestrial species) it's time to incorporate aquariums (fully aquatic exhibits) and we could get things like jellyfish!


These ideas are all off the top of my head, I'm not sure what Frontier has been waiting for over the past 2 years....

For sure,

I'll add some of these to the top level comment. (I think I enabled "collaborators can edit" as well, so maybe people can add to the main list themselves, I'll try to periodically re-organize it.)

 

[jcp011c]

Yes please great idea. As exhibits are right now, I would not want a DLC of just exhibit animals. But would completely be all for a reworked exhibit design with lots of options. Small aquariums and fairly small fully aquatic animals would be great.

I don't know if aquariums as a whole are a hot or controversial topic, though certainly the idea of them not being currently available as a whole are. I think the controversy comes more from larger marine animals, cetaceans and sharks, larger fish and rays, sea turtles and such. I don't know if anyone is against the idea of small fish being included in aquariums.

 

[SalamAnders]

I think smaller exhibit sizes are more important than bigger ones. Only a few species we currently have would really benefit from bigger ones, while most of the species we got typically would be housed in smaller terrariums.

I think exhibit changes are more likely to come as a free update, since the changes would be so important that they have to be part of the base game. This update probably wouldn't include additional species. If we are lucky, there might be a few to make sure we have animals to choose from for each exhibit size.

As long as we keep getting one species with every DLC, I don't think adding a bunch at ones is super necessary. Getting various sizes (especially smaller exhibits) would give a lot of players a reason to actually use the species we already have in game, so there wouldn't be a big need for additional species at first.

 

[daringStumbles]

I think smaller exhibit sizes are more important than bigger ones. Only a few species we currently have would really benefit from bigger ones, while most of the species we got typically would be housed in smaller terrariums.

I think exhibit changes are more likely to come as a free update, since the changes would be so important that they have to be part of the base game. This update probably wouldn't include additional species. If we are lucky, there might be a few to make sure we have animals to choose from for each exhibit size.

As long as we keep getting one species with every DLC, I don't think adding a bunch at ones is super necessary. Getting various sizes (especially smaller exhibits) would give a lot of players a reason to actually use the species we already have in game, so there wouldn't be a big need for additional species at first.

Yeah, I mean end of the day, however they package it (base game vs dlc) I'll still buy it, lol. But I could definitely see some things going into the base game as improvements and some going in as DLC. Smaller than current exhibits I didn't think too much about. I know there is another thread in suggestions about re-doing exhibits to be smaller in general: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/exhibit-dlc.589617/#post-9505146 and wanted to stay away from some of the more substantial changes something like that would require.

 

[Cynogale bennettii II]

I think a reworking of exhibits is one of the things I want the most - there is so much that could be added to them that would make them feel so much more versatile.

As well as larger and smaller sizes, I would like different shapes to be included like cylindrical and wedge-shaped displays. Another feature, even if it wasn't used by guests, that I would enjoy is where the flat glass could be replaced with a hemispheric inward-facing glass dome - the picture below shows what I mean. Although the picture is of a marine aquarium, I have definitely seen this done with standard terrariums as well.

https://www.aquariumtechnology.com/wp-content/gallery/ocean/oceanhemisphereview.jpg

While I have no issue with mixed exhibits in theory (a lot of zoos have very diverse and interesting mixed enclosures), my main issue is that currently almost none of the exhibit species in-game are actually suitable for mixing - the only species I can think of in the game which have been mixed are Gila monster with western diamondback rattlesnake (at many places including Omaha, Singapore and, in the picture here, Philadelphia Zoo): https://www.zoochat.com/community/m...mondback-rattlesnake.537626/full?d=1626729520

If aquariums came, my priority would be for freshwater ones. The diversity of animals that could be usable in a freshwater display would, I feel, be higher than marine ones. It could include fully aquatic freshwater snakes like the tentacled snake, freshwater turtles like the Roti Island snake-neck, fully aquatic amphibians like axolotl and Lake Titicaca water frog, freshwater crabs, shrimps and crayfish and of course lots of freshwater fish, which can include some charismatic species like piranhas, freshwater pufferfish and maybe freshwater stingrays. As well as water temperature, the humidity for the tank could become the pH, which is often rather important for freshwater animals.

That's not to say I wouldn't want marine aquaria, just that freshwater is my preference.

I would also like a couple of added biomes for terrestrial exhibits, including a temperate display (currently most of North America and Eurasia cannot have exhibit animals because there are no displays they would fit into) and also a cave display.

Also, the ability to 'turn off' the exhibit glass altogether, so the animal could be sited within a larger non-exhibit space, could be useful. With those sorts of null exhibits, where the animals still move only within their given area, all sorts of real displays could be recreated that are currently not possible:

• Large outdoor densely planted enclosure for Gila monsters (at Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum): https://www.zoochat.com/community/media/worlds-best-gila-monster-exhibit.95446/full?d=0
• Open-topped poison frog enclosure in a tropical house (at Aquatis Lausanne, Switzerland): https://www.zoochat.com/community/media/poison-dart-frogs.388487/full?d=1520157024
• Desert house housing various reptiles, small birds and mammals, with the main attractions being scarab beetles (at Nuremberg Zoo): https://www.zoochat.com/community/media/desert-house-at-nuremberg-07-09-19.458925/full?d=1568147612

 

[12344321]

Here is an example of large upright exhibits for arboreal species. At the Los Angeles Zoo.

Here is a paludarium that has fish and terrestrial species coexisting.

This is the beaded lizard/desert tortoise exhibit at the Philadelphia Zoo. The Toronto Zoo has a similar exhibit in the African Rainforest Pavilion, however the massive terrarium is only tropical tortoises from Africa. (Couldn't find any photos)

Two examples of subterranean Naked Mole Rat exhibits (one from Disney's Animal Kingdom, Florida). These would be perfect for prarie dogs, mole rats, black footed ferrets and meerkats.

This octagonal exhibit is an example of different shape possibilities.

The jumbo gourami and archerfish exhibit from the Malayan Woods pavilion at the Toronto Zoo. Planet Zoo needs fish and birds to feel like a zoo. And this aquarium with fish coexisting is exactly what I have in mind when I say Aquarium Exhibits.

Jellyfish exhibit at the Monterrey Bay Aquarium, California. This is a perfect example of aquariums using the different shaped exhibits.

This is a gorgeous indoor South American rainforest at the San Francisco Zoo.

An indoor rainforest at the California Academy of Sciences. My dream is to incorporate the exhibits seamlessly into an indoor rainforest, or indoor pavilions in planet zoo. However, at the current moment realistic exhibits are not possible and instead I avoid using them in my zoos. At this moment I feel like exhibits take away from the realism of my zoo rather than contribute to it.

 

[DinoNerdAndSuperStar]

I was just about to suggest something similar, then I found your wonderful thread! I would also add that next to marine animals some small mammals or birds would be nice too, like jerboas, mice, hummingbirds etc. as well as butterflies.

With a bigger variety of animals, and way more options to customize your exhibits, like suggested above I feel like they could be made into an even bigger, better part of the game

 

[yoav_r]

It seems like there are a lot of features surrounding Exhibits that people want:

Aquariums: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/exhibit-rework-aquariums.574085/
Different Sizes: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/large-exhibits.587681/

I know aquariums are a bit of a hot topic, but seems like expanding Exhibits would be a great way to add aquarium features without solving for some of the more complicated water habitat issues.

I think having something like a Deluxe Exhibit DLC would be a great way to expand some of the base functionality of exhibits while fulfilling these types of requests. I think there are a few features that would add a lot to exhibits:

Updating this list periodically to account for other posted suggestions:

Window Panel Images:
* More 3d panels to select from
* Custom Images as background panels
* Inward-facing glass dome edges (magnify the contents, guests can lean closer)

Aquariums:
* Temperature becomes water temperature
* Maybe humidity becomes amount of water circulation or ph or salinity of the water

New Exhibit Sizes:
* 8mx4mx4m, 12mx4mx4m, etc
* Taller exhibits: 8mx4mx4m, etc
* Join multiple exhibits into a single one after initial construction/"turn off" glass panes where two exhibits meet
* Exhibits smaller than 4x4

New Exhibit Shapes:
* Round/Cylindrical exhibits
* Octagonal

Exhibit Animal Changes:
* Species Enrichment in larger exhibits

Additional Animals:
* Aquatic Marine Animals with the addition of Aquarium Tanks (Octopi, Jellyfish, Seahorses, Various Tropical fish)
* Aquatic Freshwater Animals (Axolot, Freshwater Turtles, Any freshwater fish, including Piranhas)

I think aquariums should be kept for their own dlc, but I'd love a larger variety of exhibits.

 

[KönigDerKaffeebohnen]

Something i would love for the exhibit is to be able to place down spawners, which you only can see using a specific filter, that could spawn the exhibit just sitting there. That way you could use nullbarriers and these spawners to do way more diversere exhibits and even incorporate for example the terrapins in ponds and stuff