Expanding Diving and the Variation System

[Joe99]

Hello guys, I have been think a little more about Planet zoo and what these new Colour morphs and Diving updates bring to the animals, really adding life to them, and how these could be added on to add more to the wonderful animals this game provides us. One of these ideas I have talked about before but i wanted to expand them here and show off how they could be applied

First, lets talk about diving. Diving really does add a lot to the animals that use it now, and really makes underwater viewing in habitats engaging and incredible to watch, and with them coming to animals in future, I made a little list to give a good idea of what animals would really benefit from this system
April 2022

• Elephants(African/Asian): Elephants are very good swimmers, famous for swimming to offshore islands and are pretty good divers too, being able to use their trunk to snorkel under the surface, and watching them play and enjoy the water is always fun to watch, even in underwater viewing, which is criminally underused in zoos
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• Himalayan Brown Bear : We have all seen the images and videos of Grizzly bears hunting salmon and Polar bears swimming between icebergs, having them play and dive about is always fun, and it would be weird to have polar bears, which are considered a marine mammal unable to dive.
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• Hippos (Nile, Pygmy): While they do already walk underwater in game, hippos can sort of gallop and rise up to the surface to take a breath, with young hippos quite agile under the water
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• Tapirs (Baird's ,Malayan) : In a similar manner to hippos, tapir can walk along the bottom of rivers and are quite good swimmers
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• Indian Rhino, Wild Water Buffalo: These animals do very much enjoy wallowing in water, and while the don't really dive like hippos or tapirs do, they can full submerge themselves in the water, so maybe something like the hippos now or some way to fully submerge themselves could be fun
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• Moose: Moose are very great swimmers and are the only deer that can feed underwater, feeding on aquatic plants like lilies and pondweed. They have been known to dive over 5 meters or 18 feet down to feed on lake bottoms, so adding diving would help moose become even more distinct
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• Monitor lizards (Nile, Komodo): Komodos are famous for swimming between islands, and even monitor lizards in general are very good at swimming (images are not the species in question but give a good idea)
  
  
  

With animals coming soon getting unique, new skins, I feel like animals with high diversity of tusks, horns, antlers, manes and other more impressive display structures. I feel like this could a real cool mechanic that could be used to help identify animals at a glance, and affect animal ratings. Pre-set variants chosen at random for each individual with different parameters (Long/short, Thick/thin, crooked or broken, along with a bunch of other pre-sets) . And these could even affect the genetics and rating systems, with a huge tusker elephant or a reindeer with a huge set of antlers not only being signs of high quality genetics, they could also have much higher rating than their lower level, less impressive counterparts with smaller, potentially deformed horns, antlers etc.

To add to that, there are species that have species specific colour morphs that can be rare and only found in only in a particular species, genera of family. things like Golden Gemsbok, Golden tabby tigers and King Cheetahs fall under this, and are a bit more specific that the colour morphs, unlike thing like Leucism, Melanism. and Albinism which apply to pretty much all animal that have melanin. Having these are rare or uncommon morphs really would add to the trading aspect and variation within these animals and keep interest in breeding animals for more than just albinos.
April 2022

Horn/Tusk/Antlers/Crests/Mane Variation

• Elephants(African/Asian): Elephants have a huge amount of variation within their tusks, and the Large male/female tuskers like Tim and the "Queen of elephants"F_MU1 are some of the most impressive animals the world has to offer, and having big tuskers in your zoos would be very impressive to see. Having variation like long skinny tusks, broken tusks, asymmetrical tusks and even Female Asian elephants with small tusks and other variation within that would really add to these animals
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• Warthog, Babirusa, Hippos (Nile, Pygmy) : With these animals teeth, they can often have variation within them, with them being broken or crooked, and can add a lot of character
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• Pronghorn, Okapi, Giraffe: The ossicones and the horns of the Pronghorns can vary quite a bit in size, and in male giraffes sometimes the fur on ossicones fall off due to conflict with other males.
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• Deer (Reindeer, Moose, Falllow ) : Antlers are high variable and have can be very impressive in this deer species, with both males and females possessing impressive antlers .
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• Bovids (Cape Buffalo, American Bison, Wild Water Buffalo, Nyala, Bongo, Thompson Gazelle, Dall Sheep, Alpine Ibex, Nile Lechwe, Sable Antelope, Black Wildebeest): Bovids are famous for there incredible variation within both species and the family in horn shape and size, and a great deal of them like the horns of Cape Buffalo and Dall Sheep can be very impressive (Nyala males also have a red morph)
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• Rhino (Indian, White) : Rhinos with there keratin horns can have a lot of variation within them,
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• Cassowary: These bird have a "casque" and this can be quite variable in shape and sometimes flop over
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Species Specific Colour Morphs

• Cats (Jaguar, Bengal/Siberian Tigers, Lion, Cheetah) : Cats can have a lot of variation within their patterns and colours within them. this chart really shows that very well and mentions which species they apply to, even if they use cheetahs and an template, as Golden tabby morphs only apply to tigers
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• Asiatic Black Bears: There is a morph called "golden bears" that have a much lighter brown coat, and has a very cool look to them, similar to the sprit bears morph similar to American Black Bears.
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• Plains Zebra: Zebras have some cool variation with golden/blonde/ red morphs which are fun. there are also zebras that have rare stripless individuals that look similar to the extinct quagga. http://breedingback.blogspot.com/2015/08/interesting-colour-morphs-in-plains.html
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• Indian Peafowl: Believe it or not there are 185 varieties approved by the United Peafowl Association, but these are the most notable
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  Both
• Black Wildebeest: Black Wildebeest don't have as many morphs as blues, but can have the king morph, which are really incredible looking (example is blue wildebeest but looks similar) and have variation within their horns that would look cool
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• Springbok: Springbok have a huge amount of morphs, along with horns that vary in shape, including white, black, blue/silver/grey, copper, coffee, cream/caramel ivory, king, bont, royal, and three colour candy, https://scholar.ufs.ac.za/bitstream/handle/11660/4211/OlivierPA.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
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• Gemsbok: There is a rare golden morph where the black is a lot less muted and make this golden look, and the shape of the horns can vary individual to individual.
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• Lion: Lions have a great deal of variation within their manes, in length and colour, with males with high testosterone having darker manes, and someone populations with hair on their knees and belly. there are white lion populations and are a fun morphs.
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Thank you guys for reading my post, and I would love to hear everyones feedback. Have a good day,

24/8/21: Updated to fit the Southeast Asian and African Pack
5/10/21: Updated to fit the North American Animal Pack
29/4/22: Updated to fit the Europe and Wetland Animal Pack

 

[Indoraptor27]

This is a beautiful, well-written post, and I hope the devs see it.

 

[NZFanatic]

Well, they've already said they won't be doing alternative models, so that rules out differences in horns, tusks, and manes, unfortunately. As for the variants they said they were working on a system to get variant flamingo skins into the game back when the update dropped, but beyond that we haven't heard if they're going to include more (personally I hope they will, even if it's 'boring' stuff like new wild dog patterns).

For the diving, however, I'm of two minds. On the one hand, many of those animals do not dive regularly. Tigers like to swim to keep cool and whatnot but generally both tigers and jaguars only tend to dive down in the pursuit of something specific. If it was specifically linked to the underwater feeder then I'd be keen on it, but I worry that if these animals are given free-diving animations like the others then they'll dive far more frequently than is necessary (kind of like how the game's various herbivores, which all have an instinctual fear of deep water, go running for a swim all the damn time even though in real zoos water barriers are perfectly safe for antelope and the like).

The hippos also do 'dive' in a way already. They drop down to the bottom and walk as they do in nature. Of that list for the sake of free-diving I'd take the polar bear, gharial, Nile monitor, and elephants as examples of animals that use water all the time (grizzly bear is on the edge).

 

[Jeminyne]

If it was specifically linked to the underwater feeder then I'd be keen on it, but I worry that if these animals are given free-diving animations like the others then they'll dive far more frequently than is necessary

Agree, I'd definitely go for an underwater feeder specifically for animals like big cats and bears, and just skip on any other deep-swimming for them. Otherwise they'll definitely be diving way too often. In fact I wouldn't mind if the swimming ability of other animals was greatly reduced. Some of these herbivores should lose the ability to enter water they can't touch the ground in.

 

[NZFanatic]

Agree, I'd definitely go for an underwater feeder specifically for animals like big cats and bears, and just skip on any other deep-swimming for them. Otherwise they'll definitely be diving way too often. In fact I wouldn't mind if the swimming ability of other animals was greatly reduced. Some of these herbivores should lose the ability to enter water they can't touch the ground in.

Totally agree. I've been to many zoos where herbivores such as bison are kept contained by a moat, and yet in-game they escape by swimming. Plus, I don't like to see all my nyala paddling around in the watering hole.

 

[Villa11]

I was wondering, do okapi have color variation in the game? In real life their striped patterns are so unique you can use it to tell them apart, just like those of zebra. But is haven't played around enough with them to notice if they even have variation in the game, does anybody know?
Similarly I haven't seen any variation in my reindeer, also a species that could benefit from it.

For the swimming I agree that gharials and the polar bear need it, for the rest it is a cool bonus, but not essential. But I would like it if animals without water needs wouldn't go running to take a swim at every opportunity.

 

[NZFanatic]

I was wondering, do okapi have color variation in the game? In real life their striped patterns are so unique you can use it to tell them apart, just like those of zebra. But is haven't played around enough with them to notice if they even have variation in the game, does anybody know?
Similarly I haven't seen any variation in my reindeer, also a species that could benefit from it.

I don't think they do, but I haven't used okapi in a while myself.

 

[Firestar97]

I would absolutely love more normal Variations but also Color Mutations. Some Animals need more (Timberwolf, Llama for example) some don't even have any but should have them (Reindeer and Polar Bear for example).
Horn, Mane and Antler Variations would also be great and I'm pretty sure that Frontier could do this if they would want to add it if even a Company that just throws a unfinished Game on the Market can do it.

 

[NZFanatic]

Horn, Mane and Antler Variations would also be great and I'm pretty sure that Frontier could do this if they would want to add it if even a Company that just throws a unfinished Game on the Market can do it.

They've already said they won't be doing any new models for existing animals. Check out any one of Murray's lion model threads if you don't believe me for whatever reason. It's in one of those.

 

[random goat]

Excellent post.

-Variation system. I wish everything you suggest would be implemented. But thinking from a dev perspective, it'd be a bit over the top in terms of coding and reskinning. Something to consider for a potential sequel? I really hope so. We know the rate of animals we're getting now: just 4 habitat animals every four-ish months, unfortunately. There has to be a compromise. Unlike diving mechanics, educators, etc. introducing new variations of any kind is something that 100% is done by the same people who create new animals. Would I give up getting a sitatunga in exchange for more nyala variations? Certainly not. And they both would only required reskinning, essentially.
Regarding speficic colour variants, how common are these in nature? And in zoos? Animals in captivity don't tend to have these variations (as far as I'm aware) unless specific variants are selected such as albino tigers, melanistic jaguars and different variants of peafowls.
In my opinion, first we need way more animals, and then, I'm happy if they go crazy with variations.

That being said, there are indeed some animals that still need some work on the variants. Wolves, African wild dogs and lamas undoubtedly need more patterns. And I really hope we also get variations for flamingoes (based on what they announced) and peafowls.

-Diving. Personally I wouldn't be too disapointed if we only get diving animations for gharials, polar bears and Nile monitors. Obviously the more the better. But, as it's been said, the rest you suggest only dive very sporadically and, in the particular case of big cats and bears, mainly driven by the search of food.

 

[SimoneV]

Hope the devs see it and maybe can implement some ideas / get some inspiration for the future! <3

 

[Joe99]

Well, they've already said they won't be doing alternative models, so that rules out differences in horns, tusks, and manes, unfortunately. As for the variants they said they were working on a system to get variant flamingo skins into the game back when the update dropped, but beyond that we haven't heard if they're going to include more (personally I hope they will, even if it's 'boring' stuff like new wild dog patterns).

For the diving, however, I'm of two minds. On the one hand, many of those animals do not dive regularly. Tigers like to swim to keep cool and whatnot but generally both tigers and jaguars only tend to dive down in the pursuit of something specific. If it was specifically linked to the underwater feeder then I'd be keen on it, but I worry that if these animals are given free-diving animations like the others then they'll dive far more frequently than is necessary (kind of like how the game's various herbivores, which all have an instinctual fear of deep water, go running for a swim all the damn time even though in real zoos water barriers are perfectly safe for antelope and the like).

The hippos also do 'dive' in a way already. They drop down to the bottom and walk as they do in nature. Of that list for the sake of free-diving I'd take the polar bear, gharial, Nile monitor, and elephants as examples of animals that use water all the time (grizzly bear is on the edge).

I can agree with that to some extent, I was more presenting what animals would benefit or capable of diving, and knowing how often people like to make underwater viewing vents for these animals both in game and real life zoos. As always it all adds up to what the Devs are willing to put the work into. Making animals like bison and antelope more avoided of water is a good idea too.
Did you have a link to the comment by any chance?

I would absolutely love more normal Variations but also Color Mutations. Some Animals need more (Timberwolf, Llama for example) some don't even have any but should have them (Reindeer and Polar Bear for example).
Horn, Mane and Antler Variations would also be great and I'm pretty sure that Frontier could do this if they would want to add it if even a Company that just throws a unfinished Game on the Market can do it.

Agreed, those animals could benefit from more colour Variations/Mutations

Excellent post.

-Variation system. I wish everything you suggest would be implemented. But thinking from a dev perspective, it'd be a bit over the top in terms of coding and reskinning. Something to consider for a potential sequel? I really hope so. We know the rate of animals we're getting now: just 4 habitat animals every four-ish months, unfortunately. There has to be a compromise. Unlike diving mechanics, educators, etc. introducing new variations of any kind is something that 100% is done by the same people who create new animals. Would I give up getting a sitatunga in exchange for more nyala variations? Certainly not. And they both would only required reskinning, essentially.
Regarding speficic colour variants, how common are these in nature? And in zoos? Animals in captivity don't tend to have these variations (as far as I'm aware) unless specific variants are selected such as albino tigers, melanistic jaguars and different variants of peafowls.
In my opinion, first we need way more animals, and then, I'm happy if they go crazy with variations.

That being said, there are indeed some animals that still need some work on the variants. Wolves, African wild dogs and lamas undoubtedly need more patterns. And I really hope we also get variations for flamingoes (based on what they announced) and peafowls.

-Diving. Personally I wouldn't be too disapointed if we only get diving animations for gharials, polar bears and Nile monitors. Obviously the more the better. But, as it's been said, the rest you suggest only dive very sporadically and, in the particular case of big cats and bears, mainly driven by the search of food.

Most of the variations I'm suggesting would only be to things like tusks and horns, and i see the point since of course, resources are finite, and I would argue some variations would be more impressive/ noticeable than others,( elephant tusk variation vs lets say hippo tooth variation), I just wanted to put out the possibilities out of my head and onto a post, and as always up to the devs to decide what they want to put their time and effort into

To answer the question about the colour morphs, it really depends on the particular morph since there's a lot of factors that go into them, such as location or genetics. some of the morphs can be common-ish in zoos like golden tabby tigers, and "White Lions" are pretty much restricted to populations in southern Africa due to being tied to a recessive gene. Springbok, gemsboks and wildebeest morphs are rare but are found more often in game parks. I assume most zoos don't have them due to morphs having little conservation value or just getting these individuals is difficult. I think gameplay wise, it would work like albinos, which in themselves are very rare, and have little conservation value but are rare and fun to trade or breed for in franchise mode

 

[SanRazo618]

Love the post! I hope the devs might consider this in the future!

 

[NZFanatic]

Did you have a link to the comment by any chance?

Not on hand, but there have been myriad threads about the same topic in the past and it was addressed in one of those (a comment was also left in a thread about specifically the model of the lion saying that the developers would not be touching it, and in another thread about adding in new life stages the same thing was said). Bottom line was that it's just too difficult to create new models and all the accompanying animations for animals that are already in the game.

 

[Joe99]

Not on hand, but there have been myriad threads about the same topic in the past and it was addressed in one of those (a comment was also left in a thread about specifically the model of the lion saying that the developers would not be touching it, and in another thread about adding in new life stages the same thing was said). Bottom line was that it's just too difficult to create new models and all the accompanying animations for animals that are already in the game.

Fair enough, all we can hope now is this once is seen by the devs to either clarfiy or dismiss, and the life stages thing..woof that would be a lot of work