Features that Planet Zoo 2 DEFINITELY needs?
- Thread starter SleepyEngi
- Start date
Customizable Exhibits. Similar to how the new Souvenir Shops will work
Ability to let some Exhibit Animals like Iguanas free roam.
Petting Zoos with more Animals and Interactions between Guests and Animals
Fixed Requirements (for Example Gender Ratio for Ring Tailed Lemurs)
Plant Encyclopedia
Animals of underrepresented Groups like Fish and flying Birds
Advanced Water Management for aquatic Species
More Plants for each Environment
Accurate Maps (no random African Plants in America, Asia or Australia)
Improved Climbing and Brachiation
Smaller Hitboxes (I've never had any Problems with the old ones)
Too hot or cold Temperatures actually being dangerous if Animals are exposed for too long
Little Zoo Events (like Challenge Mode in Zoo Tycoon 2)(a few Days ago I've released a Herd of Kangaroos in a Null Fence Enclosure outside of my new Zoo. One Day a juvenile Kangaroo appeared near the Aviaries and my Zoo catched it to raise it because the Mother was nowhere near it. It made the Game so much more Fun to experience something special like that)
Resizeable Objects
More realistic Temperature Distribution within Buildings
Proper Nocturnal Houses (perhaps with special Building Pieces to make the Room darker?
)
Advanced Maps. Options like Coast (North, West, South, East), Plant Amount (none, barely planted, medium Amount of Plants, many Plants, extreme Amount of Plants), Weather and Temperature Settings, Option for Swamps and Lakes, Option for Water Depth
Fixed Globe Locations (for Example Florida)
More Color Morphs (for Example Peafowl Morphs)
More and better Interactions between Animals and also between different Species (really want that Animals grazing and feeding or nursing their Offspring actually counts as the Animals eating)
Less Guest Crowding when there's more than enough Space
Better Guest Distribution throughout the Zoo
Fixed Billboards (so Images will no longer look so weirdly washed out)
Ontogeny would be nice but I can understand if they don't want to include it
Better Fur
More realistic Animal Behavior (Lions and Koalas sleeping a lot, Koalas spending more Time in Trees, better Herding)
Slower Time and Seasons (also if possible, Animals having Winter and Summer Coats would be nice)
Ability to let some Exhibit Animals like Iguanas free roam.
Petting Zoos with more Animals and Interactions between Guests and Animals
Fixed Requirements (for Example Gender Ratio for Ring Tailed Lemurs)
Plant Encyclopedia
Animals of underrepresented Groups like Fish and flying Birds
Advanced Water Management for aquatic Species
More Plants for each Environment
Accurate Maps (no random African Plants in America, Asia or Australia)
Improved Climbing and Brachiation
Smaller Hitboxes (I've never had any Problems with the old ones)
Too hot or cold Temperatures actually being dangerous if Animals are exposed for too long
Little Zoo Events (like Challenge Mode in Zoo Tycoon 2)(a few Days ago I've released a Herd of Kangaroos in a Null Fence Enclosure outside of my new Zoo. One Day a juvenile Kangaroo appeared near the Aviaries and my Zoo catched it to raise it because the Mother was nowhere near it. It made the Game so much more Fun to experience something special like that)
Resizeable Objects
More realistic Temperature Distribution within Buildings
Proper Nocturnal Houses (perhaps with special Building Pieces to make the Room darker?
)Advanced Maps. Options like Coast (North, West, South, East), Plant Amount (none, barely planted, medium Amount of Plants, many Plants, extreme Amount of Plants), Weather and Temperature Settings, Option for Swamps and Lakes, Option for Water Depth
Fixed Globe Locations (for Example Florida)
More Color Morphs (for Example Peafowl Morphs)
More and better Interactions between Animals and also between different Species (really want that Animals grazing and feeding or nursing their Offspring actually counts as the Animals eating)
Less Guest Crowding when there's more than enough Space
Better Guest Distribution throughout the Zoo
Fixed Billboards (so Images will no longer look so weirdly washed out)
Ontogeny would be nice but I can understand if they don't want to include it
Better Fur
More realistic Animal Behavior (Lions and Koalas sleeping a lot, Koalas spending more Time in Trees, better Herding)
Slower Time and Seasons (also if possible, Animals having Winter and Summer Coats would be nice)
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What information is on the road map?
I still keep trying to do the campaign for the statues I do about one map on gold before I hate just about everything it stifles creativity too much.
Also I have yet to see someone other than the original posted defend the point to lock stuff behind a campaign
Agreed
Lion remodel
Here's something I'd love to see; menu customization options for food stands and restaurants. Rather than building a burger place or a hotdog place or a pizza place (or the weird options, like a french fry place, soda place or water place), we build generic food stands and restaurants, then select from a wide variety of foods and drinks they serve... let us make our menus as big or small as we want, although places with bigger menus naturally cost more to run than smaller ones.
I still say PZ2 is years away at least 4-5. Planet zoo console edition will be one of the new titles. Think about it. It will probably take 2 years to get the console version complete. Their not going to do a sequel while doing a console edition as their going to want to capitalize on profit. They’ll make a ton with console. Besides that people aren’t going to want to put their money in a sequel after buying all content for the first one. Especially like jwe for content that should have been in the first. JWE2 is like a update or expansion as a lot of things have been carried over. PC2 is probably the next release and it will probably be supported by a big team for at least 2 yrs.
What evidence have you provided exactly? You've only stated opinions here. Opinions from the perspective that the game is just an extra part of a sandbox diorama builder.
People don't want to play the career mode we currently have. Once again, this thread is about a sequel, not about what we have now, try to keep that in mind.
Sandbox is basically programmed on top of the regular modes, adding options to change how the gameplay works. I would not call career and challenge modes "Extra". As far as I know, there is no statistic of how many players play on each of the modes.
Then what's the problem here? Just use the statue unlocking mod if you want them immediately.
Only 1500 people have downloaded the statue unlocking mod, that is around 2% of mod users and 0.075% of all players. I would not qualify that as a regular occurrence. For reference, the average scenery mod gets around 8000 downloads.
The underdeveloped mode being unfun and not worth playing is exactly why it needs improvements that make it worth to play. More creative missions, more variety, more freedom, and better rewards. If the game mode was better, of course it would attract more players.
On the locked versus content I'd like to say that as a player that would actively like more gameplay and challenge and as a pretty much exclusive franchise, campaign and challenge mode player that I don't care about sandbox content being unlocked from the beginning as that isn't the mode I'm interested in. I would like more meaningful rewards in the modes I am playing and that they would carry through across scenarios, for example. I think there is a lot of hyberbole in this thread about the player base being split into two as if plenty of people don't enjoy both the freedom of sandbox and would like a more rewarding challenge. Representing PZ as a pure builder / sandbox is not very helpful - I'd like more challenge but I also like some aspects of PZ and use their mechanics to challenge myself. I wish the game would do it more but I do find some things challenging (timed scenarios for one). Equally saying a cabal of sandbox builders have pushed out other types of players is pretty silly as I am one of those others. BTW I know I am exaggerating both sides here but it is just to make a point.
Anyway below are my thoughts on some of the features mentioned. They are my own opinion only! I have also been negative about some things, that's not an attempt to invalidate your takes - just registering that for at least some features mentioned I either wouldn't want developer time 'wasted' on them for my perfect sequel or forsee potential problems in implementation.
Zookeeper mode
I would hate this if it looked anything like the ZT2 implementation which was essentially a cheat code because you could basically get away with no staff at all. I don't know how you would include this and still make it enjoyable but not remove the management challenge - there's probably a way but it would need to be carefully done. So not a feature for me.
Better time scale
I would welcome time being slowed a little as standard and perhaps decoupling of seasons and in game years from animal ageing and have them running on two separate timelines because otherwise you would only every have one herd of elephants or one set of tortoises. People treat this as an easy fix but realistically we have a game with some animals whose lives would be one or two years and some who can live for centuries you are going to have a time problem. So maybe some change but not as radical as some people want.
Animal market UI improvements
The current market doesn't really bother me as I just filter and look lowest price to highest first since weirdly so many people fundamentally misunderstand the genetics system that they sell off animals with high cumulative genes but low fertility and immunity for rock bottom proices. But what is outlined here seems fine.
Multiplayer/franchise features
That’s why Frontier should introduce actual trading- and perhaps even a friends list. Enabling you to trade directly with friends, and for example exchanging animals or credits or both for another player’s animals.
My only problem with this feature is it is a bit exclusionary - I'm the only person in my friend group that plays Planet Zoo. If you are just trading with your friends then when will I get access to a decent market. This is very selfish as I am generally a single player gamer but I'm pointing it out because I think it would need to be balanced.
Co-op.
Again fine by me but not a wanted feature. It's pretty much possible anyway with the workshop.
Zoo Progression
I'm ok with this but for goodness sake please can it be faster than ZT2? I got bored when a reaching the next star had nothing to do with me making improvements or when it was impossible to improve my zoo until I reached the next star leading to a long boring time. That didn't make ZT2 challenging... just boring. I might quite like this feature but not implemented like ZT2.
Achievement progression
Achievements used to be so much fun to complete on the original Zoo Tycoon games, and Planet Zoo should learn from that- Having several challenges, whether it be specific to that zoo- or global achievements from every zoo you’ve made- they made progression feel real, and they rewarded you for it- any achievement could unlock new scenery pieces, or reward you with more popularity for your zoo.
As mentioned above, unlocking rewards that stay with you throughout the rest of the campaign or other zoos in the franchise yes, not at all bothered if sandbox is a free for all.
Better career and unlocks.
See above
Better challenges
Strongly agree with this one - I have to make up my own random challenges, I would like to see some chaos every once in a while.
Animal Model Variation
I would like to see more variation, I'm not sure I would be bothered about the temporary variation and would prefer they just did more changes to more aspects like horns etc.
Scenery path pieces for indoor construction & blueprints
Sounds good.
Better modular building set selection
Yes although this feels like it could be on the current agenda for incremental improvements to PZ1
Scenery Scaling
yep
Modular Exhibits
I don't really mind how they do it but much more customisation of exhibits would be good.
Eggs
Nope, not at all bothered about this one and I used to work in a falconry centre. Nor am I bothered about realistic births or pregnancy etc. Give me more challenge and things that can go wrong with breeding but (and this is just my preference) I don't want them spending ages on animations and features like that when they could do more animations for unique enrichment items etc.
Foliage Brush
I am not at all bothered by the current system but that is as a non-builder so sure.
Energy Management
Not particularly bothered by this either way but fine.
Transferable blueprints
I think this is unrealistic in my ideal PZ2 because I would want the gameplay to be different and asking for compatability for animations of climbing etc. would be too much
Here are a few extras I think should be on the list...
More jeopardy
I don't want to sound like a sadist but I have literally never had an animal in PZ die from anything but natural causes in franchise or challenge mode. Please make the consequences of poor health and illness both more random and more serious. Also it shoudl be harder to increase animal welfare especially for animals with difficult personalities or for challenging species
Animal personalities
I don't need anything too complex but as others have said a version of the traits system in PC for guests would be amazing - your tiger happens to be shy then you are going to have to design and enclosure around it
More animals
Goes without saying flying birds etc. but also small mammals please!
Smarter guests
I know people want less needy guests but actually I don't mind them being difficult to please and for some of them to only be interested in some animals and for some to be harder to educate etc. but it would be nice if they were a little less dumb at looking after their own needs when facilities are available.
Anyway below are my thoughts on some of the features mentioned. They are my own opinion only! I have also been negative about some things, that's not an attempt to invalidate your takes - just registering that for at least some features mentioned I either wouldn't want developer time 'wasted' on them for my perfect sequel or forsee potential problems in implementation.
Zookeeper mode
I would hate this if it looked anything like the ZT2 implementation which was essentially a cheat code because you could basically get away with no staff at all. I don't know how you would include this and still make it enjoyable but not remove the management challenge - there's probably a way but it would need to be carefully done. So not a feature for me.
Better time scale
I would welcome time being slowed a little as standard and perhaps decoupling of seasons and in game years from animal ageing and have them running on two separate timelines because otherwise you would only every have one herd of elephants or one set of tortoises. People treat this as an easy fix but realistically we have a game with some animals whose lives would be one or two years and some who can live for centuries you are going to have a time problem. So maybe some change but not as radical as some people want.
Animal market UI improvements
The current market doesn't really bother me as I just filter and look lowest price to highest first since weirdly so many people fundamentally misunderstand the genetics system that they sell off animals with high cumulative genes but low fertility and immunity for rock bottom proices. But what is outlined here seems fine.
Multiplayer/franchise features
That’s why Frontier should introduce actual trading- and perhaps even a friends list. Enabling you to trade directly with friends, and for example exchanging animals or credits or both for another player’s animals.
My only problem with this feature is it is a bit exclusionary - I'm the only person in my friend group that plays Planet Zoo. If you are just trading with your friends then when will I get access to a decent market. This is very selfish as I am generally a single player gamer but I'm pointing it out because I think it would need to be balanced.
Co-op.
Again fine by me but not a wanted feature. It's pretty much possible anyway with the workshop.
Zoo Progression
I'm ok with this but for goodness sake please can it be faster than ZT2? I got bored when a reaching the next star had nothing to do with me making improvements or when it was impossible to improve my zoo until I reached the next star leading to a long boring time. That didn't make ZT2 challenging... just boring. I might quite like this feature but not implemented like ZT2.
Achievement progression
Achievements used to be so much fun to complete on the original Zoo Tycoon games, and Planet Zoo should learn from that- Having several challenges, whether it be specific to that zoo- or global achievements from every zoo you’ve made- they made progression feel real, and they rewarded you for it- any achievement could unlock new scenery pieces, or reward you with more popularity for your zoo.
As mentioned above, unlocking rewards that stay with you throughout the rest of the campaign or other zoos in the franchise yes, not at all bothered if sandbox is a free for all.
Better career and unlocks.
See above
Better challenges
Strongly agree with this one - I have to make up my own random challenges, I would like to see some chaos every once in a while.
Animal Model Variation
I would like to see more variation, I'm not sure I would be bothered about the temporary variation and would prefer they just did more changes to more aspects like horns etc.
Scenery path pieces for indoor construction & blueprints
Sounds good.
Better modular building set selection
Yes although this feels like it could be on the current agenda for incremental improvements to PZ1
Scenery Scaling
yep
Modular Exhibits
I don't really mind how they do it but much more customisation of exhibits would be good.
Eggs
Nope, not at all bothered about this one and I used to work in a falconry centre. Nor am I bothered about realistic births or pregnancy etc. Give me more challenge and things that can go wrong with breeding but (and this is just my preference) I don't want them spending ages on animations and features like that when they could do more animations for unique enrichment items etc.
Foliage Brush
I am not at all bothered by the current system but that is as a non-builder so sure.
Energy Management
Not particularly bothered by this either way but fine.
Transferable blueprints
I think this is unrealistic in my ideal PZ2 because I would want the gameplay to be different and asking for compatability for animations of climbing etc. would be too much
Here are a few extras I think should be on the list...
More jeopardy
I don't want to sound like a sadist but I have literally never had an animal in PZ die from anything but natural causes in franchise or challenge mode. Please make the consequences of poor health and illness both more random and more serious. Also it shoudl be harder to increase animal welfare especially for animals with difficult personalities or for challenging species
Animal personalities
I don't need anything too complex but as others have said a version of the traits system in PC for guests would be amazing - your tiger happens to be shy then you are going to have to design and enclosure around it
More animals
Goes without saying flying birds etc. but also small mammals please!
Smarter guests
I know people want less needy guests but actually I don't mind them being difficult to please and for some of them to only be interested in some animals and for some to be harder to educate etc. but it would be nice if they were a little less dumb at looking after their own needs when facilities are available.
You completely missed my point entirely its not that its under developed or "unfun" it is the pure concept of a campaign mode that I dont like. I hate working on a zoo I know isnt truly mine or that restricts where and how I build no matter how much better the campaign mode is it will still be a problem.
Also to you other point about mods besides the fact that just saying let the modders take care of it is such a bad take. Not everyone can uses mods some people dont know how others may not have access to the game in a way that is modable and also the statue unlock mod has alot of conflicts with other mods so I cant actually install it no mater how much I wanted to. Saying just mod the game to make it better is such a bad take because it is nowhere near that simple.
You just aren't listening to us. We are not saying that for those of you that enjoy campaign/challenge/frachnise mode things shouldn't be improved. We are saying that NOTHING should be blocked for sandbox players. I will never like the campaign mode no matter how creative, variable, whatever they make it. It is not how I play the game. I play the game to make my dream zoo and I want everything to be available to me to do so and to have complete creative control. That is how I play a game like this. By limiting what sandbox players have access to Frontier will anger a significant proportion of their players. You are right not a lot of people have downloaded the mod to get the reward statues, because they aren't that important. Now that I have done the, highly annoying and aggrevating, leg work to get the stone statues, I couldn't care less about the bronze, silver and gold version of the statues as I think they are ugly anyways. This doesn't mean I would want Frontier to expand on this concept though. But if you like or need to be rewarded for playing the game, than make those rewards only count for those modes and just give them to us sandbox players.
Again, if this thread is about what the COMMUNITY wants for PZ2 rather than what YOU want for PZ2, than you have to stop saying that we are wrong. We are also part of the community and we just happen to disagree with you on ONE of your points. Stop arguing with us about this point and accept that not everyone agrees with your opinion please.
Oh I know, I noticed this too. I'm just taking offense at the original posters refusal to accept that there are people who do not agree with him/her. Especially when he/she is actively saying that we are wrong and don't 'play the game'. I'd be happy for those users that like campaign/challenge/franchise to see those modes improved. It just should never mean that those of us that don't like the restrictions of those modes cannot use every single item in the game and play the game the way we want to play it.
It's perfectly fine for you to not enjoy campaign mode at all. It's perfectly fine for you to decide to not ever play it- I never said that you are "wrong" for that or that you cannot disagree with me. You are a sandbox-only player? Alright. Then you'll appreciate the suggestions that apply to sandbox.
The progression suggestions are for players that enjoy career, franchise and challenge mode. So of course you don't care about them, because you don't enjoy the gamemode, so obviously people who only play sandbox would not stand to benefit from it. But this isn't about only benefitting yourself- it's about improving Planet Zoo for players of ALL the gamemodes, improve the game for ALL players. Not just sandbox only players.
But here is where you are mistaken: Not you, not I, not 3 people can claim to qualify as the "Planet zoo community". None of us can claim to know what the community wants. So please don't forget that a substantial amount of the community participates and enjoys the career, challenge and franchise modes. And these people would all appreciate any improvements to the gamemode. These additions are for them, so for once, not you. If you don't want challenge mode to get any improvements because you don't like it, then you are being selfish- this game is not just for sandbox-only players, because if that was the case, the other modes would have no reason to exist in the first place.
The way I have suggested these unlocks, it would be at most 20 pieces, probably even less. I have mentioned that these would only be variants to pieces you would already have plenty of alternatives to- I am trying really hard here to compromise with sandbox players here. So let me put this into perspective for you: There are over 6000 scenery pieces in the game. That would make 20 pieces 0.3% of the total pieces available to you. In the current version of planet zoo, there are over 80 locked pieces. That is 4 times more than what I'm suggesting. Make these old pieces unlocked by default even, now you've gotten a net positive of 60 pieces you had to unlock before. There is no point in making rewards if you're only locked from them in the regular modes- that would make it even more pointless to play any of the regular modes.
So if you choose not to play the campaign or complete the achievements - then you don't get the rewards. This is how games have always worked. There has always been content you have to progress to obtain- in simulation games this has also been a staple from the start- and if absolutely no one enjoyed it, this would not be the case. People enjoy feeling accomplished and receiving a reward after completing a challenge. So if you do not do that- you do not get the reward, no big deal, life goes on even without the measly 20 pieces. If you are unhappy about that, you have the option to try to cheat them in with a mod. If you are still unhappy with that- that's got to be entitlement. You aren't owed every single piece in the game so much that people who play the other modes cannot get rewards for completing them- throw those players a bone, even if it doesn't immediately benefit you.
You are making a major mistake here, mate. You're saying "Challenge/franchise players should get rewards in their play style. If you're a sandbox player, then this isn't for you" - on the other hand you're trying to make unlockable rewards for challenge/franchise universal with an effect on sandbox, too. That is not how it works. You can't tell people it's fine to stick to their prefered play style but then punish them with a reward system that's not even meant for their play style.
Sandbox is what it is: Complete freedom and creativity. If challenge/franchise players don't want that and need to have that reward system, then they should stick to challenge/franchise and forget that they can have all that stuff in sandbox instead of forcing their rules onto the play style they don't even use.
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Animal Mode
The player can controll any habitat animal and have its point of view, that include walk, run, eat, drink, swim, fly, sleep, interact with potential anything inside the habitat like plants, rocks and enrichment. Also you can play, pet, fight and hunt other animals, interact with zoo keepers and even try to escape the habitat.
This Mode could be very fun and interesting to develop the features, skills and social Life of your animals.
The player can controll any habitat animal and have its point of view, that include walk, run, eat, drink, swim, fly, sleep, interact with potential anything inside the habitat like plants, rocks and enrichment. Also you can play, pet, fight and hunt other animals, interact with zoo keepers and even try to escape the habitat.
This Mode could be very fun and interesting to develop the features, skills and social Life of your animals.
The problem I have with your suggestions is that it actively takes away from the sandbox experience and makes it objectively worse at doing its job. A sandbox mode should be somewhere you go to experience every aspect of a game without restrictions of the campaign forcing those restrictions even if it is only a handful of items does nothing except hurt sandbox players. Your forcing a detrimental rule onto the majority of the players to suit the minority.
I fully agree that unlockable items would be great for the challenge and campaign players but that should not affect how sandbox players play the game. All I am suggesting is that sandbox has everything unlocked and so that if you wanted to play with the unlock based gameplay you go and play other gamemodes and not sandbox.
Also no matter how you look at it this game and likely its sequel are built for the sandbox players and builders not the challenge mode players.
Im am sick and tired of people going you dont like something mod it in that's just a garbage excuse for poor game design if a player has to mod something in you have failed as a game designer. I am specifically referring to fix and alteration mods here new species and prop mods are always going to exist since there is an almost infinite combination of wants and needs but even then just because it has a mod doesnt mean it has no right to be in the game.
I would hardly define not giving a reward as a punishment.
It's not taking away anything from the experience. It is simply not adding something unless you complete a task first. It's a video game mechanic as old as video games themselves. It's a mechanic already in the current game. Not having a few pieces unless you do something does not ruin your gameplay. You do not need the fifth alternative style of a piece to complete your sandbox zoo.
No matter how I look at it? You are being too self centered. Challenge, franchise and career are 3 out of the 4 main gamemodes. Stop pretending these players are a minority. You're clearly disregarding a large section of the community. It's almost like you are the one who thinks no one disagrees with them and that you're the majority.
Actually, I went and searched a lot of posts for statistics. Here's a little poll.
There are MORE FRANCHISE PLAYERS THAN SANDBOX PLAYERS. Guess it wasn't the minority after all. So yeah, from the data available here, I can say with confidence that the sequel would not be just for sandbox players.
I disagree. Mods are just that, mods. Ways to modify the game. It's basically just user customization. This does not mean the game design is bad at all. Most players are fine with it and never use mods. For the minority that wants to alter the game design, it's a great alternative. A bad design would be a game that needs to be "fixed" by mods, like bug patches. That is not what Planet Zoo mods are like- they merely expand upon the game or alter what's already there. It's why easy mode mods exist for games like Dark souls and Elden ring- the game intends to be really hard- and some players don't like that- does that mean the intended design is wrong? No.
Well I think it matters what the items unlocked are. Are we talking statues or more like animals and what not? Statues are fine but anything more imo is wrong I paid the same price for the game with the intention of having all items as I strictly play sandbox. To me it is a punishment system to force someone to play a certain way they don’t care for. Just a reference jwe1 did this and it was a huge mistake hence the reason they did away with it.
I am a franchise player and still I think forcing franchise rules to sandbox mode is wrong. It's not sandbox modes fault if I need a challenge to unlock stuff (which I don't, but that's exactly where this whole unlock-to-get-stuff is heading to). If I personally find it too easy to just play sandbox to have all that reward stuff unlocked, then why the hell let sandbox players pay for my incapability to have several modes co-existing? I could just stick to franchise mode, where I have all these rules and challenges.
Besides, it's career mode that unlocks the statues right now and I'm glad I don't give a damn about silver and gold statues, because I think it's a pain to get gold ratings and I wouldn't have fun to play every single map for ages to get the rewards. It would be a chore then and no game should be a chore.