Gardeners and plant research (what do you think?)

yoav_r

yoav_r
****
TL : DR

I suggest adding gardeners to the game, and so you'll have to research exotic plants instead of having them from the get go.
Plants could be used for educational purposes, realism purposes, and to make the guests and staff happy.

I do recommend reading the rest for details

****
So I used to be a zookeeper, and I always found it funny how many zoo games have "research" of animals and very basic objects, such as footballs as encrichment, but for some reason you can straight up plant a baobab, or other plants which require constant maintenance and specific conditions when outside of their natural zone.

In real life zoos, having non local flora is a great challenge, and many zoos proud themselves and feature flora alongside the fauna. Many zoos, for exapmle, have tropical hjouses featuring both tropical plants and animals, in the right temprature and
humidity for such creatures.

here is an image of a tropical house in the Jerusalem Zoo (Jeruslaem typically has cold climate and their tropical house is one of the best I've ever seen).

148526


Planet Zoo is absolutely amazing as it is, and I absolutely adore the focus on both conservation and reasearch, and I'd like to offer another such mechanism. Gardening. I'd really like to have gardeners which can take care of the plants, and also reasearch new species. For example, if my zoo is in, say, western Europe, with cold climate, I should only have the local flora and very little variety of non local flora from different regions and climates.

After building a new exhibit, you could have your gardeners research some plants from the region of the new animal, and then after researching and planting them, have the gardeners tend to the plants and keeping the exhibit healthy , same way the animals, fencing, water and temprature are already implemented and maintained in the game.

I think this will add another layer of realism to the game + add another educational layer, as guests would be impressed by the non-local flora and the biodiversity of the exhibits. This would also "reward" players for creating realistic exhibits,

Most of the prerequisites for such features are already in the game. We have climate, Regionality of flora and fauna, and research of all sorts of objects.

So, what do you guys think? would you like to see such feature it in the future?
If yes, would you like to see it come with some other feature? Aviaries maybe?
 
Last edited:

Silhouette

S
It's an interesting idea... But you also gotta remember how many casual players are going to pick up this game that just want to build a zoo and be creative about it.

To me it just feels like yet another added mechanic that's going to take away from the fun of being creative, since it's just going to limit you that much more from the get go. Not everyone is going to care enough to have to research and take care of plants, and I can easily see it just bring a frustrating part of the game for people that don't really care about it/don't want the game to be super realistic.

It's a fine line between people that want it realistic, and casual players that just want to pick it up and play it as a typical zoo sim game. I'll be honest having to take care of the foliage needs in Wildlife Park drove me crazy, cause I didn't care if the trees liked the soil they were in or not xD

So on principle I like this idea, but I also know as a player I would hate it.
 

yoav_r

yoav_r
Silhouette said:
It's an interesting idea... But you also gotta remember how many casual players are going to pick up this game that just want to build a zoo and be creative about it.

To me it just feels like yet another added mechanic that's going to take away from the fun of being creative, since it's just going to limit you that much more from the get go. Not everyone is going to care enough to have to research and take care of plants, and I can easily see it just bring a frustrating part of the game for people that don't really care about it/don't want the game to be super realistic.

It's a fine line between people that want it realistic, and casual players that just want to pick it up and play it as a typical zoo sim game. I'll be honest having to take care of the foliage needs in Wildlife Park drove me crazy, cause I didn't care if the trees liked the soil they were in or not xD

So on principle I like this idea, but I also know as a player I would hate it.
Click to expand...

I hear you man, and I completely agree with you. If you had to manage the plants to that level it would be tedious and would probably belong more to some "planet botanical garden" game.

However, What I had in mind is that only the research will have to be handled by the players (same way the rest of the research in the game is handled), and the gardening and tending to the plants themselves would be done by the gardeners, the same way the fence maintenance is done by the mechanics and the most you have to do is call them from time to time.

Regarding creativity, my idea was for it to be only in franchise mode, and of course in sandbox mode for all plants to be unlocked from the get-go (as all objects are in sandbox) for the creative limitless zoos.

Another thing for the creative players, it would be nice to get some guest appreciation for the plants (and the decor) in general. I mean in the beta these guests had great input on your zoo with all of the "the view from here is okay, I guess..." but I really think good habitats should give both an educational and happiness boost for the guests.
 
Last edited:

MadPoetUK

M
I think it is a great idea. I would imagine it would be a different thread of research kind of like the way the research goes with enrichment items?
 

AndyZoos

A
I think it's an interesting idea, but for me, it would feel just a little too burdensome. There's already too much management in the game for my tastes... The realism I'm looking for is more in the realm of animal diversity, exhibit design, and the like. Not so much with the research behind it all.

But still. Definitely an interesting idea (and one that I fully understand other players if they want it).
 

AndyZoos

A
Merit Selket said:
why not? in combination with fantasy and mythical creatures and some fairy tale theme stuff i bet it would. so all players who asked all ready for fantasy stuff will get their game 😸
Click to expand...

I think that extends beyond botanical gardens, haha. I could see something along the lines of what you're describing fairly well. Sort of like, a sandbox to create your own fantasy land or whatever.

Wouldn't necessarily be my thing. But with the level of detail Frontier's systems allow... I would be curious what people came up with.
 

yoav_r

yoav_r
NL_Mutso said:
I'm all for realism and i like the idea but I think it's a bit too much management.

Some people already think this game has too much management.
Click to expand...
Interesting. Many reviews of the beta I've seen said there was to little management. Guess it's a balance thing :)
 

NL_Mutso

NL_Mutso
Let me re-phrase that one.

Some people think there's too much non-animal management.

Especially the early reviews were about this.
I like the balance of management at this moment..

Does this 'wished' feature also apply to the terrain? Like grass growing and using a lawnmower ?
Or just the foliage from the menu and a feature like a tropical house ?
 

yoav_r

yoav_r
What I had in mind was only the plants in the foliage menu. Like real life zoos, where most of the gardeners work is the biome-specific bushes and trees. The grass tends to just be the local grass.
About the terrain brushes, I like the idea of them, but something about their graphics in the beta didn't look well for me. Kind of like all the animals and plants and buildings actually have textures, but the ground is a flat painting. Kinda clashed with realism.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom