How I think birds can be done well/efficiently

[tigris115]

So I thinking about the PZ bats and I think this is how birds could be done rly well while being efficient from a processor POV.

I noticed how the bat exhibit is compromised of several perching areas that the bats will likely spend most of their time on. So what I'm thinking is to let us place a series of feeders, perches, nests, nest boxes, enrichment items, etc within an exhibit that birds can perch on. In zoos, birds already spend most of their time on perches anyway.

If you wanted extra love, have it so that an invisible null perch can be created so that one could make any dead tree or whatever into a perch.

I think 2 neat bonuses would be
1. Give ground birds (the ones that can fly) some flight capabilities
2. Give birds like parrots some ground walking ability (tho this'd be 1% of the time)

 

[NachoB]

Ass long as we can make walls of the exhibit invisible like in PK i wouldn't mind this. I wouldn't even mind looped animations to an extent if i can just "hide" the walls and place the "aviaries" inside of another enclosure like a tropical house or something.

 

[Spiderhawk]

as of right now I currently don’t see enough of how these bats will work, if they will be looped or they will have some free animations. I would really like one of these days before release for frontier to highlight how the walkthrough exhibit will work instead of just making us figure it out.
But I wouldn’t mind a loop that goes from feeding station-water-perch-shelter with birds interacting and making behaviors while perching to one another.
I would also like a small aviary that caters to smaller birds that don’t need a great big exhibit and can function similar to basic exhibits.

 

[NZFanatic]

if they will be looped

They will be. They're exhibit animals - the new style of exhibit isn't any different from the ones we already have. I suspect due to Frontier saying that we can maintain a 'colony' of bats that there will probably be enough preprogramed pathways within the exhibit to make it look less 'looped', but it is explicitly just an exhibit.

Not that I mind - I love the exhibits.

 

[peafowl]

I love the exhibits as well. Back in zoo tycoon 2 days I remember looking at the little exhibits a lot.. This is a major upgrade from that lol. The bat one seems very promising. I hope they poop on guests

 

[peafowl]

The null perch is an amazing idea i will say

 

[NZFanatic]

At this point, I think it's clear that if they do add flying birds to the game, they will likely be exhibit animals whether we like it or not.

Working from that assumption, I just hope that, should the time come, they give us at least a few different options for aviaries so they don't all look the same. That was really the mistake they made with the exhibits; they're all so same-y.

 

[ElectricMonk]

At this point, I think it's clear that if they do add flying birds to the game, they will likely be exhibit animals whether we like it or not.

Working from that assumption, I just hope that, should the time come, they give us at least a few different options for aviaries so they don't all look the same. That was really the mistake they made with the exhibits; they're all so same-y.

While I agree that it’s likely that flying birds will come only in exhibits, I think it’s too soon to say that it’s clear that they all will (though I agree that at least some will). Ideally, exhibits could be for smaller birds (e.g. finches would be untenable as habitat-type animals because there’d be too much effect on performance with lots of little birds) whilst habitat-aviaries could be for larger ones (TBH, this has always been my preference).I think it’s way too soon to make any definitive statements about how the new exhibits will work - after all, until a few days ago exhibits were ‘defined’ as being 4x4, never housing birds or mammals. Both of these statements were, until a few days ago, just as certain as saying that they had only stationary (though animated) animals. We now know they will sometimes be bigger, will house at least mammals and it’s reasonably clear that they’ll be more animated (I certainly hope so) though I agree looped animations, rather than real pthfinding, are very likely. Overall, I just don’t think it’s a good idea to make definitive statements about what they’ll actually be like or how they might be evolved for birds until we see them in action.

 

[ReptoMin]

Ideally, exhibits could be for smaller birds (e.g. finches would be untenable as habitat-type animals because there’d be too much effect on performance with lots of little birds) whilst habitat-aviaries could be for larger ones (TBH, this has always been my preference)

This is exactly why me and @DarthQuell are considering not to include birds in the Exhibit Meta-Wishlist yet, as we haven't seen how Frontier will handle different subcategories.