Management complexity

[ArtiX]

This would actually top a wishlist for me, experiences made with PlanCo could be helpful there i guess.

What i would like to see in a Zoo game, animal variety aside,
would be employees with more diverse roles and personalities,
like only a particular person has developed a special bond to, say, a particular elephant.
And maybe some more indepth management (something more like the game ABITW)

Another idea would include PlanCo. :
"Park Inspectors" but instead of rating a ride or shop they would give penalties or give order to close a ride
until problem x is fixed or redeemed, or as a penalty. Would be a nice feature in both games

couple of things i can think of from the top of my head.

 

[Jenner]

A deep simulation with lots of options for the player is definitely on my wish-list.

Games are best when they constantly present the player with interesting & impactful choices.

 

[Beufff]

I agree. The management side of Planet Coaster was something I always found to be lacking / shallow and I found more fun in just building in sandbox. Hopefully they kept the notes around from then and can implement more into Planet Zoo. It seemed much better in Jurassic World: Evolution so I am hopeful!

 

[ArtiX]

I agree. The management side of Planet Coaster was something I always found to be lacking / shallow and I found more fun in just building in sandbox. Hopefully they kept the notes around from then and can implement more into Planet Zoo. It seemed much better in Jurassic World: Evolution so I am hopeful!

As long as there's no tideous micro-management like in JW, i, too would like to see some of the features, yeah.


More like leaning back and watching the peeps do their daily chores.

Planet Zoo would also be a good chance to maybe have more realistic timespans, and real opening and closing times.
I can imagine it being kind of hypnotic watching your zoo go to rest for the night.

 

[eulemur]

I would very much like day/night cycles where the zoo opens/closes, it is something I always wished was easier to 'simulate' in other zoo games (for example closing your zoo for the day in zoo tycoon 2 and encouraging the animals to go indoors would take the whole 'night' cycle to do, and you weren't likely to finish it before you had to open up again). I find it unlikely though, as even with a big timescale it will be difficult to strike a balance between giving your zoo visitors enough time to get all the way around the park and nighttime not being too boring for the player to sit through. Maybe something like Parkasaurus would be nice, where the zoo starts closing at a certain time and once it's closed you skip through to the next day - though I don't foresee that eliminating the former problem.

I'm particularly interested in managing the educational aspect of the zoos we make. I'm hopeful it will be deeper than just placing educators next to podiums and that being the end of it; in most zoos it is the zookeepers themselves that provide those talks, and it would be interesting to manage our keepers schedules in order to ensure daily tasks are completed on top of educating visitors. That, too, I feel may be unlikely, but it is a possibility. Mostly I'm hopeful we can manage things like public feeds and enrichment events, educational signage, etc. Trying to balance entertainment and education, I feel, will likely be a big part of the game, and it opens up so many nice opportunities for management. I am optimistic this game will improve on PlanCo in this way.

I would like to see some real repercussions to players mismanaging their zoos, too. Park inspectors are a good idea. Putting attractions at risk of closing down (e.g. Animals being confiscated if they aren't cared for properly) is missing from a lot of simulation games like this. I know for some this would detract from the experience - making deadly coasters has always been a staple of coaster sim communities - but I'm sure if this were implemented the sandbox mode would permit you to turn this off.