This is my first post on these forums though I've been active on several facebook groups and on Steam. I've been doing a lot of thinking about missing animals over the last ~9 months, and trying to give some balance to what I want to what we are not seeing due to additional coding needed. There were a lot of animals that came with the base game (over 70 if you include exhibit animals and around 50 for just habitat animals) and I'm well aware Frontier can't just add everything and when they do add they can't add everything "first", either. Getting to our wants will take time because it takes effort and money. So they're really doing a great job to me of variety, it's just a more indepth look at what's not in the game -- yet.
My most wanted animal right now is the meerkat, and they are a hugely popular zoo animal. They've been in media and are quite recognizable. But I'm noticing we don't have any burrowing animations that would go along with them. That would also affect badgers, wombats (more on Australia later) and other borrowing intensive animals. Aardvarks burrow IRL but not as yet in the game. I can't help but think that extra bit of coding is one of the reason meerkats aren't in the game.
Additionally, there's a lack of smaller sized animals. The tortoises, lemurs and now the capuchian monkey is about it I think, and I'd say the next smallest are the aardvarks or African Wild Dogs. We know they can handle small animals due to the infants. I know meerkats aren't rodents but it recently came to me that there are NO rodents in the game at all. And interestingly enough, the capybara, one of the more iconic South American animals, was not included in that pack. It will be interesting to see as time goes on where they go with this. Will really small mammals and birds (I'll get to them again) be excluded completely, or will they end up as exhibit animals? Time will tell. I just really would love meerkats in the game, and otters and the crested porcupine as well.
Next up are Australian animals. I want koalas, I want them more than even Kangaroos, and I think we're all aware that there's a lack of Australian animals in the game. Sadly looking at it from another perspective, so many of them require additional animations that they don't have rigs built for as we know it. Kangaroos and wallabies - hoping. Not jumping like the cats...pure hopping. Koalas - almost strictly tree dwelling. Much like sloths (another missed South American animal). They don't move like lemurs and primates. If and when we get them, will their relative lack of movement and lack of ground based activities mean they'll be in exhibits? Wombats - burrowing. Platypus, egg laying, water based AND small mammal. Kiwi, small (though flightless!) bird. Tasmanian Devil - small mammal. i'm sure they're expanding their rigs but right now they might could only easily make Cassowary, Emu and Dingos. I BADLY want an Australian DLC but I don't want it to be centered around those three animals.
Birds - it's no coincidence that all the birds we have are either flightless or birds that CAN fly but mainly are on the ground. Someone did post a picture on facebook of a flamingo in flight but I've only seen one picture. Proof the animation is actually in the game is shaky. And until we get proof of a flying animation - most birds are off the table. Obviously other ground dwelling birds like Emu, Secretary Birds, Cassowary would be fine. As would the penguin.....IF.....
Aquatic Animals. Again, this is pretty obvious. The animals we have that spend a lot of time in the water are floaters. There may be paddling along the surface, but there's no proof of actual swimming mechanics. And until there is, we can count strictly marine life out. Coastal animals on the other hand like seals, walruses, penguins and sea lions, that spend a part of time on the land and part on the water, isn't as much of a stretch.
That's my analysis, and some of my wish list is tied into that. The other animals I really want are not tied to any reason other than they can only offer so much at one time - things like African Leopards, Black and White Rhinos, Coyotes, Jackals, Cobras and other members of families of animals they already have. Nothing holding them back from getting made except time and priority, which is completely understandable.
I hope I haven't bored anyone by all of this. Overall I think Frontier has done a great job with their first 9 months of release. There's a lot of great animals in the game, and they've mostly covered the iconic animals with a few exceptions. Heck, I was surprised we got aardvarks, heynas and warthogs right up front. They just will need to push their boundaries as the game goes on, which I have confidence they'll do. Thank you all for your time!
My most wanted animal right now is the meerkat, and they are a hugely popular zoo animal. They've been in media and are quite recognizable. But I'm noticing we don't have any burrowing animations that would go along with them. That would also affect badgers, wombats (more on Australia later) and other borrowing intensive animals. Aardvarks burrow IRL but not as yet in the game. I can't help but think that extra bit of coding is one of the reason meerkats aren't in the game.
Additionally, there's a lack of smaller sized animals. The tortoises, lemurs and now the capuchian monkey is about it I think, and I'd say the next smallest are the aardvarks or African Wild Dogs. We know they can handle small animals due to the infants. I know meerkats aren't rodents but it recently came to me that there are NO rodents in the game at all. And interestingly enough, the capybara, one of the more iconic South American animals, was not included in that pack. It will be interesting to see as time goes on where they go with this. Will really small mammals and birds (I'll get to them again) be excluded completely, or will they end up as exhibit animals? Time will tell. I just really would love meerkats in the game, and otters and the crested porcupine as well.
Next up are Australian animals. I want koalas, I want them more than even Kangaroos, and I think we're all aware that there's a lack of Australian animals in the game. Sadly looking at it from another perspective, so many of them require additional animations that they don't have rigs built for as we know it. Kangaroos and wallabies - hoping. Not jumping like the cats...pure hopping. Koalas - almost strictly tree dwelling. Much like sloths (another missed South American animal). They don't move like lemurs and primates. If and when we get them, will their relative lack of movement and lack of ground based activities mean they'll be in exhibits? Wombats - burrowing. Platypus, egg laying, water based AND small mammal. Kiwi, small (though flightless!) bird. Tasmanian Devil - small mammal. i'm sure they're expanding their rigs but right now they might could only easily make Cassowary, Emu and Dingos. I BADLY want an Australian DLC but I don't want it to be centered around those three animals.
Birds - it's no coincidence that all the birds we have are either flightless or birds that CAN fly but mainly are on the ground. Someone did post a picture on facebook of a flamingo in flight but I've only seen one picture. Proof the animation is actually in the game is shaky. And until we get proof of a flying animation - most birds are off the table. Obviously other ground dwelling birds like Emu, Secretary Birds, Cassowary would be fine. As would the penguin.....IF.....
Aquatic Animals. Again, this is pretty obvious. The animals we have that spend a lot of time in the water are floaters. There may be paddling along the surface, but there's no proof of actual swimming mechanics. And until there is, we can count strictly marine life out. Coastal animals on the other hand like seals, walruses, penguins and sea lions, that spend a part of time on the land and part on the water, isn't as much of a stretch.
That's my analysis, and some of my wish list is tied into that. The other animals I really want are not tied to any reason other than they can only offer so much at one time - things like African Leopards, Black and White Rhinos, Coyotes, Jackals, Cobras and other members of families of animals they already have. Nothing holding them back from getting made except time and priority, which is completely understandable.
I hope I haven't bored anyone by all of this. Overall I think Frontier has done a great job with their first 9 months of release. There's a lot of great animals in the game, and they've mostly covered the iconic animals with a few exceptions. Heck, I was surprised we got aardvarks, heynas and warthogs right up front. They just will need to push their boundaries as the game goes on, which I have confidence they'll do. Thank you all for your time!
. Excellent wishlist!