Missing biomes

[yoav_r]

There are a few biomes missing from the game, which causes an inability to create zoos in their corresponding real life biome, and makes some animals' biome placement incorrect. I did the research, and here are the main biomes missing according to it:

1. Scrub - scrublands, a semi-arid landscape defined by mid-high tempreatures and shrubland with a few trees, is a biome that is found around the mediterranean, in the Sahel in africa, southern australia, south africa and parts of the US and Mexico in NA. In the game it is replaced by desert/grassland (which is way too hot and lacks trees and bushes to represent real scrubland) or temperate (which is way too cold and green, real scrublands don't experience snow).
2. Wetlands - the current aquatic biome should be split to wetlands and coastal. Currently wetlands animals have relatively few plants, and the aquatic biome is inconsistent with animals that live in wetlands but are not actually aquatic, like the Proboscis monkey
3. Coastal - The coastal animals of the game havffe some weird biome combinations (like desert+aquatic for the african penguin), which means we lack both terrestrial coastal shrubs and coastal seaweed and water plants
4. Grassland - the grassland in the game is very clearly an african savannah, which really doesn't fit for Europe, NA and Asia, both in ground textures and tempratures. This does not require a new biome, but rather new grassland maps for these contienents.

For some animals these should be their "primary" biomes, which is not currently reflected in the game.
Here are the roster animals with missing biomes:

Biome	Animals missing a primary biome	Animals missing a secondrary biome	Biome image
Scrub	Aardvark Black Wildebeest Springbok Gemsbok Southern White Rhino	African Penguin African Wild Dog Common Ostrich Common Warthog Dingo Fennec Fox Red Kangaroo Ring-tailed Lemur Spotted Hyena Pronghorn
Wetlands	Cuvier's Dwarf Caiman Hippopotamus Proboscis Monkey Giant Otter Gharial Nile Monitor	African Buffalo Babirusa Baird's Tapir Greater Flamingo Indian Elephant Jaguar Malayan Tapir Proboscis Monkey Pygmy Hippo Southern Cassowary
Coastal	African Penguin Grey Seal King Penguin Saltwater Crocodile	Grizzly Bear Komodo Dragon Southern Cassowary

In my opinion, this is one of the main things missing from the game, and I wanted to put it up for discussion and for the devs to potentially see.


Easy changes:
Even without creating new maps, as @Bearcat9948 said, it would be easy to create icons and tags for these 3 biomes, and then apply them to the animals in table above.

I'm tagging the community managers so they could see the list, and various suggestions in the post and comments: @Tim Smith @Eltanin Casciani @Francesca Falcini @Jens Erik

 

[NZFanatic]

I think the biomes are fine. Real zoos can't perfectly replicate biomes anyway, and the simulations they come up with often look like a mix between two different ones (alpine/tundra, general forest, grassland/desert in some cases). I also don't see the need for separate coastal/wetlands biomes in the game. The Aquatic 'biome' isn't really a true biome in relation to the animals, it's a lifestyle marker - it's only there to tell you the animal needs a lot of water and swims (in that way it's kind of superfluous in itself).

 

[DarthQuell]

I agree (check out my three about 2 things that need to be addressed).

I'm mostly excited for the wetlands one and the coastal.

By the way, you put striped hyena; is that a typo and you're referring to spotted hyena or is there some secret animal in the game?

 

[yoav_r]

I agree (check out my three about 2 things that need to be addressed).

I'm mostly excited for the wetlands one and the coastal.

By the way, you put striped hyena; is that a typo and you're referring to spotted hyena or is there some secret animal in the game?

Mostly wishful thinking. I fixed it.

 

[Bearcat9948]

I think the biomes are fine. Real zoos can't perfectly replicate biomes anyway, and the simulations they come up with often look like a mix between two different ones (alpine/tundra, general forest, grassland/desert in some cases). I also don't see the need for separate coastal/wetlands biomes in the game. The Aquatic 'biome' isn't really a true biome in relation to the animals, it's a lifestyle marker - it's only there to tell you the animal needs a lot of water and swims (in that way it's kind of superfluous in itself).

How hard is it to add though, really? Add artwork for the scrub, wetland and coastal icons. Beyond that it's just changing data values and simple coding. Unless you're talking about new maps (which would be nice, but not a priority) it should actually be pretty easy to do. Especially given the fact that most of the community as done the legwork for them, they literally just need to take our info an implement it.

 

[yoav_r]

I think the biomes are fine. Real zoos can't perfectly replicate biomes anyway, and the simulations they come up with often look like a mix between two different ones (alpine/tundra, general forest, grassland/desert in some cases). I also don't see the need for separate coastal/wetlands biomes in the game. The Aquatic 'biome' isn't really a true biome in relation to the animals, it's a lifestyle marker - it's only there to tell you the animal needs a lot of water and swims (in that way it's kind of superfluous in itself).

Real zoos can't replicate biomes, but are found in actual biomes. Most zoos in southern europe, California (including SDZ itself), parts of Australia and the middle east are in scrublands. Currently if you want to recreate a zoo from these areas you have to either go with sandy desert or savannah that gets to 45°C, and can't hold most animals as a result, or go for temperate which gets way too cold and green for a realistic map in these areas.

Considering how much of the player base lives in these areas I think we really need scrubland map and plants.


Regarding the aquatic, I agree the aquatic is more a marker than a biome currently, but as a result we don't have any proper plants for coastal animals, and wetland animals lack a lot of plants.

 

[Dodoraptor]

In my opinion, the grassland biome works for scrub
The problem is how temperatures work in the game with their respective biomes (such as grasslands getting to 42 degrees Celsius and the tundra not getting bellow -12) and how many animals have messy temperature tolerance

 

[yoav_r]

In my opinion, the grassland biome works for scrub
The problem is how temperatures work in the game with their respective biomes (such as grasslands getting to 42 degrees Celsius and the tundra not getting bellow -12) and how many animals have messy temperature tolerance

That and the ground textures. If we could get a dedicated grassland map for asia, europe, and NA it would work, but I think it would be easier to make one global scrubland map.

Although i would like both.

 

[Aramar]

My Zarpa zoo is supposed to be in a Spanish Mediterranean city and I am using the current grassland map. It's true that the texture doesn't look like any landscape I could find in this area, but the most annoying things to me are the temperature, which can be too high, and the lack of trees than I can use. I basically have to use the palm tree all the time.

I wish the three things (texture, temperate and foliage) would be improved, but only by adding more trees and plants from this biome would already make a big difference.

 

[yoav_r]

My Zarpa zoo is supposed to be in a Spanish Mediterranean city and I am using the current grassland map. It's true that the texture doesn't look like any landscape I could find in this area, but the most annoying things to me are the temperature, which can be too high, and the lack of trees than I can use. I basically have to use the palm tree all the time.

I wish the three things (texture, temperate and foliage) would be improved, but only by adding more trees and plants from this biome would already make a big difference.

Yes definitely. All we have for mediterranean is some palms, and very few bushes from <temperate>+<europe>.

 

[NZFanatic]

I wish the three things (texture, temperate and foliage) would be improved, but only by adding more trees and plants from this biome would already make a big difference.

This I can get behind. New foliage would go a long way to alleviating a lot of these concerns.

 

[NZFanatic]

How hard is it to add though, really? Add artwork for the scrub, wetland and coastal icons. Beyond that it's just changing data values and simple coding. Unless you're talking about new maps (which would be nice, but not a priority) it should actually be pretty easy to do. Especially given the fact that most of the community as done the legwork for them, they literally just need to take our info an implement it.

I don't know whether 'hard' comes into it, but "is it worth it?". I think the answer is 'no'. There's also the point that if they wanted to or could add all these more accurate biomes, then they probably would have at the beginning.

Anyway, to be honest, I'm not advocating for or against the idea, but I don't see it as necessary or important. If you guys get your wish and it changes, then fine, but I'm not going to be bothered either way.

 

[yoav_r]

I don't know whether 'hard' comes into it, but "is it worth it?". I think the answer is 'no'. There's also the point that if they wanted to or could add all these more accurate biomes, then they probably would have at the beginning.

Anyway, to be honest, I'm not advocating for or against the idea, but I don't see it as necessary or important. If you guys get your wish and it changes, then fine, but I'm not going to be bothered either way.

The way the game works right now, it is not really possible to make a realistic zoo in any biome except temperate and tropical, because the other biomes have way too extreme tempratures. I think this small change is totally worth it, if only to give us another realistic setting for a zoo.

 

[ReptoMin]

How hard is it to add though, really? Add artwork for the scrub, wetland and coastal icons. Beyond that it's just changing data values and simple coding. Unless you're talking about new maps (which would be nice, but not a priority) it should actually be pretty easy to do. Especially given the fact that most of the community as done the legwork for them, they literally just need to take our info an implement it.

Every biome tag (except aquatic) comes with its own maps and terrain paints, so this late into the game I think it would be very difficult. But I agree there should be salt and fresh water distinction for sure. Since aquatic doesn't come with its own map and terrain paints, this should be easy to implement.

Edit: Even when they add new terrain paints and maps, for example red desert for Australia, they didn't make it a new biome. So I think it isn't likely we'll see new terrestrial biomes.

 

[Veah]

Real zoos can't replicate biomes, but are found in actual biomes. Most zoos in southern europe, California (including SDZ itself) and the middle east are in scrublands. Currently if you want to recreate a zoo from these areas you have to either go with sandy desert or savannah that gets to 45°C, and can't hold most animals as a result, or go for temperate which gets way too cold and green for a realistic map in these areas.

Considering how much of the player base lives in these areas I think we really need scrubland map and plants.

Yes, it's really a big over-simplification, that is preventing me from recreating a couple of Spanish zoos. I don't know why the Mediterranean biome is always the victim when a game/book/map needs to reduce the number of biomes.

And I am not sure PZ needed to reduce that number. WWF lists 14 but including mangroves and flooded grassland (kinda PZ's aquatic), montane grassland (tundra, but on hilly map instead of flat), tropical coniferous forest (very rare biome, unnecessary), temperate coniferous (PZ's taiga or "temperate", depending on which part of the world) and dry tropical forest (just like savannah, but with way more trees). The game currently has 6 biomes, so they could have done 8 and include a Mediterranean/scrubland biome, and differentiate the temperate steppe from the tropical savannah (instead of the generic "grassland").

Also, Mediterranean climates are very useful for zoos IRL (and would be useful in PZ if included), as they have mild temperatures, suitable for both temperate and tropical animals in open-air enclosures year-round. And rain doesn't usually bothers guests. So no need of big buildings with heating for dwellers or visitors, no bad ticket numbers due to rainy days, no need to close in winter... Profit!

 

[Chuditch]

As someone who lives in an area of Australia with a Mediterranean climate, I'd really love a new map that better reflects the local landscape rather than resorting to using the grassland or temperate map (grassland more closely resembles summer, temperate more closely resembles winter). However, unfortunately I don't think it's likely that new biomes will be implemented at this point, and for how oversimplified it is I'm generally happy with the current biome system (as long as they fix that globe). Of course, if the change does come I'll be the last one complaining!

In full support of more scrubland plants though! There's lots of local plants I'm missing (spamming wattle and stringybark everywhere gets monotonous fast) though I'm certain that's true for anyone in any biome.

 

[Aramar]

Do you think it could be possible to get a modified grassland map for Europe? I mean, like they did with the modified desert map por Australia and the modified tropical map for South America. If they create a new map and add some Mediterranean trees, I wouldn't need a new biome, the grassland would work for a Mediterranean zoo.

 

[Aotearoa]

Do you think it could be possible to get a modified grassland map for Europe? I mean, like they did with the modified desert map por Australia and the modified tropical map for South America. If they create a new map and add some Mediterranean trees, I wouldn't need a new biome, the grassland would work for a Mediterranean zoo.

Since temperate and taiga maps work just fine for EU zoos, the one map I'd expect to receive a modification for Europe, or Eurasia in general is the grassland map, so I'd say it is quite possible. A map resembling Mediterranean scrub forests would be really neat.

The same logic applies to NA. I would expect a custom modified grasslands map that resembles a prairie.

 

[Veah]

That would be a big improvement, but still not perfect. The climate of the maps should be changed too, currently the European and American grasslands are always 20-40ºC, it's African climate, like if it were always summer. Modified grassland maps resembling American praire and Mediterranean woodland should have lower temperatures, and the American praire should even reach sub-zero sometimes.

 

[ReptoMin]

Tropical biome shouldn't also reach over 40 degrees Celsius. And rainforest animals like great apes should have a problem coping with desert temperatures, even savannah temperatures. Right now they have suitability up to 42 degrees Celsius which is odd, also doesn't provide any challenge when building desert zoos.