More Biomes in PZ

[UCKX]

So, one day, I was building my zoo, I was going to build an African Penguin exhibit, and then i realized that most (if not all) the planet were suited for freshwater aquariums, not saltwater, and the worst part is, the penguins liked it. I know penguins really don't care about freshwater or saltwater, but animals like crocodillians do, so i came to think, what would be other biomes that could be added? I found various, and this is a list I made, the ones at the top are more necesary.

Marine and Freshwater: Dividing Aquatic into 2 biomes would be great, as of the penguin problem i said earlier. The marine biome could use some new vegetation, and freshwate keeps the old logo while marine gets a new one.

Savanna and Prairie/Steppe: I found the same problem with grassland biome, and most of the stuff in africa and australia is savanna, while the rest of the continents are steppe/prairie, so we split them up this way and Savanna keeps the old logo.

Alpine: Seeing tundra as alpine is accurate, but weird. So i say alpine gets the old tundra logo, gets its own biome and then you can decide if you want to build on the alps or on scandinavia.

Wetlands: This is not mainly for habitat building, but it is for scenery. Just imagine you go to the magestic everglades and build your zoo in it, though there are alot of animals that could fit here.

Ice/Snow Biome: Antarctica is unusually all tundra, and it looks kind of weird, so I think we should add a Cold Desert biome. To keep it on one word it would have ice or snow. The problem with this biome is that it would have practically no plants, but maybe some mosses and frozen trees might add.

Shrubland/Scrub: It would borrow some trees and bushes from temperate and grassland biomes, and some more diversity on the biomes you choose, as well as building in the medditeranean!

Temperate Desert, or Dry for one word: So, it is unlikely, but gobi desert is kind of messed up, since in winter it snows and summer it is warm, but in game, it is pure warmness. Same for all coastal deserts, and therefore, i believe that all these should be put under a new dry biome, which would have some of the current desert plants.

Montane: It would be like alpine, but forestier, warmer, smaller, and less neccerasy, but still better than filling it with taiga.

Urban: The least likely and the least neccesary, some animals would fit here, but it would be mainly for aesthietics.



Below, i put a map, which would make the old map better and add all the biomes above (except urban since it is litteraly impossible).

Light grey: Ice
Cyan: Tundra
Kelp Green: Taiga
Teal: Montane
Yellow: Prairie
Lime Green: Temperate
Dark Olive: Scrub
Light Olive: Savanna
Salmon: Dry
Beige: Desert
Indigo Violet: Wetlands
Dark Green: Tropical
Marine Blue: Marine
Cerulean Blue: Freshwater

Below i will also put other maps i based this one on.

Biomes based on some photos (mainly wikipedia)

Biomes if they only fixed the glove (light grey is also tundra but i forgot to change it)

 

[Leaf Productions]

I think what I love most about the biome system in Planet Zoo is the fact that less is more. you're able to combine the small amount to create new palettes that otherwise would just clog up space within the UI of the game. I do miss Zoo Tycoon's approach of a million different biomes most of the time, with more added via mods, but I think the charm about the foliage and nature system in Planet Zoo is the fact that since it's a lot more freeform than anything else, you're able to combine plants to make entirely new ones.

Of course, a big complaint I have myself is the inability to swap out terrain colors and grasses. But hopefully we can get that relatively soon once support comes to an end.

What I might recommend is checking out ZZ's custom plants, they go a long way with making what might feel like a "new" biome what you're seeking:

Steam Community :: Error

steamcommunity.com

In the end, after making over 300 new species for Planet zoo, I've grown to love the mix and match system that we have for our biomes. If for example you are hoping to make an African animal that lives in Subtropical Dry forest, you'd let them have Temperate/Grassland, which I think is pretty good, as even beyond that, it gives you even more options for foliage.

 

[Firestar97]

Alpine: Seeing tundra as alpine is accurate, but weird. So i say alpine gets the old tundra logo, gets its own biome and then you can decide if you want to build on the alps or on scandinavia

This one would be nice to have

Ice/Snow Biome: Antarctica is unusually all tundra, and it looks kind of weird, so I think we should add a Cold Desert biome. To keep it on one word it would have ice or snow. The problem with this biome is that it would have practically no plants, but maybe some mosses and frozen trees might add.

But doesn't each Biome has the same Temperatures and Weather on each Continent? Antarctica should stay as Tundra but I'd welcome the Addition of cold Deserts. Also there are no Trees in Antarctica

Temperate Desert, or Dry for one word: So, it is unlikely, but gobi desert is kind of messed up, since in winter it snows and summer it is warm, but in game, it is pure warmness. Same for all coastal deserts, and therefore, i believe that all these should be put under a new dry biome, which would have some of the current desert plants.

The Gobi Desert is officially classified as a Cold Desert though I think

Montane: It would be like alpine, but forestier, warmer, smaller, and less neccerasy, but still better than filling it with taiga.

Sounds interesting

Urban: The least likely and the least neccesary, some animals would fit here, but it would be mainly for aesthietics.

Wouldn't really call that a Biome but a Map Skirt Option (temperate urban, tropical urban, Desert urban....)

Marine and Freshwater: Dividing Aquatic into 2 biomes would be great, as of the penguin problem i said earlier. The marine biome could use some new vegetation, and freshwate keeps the old logo while marine gets a new one.

This one's definitely needed if we should ever get a real Aquatic Pack. Also yes, we need Saltwater Plants. Still don't understand why they showed a Kelp Plant in the North America Pack Trailer but instead of making a real one they made it out of other Plants

 

[Firestar97]

What I might recommend is checking out ZZ's custom plants, they go a long way with making what might feel like a "new" biome what you're seeking:

Steam Community :: Error

steamcommunity.com

Looks interesting. I wish there would be a List in the Description that lists all the included Species

 

[jcp011c]

Scrubland, montane, alpine would all be great additions. Scrubland particularly, it's dryer than grasslands but not as barren as deserts.

 

[UCKX]

I think what I love most about the biome system in Planet Zoo is the fact that less is more. you're able to combine the small amount to create new palettes that otherwise would just clog up space within the UI of the game. I do miss Zoo Tycoon's approach of a million different biomes most of the time, with more added via mods, but I think the charm about the foliage and nature system in Planet Zoo is the fact that since it's a lot more freeform than anything else, you're able to combine plants to make entirely new ones.

Of course, a big complaint I have myself is the inability to swap out terrain colors and grasses. But hopefully we can get that relatively soon once support comes to an end.

What I might recommend is checking out ZZ's custom plants, they go a long way with making what might feel like a "new" biome what you're seeking:

Steam Community :: Error

steamcommunity.com

In the end, after making over 300 new species for Planet zoo, I've grown to love the mix and match system that we have for our biomes. If for example you are hoping to make an African animal that lives in Subtropical Dry forest, you'd let them have Temperate/Grassland, which I think is pretty good, as even beyond that, it gives you even more options for foliage.

That is very reasonable, but i atleast they should divide aquatic and add alpine, since it feels weird that tundra covers almost every continent. But they should fix the globe anyways.

 

[UCKX]

But doesn't each Biome has the same Temperatures and Weather on each Continent? Antarctica should stay as Tundra but I'd welcome the Addition of cold Deserts. Also there are no Trees in Antarctica

I know, i just thought having Frozen trees would be cool.

 

[UCKX]

What I might recommend is checking out ZZ's custom plants, they go a long way with making what might feel like a "new" biome what you're seeking:

Steam Community :: Error

steamcommunity.com

Seems great.

 

[UCKX]

The Gobi Desert is officially classified as a Cold Desert though I think

If you consider them only as Cold or warm deserts, yes, but some other deserts (like i said, coastal deserts, mainly the atacama that can get as low as -2, and the gobi) are weird, since they are warm in summer and cold in winter, so i consider them as temperate.

 

[Firestar97]

coastal

Speaking of coastal, we need coastal Maps for each Biome

 

[UCKX]

Speaking of coastal, we need coastal Maps for each Biome

Coastal Deserts are usually larger than normal coasts, which is why i talked about them. Still, one would be cool

 

[UCKX]

That is very reasonable, but i atleast they should divide aquatic and add alpine, since it feels weird that tundra covers almost every continent. But they should fix the globe anyways.

Also, forgot to note, but most animals would not fit in one only. Some animals (mostly marine/freshwater and alpine animals) would only fit in one, but some animals could fit in both (mainly african savannah animals).

 

[ReptoMin]

for example you are hoping to make an African animal that lives in Subtropical Dry forest, you'd let them have Temperate/Grassland

I can't think of a single African Habitat Animal with Temperate. I think the Combination is Tropical + Grassland, not Temperate. I can think of Nyala, Giraffe and Buffalo.

 

[Firestar97]

I can't think of a single African Habitat Animal with Temperate

Red Deer (Atlas Deer) and African Elephants actually live in lots of Biomes and I think I remember also reading about them also living in temperate Areas. Also Greater Flamingos. I assume though that they probably fly into warmer Areas when the Water starts to freeze Makes me wonder which Parts of Africa besides the Atlas Mountains are temperate

 

[UCKX]

Red Deer (Atlas Deer) and African Elephants actually live in lots of Biomes and I think I remember also reading about them also living in temperate Areas. Makes me wonder which Parts of Africa besides the Atlas Mountains are temperate

A bit of the south of africa is temperate, you can see on the map i posted.

 

[ReptoMin]

Red Deer (Atlas Deer) and African Elephants actually live in lots of Biomes and I think I remember also reading about them also living in temperate Areas. Also Greater Flamingos. I assume though that they probably fly into warmer Areas when the Water starts to freeze Makes me wonder which Parts of Africa besides the Atlas Mountains are temperate

I was talking about the Tags in the Game, not actual Animals. Also Deer and Flamingos won't work because they also live in other Continents. I was trying to tell Leaf the Combination he gave as an Example is not in the Game. All the Dry Forest Animals I can think of in his Africa example are Tropical + Grassland, not Temperate + Grassland.

 

[Leaf Productions]

Okay this thread popped up in my notifications again and I just wanted to contribute something quickly in here after playing Zoo Tycoon 1 again (go do it, best game)

Animals are so picky in that game with how many different biomes and biome plants there are. It's awful. You can't make a realistic looking habitat without the foliage being out of wack and the animal being unhappy. I'm even more happy with Planet Zoo's decision for around 6 different biomes and animals being able to combine themselves into it. The moose don't even like the reeds and cattails in ZT1. It's baffling! But yeah, as neat as it would be to get more biome representation in the game, I think the Venn-Diagram approach of foliage and biomes that PZ chose to go with works so much better than anything else we could have gotten.

 

[Fallax]

I always found it weird how PZ splits forests into three biomes but keeps together all the grasslands and deserts... Some consistency would be nice. Personally I always thought it would be good to have wetlands and mountains as seperate biomes too and splitting up aquatic into freshwater and saltwater at least.

 

[ElectricMonk]

Whilst I think there are certainly some issues with the biomes in PZ, i think that, to a large extent, less is more... Most of the issues there are aren't due to the biome choices per se, but are more a result of the temperatures and weather events that are assigned to them - allowing players to define the temperature range and probability of events (rain, snow, etc.) would mitigate the issues that do exist. For example, there's no need for both Savanna and Prairie/Steppe (or shrubland/scrub) - Grassland would be fine for both (textures etc.) - it's the temperatures that don't work - the same goes for hot vs. cold deserts.

TBH, I don't think there's a need for either the 'marine' or 'freshwater' biomes - frankly I'd get rid of Aquatic too (just have the plants in the appropriate land biome) aquatic biomes (whether marine or FW) vary at least as much as land biomes, so having a separate category is just weird. For example, would the 'marine' biome include large kelp (temperate) and tropical corals? (never mind that marine tanks for large animals generally wouldn't have either in them anyway).

'Montane' and 'Alpine' biomes are unnecessary and isn't even realistic and, again, depends where the mountains are and how tall they are - a montane or alpine biome in an equatorial area will generally have plants and animals similar to lowland areas further north or south (i.e., temperate / taiga / tundra). Whilst those in a temperate area will generally have plants and animals similar to lowland areas further north or south (depending on hemisphere) than they are (i.e., taiga / tundra).

Adding all these additional biomes just makes everything more complex (and less flexible in design terms) without really even making it very much more (if at all) more accurate.