My realistic dlc predictions going into 2021

[Bearcat9948]

For this exercise I'm going to try and combine my personal wishes for the game with how I feel Frontier is handling their dlc. I am currently under the impression that they're using dlc to flesh out things like game mechanics and scenery items, with less of an emphasis on adding animals to the game. My thought process is, that once they're done adding new mechanics, and likewise feel that the scenery count is substantial enough, we'll start seeing dlcs with lots more animals for us to enjoy. I'm also going to do my best to factor in how Frontier will be using our community feedback from this entire past year, to decide what dlc they make going forward.

Spring 2021 (March): Southeast Asia

• Sun bear (Adapted from Formosan black bear rig)
• Clouded leopard (Potentially new rig, or just adapted from the big cat rig already in game)
• Binturong (Adapted from Red panda rig)
• Asian small-clawed otter (Adapted from Giant river otter rig)
• Lar gibbon (Adapted from Orangutan rig)
  • Exhibit Animal: King cobra
• 140 new scenery and foliage items. Adds things such as tropical plants from Southeast Asia, scenery objects themed around Cambodian and Thai Hindu temples, animal artwork and statues, decals and prop items.
• New mechanic: Proper brachiation for apes (especially Orangutans and the newly added Gibbon)

Rationale: The thought process behind this originates with the idea that Frontier will, at least temporarily, return to their continental themed dlcs, however this time it's much more localized and focuses on Southeast Asia specifically. I believe that we would have originally gotten this dlc in August or September of 2020, but Covid ended up really messing with them and they decided to push Australia, and then Aquatic, out next in an attempt to please consumers with content they didn't have yet. I think that would've been the right choice to make, if I'm putting myself in the shoes of the team. The community would've probably been upset at getting more Asian animals before Australian or semi-aquatic animals, even if said animals are popular and we want them in the game. The Sun bear was leaked, and is as good as confirmed to be in the game, likely in the next dlc, so that's the other half of information that I'm basing this off of. Some in the community will undoubtedly be upset by it's inclusion, as it's yet another bear, however I'm actually excited to have them. They're exclusively tropical, unique looking and very active and playful, especially compared to the larger bears we have now. I'm definitely extremely biased putting Binturongs in this pack, as I am desperate to see them in the game, however I do think they're highly requested and are a super unique animal that's pretty widespread in captivity. I think they'll want to added 1 new animal that benefits from our new "deep swimming" mechanic, and the most obvious choice for that would be Asian small-clawed otter. For the Gibbon species, I think you could choose pretty much any for that spot, I just went with the Lar gibbon arbitrarily. I think the King cobra would be the most obvious choice for an exhibit animal with a pack of this theme. I retroactively added the Clouded leopard in as a 5th habitat animal, partially in my own naïve hopes that they'll start adding 5 animals instead of 4, even while focusing on adding new mechanics and scenery like I spoke about above. I don't think this list of animals would be too difficult to pull off between December and sometime in mid-late March, when this pack is due to come out. In my own opinion, I think each of these animals is absolutely essential for a Southeast Asian dlc, and I think backlash from the community would be swift and strong if they left out any one of these (minus the Sun bear). I'm sure, after the Arctic wolf/Llama/Dingo fiascos, they'd like to at least try and avoid that if possible. I chose 140 scenery objects simply because I can't see us needing more than that, and it seems like a good trade off to get an extra animal instead of more objects. The new mechanic should be obvious enough haha.

Summer 2021 (June) Africa:

• Meerkat (New custom rig)
• Hamadryas baboon (Likely to be originally adapted from either the Japanese macaque or Mandrill rig)
• Black rhino (Adapted from Indian rhino rig)
• South African penguin (Adapted from King penguin rig)
• Grey crowned crane (Adapted from Flamingo rig[?])
  • Exhibit Animal: Jackson's chameleon
• 120 scenery objects, mostly focused on African foliage (Probably about 50 of the pieces). Also adding in some new "African" themed pieces to bolster the existing stuff, animal artwork, decals etc. A very generous amount of new enrichment items for new and old animals.
• New mechanic: Burrowing. I'll be real here, not sure how they would tackle this, but I feel like it's likely that this is why we don't already have meerkats.

Rationale: It's possible they're holding the Meerkat back just to use it as a flagship to sell a dlc, but I don't think that poorly of Frontier at this time, plus the Black rhino would work just as well in that role. I doubt they make an African dlc without either one of these as well. The Hamadryas baboon is pretty often requested, we don't currently have any baboons and it's Endangered, which I think gives it the edge over the Olive baboon. The South African penguin is an absolute must-have and is included for much the same reason as the Asian small-clawed otter was for the previous dlc: It's an insanely popular animal that got left out of the Aquatic pack simply because their wasn't enough room. The Grey crowned crane is easily the most highly requested habitat bird (at least from Africa anyways) and I think the fact that you can easily have it share spaces with animals like zebras, wildebeast etc would make it attractive for Frontier. I chose the Jackson's chameleon because it gives us something unique compared to what exists in game, which has been true for the past two dlc's exhibit animals. I think this is another pack where we don't need a ton of new scenery objects, especially themed ones. This is another pack where a lot of animals will inevitably be unfortunately left out, there's just no way around it.

Fall 2021 (September) North America

• American alligator (Adapted from Saltwater crocodile/Dwarf caiman rig)
• Mountain lion (Adapted from big cat rig)
• California sea lion (New custom rig)
• Moose (Adapted from Reindeer rig)
• Arctic fox (Probably adapted from Arctic wolf rig, but could be a new custom one)
• Black-footed ferret (Adapted from Meerkat rig)
  • Exhibit animal: Hellbender
• 100 new scenery objects, most of which will be North American foliage since it's so varied, especially from areas that are noticeably lacking such as the Great Prairie, Pacific Coast and Everglades. Any new decoration items would probably a similar theme to the Aquatic pieces, by which I mean they would be designed to feel "modern" and would be able to be used in a variety of ways. Also includes animal artwork and decals.
• No new mechanics, so we get a 6th habitat animal for the first time ever. It also tees up having 6 animals for the next dlc, which you'll see why in a bit.

Rationale: I see this spot as a toss up between North America and Europe, and I think ultimately Frontier would go with a North American pack over a European one, despite being a European company. I think they would be worried that a European pack would be more difficult to sell or market than a North American pack, and rather than take that kind of risk, they'd go with North America, which to be fair I don't think is a bad option by any means. I myself would take NA over EU. The American alligator is noticeably missing from the game at the moment, and is certainly to be expected to be added at some point, as one of the most widespread crocodilians in captive zoos. The Mountain lion is an iconic "American" animal and I don't think Frontier would leave out the last big cat species. The California sea lion is added here for the same reasons as the Asian small-clawed otter and South African penguin before it. The Moose is another highly requested animal and our second deer species. The Arctic fox would be added here as a sign of goodwill from Frontier, in order to remedy their past mistake of adding the Arctic wolf over the fox in the Arctic dlc. Now, these last two picks are a little out there, but I think my reasoning is sound. For the Black-footed ferret, it's another small animal, something we always need more of in this game. It can use the Meerkat rig, providing extra value for Frontier making it from scratch (Anytime they can reuse a rig they absolutely will and should). It is one of the iconic American species when you think about modern conservation, along with the Bison and California Condor. Overall, it would probably be quite unexpected, but I think people would really love to have them ingame. With the Hellbender, I knew I wanted to add a species of salamander here, continuing with the theme of Frontier trying to give us unique exhibit animals in these dlcs. I went with the Hellbender as it could easily use the Diamondback terrapin's new freshwater landscape, and it too is a great story of American wildlife conservation bringing back an animal from the brink of extinction.

Winter 2021 (December) Aviary:

• Rainbow lorikeet
• Bald eagle
• Rhinoceros hornbill
• California condor
• Eurasian eagle owl
• Palm cockatoo
• 170 new scenery objects. New foliage as always, with at least 3 plants from each respective bird's primary biome and continent. Lot's of new animal artwork and an emphasis on educational tools. Scenery objects are themed around building your own custom aviaries.

Rationale: This would easily be the biggest dlc of PZ's life up to this point, and arguably the most important. I anticipate this will be the underlying, major project the team is working towards during the entire year, and will be the last pack of 2021, in a similar fashion to what we are seeing with the Aquatic pack. You'll notice that there are understandably no new exhibit animals here, but we have 6 new aviary birds. I tried to pick animals that are quite varied in choice, and there should be at least one animal in this pack that everyone can get excited about. Obviously they're not going to add a ton of new animals at first, again similar to the Aquatic dlc, but I think 6 would be a very fair amount to get at first.

Year in review: Ultimately, I think that this would be a much better year for community morale than 2020. 4 dlcs instead of 3 will certainly help a lot, and there are a ton of popular features and animals being added in this scenario. Of course, there are also a lot of neglected areas still, noticeably this would only see us getting 1 species of small cat, 1 species of small canine, 1 species of deer, no fish etc. But, and maybe I'm being naïve here, but I really do think what I've outlined here is very possible. The devs have shown us their dedication to the game and community with this new Aquatic pack, and I think that going forward this is something they will try to uphold. I'm going to make a follow up post, either in this thread or a new one, at some point outlining 2022 based on this current scenario. In the meantime, I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts about what I've said here.

Edit: I forgot to mention that this is predicated on the idea of Frontier wanting 200 animals in the game as accurate. This would see us having 120 animals by the end of 2021.

 

[NL_Mutso]

I think every DLC should have at least 1 surprise animal.

Not saying anything is wrong with your list But they are mostly the same as a lot of personal wishlists, we always have 1 out-of-the-box animal included in DLC.

 

[Bearcat9948]

I think every DLC should have at least 1 surprise animal.

Not saying anything is wrong with your list But they are mostly the same as a lot of personal wishlists, we always have 1 out-of-the-box animal included in DLC.

That was my rationale for the Grey crowned crane and Black-footed ferret at least. I don't think many people would expect the crane just because Africa is so huge and there are a plethora of animals to choose from, it would be hard to predict exactly what we'd get outside of the meerkat and a rhino, which are locks imo. And with the ferret, I haven't really seen it requested anywhere but again, I think it would be a huge surprise that people would love

 

[jvandiver91]

I appreciate your well-constructed rationale. Far better than the posts that on suggestions without providing a better idea. Well done

 

[[PS4] Filthymick420]

General discussion threads should definitely include the game the thread is about. This way space nerds like myself don't have to accidentally read about zoo animals over and over again.

 

[NL_Mutso]

Oh sorry, forgot the black-footed ferret. That's an animal you don't see often on lists.

And Grey Crowned Crane is high on my personal list, didn't think that would be an out-of-the-box choice for that reason.

I'm a big fan of that 1 surprise animal in every DLC

 

[NZFanatic]

I don't really agree with the rationale of the SE Asia DLC. Nothing has suggested they will go for a more localised pack like that, and nothing has suggested that they intended on dropping such a DLC but were stopped due to Covid. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong, but based on the other files we saw in the "leak" video, the sun bear seems like an incomplete animal compared to the others, not one that's sitting there waiting to be released. More to the point, why wouldn't they just do a more general "Asia Pack"?

I also get the feeling we'll be moving away from continent-based DLC now. Time for something fresher, such as perhaps biomes/environments. I think birds will come in the end, but for the rest I'm suspecting we might see packs more in line with the Aquatic Pack in terms of theming.

Time will tell.

 

[Bearcat9948]

I don't really agree with the rationale of the SE Asia DLC. Nothing has suggested they will go for a more localised pack like that, and nothing has suggested that they intended on dropping such a DLC but were stopped due to Covid. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong, but based on the other files we saw in the "leak" video, the sun bear seems like an incomplete animal compared to the others, not one that's sitting there waiting to be released. More to the point, why wouldn't they just do a more general "Asia Pack"?

I also get the feeling we'll be moving away from continent-based DLC now. Time for something fresher, such as perhaps biomes/environments. I think birds will come in the end, but for the rest I'm suspecting we might see packs more in line with the Aquatic Pack in terms of theming.

Time will tell.

Well, as far as what you said about the Sun bear being unfinished and not intending to be used soon, I disagree. I actually think it’s the opposite, that they’re in fact working on it right now. They’ve almost assuredly started on the next dlc at this point.

As far as why I went with Southeast Asia over a generalized Asian dlc, chalk it up to a general feeling, the same as you feeling like they’ll move away from continent themes. I don’t care too much if I’m right or wrong with these, I just think it’s fun.

 

[iloveyourzoos]

I would absolutely buy all of these packs. I love the thought that you put into them, which does make them feel like very real possibilities.

Particularly love the idea of the burrowing for meerkats. I kind of wondered if they might even have a pack of all burrowing animals from different regions, with the meerkat being the poster animal. That way they could have a separate africa pack with the rhino as the poster animal.

 

[Lelka]

Quite a realistic and reasonable list. Yet I think if any kind of gibbon comes, they deserve a new rig. Gibbons walk upright on land most of the times, which is very different from apes already in PZ.

 

[Bearcat9948]

Quite a realistic and reasonable list. Yet I think if any kind of gibbon comes, they deserve a new rig. Gibbons walk upright on land most of the times, which is very different from apes already in PZ.

Do you think they'd be able to just reuse the Orangutan rig and modify enough to be able to do that though? Because I feel like that would make it a lot easier for them to incorporate brachiation for both animals in that case

 

[jcp011c]

This is very well thought out, and I really agree with almost everything. The only thing I'd switch out is one of the birds for a Toucan. Bald Eagle stays for sure, but otherwise I think a toucan would be a higher degree of recognition than any of the others. I'd probably take out the cockatoo or owl.

 

[Bearcat9948]

This is very well thought out, and I really agree with almost everything. The only thing I'd switch out is one of the birds for a Toucan. Bald Eagle stays for sure, but otherwise I think a toucan would be a higher degree of recognition than any of the others. I'd probably take out the cockatoo or owl.

Thanks! With an aviary pack, it's like the Aquatic pack that inevitably a lot of animals are going to get left out initially, there's really no way around it. I tried to choose at either at least one type of bird, or one bird from each continent. Also, species from differing biomes. I tried to pick ones that are at least relatively well known and popular. The cockatoo could easily become a macaw, toucan etc. I ultimately went with the cockatoo because that plus the rainbow lorikeet (which is arguably the most poplar aviary zoo bird in the world), it gives us two additional Australian animals. Those would be the only two new ones coming next year, in this scenario.

 

[Swjosdotschka]

To be honest, the one reason why I think your prediction will probably be wrong is, that I would be absolutely satisfied with the whole animal roster I'm not that lucky.

 

[Thylaco]

The thing I'd keep in mind is that the December 2021 DLC might be the last DLC, if Planet Coaster's anything to go by DLC wise (though I could see you getting up to 2 more DLCs after that).

Another thing to note about Planet Coaster is that scenery was absent from two of the later DLCS, focusing entirely on rides instead, so I wouldn't disregard the possibility of near pure or purely animal packs at some point later on.

 

[SanRazo618]

The thing I'd keep in mind is that the December 2021 DLC might be the last DLC, if Planet Coaster's anything to go by DLC wise (though I could see you getting up to 2 more DLCs after that).

Another thing to note about Planet Coaster is that scenery was absent from two of the later DLCS, focusing entirely on rides instead, so I wouldn't disregard the possibility of near pure or purely animal packs at some point later on.

Planet Coaster had three years of support though? If I'm wrong please let me know but the Ghostbusters pack was released in 2019 and the game was released in 2016.

 

[Thylaco]

Planet Coaster had three years of support though? If I'm wrong please let me know but the Ghostbusters pack was released in 2019 and the game was released in 2016.

You are right (November 2016), though their first DLC was July 2017, and their last DLC June 2019, whereas this game had DLC off the bat, so I'd go for 2 years of DLC as the safer assumption.

 

[SanRazo618]

You are right (November 2016), though their first DLC was July 2017, and their last DLC June 2019, whereas this game had DLC off the bat, so I'd go for 2 years of DLC as the safer assumption.

Ah ok, I understand now

 

[FoxyDee]

I get somewhat frustrated even thinking about the possibility that we are going to have only one more year of DLCs. I would rather not think about it and just keep getting surprised.

 

[Swjosdotschka]

I get somewhat frustrated even thinking about the possibility that we are going to have only one more year of DLCs. I would rather not think about it and just keep getting surprised.

That seems like a typical Planet Zoo illness though. Ever since the game came out, us hard core players are getting anxiety that the support might end soon. I can not exclude myself from it. Maybe it is because it's kind of a new concept to me that games are only supported for such a short period of time. I mean, even before EA released unfinished base games we had 4 years of support.

Lets just hope that the new DLC explodes in sales and long term engagement of players and Frontier is putting another year or two of support on top.