So I've put a decent amount of thought into this over the past week or so, and compiled what I think will end up being the final version of a wishlist of everything that I personally want in the game. This includes new animals, new scenery, new mechanics etc. I'm going to try and make it pretty detailed so you can sort of see what I'm getting at, and what I picture would be the best way for PZ to end. Please note this isn't meant to be an accurate, crystal ball prediction of what PZ will actually become, I am simply describing to you my ideal outcome. I hope you enjoy my thought process here. WARNING: This will be quite long!
Synopsis: I chose around 12 or less habitat animals for each continent, except Antarctica, that I would like to see added to PZ. I then narrowed those down to my top 6 for each continent, ending with 36 new animals. I still want the rest to be added, but I'll get into how they might possibly be added outside of paid dlc at the end of this post. Any birds chosen here are ones that are either flightless or usually flightless (such as the peafowl already in game). Also, I tried to be as realistic with biomes as I could. For some animals, I also considered historic ranges where the animal may no longer exist today, but has in past few hundred years. Also, since I thought it would be unrealistic to include non-major biomes, subtropical forests or drytropical forests for instance, I gave animals who inhabit those biomes combinations of Tropical rainforest, Scrubland or Grassland.
Finally, the last thing Frontier can do after they're done making dlc is to fully support modding, so we can add our own animals and scenery items to PZ. That would ultimately be the best thing the could do for the game!
So yeah, lol that was a long read. Trust me it took a while to compile this thing, like two weeks. And then an extra two days to write it! I hope you enjoyed this little window into my mind. Also, Chante I know you'll see this, and probably won't be allowed to comment on it at all, but hey if you want to maybe nudge this in the direction of the dev team that would be pretty cool
Anyways, if anyone has any questions and wants me to clarify anything, just let me know!
- Alpine biome
- Scrubland biome
- Coastal or Intertidal biome
- Reef biome
- Pelagic biome
- Change the Aquatic biome PZ already has to Freshwater
- Desert
- +) Cheetah, Common ostrich, African wild dog, Jaguar
- -) None
- Taiga
- +) None
- -) Snow leopard, Himalayan brown bear, Llama, Red panda
- Aquatic (Now Freshwater)
- +) None
- -) Polar bear
- Alpine
- +) Snow leopard, Himalayan brown bear, Giant panda, Llama, Red panda, Formosan black bear, Dall sheep
- -) None
- Scrubland
- +) Red kangaroo, Dingo, Koala, Gemsbok, African elephant, African wild dog, Spotted hyena, Bengal tiger, Indian rhino, Komodo dragon, Ring-tailed lemur
- -) None
North America
- American alligator (Freshwater, Temperate forest)
- American black bear (Temperate forest, Alpine, Grassland, Taiga, Scrubland)
- Mountain lion (Taiga, Temperate forest, Tropical rainforest, Alpine, Scrubland, Desert, Grassland)
- Bighorn sheep (Alpine, Desert, Scrubland)
- Moose (Taiga, Temperate forest, Freshwater)
- Bobcat (Alpine, Temperate forest, Desert, Scrubland)
- Arctic fox (Taiga, Tundra)
- Musk ox (Taiga, tundra)
- Wolverine (Temperate forest, Taiga, Tundra)
- South America
- Capybara (Freshwater, Tropical rainforest, grassland)
- Collared peccary (Desert, Scrubland, Tropical rainforest, Grassland)
- South American coatimundi (Tropical rainforest, Grassland)
- Black howler monkey (Tropical rainforest)
- Yacare caiman (Freshwater, Tropical rainforest, Grassland)
- Maned wolf (Grassland, scrubland)
- Bald uakari (Tropical rainforest, Grassland)
- Spectacled bear (Alpine, Scrubland, Grassland)
- Ocellated turkey (Tropical rainforest, grassland, scrubland)
- Patagonian mara (Alpine, Grassland, Scrubland)
- Europe
- Iberian lynx (Scrubland, Temperate forest)
- Alpine ibex (Alpine)
- Chamois (Alpine)
- Alpine Marmot (Alpine)
- Red fox (Grassland, Temperate forest, Scrubland)
- European jackal (Alpine, Temperate forest, Grassland, Scrubland)
- Capercaillie (Taiga, Alpine, Temperate forest, Grassland)
- European badger (Temperate forest, Grassland)
- Eurasian lynx (Temperate forest, Grassland, Taiga)
- Barbary macaque (Alpine, Scrubland Grassland)
- Africa and Middle East
- Black rhino (Grassland, Scrubland)
- Fennec fox (Desert)
- Persian leopard (Desert, Scrubland)
- Hamadryas baboon (Desert, Scrubland)
- Giant eland (Grassland, Scrubland, Desert)
- Nile crocodile (Freshwater, Desert, Grassland)
- Meerkat (Grassland, Scrubland)
- Serval (Grassland, Scrubland)
- Caracal (Grassland, Scrubland)
- African crested porcupine (Grassland, Scrubland, Temperate forest)
- Scimitar oryx (Desert, Scrubland)
- Asia
- Binturong (Tropical rainforest, Scrubland)
- Golden takin (Alpine)
- Markhor (Alpine)
- Clouded leopard (Tropical rainforest, Temperate forest)
- Sun bear (Tropical rainforest)
- Dhole (Alpine, Scrubland, Tropical rainforest, Grassland)
- Golden snub-nosed monkey (Temperate forest, Alpine)
- Siamang (Tropical rainforest)
- White-handed gibbon (Tropical rainforest)
- Pallas's cat (Alpine, Scrubland)
- Gaur (Tropical rainforest, Grassland)
- Oceania
- Tasmanian devil (Temperate forest, Scrubland)
- Tiger quoll (Tropical rainforest, Scrubland)
- Numbat (Temperate forest, Scrubland)
- Northern hairy-nosed wombat (Temperate forest, Scrubland)
- Yellow-footed rock wallaby (Temperate forest)
- Quokka (Temperate forest, Scrubland)
- South Island takahe (Grassland)
- Emu (Desert, Scrubland, Temperate forest)
- Mountain stream
- Marsh
- Temperate forest
- Dry Grassland
- Tropical rainforest
- +) None
- -) Goliath frog
- Marsh
- +) Goliath Frog
- -) None
- King cobra (Dry Grassland)
- Argentine black-and-white tegu (Mountain stream)
- Rough-scaled bush viper (Tropical rainforest)
- Eyelash viper (Tropical rainforest)
- Indian star tortoise (Dry Grassland)
- American coral snake (Marsh...though it could also be Temperate forest)
- Fire salamander (Temperate forest)
- Banana slug (Temperate forest)
- Alpine newt (Mountain stream)
- Emperor Mandarin newt (Mountain stream)
- Alligator snapping turtle (Marsh)
- Painted turtle (Marsh)
- Aviaries/Mini Habitats:
- These will be modular, buildable habitats, with certain restrictions. You can have some customizability, but the game will not allow you to build them larger than a certain size. Attempting to build them too big and then adding a keeper gate will not be allowed by the game, the gate will become red and if you try to click it, you will be greeted by an error message. The animals inside will function the same as normal habitat animals, being able to react to the environment that you place. Birds will have certain items that they like to interact with more, such as specific trees with larger branches, or specific enrichment items like tree stumps, rocks and nests. These will also be used for certain, smaller animals that wouldn't fit well in the large habitat system already in the game. These mini habitats will be referred to as "enclosures", because, surprise, they will have to be enclosed with a roof. The roofs will be in the barriers category, and will be modular, to allow you creativity when building both the walls and roof. They will consist of the follow materials: wood (recolorable), concrete, chain-link, glass (lining is recolorable) and lastly rope netting. Also, unlike current exhibits, you will be able to have multiple species in the same enclosure, as long as they provide an inter-species bonus. So you can't have eagles with parrots, but you can have parrots with macaws.
- Walkthrough Aviary
- These will function basically the same as the above, with a distinct difference. There will be one entrance and exit gate, similar to how walkthrough habitats function now, however these will not be placeable until you already have animal inside. This is to prevent the player from making walkthrough aviaries with unsuitable animals. So depending on the species inside, you may or may not be allowed to place down the entrance point. Animals that are able to be used in walkthrough aviaries can also be used in the above type of enclosures too, just to be clear. But not all enclosure animals can be used in walkthroughs.
- Small Aquarium Tanks
- These will function pretty much the same as the existing exhibits in PZ, with smaller animals that don't move too much. Added to give the game more diversity. Player controls things like temperature and salinity instead of humidity, but this functions the same as exhibits with the sliders. Also, unlike current exhibits but similarly to the enclosure system, you can have multiple species in a tank, if they provide an interspecies bonus. This is however, optional.
- Large Aquarium Tanks
- These will function similar to how tanks worked in ZT2. They will require for tank walls, completely connected, and have a ladder/platform for staff access. They will also require a machine to be attached to one of the tank walls that controls salinity and temperature for the tank. Heaters and coolers will have no effect on tanks once they are completed (meaning fully connected). Once these three requirements have been met, then animals will be allowed to be placed inside. Animals inside can interact with their environment (meaning swim through rock arches, avoid rocks, swim around or through plants etc). You will be allowed to put any type of plant in that you want, but animals will have the same plant requirements that habitat animals do unless welfare is disabled. There will be specific tank walls in the barriers section that can only be used for these, so you won't be able to use the old concrete or glass barriers, and vice versa. They will be made of the following materials: glass ( recolorable, both panes and edges), 1 way glass (same) and concrete (recolorable). You can have different species together as well.
- Coastal
- Reef
- Freshwater Lake (American)
- Freshwater Lake (African)
- Flooded Forest
- Bald Eagle (Temperate forest, Taiga, Tundra)
- Steller's sea eagle (Taiga, Tundra)
- Andean Condor (Alpine, Scrubland)
- Eurasian eagle-owl (Taiga)
- Great hornbill (Tropical rainforest)
- Flying fox (Tropical rainforest, Temperate forest)
- Vampire bat (Tropical rainforest, Grassland)
- Kookaburra (Tropical rainforest, Temperate forest, Scrubland)
- Pygmy marmoset (Tropical rainforest)
- Golden lion tamarin (Tropical rainforest)
- Emperor Tamarin (Tropical rainforest)
- Garnett's galago aka Greater bushbaby (Grassland, Scrubland)
- Common brushtail possum (Temperate forest, Scrubland)
- Brown-throated sloth (Tropical rainforest, Grassland)
- Indian giant squirrel (Temperate forest, Scrubland)
- Rainbow lorikeet (Tropical rainforest, Temperate forest)
- Rose-ringed parakeet (Tropical rainforest)
- Fischer's lovebird (Tropical rainforest)
- Scarlet macaw (Tropical rainforest)
- Great green macaw (Tropical rainforest)
- Spix's macaw (Tropical rainforest)
- Toco toucan (Tropical rainforest)
- Black palm cockatoo (Tropical rainforest, Temperate forest)
- Galah (Tropical rainforest, Temperate forest)
- Scarlet ibis (Freshwater, Tropical rainforest)
- Roseate spoonbill (Freshwater, Tropical rainforest)
- Bali mynah (Tropical rainforest)
- North American beaver (Freshwater, Temperate forest, Taiga)
- Asian small-clawed otter (Freshwater, Tropical rainforest, Temperate forest)
- Amazonian giant otter (Freshwater, Tropical rainforest)
- Walrus (Taiga, Tundra)
- Cape fur seal (Coastal)
- California sea lion (Coastal)
- Galapagos sea lion (Coastal)
- Emperor penguin (Taiga, Tundra)
- South African penguin (Coastal)
- Fairy penguin (Coastal)
- Galapagos penguin (Coastal)
- Leafy sea dragon (Coastal)
- Great seahorse (Coastal)
- Blue mbuna (Freshwater Lake, African)
- Red zebra cichlid (Freshwater Lake, African)
- Aurora cichlid (Freshwater Lake, African)
- Smallmouth bass (Freshwater Lake, American)
- Bluegill (Freshwater Lake, American)
- Electric eel (Flooded Forest)
- Cardinal tetra (Flooded Forest)
- Green neon tetra (Flooded Forest)
- Orange clownfish (Reef)
- Regal blue tang (Reef)
- Threadfin butterfly fish (Reef)
- Regal Angelfish (Reef)
- Alligator gar (Freshwater)
- Channel catfish (Freshwater)
- Arapaima (Freshwater)
- Redtail catfish (Freshwater)
- Red-bellied piranha (Freshwater)
- Tocantins river ray (Freshwater)
- Giant Pacific Octopus (Coastal)
- West Indian manatee (Coastal)
- Giant Grouper (Coastal)
- Blacktip reef shark (Reef)
- Sandtiger shark (Coastal)
- Giant Grouper (Coastal, Reef)
- Spotted eagle ray (Coastal, Reef)
- Great barracuda (Reef, Pelagic)
- Common Sawfish (Coastal, Reef)
- Green Moray eel (Reef)
- Green sea turtle (Coastal, Reef)
- Whale shark (Pelagic)
- Jumping Stick w/ Meat: Only used by Servals. There are two heights, 1m and 2.5m. These are a food enrichment and exist to show off Serval's incredible jumping abilities
- Sentry post: These are two tree stumps with specific animations for specific animals. While most animals could climb on top of a tree stump or rock we already have, these trigger unique animations. They also work as a toy enrichment. They are .2m and .4m high. Basically an animal will hop on top and "stand guard" by surveying it's area. This is usable by Meerkats, Indian peafowl, Ocellated turkey and Alpine marmots. The Meerkats and Alpine marmots will stand on their hind legs during this.
- Rock burrow: This is a toy enrichment item that as default is the same color as the Grassland rocks, but can be recolored to be the same texture of any ingame rock). It has many holes and tunnels throughout and is largely visible to see through for guests, however it does give animals a privacy bonus when using it. The tunnels and holes are differing sizes, and there two versions, medium and large. Meerkats can used either medium or large, while large can be used by Aardvarks, Pangolins and Eurasian badgers. If place underwater, either the medium or large can be used by the Giant Pacific octopus or Green moray eel.
- Salt lick: This is favored by many of the herbivores (especially hoofed animals) in PZ. It serves as a gather place and can be used by up to 3 animals at a time, with the exception of elephants and rhinos, which can only use it one at a time. It is a food enrichment.
- Premade kopje: This is a premade rock formation for use of primates and carnivores. While we can make rock structures at any time, and animals are sure to use them, they provide no enrichment bonus or unique animations. This is a toy enrichment that solves that. It, like the rock burrow, is Grassland rock texture by default, but can be recolored into any other rock texture. It is favored by Lions, Tigers, Leopards, Jaguars, Cougars, Spotted Hyenas, Hamadryas baboons, Barbary macaque, Mandrills, Chimpanzees, Bonobos, Dholes and Timber wolves.
- Tree perches: There are 5 of these, with two sizes each, being medium and large. These are used for animals in enclosures or aviaries. I haven't picked out which trees specifically they would be, but they would have a decent diversity to them to represent the Grassland, Tropical rainforest, Temperate forest, Taiga and Scrubland biomes. They have multiple branches and hollows that will provide unique animations depending on which animal is using it at that time. Some parts will be specific to certain animals as well, so for instance, you could have two lorikeets perched on one branch, and a Gallah on another. Also, birds specifically will prefer to fly from a tree perch to another tree perch, instead of on the ground or a rock, or even a regular tree.
- Large Dead Log Perch: This is specific in use for Jaguars, Leopards and Binturongs. It is a toy enrichment with two sizes, medium and large. Binturongs can use both but the cats can only use the large size. It must be placed on an overhang with no ground immediately below it.
- Log feeding stations: These could be used by pretty much any animal you want (habitat or enclosure that is). There would be two horizontal and two vertical, both having a medium and large size. Essentially, like what ZT2 used to have.
- Brachiation for relevant species, notably Orangutans and Gibbon species.
- Herd animals, especially hoof stock, are now more inclined to stay close together (within 3-5m).
- Bears that normally swim, such as Grizzly bears and Polar bears, as well as Gharials and Saltwater crocs, now have the new diving animations. All new crocodilians will also have these.
- African oil palm (3 sizes)
- Sabal palm/palmetto (3 sizes)
- European fan palm (2 sizes, small and medium)
- California palm (3 sizes)
- River red gum (3 sizes)
- Timor white gum (3 sizes)
- Hare's tail grass (3 sizes)
- Coast spear grass (3 sizes)
- Blueberry bush (2 sizes, small and medium)
- Strawberry bush (2 sizes, small and medium)
- Anthora plant (3 sizes)
- Spanish cycad (3 sizes)
- Barbary fig cactus (2 sizes, small and medium)
- Fig tree (3 sizes)
- Hibiscus flower (3 sizes, fully recolorable flowers)
- At least 6 more varieties of dead trees of existing PZ trees. Must have at least two sizes each, medium and large.
- 3 species of coral, all must have 3 sizes and be fully recolorable. (Yeah I know they're animals just go with it)
- Giant kelp (3 sizes)
- Bladder wrack kelp (3 sizes)
- Turtle grass (3 sizes)
- Sargassum (3 sizes)
- Rocks for Coastal, Reef, Alpine and Scrubland biomes
- 150 pieces or less of a nautical theme (Lighthouses, anchors, shipwrecks etc)
- 100 pieces or less of chain-mesh building set
- 30 pieces or less of rope building pieces
- Artwork for each new habitat, enclosure/aviary and large tank animal. At least 150 pieces
- 30 new pieces for the Indian theme
- 150 new pieces for a generalized Southeast Asian theme
- 30 new pieces for the South American theme
- 150 new pieces or less for a Pacific Northwest/Native American theme
Other Changes
- Allow the two other species of Canis lupus (Timber wolf and Arctic wolf) to use the rope toy enrichment. Potentially allow the African wild dogs to use this as well (I imagine they use similar rigs/models so I don't think it would be too much work but I could be wrong). In that same vein, the African wild dog should definitely get access to the swimming pool
- Give Giant pandas, Formosan black bears and Red pandas a higher tolerance to both snow and cold.
- The ability to filter the Zoopedia by both continent and biome, or just one of each at a time.
- Increase the wild population of Gharial to 300-600, in order to be more accurate.
- Please, please, please add more ambiance sounds to the ambiance speakers! Those speakers are amazing and do exactly what they're designed to do; create incredible atmosphere for our habitats and exhibits. The only problem is that they are currently extremely limited. I believe every single one of them is focused specifically on tropical rainforest sounds, with the exception being one "Swamp" track and one "Desert at Night" track. That means there are a lot of habitats you can't really use them for, which I think is a huge shame. I've been hoping these would be added since the original release of PZ, and I have a list of some basic ones you might consider adding to really provide us with an extra bit of atmosphere in the game! Here's the list:
- North American forest birds (This absolutely must have woodpeckers, potentially some sparrows, warblers, chickadees and jays. But woodpeckers are the big thing here!)
- A "Desert at Day" track to go opposite the nighttime one. I would imagine thise would have hawks and vultures, potentially some tumbleweed rolling, maybe desert bighorn sheep or desert hare calls as well.
- One or two Australian tracks (Definitely one with a Kookaburra call, and potentially a second one with Oceanic jungle animals).
- Something Chaparral or Alpine themed. (Could have eagle/hawk calls, marmoset calls etc).
- Something along the lines of "Polar Winds" where it's reminiscent of a cold winter chill, blowing snow across the Arctic. This would pair wonderfully with the "Blowing snow" ambient effect we have already.
- Himalayan animals (Again, this fills that Alpine niche that we don't have yet, but with an Asian twist instead of North American or European).
- Lastly, a looped sounds of African grazing animals including zebra and wildebeast. This would be great to put in any African section! Could also do a looped lion roar.
- Trade center tweaks:
- Add a search bar like the Zoopedia has! This would put an end to hours and hours of tedious scrolling! (Obviously for both habitat and exhibit trade centers).
- An option in the settings menu to not show animals that you have in your trade center when in franchise mode.
- The trade center can remember what you've filtered for (such as gender or price) when loading in or out of a zoo. (Low priority, especially if a search bar is added).
- The ability to make 2m and 3m wide paths without using exploits involving placing queues. This should be relatively easy to code into the game.
- Make short grass or soil the default terrain that is used when terraforming instead of long grass. This one idea in particular was hugely popular on the PZ reddit this week.
- A heatmap that shows where guests will view your habitats from. Also, a small item that tells guests where they should be viewing the habitat from. I know adding an item like that will take a long time, and you devs may already be aware that this is a highly requested add in, but I figured I would throw it in anyways. In the meantime, a heatmap that shows where they are viewing a habitat from might help a lot in the short term.
- Add the ability to use large education boards with exhibit species, and the small education boards with habitat species, to help with creativity and variation in our zoos. You might also consider adding in a medium size education board that is in between size of the two existing. You could also add one or two circular education boards too.
- The ability to have two staff (or more) staff entrances and exits in a habitat.
- Add a heat map that shows traversable area for staff members (especially useful for keepers). This doesn't even have to show anything outside of habitat enclosures if you don't want it to, it's mostly to help us when constructing habitats so we can see where staff can and cannot go.
Finally, the last thing Frontier can do after they're done making dlc is to fully support modding, so we can add our own animals and scenery items to PZ. That would ultimately be the best thing the could do for the game!
So yeah, lol that was a long read. Trust me it took a while to compile this thing, like two weeks. And then an extra two days to write it! I hope you enjoyed this little window into my mind. Also, Chante I know you'll see this, and probably won't be allowed to comment on it at all, but hey if you want to maybe nudge this in the direction of the dev team that would be pretty cool
Anyways, if anyone has any questions and wants me to clarify anything, just let me know!
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