Good afternoon Zookeepers!
Welcome to October's Catch Up! We will be looking back at the past month together, catching you up on all the latest news post-Beta. With only a few more days until launch, we're counting down the hours until you will be able to get your hands on Planet Zoo! We can't wait to see what you will design and create for your animals and guests, and we're looking forward to your screenshots, videos, and Steam Workshop blueprints. We will soon be posting the exact launch time as well as more info on some activities on launch day! The November streaming schedule will be posted on the forums tomorrow, so you'll know when we will be live on Twitch, YouTube and Mixer with a variety of guests and stream series!
For news and reveals that happened during the Beta, which ended on 8 October, we have a separate forum post called the Beta Recap! In that post, we took a look back at the Beta and what our community achieved, and announced that Floss was the winner of the Animal Architecture competition. And in case you missed it, we revealed the Okapi and the Riverboat Ride on World Animal Day on 4 October!
Some members of the Planet Zoo team were at EGX in London this month, with a Planet Zoo panel and a playable game at the Corsair booth. The panel, called 'Play your way - Planet Zoo's endless opportunities', was hosted by Alice Liguori and featured Game Director Piers Jackson, Senior Artist Liesa Bauwens and Principal Programmer Andrew Chappell. The panel also debuted our third Developer Diary! On the panel we discusses Franchise Mode and 'how to put a price on happiness.' One of the biggest takeaways from the panel for Liesa was when the audience answered what they thought was cuter: the Red Panda or the baby Baird's Tapirs - unfortunately for Liesa, the Red Pandas won! Were you able to join the team at the panel, or come and try the game out yourself at the Corsair booth?
Throughout October, we posted multiple Developer Journals to the forums, like when we spoke to Art Director Marc Cox and Artist Luke Darby about the Biomes in Planet Zoo, and had our first look at the Tropical Biome! "The Tropical Biome is one of the most abundant and diverse Biomes when it comes to the sheer number of wildlife that thrive there. Rainforests dominate these regions and are said to be the ‘Lungs of the Earth’. We’ve given the Planet Zoo community a super range of lush-looking trees, exotic plants, liana vines and volcanic rocks to play with. From some of the tallest trees on the planet like the giant Kapok to the beautiful ‘lobster claw’ flower, there is every opportunity for you to bring the heart of the Amazon to your zoo plans."
For our second Developer Journal this month, we spoke to Senior Artists Liesa Bauwens and Fearn Hilborn about the different Themes in Planet Zoo. By Themes, they refer to the different building and scenery item Themes in-game, which provide the Developer Team with the foundation to start creating the items into what you will have when the game launches. "Animals are super important in Planet Zoo, so we look at their home countries for inspiration for our themes, too! We’ll dig deep into their respective cultures, try to find what really represents them in a respectful manner. We’ll look at a lot of their architecture and media, and try to find the things that would be really fun for our players to explore. When it comes to generating the 3D art, we’ll think about what kind of techniques they would use to build this sort of thing – would they use screws, or would they use woodworking to combine pieces? How will we approach any fabrics or patterns? Every day is filled with a lot of interesting questions when we’re making these diverse Themes!"
For the third Developer Journal, we spoke to Lead Designer James Taylor on the different types of Staff that will be available in Planet Zoo. We recently spoke to James about the different Facilities in Planet Zoo, which we recommend reading if you'd like to learn about how to maximise they usefulness of your Staff in your zoos, as they need the right Facilities close by to ensure they work to the best of their abilities. "When it comes to choosing which Staff we add into Planet Zoo, we do our own research and determine which roles are most suitable for the game. Zoos employ a great variety of Staff, with good reason. As a zoo grows, a higher number of tasks need to be dealt with. We chose these Staff types as they allow you to add capability as and when your zoo requires it. All of the Staff cost money to employ so you'll need to avoid hiring too many of them, as this can quickly result in you losing money. On the other hand, if your zoo is understaffed, this can lead to delays in important tasks, such as feeding the animals and veterinary care, which could ultimately lead to the untimely death of animals. Finding the balance that works is part of the challenge the game sets you, and you have to remain cautious when assessing what your zoo needs and what the Staff in your care require."
Last but not least, for the final Developer Journal this month we spoke to multiple members of the Planet Zoo team about their experiences working on Planet Zoo and what they're most looking forward to post-launch. This Developer Journal includes only a small amount of Developers behind Planet Zoo, but they are from a variety of different roles. We're looking forward to introducing you to more of the Planet Zoo team on the livestreams, which will be taking place on Wednesdays at 7PM UTC. Here's one of the developer quotes from the latest Developer Journal: "I'm Gemma Craig, and I'm an Artist on the foliage team! I've spent the last 10 months working at Frontier and on Planet Zoo. The reaction from the community when we announced the project initially has to be my favorite memory. It was just amazing to see how many people were excited by what we were doing. I love the idea that we are giving people back a new and beautiful version of a game that was part of their childhood! I'm most excited to see people's creativity flourish within the game. I think we have given the community the best set of tools to do this and I can't wait to see what they create. I was blown away by some of the creations from the Beta and I can't wait to see fully functioning zoos with this level of creativity!"
We kicked off our Facebook Friday streams, where we pop on to Facebook for a quick stream to update the community on what we're up to as we get closer and closer to launch. We've had fun showing you Planet Zoo blueprints from the Beta, fan art and photos that you may have missed, as well as keeping you up to date with what events the team have attended, and any news that may have passed you by. This month, we've been joined by QA Tester Sam Marsh and Senior Artist Liesa Bauwens, and we will be introducing you to more developers behind the game on these livestreams, as well as the Wednesday evening livestreams. You can tune in to our Facebook Friday livestreams on Friday's at 12PM UTC, and we'll make sure you're always up to date with all things Planet Zoo!
In September, some of the Planet Zoo team flew to San Diego for a fun-filled week with content creators! During this time, we took nine content creators to San Diego Zoo and Safari Park for a once-in-a-lifetime experience of being a Zookeeper for a day, to make sure they were prepared for every challenge Planet Zoo might throw at them! They then went home and have been creating videos of their experience, and we've just began sharing them on the Planet Zoo Twitter. So far, Deligracy, James Turner, Vixella, LaurenZSide and Seri have shared how they felt about their experiences and what they got up to as zookeepers. Check out those videos to learn from some of the zookeepers from one of the most prestigious zoos in the world!
Did you see our post on social media regarding how the Audio Team creates all the ambient and distinctive sounds in Planet Zoo? We let you take a look at the Foley Room, where the team engineer a vast amount of different sounds that you'll hear in-game. Senior Audio Designer James Stant told us: "One of the most rewarding aspects for Planet Zoo's audio team has been recording a vast amount of Foley in-house. Removing the floor panels of our recording booth reveals a Foley pit, divided into various panels and compartments. Each of these houses a different material and, combined with a plethora of props, we recreate the sounds of animal movement and footsteps. We often have to be quite creative to ensure that our materials don't degrade and change from one week to the next (sourcing an endless supply of snow in the summer isn't that easy!).
Actually snow is a great example. Imagine building an Elephant habitat in a chilly biome, where snowfall has coated the ground. We source fantastic animal recordings to use for the animals' vocalisations, but funnily enough, recordings of Elephants stomping through snow is not something that readily exists. And we don't want to give a real Elephant cold feet, now do we!? So we try to find a prop that allow our hands/feet to mimic Elephant feet (in this case, boxing gloves) and pair it with a material that sounds like it has the light-but-crunchy quality of fresh snow (in this case, tablet salt). Once we have that, we'll use reference videos to analyse the way an animal walks/runs so that we can imitate this; it's not just as simple as putting on a glove and mindlessly hitting a material, it requires a degree of acting to bring these sounds to life!"
Thank you for continuing to vote on the Zoopedia Fact polls on Wednesdays! We have now ended the weekly polls (don't worry, there will be lots of other fun staff after launch!), and hope you have enjoyed learning a little more about the animals you will be able to look after and help thrive in your zoos once you get your hands on Planet Zoo. This month, we have learnt:
That's all for October's Catch Up! With Planet Zoo launching in just a matter of days, we're sure the November Catch Up will be bursting with content that we are so excited to show you. Keep checking back on the forums as we get closer to launch to make sure you're up to date with everything Planet Zoo related, or tune in to the Facebook Fridays and we'll keep you informed. See you in November - the same month as the launch of Planet Zoo!!!
Welcome to October's Catch Up! We will be looking back at the past month together, catching you up on all the latest news post-Beta. With only a few more days until launch, we're counting down the hours until you will be able to get your hands on Planet Zoo! We can't wait to see what you will design and create for your animals and guests, and we're looking forward to your screenshots, videos, and Steam Workshop blueprints. We will soon be posting the exact launch time as well as more info on some activities on launch day! The November streaming schedule will be posted on the forums tomorrow, so you'll know when we will be live on Twitch, YouTube and Mixer with a variety of guests and stream series!
For news and reveals that happened during the Beta, which ended on 8 October, we have a separate forum post called the Beta Recap! In that post, we took a look back at the Beta and what our community achieved, and announced that Floss was the winner of the Animal Architecture competition. And in case you missed it, we revealed the Okapi and the Riverboat Ride on World Animal Day on 4 October!
Some members of the Planet Zoo team were at EGX in London this month, with a Planet Zoo panel and a playable game at the Corsair booth. The panel, called 'Play your way - Planet Zoo's endless opportunities', was hosted by Alice Liguori and featured Game Director Piers Jackson, Senior Artist Liesa Bauwens and Principal Programmer Andrew Chappell. The panel also debuted our third Developer Diary! On the panel we discusses Franchise Mode and 'how to put a price on happiness.' One of the biggest takeaways from the panel for Liesa was when the audience answered what they thought was cuter: the Red Panda or the baby Baird's Tapirs - unfortunately for Liesa, the Red Pandas won! Were you able to join the team at the panel, or come and try the game out yourself at the Corsair booth?
Throughout October, we posted multiple Developer Journals to the forums, like when we spoke to Art Director Marc Cox and Artist Luke Darby about the Biomes in Planet Zoo, and had our first look at the Tropical Biome! "The Tropical Biome is one of the most abundant and diverse Biomes when it comes to the sheer number of wildlife that thrive there. Rainforests dominate these regions and are said to be the ‘Lungs of the Earth’. We’ve given the Planet Zoo community a super range of lush-looking trees, exotic plants, liana vines and volcanic rocks to play with. From some of the tallest trees on the planet like the giant Kapok to the beautiful ‘lobster claw’ flower, there is every opportunity for you to bring the heart of the Amazon to your zoo plans."
For our second Developer Journal this month, we spoke to Senior Artists Liesa Bauwens and Fearn Hilborn about the different Themes in Planet Zoo. By Themes, they refer to the different building and scenery item Themes in-game, which provide the Developer Team with the foundation to start creating the items into what you will have when the game launches. "Animals are super important in Planet Zoo, so we look at their home countries for inspiration for our themes, too! We’ll dig deep into their respective cultures, try to find what really represents them in a respectful manner. We’ll look at a lot of their architecture and media, and try to find the things that would be really fun for our players to explore. When it comes to generating the 3D art, we’ll think about what kind of techniques they would use to build this sort of thing – would they use screws, or would they use woodworking to combine pieces? How will we approach any fabrics or patterns? Every day is filled with a lot of interesting questions when we’re making these diverse Themes!"
For the third Developer Journal, we spoke to Lead Designer James Taylor on the different types of Staff that will be available in Planet Zoo. We recently spoke to James about the different Facilities in Planet Zoo, which we recommend reading if you'd like to learn about how to maximise they usefulness of your Staff in your zoos, as they need the right Facilities close by to ensure they work to the best of their abilities. "When it comes to choosing which Staff we add into Planet Zoo, we do our own research and determine which roles are most suitable for the game. Zoos employ a great variety of Staff, with good reason. As a zoo grows, a higher number of tasks need to be dealt with. We chose these Staff types as they allow you to add capability as and when your zoo requires it. All of the Staff cost money to employ so you'll need to avoid hiring too many of them, as this can quickly result in you losing money. On the other hand, if your zoo is understaffed, this can lead to delays in important tasks, such as feeding the animals and veterinary care, which could ultimately lead to the untimely death of animals. Finding the balance that works is part of the challenge the game sets you, and you have to remain cautious when assessing what your zoo needs and what the Staff in your care require."
Last but not least, for the final Developer Journal this month we spoke to multiple members of the Planet Zoo team about their experiences working on Planet Zoo and what they're most looking forward to post-launch. This Developer Journal includes only a small amount of Developers behind Planet Zoo, but they are from a variety of different roles. We're looking forward to introducing you to more of the Planet Zoo team on the livestreams, which will be taking place on Wednesdays at 7PM UTC. Here's one of the developer quotes from the latest Developer Journal: "I'm Gemma Craig, and I'm an Artist on the foliage team! I've spent the last 10 months working at Frontier and on Planet Zoo. The reaction from the community when we announced the project initially has to be my favorite memory. It was just amazing to see how many people were excited by what we were doing. I love the idea that we are giving people back a new and beautiful version of a game that was part of their childhood! I'm most excited to see people's creativity flourish within the game. I think we have given the community the best set of tools to do this and I can't wait to see what they create. I was blown away by some of the creations from the Beta and I can't wait to see fully functioning zoos with this level of creativity!"
We kicked off our Facebook Friday streams, where we pop on to Facebook for a quick stream to update the community on what we're up to as we get closer and closer to launch. We've had fun showing you Planet Zoo blueprints from the Beta, fan art and photos that you may have missed, as well as keeping you up to date with what events the team have attended, and any news that may have passed you by. This month, we've been joined by QA Tester Sam Marsh and Senior Artist Liesa Bauwens, and we will be introducing you to more developers behind the game on these livestreams, as well as the Wednesday evening livestreams. You can tune in to our Facebook Friday livestreams on Friday's at 12PM UTC, and we'll make sure you're always up to date with all things Planet Zoo!
In September, some of the Planet Zoo team flew to San Diego for a fun-filled week with content creators! During this time, we took nine content creators to San Diego Zoo and Safari Park for a once-in-a-lifetime experience of being a Zookeeper for a day, to make sure they were prepared for every challenge Planet Zoo might throw at them! They then went home and have been creating videos of their experience, and we've just began sharing them on the Planet Zoo Twitter. So far, Deligracy, James Turner, Vixella, LaurenZSide and Seri have shared how they felt about their experiences and what they got up to as zookeepers. Check out those videos to learn from some of the zookeepers from one of the most prestigious zoos in the world!
Did you see our post on social media regarding how the Audio Team creates all the ambient and distinctive sounds in Planet Zoo? We let you take a look at the Foley Room, where the team engineer a vast amount of different sounds that you'll hear in-game. Senior Audio Designer James Stant told us: "One of the most rewarding aspects for Planet Zoo's audio team has been recording a vast amount of Foley in-house. Removing the floor panels of our recording booth reveals a Foley pit, divided into various panels and compartments. Each of these houses a different material and, combined with a plethora of props, we recreate the sounds of animal movement and footsteps. We often have to be quite creative to ensure that our materials don't degrade and change from one week to the next (sourcing an endless supply of snow in the summer isn't that easy!).
Actually snow is a great example. Imagine building an Elephant habitat in a chilly biome, where snowfall has coated the ground. We source fantastic animal recordings to use for the animals' vocalisations, but funnily enough, recordings of Elephants stomping through snow is not something that readily exists. And we don't want to give a real Elephant cold feet, now do we!? So we try to find a prop that allow our hands/feet to mimic Elephant feet (in this case, boxing gloves) and pair it with a material that sounds like it has the light-but-crunchy quality of fresh snow (in this case, tablet salt). Once we have that, we'll use reference videos to analyse the way an animal walks/runs so that we can imitate this; it's not just as simple as putting on a glove and mindlessly hitting a material, it requires a degree of acting to bring these sounds to life!"
Thank you for continuing to vote on the Zoopedia Fact polls on Wednesdays! We have now ended the weekly polls (don't worry, there will be lots of other fun staff after launch!), and hope you have enjoyed learning a little more about the animals you will be able to look after and help thrive in your zoos once you get your hands on Planet Zoo. This month, we have learnt:
- Green Iguanas are agile climbers and can fall up to 18 meters without sustaining an injury.
- The Cheetah has a long, muscular tail that is uses to steer and balance itself when running very fast.
- Yellow Anacondas release a chemical that deters ticks from biting them.
- Mandrills can live in a group of up to 1300 individuals, and the name of a collective group of Mandrills is a horde.
- Gharials are not aggressive; their long, thin jaws are ill-suited for attacking large animals.
- Pregnant Red Pandas will build nests in rock crevices and hollow trees before they give birth to their cubs.
- Female Indian Rhinos make whistling noises to attract males.
- The horns of the Black Wildebeest are significantly larger and heavier than those of the Common Wildebeest.
That's all for October's Catch Up! With Planet Zoo launching in just a matter of days, we're sure the November Catch Up will be bursting with content that we are so excited to show you. Keep checking back on the forums as we get closer to launch to make sure you're up to date with everything Planet Zoo related, or tune in to the Facebook Fridays and we'll keep you informed. See you in November - the same month as the launch of Planet Zoo!!!
I look forward to tuesday and Hope to get a very Cool Zoo, I can share with you then 
