- I think they will start with a more balanced global roster and eventually add the much-desired birds and aquatic species as larger expansion packs.
- The most likely key new feature would be a keeper mode. Animal shows are also possible, especially if they add aquatics, and a bird show could be super fun.
- Ideally as much as possible, but I could see some of it being saved for larger DLC bundles.
- I hope for a better pathing system, especially for the pesky underwater viewing areas. I also think the game could benefit from a more balanced economy, more interesting challenges, and a better set of tutorials. I also kind of miss challenge rewards from Zoo Tycoon. The game could also run better. My computer often crashes when it snows in Planet Zoo.
- I don't want to see subspecies in a sequel, and I hope they never add dinosaurs. I also don't want to see eerie, realistic guests. The current ones are fine with me, but I would like the option to hide them to make the game run better.
- As everyone else said, scaling for at least some objects and pathing fixes would be nice.
- I could see them taking a few different routes with the sequel. Players would be mad if they tried to lock too many of the old animals behind a bunch of expensive and tiny DLC bundles over a large period of time. If they came out with some larger taxon or region-based expansions, that would be better. Off the top of my head, these are the basic habitat animals I need, one way or another:
- Australia: emu, red kangaroo, saltwater crocodile, koala, wallaby, cassowary
- Europe: fallow deer, lynx, ibex, swan
- North America/Arctic: brown bear, moose, mountain lion, grey wolf, bison, beaver, polar bear, caribou, alligator, sea lion, prairie dog, black bear, bird
- South America: birds, giant tortoise, capuchins, jaguar, giant anteater, capybara, tapir, camelid, maned wolf, coati, tamarins, spectacled bear, ocelot, caiman
- South And Southeast Asia: tiger, elephant, peafowl, tapir, rhino, clouded leopard, Komodo dragon, orangutan, Lar gibbon, small clawed otter, bovid, blackbuck
- Other Asia: Himalayan goat, snow leopard, giant panda, red panda, Japanese macaque, dromedary camel, wild horse, moon bear, ornamental birds
- Africa: lion, cheetah, wild dog, hyena, meerkat, greater flamingo, ostrich, grey crowned crane, gorilla, chimp, ring tailed lemur, red ruffed lemur, baboon, guereza, giraffe, zebra, white rhino, >5 antelope (including Thomzon's gazelle, kudu, sable, wildebeest, and at least one oryx), elephant, hippo, pygmy hippo, okapi, red river hog, warthog, porcupine, serval, caracal, aardvark
- Other: penguin(s), duck(s), cranes, pelican(s), goat, chicken, domestic equid
Planet Zoo 2 Speculation and ideas
- Thread starter yoav_r
- Start date
1 / 2. I think the focus will be on the shiny new birds and fish which will form the bulk of the key new features
3. I want every single animal in the sequel I dont think all will make it into the base game but im hoping for some sort of transfer mechanic or an eventual rerelease of everything
4. My biggest hopes are for them to address the many issues that have showed up in planet zoo mainly around animals that arent big mammals
- I want support for smaller habitat species and the complete rehaul/removal of the exhibit system in favour of more customisability allowing us to create both smaller and bigger exhibits and exhibits that arent a box
- fish
- birds
- better more in-depth maintenance and care mechanics
- a better susbpecies system such as being able to select breeds or subspecies from a list to switch between
- better climbing mechanics including the ability for fully arboreal animals outside of exhibits
- the return of every animals in planet zoo at some point
- make the water system better and more flexible
- shows I think seal and bird shows are a great way to enrich animals and would enrich the management system ingame
- all terrain paint everywhere
- better map choices ie city map
- better franchise mode support and regulated market
6. scaling, ambient birds, guest clothing, mascots, multiplayer
7. I would hope for around 100 since planet zoo 1 had 75 we need a better mix having 1 habitat oceania and 2 south american animal in the base game that was half africa literally made me not get planet zoo 1 till over a year later.
based on what I could find jurrasic world evolution has a shockingly bad species list 5 species didnt make it into the base game of jurrasic world evolution 2.
1 was saved for the deluxe upgrade so was released concurrently with the base game.
However 4 species did not make into the second game until the secret species pack which was entirely made of the missing hybrids from the first game this pack was the second to last pack released.
Jurrasic world evolution had a much smaller roster than planet zoo does but even so all species came back for the sequel with the only ones not available at release were the hybrids (excluding the movie villains). This makes for a good argument that we might see all the animals return maybe baring some for thematic reasons but all are likely to return in time.
1 was saved for the deluxe upgrade so was released concurrently with the base game.
However 4 species did not make into the second game until the secret species pack which was entirely made of the missing hybrids from the first game this pack was the second to last pack released.
Jurrasic world evolution had a much smaller roster than planet zoo does but even so all species came back for the sequel with the only ones not available at release were the hybrids (excluding the movie villains). This makes for a good argument that we might see all the animals return maybe baring some for thematic reasons but all are likely to return in time.
1/2 birds and aquatics will almost definitely be the selling points
3 I hope for all of it but doubt that will happen, I could see various key species being brought over with the others either being bought again in DLC or ideally released in free updates
4 all animals from base game and year 1 get remastered, improved management, herding
5 extinct or mythical species
6 idk
I could see frontier switching to expansions as so many species are already included and reselling species won’t be popular. For example I could see them including like 10 essential flying birds in the base game and then releasing a big expansion with like 30-40 species
Ok to answer more seriously:
- I think it is a given that the game is basically going to be similar to the way PC2 is handled. In that it will be a souped up version of the original game with more quality of life features and the addition of a hugely requested feature.
- Aviaries and Aquariums, I mean come on, it has to be. These are by far the two most requested features and honestly I think we will get both, JWE2 got both so no reason Planet Zoo 2 can't as well.
- I really hope they transfer all of it like they did with JWE2 but honestly I'm not sure. I think we'll get 100 habitat animals back at best with the rest coming with DLC. I think the exhibit roster could see some modifications though.
- I hope that we get everything from PZ1 from day 1, exhibits completely revamped to be modular, revamps of base game/early DLC animals, quality of life improvements, better behaviours for the animals, more optimisation for larger zoos, better management systems, I could keep going.
- I hope they don't paywall PZ1 content with little to no changes, and I hope they don't give us uncanny realistic guests or a convoluted zookeeper mode. Especially hope nothing stupid like extinct or mythical animals.
- That scaling is a must have, nothing much else has been shown so I can't say, we will have to wait but I'm sure there will be more.
- I'm expecting around 150 animals total, 75 habitat animals, 50 exhibit animals (including some smaller aquatics like fish and WE aviaries like small birds), 15 larger aviary species (eagles, macaws, vultures, etc), and 10 larger aquatic species (sharks and other big fish, maybe manatees)
Cetaceans are somewhat debatable. I can see dolphins, belugas, pilot whales, and porpoises in the sequel game but orcas shouldn't be. Sure, we can make tanks much bigger than what they have in SeaWorld and there aren't any in Dubai, but that could give the idea that orcas can work for those who don't know everything on what they go through. Oh, and add more small mammals and arboreal animals.
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What i expect:
An extremly lukewarm "upgrade" that either wont make up for whats lost in transition regarding scenery pieces and animals or if we keep everything is nothing the patch cycle that would have happend between release couldnt have achieved aswell.
What i want:
No sequel, planet zoo is buildingwise a near perfect game that doesnt need any big upgrade just more stuff. The only part that needs a big update besides animals midels which can be fixed by remaster mods is the management and the exhibit system and i expect neither to get any meaningfull improvements in a sequel that they couldnt get by patches
An extremly lukewarm "upgrade" that either wont make up for whats lost in transition regarding scenery pieces and animals or if we keep everything is nothing the patch cycle that would have happend between release couldnt have achieved aswell.
What i want:
No sequel, planet zoo is buildingwise a near perfect game that doesnt need any big upgrade just more stuff. The only part that needs a big update besides animals midels which can be fixed by remaster mods is the management and the exhibit system and i expect neither to get any meaningfull improvements in a sequel that they couldnt get by patches
well sure if you think a sequel isnt going to change anything you wont want it but making a sequel that is the same game but worse is a horrible financial decision. At the very least some of the more entrenched problems that cant be addressed by updates to planet zoo 1 could be fixed namely redoing exhibits.
Unfortunately not everything can be patched out of planet zoo 1 some problems would require breaking too many peoples zoos and games to work if it is even at all possible and some problems are just embedded into the engine we have to get a sequel for these to change.
I think it'd be like with JWE2 and we'll get a few birds and aquatics with launch, and then expand on them later.
I haven't been diving deep into the new PC2 features because is not a game that interests me much (even though i was a fun of roller coaster as a kid and used to draw/design them often) but i think is fair to say that any new features present in that game will transfer to PZ2 in the future if they are well recieved and prooved to be usefull.
Now to answer your questions:
I think looking at all the water stuff in PC2 we can assume aquariums and Aquatic animals will be a big feature in PZ 2. And i hope that aviaries and flying animals would be as well since i feel they are even more requested than aquatics. Those two are probably going to be the main selling points of a sequel.
About the roster i hope for a remaster of pretty much all of the base game animals and for all of them to be present in the starting roster (minus some few exeptions that would prefer are replaced by something else) AND i think they should expand with a lot of the DLC animals as well. I have a list in My mind of which animals from DLCs i don't want to play for again and which ones i think should've been base game animals from the start.
And i think AT LEAST 100 species should be in the base game roster including a bunch of clones so they don't take up space in future DLCs, although i really hope they find a way to include subspecies as model / skin variants under the same species.
I would list them but i think we are all a bit tired of endless wishlists that no one reads anyway
Now to answer your questions:
I think looking at all the water stuff in PC2 we can assume aquariums and Aquatic animals will be a big feature in PZ 2. And i hope that aviaries and flying animals would be as well since i feel they are even more requested than aquatics. Those two are probably going to be the main selling points of a sequel.
About the roster i hope for a remaster of pretty much all of the base game animals and for all of them to be present in the starting roster (minus some few exeptions that would prefer are replaced by something else) AND i think they should expand with a lot of the DLC animals as well. I have a list in My mind of which animals from DLCs i don't want to play for again and which ones i think should've been base game animals from the start.
And i think AT LEAST 100 species should be in the base game roster including a bunch of clones so they don't take up space in future DLCs, although i really hope they find a way to include subspecies as model / skin variants under the same species.
I would list them but i think we are all a bit tired of endless wishlists that no one reads anyway
Ngl theres nothing that cant be fixed which would break the current game or saves (ignoring bugs and glitches)
For example for the exhibits i got multiple different ways to fix them that could all just be added onto the game:
1. Adding the option to put up "walls" like the current exhibit walls inside of them and adding to each wall an on or off toogle to make it more streamlined to create smaller exhibits. Atleast one wall through the center of each side and one joining each opposite corner would be nice. Add the ability to turn null everything in the exhibit that isnt inside your selected walls and bam modular exhibit sizes that even can come in triangular shape now.
2. Exhibit Animals as props to put down inside a habitat. You get a new overlay map where you can put down spawnpoints and see them all at the same time from the selection of poses and animation loops the animal can do in the exhibit, so for example for the axolotl a standing, swimming in one spot, booping up and down, etc. Then when the animals are put into the habitat they allways spawn in one of those points and can swap between them when your not looking like regular exhibits. When you put in more animals then spawnpoints for that species they just create a new one on the ground in front of the keeper gate for you to move. Would be amazing for both free build terrariums but also freeroaming animals in for example a tropical house where you can "decorate" quite effectivly with them.
3. Letting us just null the walls, ceiling, base, interior decorations and ground of the exhibit seperatly like we currently can for some of the enritchment parts would give much more freedom in decoration wothout adding but just giving us the opportunity zo remove stuff
And the old boxes could just stay and function like allways if you dont engage with it, making it compatable with the current exhibits.
Planet zoo got an engine upgrade in its lifecycle, meaning not even engine related issues like the only one set of groundpaint stuff cant be fixed in pz1 so i really see anything that cant be if frontier actually wants to
There are a couple potential adjustments to the exhibits that would go such a long way for them. A null option should be pretty easy to do and would already elevate it by so much.
The exhibit animals as animated props is something i REALLY want. Everything from "habitat" iguanas, educational displays and taxidermy, custom exhibits and frogs by the pond would be possible with that, although i have no clue how this would work in non sandbox modes.
Luckily there is a mod coming up that implements exactly this and im absolutely drooling over it, cant wait until its released
IMO there's no way they can include every DLC animal in the sequel base game. What would be left for DLC, otherwise?
But at the same time, I don't think they're going to make us wait to buy specific animals again TBH. The base game roster will likely be fairly expansive, and I have to imagine they will learn from their mistakes. Plus, the addition of birds and some aquatic species will be a big boon as well, and can also continue to round out DLC rosters going forward. So while you might be buying, as a random example, the koala again, you'll also be getting a new cockatoo or the blacktip reef shark or something.
I'm kind of excited to see it, being honest. There is so much potential with a sequel, even if it is just PZ1 again but better. Absolutely worth spending money on again.
But at the same time, I don't think they're going to make us wait to buy specific animals again TBH. The base game roster will likely be fairly expansive, and I have to imagine they will learn from their mistakes. Plus, the addition of birds and some aquatic species will be a big boon as well, and can also continue to round out DLC rosters going forward. So while you might be buying, as a random example, the koala again, you'll also be getting a new cockatoo or the blacktip reef shark or something.
I'm kind of excited to see it, being honest. There is so much potential with a sequel, even if it is just PZ1 again but better. Absolutely worth spending money on again.
A sequel to PZ is imo actually unnecessary. I think it has enough potential to just keep growing and gradually improve the game.
We've already got a lot of quality of life things and they're still possible.
Like the vivarium update that König mentioned. It's not rocket science to just offer a toggle option for some things.
For example:
Why can people walk through walls outside of enclosures but not inside?
Why is the challenge mode so unnecessary? Where is the challenge? Why are there no tasks that you can complete, why is there no star ranking for animals that only appear in the market when you've reached the stars.
Why is there no brush tool for trees, bushes, grass or flowers?
Why are there no birds for the WTE?
For me, a sequel would have to do things that are not possible or only possible to a limited extent with the current game.
One thing that immediately comes to mind is that the building pieces are better managed.
I would like to see just shapes and a dropdown menu that lets us select a texture to go with them (I believe this is how it is in Sims 4 and PK - I don't play either so I'm not sure). I'm so tired of scrolling through the endless lists. And instead of there being new building pieces in DLCs, there are just new textures for the shapes.
Another thing that doesn't work with the current game is placing animals. Please Frontier, if you make a sequel, let's just put the animals in the enclosures like in ZT (and ideally determine their parameters).
I can think of countless other things, but that would go beyond the scope here, although many of them are things that would already be possible.
Personally, I would have no problem paying for the animals we already have again. I'm probably the only one here who does that. What I do have problems with is the time, I don't want to wait another 5 years until we have everything together in order to have options.
The base game roster also needs to be much better balanced.
It should contain animals for all continents and biomes and there must be full aquatic animals and free-flying birds (and by that I don't mean in a box, I would be happy with that NOW, in a sequel it's a must-have)
I watched the PC2 trailer. I can see the improvement over the predecessor, but visually it looks almost like PZ to me, or am I mistaken? There are some nice things that I would like to have for PZ, it remains to be seen how it all works. But honestly, would that justify a sequel? (Well, for PZ, I can see the improvement on PC even if it feels more like an expansion pack to me) I will definitely follow the development, but I probably won't play it myself.
We've already got a lot of quality of life things and they're still possible.
Like the vivarium update that König mentioned. It's not rocket science to just offer a toggle option for some things.
For example:
Why can people walk through walls outside of enclosures but not inside?
Why is the challenge mode so unnecessary? Where is the challenge? Why are there no tasks that you can complete, why is there no star ranking for animals that only appear in the market when you've reached the stars.
Why is there no brush tool for trees, bushes, grass or flowers?
Why are there no birds for the WTE?
For me, a sequel would have to do things that are not possible or only possible to a limited extent with the current game.
One thing that immediately comes to mind is that the building pieces are better managed.
I would like to see just shapes and a dropdown menu that lets us select a texture to go with them (I believe this is how it is in Sims 4 and PK - I don't play either so I'm not sure). I'm so tired of scrolling through the endless lists. And instead of there being new building pieces in DLCs, there are just new textures for the shapes.
Another thing that doesn't work with the current game is placing animals. Please Frontier, if you make a sequel, let's just put the animals in the enclosures like in ZT (and ideally determine their parameters).
I can think of countless other things, but that would go beyond the scope here, although many of them are things that would already be possible.
- This also includes, for example, the fact that I would like to assign zookeepers to specific enclosures without creating a working group. Why can't I click on the enclosure gate and then say "Ok, Bob is now only looking after this enclosure"
- A toggle for objects or the null barrier that visitors can no longer see through, so that they no longer complain that they can't see through the huge rock (no sherlok...)
- I would like to have map skirts in the city and on the coast.
Personally, I would have no problem paying for the animals we already have again. I'm probably the only one here who does that. What I do have problems with is the time, I don't want to wait another 5 years until we have everything together in order to have options.
The base game roster also needs to be much better balanced.
It should contain animals for all continents and biomes and there must be full aquatic animals and free-flying birds (and by that I don't mean in a box, I would be happy with that NOW, in a sequel it's a must-have)
I watched the PC2 trailer. I can see the improvement over the predecessor, but visually it looks almost like PZ to me, or am I mistaken? There are some nice things that I would like to have for PZ, it remains to be seen how it all works. But honestly, would that justify a sequel? (Well, for PZ, I can see the improvement on PC even if it feels more like an expansion pack to me) I will definitely follow the development, but I probably won't play it myself.
Was very much to be expected for me. For one the style of the planet games is pretty iconic to them and i feel alot of fans from the first game wouldnt be too happy about a style change. And second i think PZ and now PC2 are pretty much at max on how good they can look while still being accessable to a wide audience, atleast in the current day. If they were to push up the realism any higher it would just be too demanding on the hardware, and these types of games really strike me as ones that attract a proportional higher amount of casual players that might not have like an uber gaming pc, so keeping it "budget pc friendly" is pretty important for them i think.
I doubt the visuals will improve too much the guest will stay since at this point its the brand and most of the scenery pieces will be at current pz quality or slightly better. The visuals cant realistically increase that much without massive advancements in tech or performance. The main benefits to a sequel would be what they change to the core foundational structure of the game how the species selection works how exhibits work on a deeper level. The creation of free flying animals. having more terrain paint.
Also it would give frontier the money they need to do these things reinventing the exhibit system or adding free flight birds may be possible to do in planet zoo 1 but is the money from the packs worth the investment to frontier probably not having to pay for the game again would incentivise the creation of more advance features that would otherwise never be a base game update because of the unfortunate existence of capitalism
Did you see all the new features in PC2? Like the new pathing system, water system, resizeable objects, and navigation system smaller than 4m? That's all really great improvements that can not be done in PZ.