Planet Zoo 2 Speculation and ideas

Iben

Iben
Milurian said:
At the point they were conducted there was not at least based on public knowledge under any sort significant financial trouble the company was profitable just not to the extreme levels predicated and they decided to remove a significant number of employees which we are still seeing the impacts of now so yes it was corporate greed at least on the surface.
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As much the lay-offs were horrible, this isn't a fair representation of what happened.

Sure, there was never a "Frontier is going under if they don't fire people" kind of story ahead of time, but saying there was no public knowledge of significant financial trouble is also not true. Multiple media outlets reported on several of their games underperforming and even flopping, ranging from Elite Dangerous Oddyssey to Jurassic World Evolution 2 to F1 Simulator to Warhammer. They had to lower their financial expectations 2 years in a row. They took a 40% blow in share prices after F1 Manager 2022 and another 20% blow after Warhammer. They stopped Frontier Foundry as well.

These were very public and very clear signs that things weren't going in the right direction and not just "they're still profitable just less so". So to say that there were no very public signs that Frontier was in a dire situation is just plain incorrect, especially as we as a community were even discussing those events as they were unfolding as we feared it would have an impact on DLCs.

However, regardless of their financial dire situation, the lay-offs were just plain horrible. The financial issues were very much caused by fundamentally bad decisions by upper management so it's extremely unfair that so many people lost their job because of that. Lay-offs certainly were not the only answer to situation and I'm very sure there could have been less drastic ways to fix the situation or at the very least that the process shouldn't have been as horrible as it has been described by ex-employees. It's objectively a bad move on Frontier's end, even when knowing the context behind it. That was a major mess on their side and as you said, we're still feeling it to this day.

CaprinemasterAT said:
Okay question guys, is it sure that a Planet Zoo 2 will come in the future one day? Is there a confirmation, or just speculation?
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As @Markiz pointed out, there's no straight up confirmation, but it's at this point in time the most likely situation because of three reasons.

  1. After the lay-offs Frontier stated in their financial documents that they would refocus on the CMS genre, instead of diversifying like they were doing before that.
  2. Alongside that, 3 CMS games were announced but not revealed. One that was going to be released in 2024 (which later was announced to be PC2), one in 2025 (which later was announced to be JWE3) and one in 2026 (which we still don't know what it is going to be).
  3. With 2/3 CMS games being sequels to their existing catalogue and with Frontier still being in a not so great financial situation; the safest bet would be that they are working on a sequel to PZ.
So yeah, speculation, but not baseless speculation.
 
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Swjosdotschka

Swjosdotschka
I'll PM you the twitter threat that gave the most insight. Not sure they appreciate it being posted here.
Other than that, some CMs that were layed off found their role vacant again only 3 month later. Frontier did not re-offer them their job. And it's hardly arguable that they were in so much of a different financial position only 3 month after lay offs. But Junior positions are cheaper...
 

Swjosdotschka

Swjosdotschka
Aramar said:
One thing I would like to see is a revamped exhibit system with several types of terrariums and even a terrarium designer that could open in a new window or in the menu. That way we could create customised terrariums.
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A revamped exhibit system would be even more exciting for me than aviaries, though I want both. The huge boxes are just... creativity limiting, to be quite honest, even if they give us a challenge.
 

Milurian

Milurian
Aramar said:
One thing I would like to see is a revamped exhibit system with several types of terrariums and even a terrarium designer that could open in a new window or in the menu. That way we could create customised terrariums.
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I would take it one step further and just remove the whole habitat vs exhibit idea entirely because ultimately the line between the 2 is blurry at best with many animals currently as "habitat" animals being primarily displayed as "exhibit" animals in real life.

Exhibit animals are my main problem with planet zoo1 and my biggest want and just about the only thing that will guarantee me buying the sequel is the complete and utter obliteration of the idea of exhibits.
Giving us the freedom to build as small or as large of a enclosure we want with all animals treated equally and non being static props is my true dream. Every time I open planet zoo and have to give a single spider a room large than my own I want to cry.

This is my number 1 want from a sequel.
 

Milurian

Milurian
Lets brighten up the mood here what are everyones top 10 things they want to see in a sequel

1. removeable of the exhibit system in favour of a more dynamic enclosure building system that allows for small box enclosures and safari style habitats in the same system.
2. subspecies selector instead of 40 different grey wolves clogging up the store we get the grey wolf and from there we select which variety or random selection we want to see in the store. To go with this when an animal releases it should release as a group with the most agreed upon subspecies because in most cases this is only minor tweaks to models and will resolve alot of tension within the community.
3. dynamic aging and more complex social behaviour ie nesting behaviours, bonding interactions, displays, calls and interactions with young. This also includes egg laying
4. nocturnal animals as well as proper interior lighting.
5. full flighted aviaries the ability for animals to use the 3rd dimension effectively
6. better flexibility in construction water tight objects, scaling, complex pathing and less rigid staff facilities and gates
7. marine park animals like cetaceans
8. educational shows such as bird and seal shows that can be used to educate
9. freshwater fish
10. keeper mode just the ability to manually run a small scale zoo or walk around and interact with your animals
 

NachoB

NachoB
Milurian said:
Lets brighten up the mood here what are everyones top 10 things they want to see in a sequel

1. removeable of the exhibit system in favour of a more dynamic enclosure building system that allows for small box enclosures and safari style habitats in the same system.
2. subspecies selector instead of 40 different grey wolves clogging up the store we get the grey wolf and from there we select which variety or random selection we want to see in the store. To go with this when an animal releases it should release as a group with the most agreed upon subspecies because in most cases this is only minor tweaks to models and will resolve alot of tension within the community.
3. dynamic aging and more complex social behaviour ie nesting behaviours, bonding interactions, displays, calls and interactions with young. This also includes egg laying
4. nocturnal animals as well as proper interior lighting.
5. full flighted aviaries the ability for animals to use the 3rd dimension effectively
6. better flexibility in construction water tight objects, scaling, complex pathing and less rigid staff facilities and gates
7. marine park animals like cetaceans
8. educational shows such as bird and seal shows that can be used to educate
9. freshwater fish
10. keeper mode just the ability to manually run a small scale zoo or walk around and interact with your animals
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1. Aviaries and flight. Modular mesh pieces. Birds.
2. Aquariums and ponds. Fish and the like.
3. New water mechanics (see JWE 2 waterfalls)
4. Customizable exhibits will null wall options and being able to decide the size.
5. More and more frequent intra and interspecies interactions and group behaviour. Herding. Nursing. Nesting.
6. The whole roster of PZ2 (minus a handfull of animals) and then some obvious omissions from PZ1 (coati, tree roo, musk ox, secretary, ducks, pheasants)... Eventually. No more subespecies as new animals. Subespecies selector and subespecies as skin/model variants of the main species (a la Prehistoric Kingdom).
7. Animal packs with more animals and more variety (stop the ungulates and carnivore valore, give us a bit of everything in every pack... North América, Grasslands and wetlands style)
8. More than 1 hábitat door. Zookeper mode.
9. Improved lightining that allows for indoor houses.
10. Improved pathing. Please i beg you, end my pain.
 

Markiz

Markiz
Milurian said:
Lets brighten up the mood here what are everyones top 10 things they want to see in a sequel
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1. Updated/Consistent models: I don't like visuals clashing. If they keep the same style going forward, then large chunk of existing animals will have to be updated. If not and they decide for some new art style, then at least I ask for consistent style through whole run of support

2. Updated humans: Basically same reasoning as above. I see that not everyone see this as equally important, but to me visuals are everything. Either update the looks (for example the JW ones are completely fine) or:

3. Zookeeper/Worker mode: This only my wish partially. I don't necessarily need Zookeeper mode, but if they decide to keep the same goofy style for humans, then it becomes necessity. Because I can keep my zoos closed (as I do) if I don't want to look at guests, but I can't evade the staff. Give me an option to run everything myself, I'm sure even people who don't have exact reasoning as me will find some fun in that. Speaking of, if we do get zookeeper mode, I wouldn't mind those JW buggies to drive around in.

4. Animal transportation: Speaking of goofy stuff, get rid of box carrying Zookeepers and all the confetti and stuff that encompasses it. If we are going for realistic visuals, make some more realistic animal transportation. Maybe have a vehicle park a crate in habitat, and then have animals exit it JW style, or something like that. On a similar note:

5. Animal picker/selector: Give me Zoo Tycoon style animal list where I can pick and choose animals as I like for sandbox mode. Let me just click and place animals in their habitat, after all sandbox is for creative side of the game mostly. Animal market is essential for Franchise mode, and there it should be kept but it's only a nuisance in sandbox mode (I feel like). Also animal transportation and delivery should also stay for franchise, just give us more flexibility and control for sandbox. On top of that let me min/max animals I get in sandbox. Let me pick exact age, color, variation, gender, size, fertility, attitude....

6. Animal model variations: I brought this up many times, basically vatiations of tusks, horns, antlers, manes, tails the same way we have color variations. I've gone back and forth whether this was realistic wish or not, but ZT modders figured it out, so how difficult can it be for game developers? This feature should also be an option for customization in aforementioned animal selector.

7. Subspecies submenu: Basically the thing from Zoo Tycoon Xbox. I feel like this is the best solution for subspecies debate. It would need ZT animal picker tho, but for Franchise maybe just have all the subspecies out on the market, idk? Filter or two fixes it anyway, it's not like you can't search animals on the market even now. But for the love of God, don't make them variations of the same animal, like mods do! Please, even current way of subspecies inclusion is better than that. I want Arctic wolves, for example, to only give birth to Arctic wolves, variations are for visual distinctions within subspecies, they shouldn't be interchangeable. Maybe every DLC could have dedicated subspecies slot in future, like dino skins in JW expansions. We expect at least one clone per pack anyway.

8. Expanded exhibit system: Current exhibit system is fine (for me) as a base, it just needs expanding. More variety in sizes and shapes, so our reptile houses can look more dynamic, and some smaller species can be more easily displayed. Exhibit animals are fine as they are, I don't want to worry about their hitboxes and their needs (they were always more of a decorations than real animal habitats for me, and that's fine), but maybe "release" some bigger ones like Iguanas (and maybe Anacondas and Pythons in future) to be habitat animals. Also at least for full terrestrial exhibits, I want null glass option.


Now, even tho I wrote full paragraph how exhibits should be their own isolated system, I'm gonna argue for exact opposite for Aviaries and (partially) Aquariums.


9. Full habitat birds: If we decided that birds are to complicated to be integrated into existing game, then I want them done properly for sequel. If we got birds during support of PZ, I would've accepted compromise of Walkthrough Exhibits or isolated JW-esque aviaries (I would've never guessed I'd reference JW this much in my PZ wishlist). But if they took dedicated time to properly do flying birds for sequel, I want full interactivity. I want to make custom habitats for large raptors to fly around in, with fully custom made enviroment. I want to mix my smaller birds with ground habitat animals, and so on, and so forth.

10. Flexible aquariums: Similar point, but I really dislike how lagoons are done in JW. I see no reason for our new marine animals to have any more restrictions than the semi-aquatic ones we already have in game. If I can construct seal semi-tank from scratch, and have seals dive in swim in there just fine, I don't see why building for fully marine animals wouldn't be just upgraded version of that. I don't want semi-customizable JW lagoons, I want free build tanks. And of course, again, to be able to mix fully aquatic animals with ground animals in hybrid habitats. Also, btw, since I'm on topic of aquariums, as I fully expect smaller fish to be in exhibit boxes, let us mix species in them.
 

Markiz

Markiz
SanRazo said:
Man I can’t stress how much I don’t want realistic humans
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I understand that people in community are pretty divided on that exact opinion, but for me visual consistency (and visuals in general) are one of the most important factors in games.

Tho they do say that's it pointless to argue about taste, so I'm not going to 😁 To each their own.
 

Gecko0304

G
1. Exhibit rework:
Either by cutting them altogether, or at least giving us multiple sizes with removeable walls. Maybe a new "exhibit editor" mode where you basically play a terrarium simulator instead

2. Subspecies system:
Only the species is shown in the zoopedia, but there is a submenu for subspecies and you will have multiple subspecies to choose from. These would not just be retextures, but would have model variants as well. Should still be minor changes easy to implement though. I think adding multiple subspecies when adding a new species is a good idea and would fit well with this. I would also like to filter Zoopedia by taxonomy.

3. Updated animal behavior:
Most animals in game basically act the same, except for movement patterns. I would like to see more differentiation in behavior between species. In addition, more complex behavior is always nice. Egg laying, threat displays and so on.

4. Animal model variations:
Tusks, horns and antlers look very different in real animals, would be cool if translated to PZ. Maybe also body fat and similar but that might be stretching it

5. New climbing system
Climbing is famously janky in PZ, I would like a new way of calculating climbeable area without locking the animals onto the pieces like they currently are. If done correctly, this would open the door for spider monkeys, good gibbons and sifakas, perching for birds and maybe even rock climbing for ibex. Most importantly, remove the jank

6. Updated lighting
Fixing the lighting to let us create dark rooms for nocturnal animals

7. Updated pathing
Self-explanatory I think

8. Consistent models
Update the old PZ1 models to match the new standard. I don’t think we'll get every animal back, but I would rather all animals share consistent quality. This also includes updating the signs to include every species.

9. Free-flying birds
Smaller ones could be in a WTE-like solution, but a flying system is wanted.

10. A good aquarium system
Small fish are displayed both in small aquariums and in large tanks together with larger creatures. I would like a good way of filling huge tanks without killing my PC, as well as creating small aquariums with the same species. I would also like to be able to put fully aquatic species in the water with semi-aquatic animals, so no giant aquarium box.

In general, I think fixing the less functioning parts of PZ1 is more important than adding new stuff, so updated exhibits, climbing and paths are my most requested features, more than any birds or fish
 

Swjosdotschka

Swjosdotschka
I wish the animals would interact more with each other. Including interspecies, but first and foremonst more interactions between mother and young. Especially with ormates currently it's just weird.

I also hope they figure out the multiple habitat gate issue and maybe even let us have seperation gates within the habitat.

And oh gaawwd, I want the new waterfall feature from JWE3, that would be so so so lovely.
 

Aramar

Aramar
The thing is that when Frontier starts working on PZ2 they will already have:

  • A big database with info for more than 200 animals and plants. They will need to improve visuals and add some animations, but sounds and information about behaviours, appearance, biomes, etc will need little work.
  • An improved and tested path system. By the time PZ2 comes, they will have already fixed any potential issue with the path system in PC2
  • An improved Frontier workshop
  • Tested aviaries and aquariums thanks to JWE 2 and 3
  • Improved restaurants and gift shops
  • Improved petting animations (introduced in PZ and probably improved in JWE3)
-Tested and improved scaling options and terrain brush/tools
  • Improved lighting which allows to create night houses
  • Dynamic waterfalls (JWE3)

So even if most of those things are good enough to make us excited for the game, probably Frontier won't need a lot of time to implement those features. They can put more effort into developing something new (playgrounds, better exhibits, more education options like shows, interspecies interactions...).
 
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