Planet Zoo Appreciation Thread

[Villanelle]

A place to share our love and appreciation for our favourite game

A few discussion prompts (but feel free to digress!)

• What's been your favourite animal released this year?
• What's your favourite animal in the whole game so far?
• What's been the best update / update feature for you?
• What did you think of the latest livestream?
• Why do you love PZ so much?
• What have you built that you're most proud of?
• etc etc

There are plenty of other threads for feedback and constructive criticism but times are a little tough at the moment so I thought we needed one just to share joy and happiness, and give the devs some well-deserved props!
GOOD VIBES ONLY

 

[Villanelle]

I'll go first!

My favourite animal this year was the Red River Hog. It's just gorgeous! I bought a soft toy red river hog in celebration! I love the fine hairs and the fact that they have an interspecies bonus with so many other animals.

At the moment I'm making a lighthouse area for my grey seals and I just love getting lost in the sweet zone of building, chilling and watching my idea slowly come to life. The game design is so beautiful, a little effort always pays off more than I would even expect.

 

[Villanelle]

I think my favourite update features have been the QoL ones: automate exhibits and the bulldozer. Now I can rebuild sections of my zoo without clicking on every bin! I jumped for joy when that came out Automating exhibits saves SO much time as well.

I also really love the extra animations / behaviours they've given animals, like burrowing and deep diving. So sweet seeing the little critters bumble into their burrows, and having cameras in them is such a nice touch.

 

[FlameWizard492]

What's been your favourite animal released this year?

Some of my favorites are:

• Black Rhinoceros
• Tasmanian Devil
• North Island Brown Kiwi
• African Crested Porcupine

What's your favourite animal in the whole game so far?

Some of my favorites are:

• African Elephant
• Indian Elephant (elephants are my favorite animal)
• Black Rhinoceros
• Southern White Rhinoceros (I’m sorry, the rhinos are just so well done)
• Platypus (I watched Phineas and Ferb as a kid, so I’m biased)
• Southern Cassowary
• Siamang
• California Sea Lion

What's been the best update / update feature for you?

The new animal sociality status feature has been very helpful.

What did you think of the latest livestream?

I haven’t seen it.

Why do you love PZ so much?

I like to flex my creative design muscles. Also, I LOVE wild animals and zoos! I grew up with the Zoo Tycoon games as a kid, and Planet Zoo HEAVILY improves upon the zoo building simulator experience.

What have you built that you're most proud of?

I have two zoos up on the workshop: Tropical Treasures Zoo and the Desert Dreams Zoo and Reserve. The latter of the two even had its own story that came with it.

 

[Orkan]

What's been your favourite animal released this year?

Either the Porcupine or Kiwi. Can’t decide!

What's your favourite animal in the whole game so far?

Red Fox I just need it’s gray friend!

What's been the best update / update feature for you?

This is a tough one. I’ve only been playing since Grasslands. I’d say viewing domes.

What did you think of the latest livestream?

It was fun. The first one I’ve watched live, actually. The hype when they put the peppers on the drink tho

Why do you love PZ so much?

I am a born and raised animal lover. This game took that plus my creative building skills and made it into the best game in existence.

What have you built that you're most proud of?

My reindeer barn ❤

 

[synthetase]

What's been your favourite animal released this year?

Striped Hyena! It was a bit less than a year ago so it counts! Haha! If we're talking just 2023 then its a tie between Donkey and Spectacled Flying Fox!

What's your favourite animal in the whole game so far?

AFRICAN WILD DOG! One of the prettiest animals in game with its coloring. And its so cute with its pack dynamics.

What's been the best update / update feature for you?

Piebaldism/multiple colors (the Red Fox gets honorable mention as my favorite animal in game).

What did you think of the latest livestream?

It was very easy to guess which animals would show up mostly.

Why do you love PZ so much?

The variety of what you can do in building zoos! Also the weather.

What have you built that you're most proud of?

I haven't built much that I'm proud of...
There was a lush jungle area I had build in a Franchise zoo that had binturongs, babirusa, and something else (I can't remember).

 

[Villanelle]

My reindeer barn ❤

View attachment 375567View attachment 375566

ahhhh it's gorgeous! I'd be a happy reindeer in there

 

[Captain Callum]

What's been your favourite animal released this year?

Mines the fossa, having a working Madagascar Forest habitat has been a desire of mine for quite a while now. Lemur habitats are great fun to build so why not pair up those lemur habitats with a fossa.

What's your favourite animal in the whole game so far?

I love Big Cats so it's really a tie between the jaguar or the cougar. The edge goes to the jaguar since making rainforest habitats is more fun than a semi rocky forest for cougars.

What's been the best update / update feature for you?

Of all the update features, deep diving and burrows are my favourite. Deep diving is borderline essential for many animals while burrows allow small habitats that don't have room for a shelter building to accommodate tiny animals in these burrows.

Why do you love PZ so much?

Creative sandbox games have always been a favourite of mine, the building tools on planet zoo combined with my love for animals is why planet zoo is my favourite game.

What have you built that you're most proud of?

The last thing I build is always what I tell myself. Each and every habitat, garden, or even just a fence is a thing to be proud of. It helps motivation in my large projects even if the habitat I build is rather poor quality. But to answer it, the build I am most proud of is the modern entrance of the woodland park zoo:

 

[DarthQuell]

What's been your favourite animal released this year?

This year, it has to be the peccary, hands down. The only animal this year I can relate to the most (yet I still don't relate to it). I love that it's so versatile in many different settings

What's your favourite animal in the whole game so far?

I have a list:

• Collared peccary
• Southern cassowary
• Fossa
• Red fox
• Spectacled caiman (yes)
• Maned wolf

What's been the best update / update feature for you?

Hmm, I love that they updated brachiation to be usable on different features, even though I don't use gibbons or orangutan that much. I also love the deep diving, because it adds some life into the game (I've noticed that deep diving animals head straight to water as soon as you place them)

What did you think of the latest livestream?

I usually don't watch updates because I'm so busy during the day (even when I'm at home I'm busy with many many things)

Why do you love PZ so much?

Because I'll never be able to run my own zoo in real-life. Plus, Zoo Tycoon was one of my favorite series (1 & 2), and I love animals; I can't think of a world where we didn't have millions of species, each adapted perfectly for their purpose. It's kinda like a big puzzle, when you think about it

What have you built that you're most proud of?

Hmm, I'd have to say, currently, Moonshine Ranch. It's the longest zoo I've kept without getting annoyed at the build and deleting the file. And I'm still updating it, albeit slowly

 

[Skalea]

In a world where a growing number of gaming companies seem to treat customers like fools, what I like most about Planet Zoo is the fact that Frontier makes me feel like I am being treated with respect. I say this mainly on account of the consistent asking prices for DLC and the amount of care that seems to go into every piece of content they add to the game.

 

[SuzieSky]

• What's been your favourite animal released this year?

Lar Gibbon

• What's your favourite animal in the whole game so far?

Wild Horse, Cassowary, Arctic Wolf, Prairie Dog, Porcupine, Butterflies

• What's been the best update / update feature for you?

Diving has to be the best, but I really like being able to change staff uniforms and keeper talks with the animals.

• What did you think of the latest livestream?

The last special stream was the best yet! It was fun, and I hope the team is doing well.

• Why do you love PZ so much?

Animals and bringing me to this community

 

[Annie_konik]

Oh, I love this thread!
My favorite animals from this year are Somali Wild Ass and Porcupine. I can't choose just one! I have expected the donkey to be one of my favorites since I saw it, and the porcupine was a nice surprise.

My favorites from the entire game are Przewalski Horse and Wombat I can't get enough of them! I have to say that whoever designed the horses' behaviors did a fantastic job! The mutual grooming, the smileys, little bursts of gallop, and occasional jumps. So cool! And how they nap, with their lower lips hanging, is perfect and very cute!
Wombats are adorable in their own way, and they make me smile every time.

I joined the game just a few months ago, so I don't really know what each update brought us. I like the viewing domes quite a lot.

I loved the latest livestream. It made me smile! So much fun! The animals were relatively easy to guess, except for the bat.

There are so many reasons why I love this game. It inspires creativity in different ways than my other hobbies. It's relaxing and noncompetitive. It's about ANIMALS, my lifetime obsession, haha. Also, the community is lovely! People share their works in the workshop, and Youtubers make helpful tutorials and inspiring projects. It's incredible what some people were able to build in this game! Jaw-dropping sometimes
I also love that you can trade with friends (if you both have good timing). And then you can follow your animal's story, how cute is that!

As for being proud, well, that's a hard one. I'm rarely proud of myself. I see I'm not at the level I would like to be. But I'm pretty pleased with the habitat I built for my E. Lynx a few weeks ago And I'm happy with the Haunted House shelter I built for my raccoons and skunks around Halloween. I don't have screenshots this time, sorry! Maybe I'll send some later.

 

[Orque41]

• What's been your favourite animal released this year?

This year it is
Fossa
Tasmanian devil
Addax

• What's your favourite animal in the whole game so far?

Maned Wolf
African wild dog
Fox Fennec
Okapi
Red panda
Giant Anteater
Arctic Wolf
American Alligator
Polar fox

• What's been the best update / update feature for you?

Burrows and invisible paths

• What did you think of the latest livestream?

I haven’t seen it.

• Why do you love PZ so much?

I have loved animals since I was little. I had fish and my uncle had rabbits and 2 sheep. Zoo Tycoon 2 was one of my favorite series. I love animal books and I have learned lots of things about them. I love seeing animals but in some zoo (where they are a big space and they are happy). See them in the natural environment or at home where I live because there are lots of wild animals like red foxes and raptors and deer... And also because I love the game Planet zoo

• What have you built that you're most proud of?

Even if I lost this zoo. I will say the Indian Rhinoceros enclosure of the Basel Zoo

 

[FoxyDee]

I love Planet Zoo because naturally I love animals but also, it goes well with my adult life as you can play it whenever you have the time, and do not miss much if life gets in the way and you are not able to play for some time, you can just get back to it whenever you can/ feel like it. I used to play games much more, but as you get older, the time you want/can spend on gaming gets a bit limited for most people, so PZ is pretty much the only game I play these days. I love how chill it is to just turn it on after a tough day at work and build and manage your own zoo, I find it very relaxing.

Favourite animals? I have many, but my top picks would be Sea Lions, Fennec Foxes, Sun Bears and Maned Wolves. That said, I have been blessed with so many animals from my wishlist this year ! Red River Hogs, Lar Gibbons, Porcupines, Kiwis... I often hear how this year DLCs were so dissapointing to people, but I think Frontier brough us so many amazing animals...sure, we all want birds and monkeys, but the animals we got were sure not a dissapointment to me.

As I am mostly interest in the gameplay and animals rather than building and sandox, my favourite update features are those that improve the animals or the overall habitat interactions. I really love the Orangutan brachiation, bathing features, chorus behaviours, etc. I especially loved the addition of burrows and the viewing domes were also fun.

I usually build European temperate zoos, but the recent Oceania pack inspired me to build a New Zealand zoo. I do like to build semi-realistic, so it has been fun to research real world NZ zoos and only use animals and plants that are suitable. I can reccomend to anyone to try to build a zoo that you are not as familiar with, it has been really interesting to learn about zoos in the other parts of the world.

 

[Swjosdotschka]

Fun thread, let me take the inspiration of the inital post.

• What's been your favourite animal released this year? Little premature with a pack left, but now, pre-announcement... But I'd say it's the porcupine, followed by the Gibbon.
• What's your favourite animal in the whole game so far? There is no way I can possibly answer this, as I was very spoiled with all the packs and got A LOT of favourites and who's on number 1 always changes. So I'll go ahead and answer with which animal I had my very first magical moment in game, that made me fall in love with PZ even more. It was the Indian Elephant. Even in one of my first zoos I build an indoor area for the elephants as well and when one of the elephants walked through the door and I noticed the sound changed from outside to inside and it suddenly sounded like I really was inside an elephant house. To this date I am unable to build an elephant habitat without an indoor area for guests. I always have to go over the top.
• What's been the best update / update feature for you? Any additional sandbox option and color variety in animals. Hands down the best updates for my playstyle. Also the second reducing of the polar bear requirements and the reducing of the deep water requirements, as both made the game more realistic.
• What did you think of the latest livestream? Actually the worst one from the hinting live streams, sorry. Cocktails and mocktails just were too far away from an animal theme for me. My favourite one was the one for the European pack (first creative livestream we had if I remember correctly) and the Twilight pack.
• Why do you love PZ so much? Lots of my favourite things are combined in this game: Animals, zoos, creative building, the ability to tell a story. All stuff I need in my "main game", as I am someone who plays one game excessivly and others only from time to time. I spend decades with Sims 1 and Sims 2 and will spend decades with PZ,no matter what. Also: It has a really really really good and well fleshed out and the DLCs have a good price point, even if I would not neccessarily say that for the Arid pack, but that's just an exception to the rule.
• What have you built that you're most proud of? Hand down this:

Took over 16 hours of game play, but so worth it. I'd highly recommend checking it out in the role play thread.

Fun addition:
My favorite animal from every DLC that I would like to give extra appreciation:

• Arctic Pack: Polar Bear
• South America: Ant Eater surprisingly. Didn't care for it at first, then fell in love with it.
• Australia: Red Kangaroo
• Aquatic: Seal
• South East Asia: Binturong (see below)
• Africa: African Penguin (I remember when people drove me nuts complaining that there is no penguin in the bloody arctic pack, I said I hope Frontier adds penguins to an africa pack. I still love every person at Frontier who voted for that inclusion.)
• North America: Sea Lion. Gosh, that one was such an important inclusion for me, I needed it SO much - and have used it so little so far
• Europe: Had to think for a moment and still am torn between the deer and the Ibex. I go with the Deer.
• Wetlands: Asian Small Clawed Otter. FINALLY the "correct" Otter. It made me be at peace with the giant otter and actually happy we got both now. But the time up until this point... hard.
• Conservation: That was my first "meh" pack, so I actually had to check what animals are in there. I'll go with the Przewalski Horse here, lovely inclusion in hindsight and I did have a magic moment in game with it.
• Twilight: Sheesh... this pack was a "make Linda happy" pack. Even more than the North America pack and I never though that could be kicked of place 1. I wanted almost every animal in the pack, so it's hard to pick a favourite, but I go with the Skunk as I had not even dare to hope we will ever get it. And we did!
• Grassland: Maned Wolf. Was another biiiig personal wish for me and it's a shame that I litterally never had time / the chance to use it yet.
• Tropical: Gibbon. But all in all that pack missed the mark for me.
• Dryland: Porcupine.
• Eurasia: Mute Swan. Practically useable in every zoo.

Another appreciation point:
The 3 best "Frontier listens to feedback" moments:

• The reaction to "bintuwrong" gate was top notch.
• Polar bear requirement change, as said above.
• Deep diving requirement change, as said above.

 

[Villanelle]

• What have you built that you're most proud of? Hand down this:

Awesome!

• Twilight: Sheesh... this pack was a "make Linda happy" pack. Even more than the North America pack and I never though that could be kicked of place 1. I wanted almost every animal in

Me too! My favourite by far It doesn't get enough love!

Another appreciation point:
The 3 best "Frontier listens to feedback" moments:

• The reaction to "bintuwrong" gate was top notch.
• Polar bear requirement change, as said above.
• Deep diving requirement change, as said above.

Great idea

 

[Villanelle]

I love Planet Zoo because naturally I love animals but also, it goes well with my adult life as you can play it whenever you have the time, and do not miss much if life gets in the way and you are not able to play for some time, you can just get back to it whenever you can/ feel like it. I used to play games much more, but as you get older, the time you want/can spend on gaming gets a bit limited for most people, so PZ is pretty much the only game I play these days. I love how chill it is to just turn it on after a tough day at work and build and manage your own zoo, I find it very relaxing.

Great point! Same here Sometimes I stop playing for a few months and then re-love it again every time I come back. At the moment it's a very welcome distraction from a bit of a stressful time at work. Also as the winter months draw in, I love having something I enjoy so much indoors. I pity the fools who don't have a game they love to play!

 

[Villanelle]

My favorite animals from this year are Somali Wild Ass and Porcupine. I can't choose just one! I have expected the donkey to be one of my favorites since I saw it, and the porcupine was a nice surprise.

My favorites from the entire game are Przewalski Horse and Wombat I can't get enough of them! I have to say that whoever designed the horses' behaviors did a fantastic job! The mutual grooming, the smileys, little bursts of gallop, and occasional jumps. So cool! And how they nap, with their lower lips hanging, is perfect and very cute!
Wombats are adorable in their own way, and they make me smile every time.

Oh my goodness, I LOVE the horse and wild ass too - definitely two of my favourites! I'm not a 'horsey' person IRL but their animations are so realistic and their fur looks so so soft. The horses are one of my favourite animals to watch in the game.

As for being proud, well, that's a hard one. I'm rarely proud of myself. I see I'm not at the level I would like to be. But I'm pretty pleased with the habitat I built for my E. Lynx a few weeks ago And I'm happy with the Haunted House shelter I built for my raccoons and skunks around Halloween. I don't have screenshots this time, sorry! Maybe I'll send some later.

Ah you should be VERY proud for starting and getting to grips with it, I think a lot of people don't make it past that hurdle! And for your lynx habitat and haunted house - they sound great! Keep going, the reward of building something you really love is just around the corner

 

[Mazoku]

What's been your favourite animal released this year?

I can't decide which these three animals are my favourite: Somali Wild Ass, Lar Gibbon and Fossa. They all are stunning, Somali Wild Ass is incredibly detailed, they really nailed it on this animal. Lar Gibbon is so fun to watch, Fossa is cool to watch too as well. We got great animals in this year, looking forward to see what we will get in this next pack!

What's your favourite animal in the whole game so far?

Good question, animals we got from DLCs have been amazing which making it harder for me to choose my favourite animal in the game. However, I got some favourite animals in the game, it is so hard to pick one again lol: Amur Leopard, Maned Wolf, Lar Gibbon and Somali Wild Ass. These are animals I always use in my zoos, they pretty much covered up what I need for my zoos, I'm pleased we got these animals. I only need Wolverine, Spectacled Bear and Gelada, I desperately need these animals for my zoo (Wolverine will be my 100% favourite animal once it got added, hopefully...)

What's been the best update / update feature for you?

Definitely custom billboard update, I'm glad that we got this update. This allow me to be more creative with signages, I enjoyed making animal education signages very much, this is how I discovered my interest for graphic design.

What did you think of the latest livestream?

I'm sorry if this isn't positive, but I really don't find it very exciting as I not really like Oceania Pack, that's all I can say lol...

Why do you love PZ so much?

Planet Zoo is definitely my favourite game. I am very passionate about animals since when I was young, when I played this game for very first time, this game makes me passionate about zoos, animals and nature even more which make me get into their conservation efforts/works on endangered animals and willing to do more research on animals, conservation and nature in my free time. I am so grateful that this game existed. I also love building realistic zoos based on my country's zoos, looking up for enclosure designs and find inspirations for my zoos. Finding for inspirations always have been fun.

What have you built that you're most proud of?

I started a new zoo some months ago, it is not completed yet, it only have car parking, entrance and flamingo exhibit currently. I'm really proud of the entrance and flamingo exhibit I made in this new zoo, it really shows that my building skills in this game have been improved a lots since the game was released.
Extra: Favourite Pack(s)
Arid, Tropical and Grassland are my favourite. Building pieces in Tropical pack are so useful for building especially stained timber pieces, I use them all times. Grassland is a strong pack with great animals roster. Ungulates in Arid Pack though I wasn't expect that Addax, Somali Wild Ass and Black Rhinoceros are in one pack, a dream pack came true.

 

[Villanelle]

Today I'm appreciating the feeling of anticipation before a new DLC announcement.

Right now, the new animals are Shrodinger's cats, waiting to be let out of the box! They could be anything! It's SO EXCITING!!!!