Planet Zoo: Barnyard Animal Pack | Announce

[DarthQuell]

It's an architecture game. Could you talk about what PZ still missing to be a good zoo game in your opinion?

I'd actually like to answer that, if you don't mind. Something that I think PlanZo would really benefit from, specifically Franchise and Challenge modes, are, well, challenges.
Something ZT2 did in scenario mode was that, randomly you'd be offered a challenge. You could choose to accept it or not, but if you win you get rewards (like a new animal, a building, zoo fame, etc.)
These challenges were also varied. They could range from breeding certain species to taking pictures of animals doing certain things to putting on animal shows. All kinds of things.

I genuinely believe that if PlanZo challenge and franchise mode has these types of things, it would add a lot to the whole management and fun side of the game. Because then you'd have to manage your zoo, potentially even reorganize it in some ways to complete said challenge...


At least, that's just my opinion

 

[Doran]

Well, I mean today is when that Livestream is gonna happen, so that will be confirmation if we get future support or if the barnyard pack really is the last one.

Watch out them doing JWE special.
Announce future content and do nothing afterwards . A ploy with sole purpose to calm down players before leaving.

 

[DarthQuell]

Watch out them doing JWE special.
Announce future content and do nothing afterwards . A ploy with sole purpose to calm down players before leaving.

Sir, do you really want to see the community burn?

 

[MarikMoon]

I'd actually like to answer that, if you don't mind. Something that I think PlanZo would really benefit from, specifically Franchise and Challenge modes, are, well, challenges.
Something ZT2 did in scenario mode was that, randomly you'd be offered a challenge. You could choose to accept it or not, but if you win you get rewards (like a new animal, a building, zoo fame, etc.)
These challenges were also varied. They could range from breeding certain species to taking pictures of animals doing certain things to putting on animal shows. All kinds of things.

I genuinely believe that if PlanZo challenge and franchise mode has these types of things, it would add a lot to the whole management and fun side of the game. Because then you'd have to manage your zoo, potentially even reorganize it in some ways to complete said challenge...


At least, that's just my opinion

I think same, I hope Planet Zoo 2 bring more Zoo Tycoon 2 features than just expand architecture mechanics. I prefer a more fun game than just a building simulator.

 

[TheDuckKnight]

Alright, enough time has passed for me to formulate my final thoughts.

First off, the responses to this has been wild (haha) and not in a good way. We have detractors "joking" about unaliving themselves (though I know some of those folks have apologized), Leaf got comments about blackmailing devs to the point he needed to do a call-out post on X, there's plenty of pretty venomous critiques calling it "sad" and "an insult".

But with that said, there is nothing wrong with being disappointed!!! We all want Planet Zoo to be the very best it can be.
Things like Jokes, memes, and a good sense of humor is also a very healthy sign in any community.
And voicing our desire for whatever you feel the game can benefit from, as well as expressing disappointment - is the sign of strong, passionate fanbase.

But don't forget about the faces behind the pack. So when you get vicious and start taking it personal, or even you know, MAKE THREATS, you're talking about a lot of very real people who work very hard for you.

And spare me, the "Oy ginger, Frontier's a business, it is. And I'll criticize a business as much I bloody like, sad, innit? Allo governor. You're a wizard, Harry"

Anyway to the pack...

It's really good!
Wanted a petting zoo since the beginning so this is a dream for me. Lol I mean I got 6 animals off my wishlist. AND ANOTHER BIRD!

Missing a duck like crazy, but a chicken is really great And I already went into a manifesto about rationalizing the lack of the duck on the Bird Wishlist for those interested.

The mammal breeds are kinda all over the place.

Alpaca, American donkey (WHO'S GONNA MAKE WAFFLES), and the shaggy cow all work for me.

As everyone has said, African pygmy goat does seem to be the nominate goat species. But we can't be hypocrites here, after spending years complaining about too much African hooftstock.

I genuninely never heard of the sheep and pig breeds.
But to me, these are very minor nitpicks. It's about your personal perspective. And this pack seems catered for someone like me - one who wants a petting zoo, but isn't hung up or even cares about breed details.

Oh, and this is the best update since the viewing dome.

 

[Captain Callum]

Watch out them doing JWE special.
Announce future content and do nothing afterwards . A ploy with sole purpose to calm down players before leaving.

Well I guess jwe2 is future content lol

 

[Annie_konik]

I'm really excited to see some screenshots of the donkey and the highland cow models during the live stream. Also I'm very interested how this new interactions with visitors will work, and the animal encounters thing. Which species other than the domestic ones will have this option?

And what other foliage is included in the new pack? Corn? Wouldn't it be great if they added heather? I see no indication of that in the trailer though. Tulips and daffodils would be nice too.

 

[Tatanosaure]

It's an architecture game. Could you talk about what PZ still missing to be a good zoo game in your opinion?

I second the comment of Darthquell, challenges and management, but also decent animal behaviors.
We are 20 years after Zoo Tycoon 2 and in terms of behaviors, Planet Zoo didn't bring much more.

 

[NachoB]

I second the comment of Darthquell, challenges and management, but also decent animal behaviors.
We are 20 years after Zoo Tycoon 2 and in terms of behaviors, Planet Zoo didn't bring much more.

I would actually argue that even less haha at least in ZT2 babies did nurse and birds and reptiles laid eggs and build nests. Or am i missremembering?

 

[Tatanosaure]

I would actually argue that even less haha at least in ZT2 babies did nurse and birds and reptiles laid eggs and build nests. Or am i missremembering?

I have this memory too but I am not sure if it wasn't needed to place their nest.

 

[KönigDerKaffeebohnen]

It's an architecture game. Could you talk about what PZ still missing to be a good zoo game in your opinion?

Atleast Barebones Management instead of the none we currently have

 

[DarthQuell]

I would actually argue that even less haha at least in ZT2 babies did nurse and birds and reptiles laid eggs and build nests. Or am i missremembering?

No, you're right. Babies would nurse and birds and reptiles and certain fish laid eggs. Dinosaurs built nests

 

[DarthQuell]

Atleast Barebones Management instead of the none we currently have

I feel like the game is too easy, with you automatically having everything in front of you. It's more of a sandbox than a zoo management sim. At the very least, I think it'd be great if certain animals were locked behind different levels of zoo fame. Like, maybe giant pandas should be locked behind 5 stars, gorillas and elephants behind 4 stars, lions and tigers behind 3.5 stars, etc.

 

[Doran]

PZ progression system in a nutshell.
1. Put workshop
2. Click research
3. Wait a bit
4. Done

 

[synthetase]

are you comparing bigotry to feeding an animal to another animal

Yeah you're right! They are nothing alike considering one involves hurting feelings and the other involves death...
As far as opinions go, everyone has their own which means they are equally valid. I understand the disappointment in this pack (Its Planet ZOO not Planet BARN) and I am happy for those who wanted animals such as the Highland cow. I personally will buy this pack for the sheep and also to support new content. Is it a good pack to me? Not the best, its toward tropical level. I am mostly always grateful for new content! As its been brought up farm animals are present in zoos...

 

[DarthQuell]

PZ progression system in a nutshell.
1. Put workshop
2. Click research
3. Wait a bit
4. Done

That's exactly what I don't like. I'm fine if it's for an easy mode challenge or even sandbox, but if I wanna play normal or hard, I want to have obstacles.
I want my animals to have needs and be troublesome. Like, I remember how it was hard for certain animals to breed unless they were extremely happy. But if you beat the Endangered Species campaign, you'd unlock the Conservation Breeding Center which supposedly helped breed shy species faster and easier (not sure if this was actually the case, but it was advertised as such).

But the animal progression was my personal favorite. It made it feel like you genuinely had to work to be given the opportunity to house fantastic animals. It made you feel like you were truly building up a solid reputation. Like, you can argue and say: "Quell, you don't have to put pandas at the start of the zoo"
True, I don't have to, but the again, what's stopping from doing it? It wouldn't really matter if I place them at the entrance or in the middle of the zoo, the way the game works makes it feel like everything is handed on a silver platter. I want the rare animals to feel like genuine milestones, achievements. That's my biggest wish of all for the future of the game. Unfortunately, I doubt it'll come because I'm sure the game is coded in a way that won't make it easy to add, but the wish is still there

 

[Topaz Star]

I think my initial disappointment has melted down for now and I'm gonna try to look at the positive side of things for this one.
I don't mind the barnyard pack, even though I wanted something else more. It could be a cute small side project to build a petting zoo which I'm probably gonna do and enjoy very much. The petting update looks really great and I'm excited for that. Really curious to see how it works exactly (and if it works pretty please modular souvenir shops flashback). Probably not gonna use most of these animals a lot, besides maybe the chicken because it's an icon and it could work pretty well as a free-range animal in any zoo really.

 

[Chuditch]

As we await today's livestream (or tomorrow morning's for me, seeing it's at 2:30 am - lucky I can sleep in tomorrow!), I thought I'd throw a little appreciation towards the alpaca, one of the least discussed of the new additions but my favourite amongst the ungulates (chicken is king). I'm quite fond of camelids in general, both wild and domestic, and this species is the standard "petting zoo" camelid in my experience - they're smaller, softer and more gentle than llamas, and here at least they also tend to be a lot more common in captivity to boot (I only saw llamas IRL for the first time last year). I've been to many a zoo with a little children's corner housing alpacas alongside goats, chickens, rabbits and occasionally fallow deer and macropods, so they'll be great for the kind of realistic builds I like to do. I also just learnt today that Australia apparently has the largest (and still rapidly growing) population of alpacas outside of Peru, recently breaching 400,000 individuals, which explains why I see them so much when driving through the countryside nowadays!

A couple images comparing alpacas with our old llama friends...

Also surprised, given the specificity of some of the breeds here (what is an "American standard donkey" lol), that it wasn't specified what alpaca we are getting. There's two main kinds that look quite distinct from one another, and thankfully we're getting the much more common of the two.

 

[DarthQuell]

As we await today's livestream (or tomorrow morning's for me, seeing it's at 2:30 am - lucky I can sleep in tomorrow!), I thought I'd throw a little appreciation towards the alpaca, one of the least discussed of the new additions but my favourite amongst the ungulates (chicken is king). I'm quite fond of camelids in general, both wild and domestic, and this species is the standard "petting zoo" camelid in my experience - they're smaller, softer and more gentle than llamas, and here at least they also tend to be a lot more common in captivity to boot (I only saw llamas IRL for the first time last year). I've been to many a zoo with a little children's corner housing alpacas alongside goats, chickens, rabbits and occasionally fallow deer and macropods, so they'll be great for the kind of realistic builds I like to do. I also just learnt today that Australia apparently has the largest (and still rapidly growing) population of alpacas outside of Peru, recently breaching 400,000 individuals, which explains why I see them so much when driving through the countryside nowadays!

A couple images comparing alpacas with our old llama friends...

Also surprised, given the specificity of some of the breeds here (what is an "American standard donkey" lol), that it wasn't specified what alpaca we are getting. There's two main kinds that look quite distinct from one another, and thankfully we're getting the much more common of the two.

Alpacas are basically llamas crossbred with sheep
Man, I just love SA camelids period. The more y'all post about them, the more I'm enjoying them.

And the donkey is just a standard donkey. Would've personally preferred the burro, but hey, I can just get small donkeys to replicate that

 

[Mjmannella]

Alpacas are arguably llamas crossbred with vicunas, according to some mixed genetic studies