Planet Zoo - Colour Variation

[NZFanatic]

I think it's worth pointing out that we've only had a small handful of static images regarding this update. While people certainly might be right in saying that the new feature will be limited in scope, it seems like a lot of assumptions are being made here.

Actually I have a question bout the colour variations. I actually posted before on r/planetzoo that I am looking forward to a Green Peafowl variation.
But now Im wondering if that even will be "allowed"? I mean the "Indian Peafowl" which is in game is specifically named "Indian Peafowl". So Im guessing a green peafowl wouldnt carry the name of Indian Peafowl?

As others have said, the green peafowl is not a colour variant or a mutation, it's a separate species. It would be like making the Formosan bear a variant skin of the Grizzly bear - they share the same genus but they're not the same animal.

It might show up in the game somewhere down the line (personally I don't see the need for it, but that's just my opinion) but I wouldn't expect to see it as a variant skin. With regards to peafowl, I'd be expecting more domestic variations to the colour scheme. I believe people mentioned the pied peafowl as an example.

Personally I'm most excited for some more variation to my African wild dogs. The wolves never really bothered me and I'm certainly not bothered by the fact that they appear, currently, to be rather limited in scope - I've seen plenty of footage of wolf packs in the wild where the colouration is all pretty close (particularly in the Northwestern subspecies). The wolf was always going to be an issue, though, since a lot of the colour variations occur across vastly different subspecies and the in-game wolf is supposed to cover literally all of them (including the Arctic wolf). Individual African wild dogs, on the other hand, have spot patterns as variable as human fingerprints. Seeing a few more shapes, patterns, and colours in them will be a boon.

I'm also hoping the king cheetah mutation makes an appearance, and on that subject I'm also hopeful that the black jaguar might be more easily attainable in Sandbox mode as part of this update.

 

[Veranel]

Llamas are definitely on my radar for the colour variations. Its just a bit too obvious that they are all the same. But I actually never thought colour variations would be added later down the line. So I accepted it and have peace with it. But nowww!! Now things have changed lol. Hoping they make it on the list of animals getting variations.

@random goat
@Urufu1997
@NZFanatic

Yeah I thought about that. Im not an expert on peafowls but after seeing a few photos of the Green Peafowl, it indeed requires a total new model than the one for the Great Indian Peafowl. Would indeed be weird to share the same model. So that aint happening. And obviously I wouldnt want to have a Green Peafowl with the model of the Indian Peafowl.
I do hope the Indian Peafowl gets some color variations though. It will make their habitat even more beautfiul with the different shades in their colorful feather tail. Same story with Flamingos. Shades of pink would be stunning.

Alright Frontier...... Show us more please! You cant keep us hanging that "long" !

 

[kenn1ld]

Guest happiness: 31%
"I wish I could have less micromanagement and more path/building tools before anything else"

 

[WolfTrek]

So, if i came to your gallery opening / recital / whatever, and loudly walked around announcing that I thought your work was lazy and showed no effort you would say that i was being very respectful and constructive?... I doubt it.

Just going to answer this, and then I'll drop the subject. ^^' If someone were to view a commissioned piece of my artwork I had done for them, and was not satisfied with the results or thought something looked wrong or like I hadn't spent enough time to make it look right, as long as they weren't excessively and blatantly rude about it, I would take their criticism and concerns into account, yes. Honestly, even if they were rude about it, I would be obligated to give them what they paid for and were expecting to the best of my ability. My job in that situation would be to create something my customer is happy with. At the end of the day, Frontier is a business, not a charity. They're not simply displaying their work in a gallery for us to admire - we are their customers; we purchased their product expecting certain promises to be upheld. As xTosca said, if I had known beforehand that we would not be getting the features we were promised at release, I would certainly not have preordered the game. As it was, I thought long and hard whether or not to do so to get access to the beta and the deluxe edition animals, or to play it safe and wait to see what the game was actually like at release before buying it. I do not spend my money lightly - in fact, this is the only game I've ever preordered, and will likely be the last, and not only because I was a bit disappointed with the result. It's just not something I do.

In any case, I truly hope that my concerns will prove to be fruitless!

Aaanyway...

I would say that I'm most hopeful for what they might come up with for the African wild dogs, since, as NZFanatic said, there is a huge variety in patterns between individuals of the same population. Anything they can do with any of the bird species I would also be very happy with - I'm a bird nerd at heart - though I'm hesitant to expect much for any of them. I would assume little to no variation added for the ostriches, perhaps some slight variation for flamingos, and I'm not sure about the Indian peafowl. They could add some domestic variants, which would be amazing, but I'm not sure they will include domestic variations for animals that aren't explicitly listed as "domesticated" (i.e., the Bactrian camel and llama). I'm hopeful for some nice llama color and pattern variations, too, as well as anything more for any of the felids. Really, I'm hopeful for some good stuff for any of the animals - I honestly do enjoy the models and animations we were given, even if I think some details could be improved upon a little.

 

[Firestar97]

I'm not sure about the Indian peafowl. They could add some domestic variants, which would be amazing, but I'm not sure they will include domestic variations for animals that aren't explicitly listed as "domesticated"

I hope they will only include Variations that can be also found in the Wild but maybe they could implement some System that you have a Chance to get a domestic Variation if you breed with White Peafowl. But they shouldn't just occur if you only breed the normal Peafowl. I wonder if we will even get Variations for them

 

[ElectricMonk]

Would you like me to demonstrate with the actual PZ wolf textures? Because, like, I can do that lol

That'd be good. Be sure to apply the different tints to different parts of the body (as can be seen on the wolf images), make sure to check that all combinations of different body areas for each tint seamlessly blends with every other combination of tints that you apply, and that all combinations look realistic and good. Also, include code for how these different tints, for each body area, are inherited (i.e., the genetic system underlying the variation). Now do this for multiple species and get back to us when you're done.

 

[ElectricMonk]

...If someone were to view a commissioned piece of my artwork I had done for them, and was not satisfied with the results or thought something looked wrong or like I hadn't spent enough time to make it look right, as long as they weren't excessively and blatantly rude about it, I would take their criticism and concerns into account, yes.

Just going to answer this, and then I'll drop the subject.

...as long as they weren't excessively and blatantly rude about it..

For instance by saying you were lazy and made no effort?

 

[Kitty1337]

Is there an eta when this will drop?

 

[HeatherG]

Is there an eta when this will drop?

see part of Chante's message below

We'll be going further in to detail on how genetics will impact your groups, herds and individual animals in the next couple of weeks, where we'll also be going in-depth about what you can expect in our next update.

 

[xTosca]

That'd be good. Be sure to apply the different tints to different parts of the body (as can be seen on the wolf images), make sure to check that all combinations of different body areas for each tint seamlessly blends with every other combination of tints that you apply, and that all combinations look realistic and good. Also, include code for how these different tints, for each body area, are inherited (i.e., the genetic system underlying the variation). Now do this for multiple species and get back to us when you're done.

Okay, for one, this isn't about the coding, it's about the textures themselves and how they're just blatant hue changes to the overall base texture image with no other edits to the coat. This is about the graphics side, not the coding. As a graphics artist, I think I have a right to criticize the graphical elements, i.e. textures. I'm an artist, not a programmer. Also, they ALREADY HAVE marking randomization code for cheetahs, tigers, zebras, and african wild dogs, sooooo...

Also, this is SPECIFICALLY about the wolves and the other very small number of animals on the roster that have that large of a diverse range of variety in coat colors... not EVERY SINGLE animal ingame. Bison don't come in 50 different colors, shades, and different markings and coat patterns, wolves do. Not every animal realistically has the same coat variation as wolves do.

Fact is, in the images seen of the wolves, they all have the EXACT same coat texture, with the only difference being hue changes, which can easily be done in Photoshop.

And I am about .2 seconds away from making a variant mod doing this just to prove my point lol.

 

[xTosca]

Took me about five minutes.

 

[ElectricMonk]

Okay, for one, this isn't about the coding, it's about the textures themselves and how they're just blatant hue changes to the overall base texture image with no other edits to the coat.

I disagree. In the images I can see different hue changes applied to different parts of the wolves' bodies, not a uniform change across the whole texture.

Also, they ALREADY HAVE marking randomization code for cheetahs, tigers, zebras, and african wild dogs, sooooo...

I don't know the details of the code they use for those, but there's no reason to think that the same code could be used for these variations, or the genetics underlying them.

Also, this is SPECIFICALLY about the wolves and the other very small number of animals on the roster that have that large of a diverse range of variety in coat colors... not EVERY SINGLE animal ingame. Bison don't come in 50 different colors, shades, and different markings and coat patterns, wolves do. Not every animal realistically has the same coat variation as wolves do.

I never said every species, i said multiple species.

Fact is, in the images seen of the wolves, they all have the EXACT same coat texture, with the only difference being hue changes

Not a fact....

I guess we'll all just have to wait for the actual update to drop, or for additional information about the system. In any case, throwing words like 'lazy' and 'no effort' around is disrespectful and insulting. You (and others) could easily have expressed disappointment and provided constructive feedback without using terms like those. Once again, maybe you should consider how you'd feel if someone came to your workplace and (a customer etc.) and, rather than saying that what you produced for them wasn't quite what they wanted and asked for changes, they said 'That's rubbish and looks like you've made no effort and were just lazy.' Sure, you'd take it (because they're a customer), but you'd feel pretty crappy and the person who said it would be being disrespectful and rude.

 

[WolfTrek]

For instance by saying you were lazy and made no effort?

If you truly believe that my wording was rude and disrespectful, then I'm not sure what else to say to you, aside that I sincerely hope you are never personally confronted with a client/customer who is actually rude. I've said my piece and I stick by it. Regardless, I'm not going to be drawn into a full-on argument about this. That wouldn't be fair to anyone else on the thread, and it's gone on long enough as-is.

 

[Moonfox]

I'm most excited for African Wild Dogs - I hope they have a wide variation of white and black/brown colour patch options! I think a large pack of wild dogs would look so amazing if we have some that are high amount of white vs almost none, and lots of different looking combinations in between.

I'm also hoping for colour variation in lions, I'd love to have some creamier coloured lionesses or a darker lion. They wouldn't have to be quite as distinctive as the Lion King's Nala vs Scar vs Simba, but it would be awesome to have that much variation. Another big cat that would be gorgeous with some additional varieties is the Bengal Tiger - golden tabby and white to go with the original orange/black and the black/white. I think it's fair to include these variations, even if they are very rare in the wild, since we already have albino variants for so many species in this game that would almost never occur in the wild, or make it to adulthood. I want that little bit of unrealistic surprise in my game.

Also looking forward to reindeer and llamas, who can both have a lot of colour variation. Especially llamas, I feel like I see white llamas the least often compared to black, red or brown.

King cheetahs would be phenomenal, especially since they are far more common than the spotless variant, and look so striking.

Darker chimpanzees would be cool. The troop at our local zoo have such a range of skin colour.

The wolves are another massive one, but I'm personally fine with maybe only 5 different hue changes. I know I'm in the minority, but I think I would be satisfied with the ones we have seen: grey, grey/brown, red/brown, as well as black, chocolate brown and maybe a tawny? Eye colour variation would be nice, but I would be fine with just yellow, gold and green. I'm optimistic due to the fact that the image they showed features a grey/brown (that we currently have in game?) as well as a silver/grey. It's a great sign of their efforts here: not just recolouring the overall coat as red or grey or brown, but mixing it up and allowing multi-tonal variants, and indicates that they are paying attention and working hard to meet our expectations. Multi-tones are more than I had expected, and I'm very happy to see them.

I'm excited for the subtle differences too - different shades/saturations like we see for the bison and giraffe, applied to many other animals.

I'm really looking forward to having new babies/litters born in the game to see what coat variations they have. I'm looking forward to generations of animals that I can watch grow and form their own social groups, like "Oh, there's Lwazi, who's now an alpha - and his pups. That one looks like his dad, and this one is like mum, and that one is totally different!" That is what I play this game for, to have not just my zoo changing over the years, but my animal population to be generational and impactful and to feel like they've been there as individuals and families along the way.

This is the best thing to come to the game so far for me, and I'm sure there's so much more than what we've seen so far! I got this game for the animals, and while I love building, I do it to have a functioning and realistic zoo where I can spend most of my time watching my animals up close, taking photos in game and getting to know my animals. This update will have the greatest impact to my gameplay so far. Looking forward to more information and for the day we can finally play this new update, and the next DLC pack!

 

[Indoraptor27]

Hopefully Frontier will announce something tomorrow and put an end to this never-ending thread. I think I'm going to unwatch it, it's gotten out of hand.

 

[Caemoxie]

Okay. I've been resisting but here we go. I'll keep it short since this has been debated to death already, but I'll make a few points that haven't been made yet as far as I've seen:

1) All the animals are physically individualized at launch, due to the size scalers, sexual dimorphism (even if not always completely realistically), and variable scars that animals can receive or come out of the market with. Maybe it's not as much as we wanted, but to my knowledge it's quite a bit more than any other zoo game had at launch.

2) How much of what Frontier advertised got sidelined when they realized they had shoehorn in an entire other game mode a couple of months before launch? I don't know anything about coding, game design, or anything else about video game development, but that doesn't sound easy or fast to me. The unique personalities and color variations may have been something they were planning on implementing as the last phase of game development, and got lost in the shuffle of implementing the new game mode and the doubtless extensive bug hunting they had to engage in the aftermath. That cheetahs got a lot of love and wolves didn't, doesn't tell me that they have some grand prejudice against wolves, it tells me they ran out of time. In a perfect world, I think that was the level of detail they wanted to give all the animals in the game, but couldn't at release for any number of reasons.

3) Finally, a point that has been made, but bears reiterating. It's a series of teaser images for a potentially much larger update. It tells us nothing except that tiers of color variation will soon exist in the game. It doesn't tell us anything about the scope of the variation, just as a couple of strange plants doesn't confirm an Australian DLC (sure is fun to speculate though!)

Anyway, on to more cheerful things. I really hope peafowl and zebras end up falling into the major category! This peafowl chart gives an idea of what that could look like: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/peafowl-varieties-chart.933188/
Most of these are selectively bred color morphs, but I still think they would be really cool! Some zoos take in rescued pets (and some animals on the market are listed as such), so I don't think it's unrealistic to include them. Also, I know zebras already have decent variety in-game, but they actually have a bunch of color and pattern mutations that would be really fun to explore!

 

[Skylalaa]

If the textures for the animals are procedurally generated based on the animals genetics, I will be extremely impressed and it would have been worth the wait.
I would be excited if this could be implemented in animal models as well.

If however the textures are just manually created and cycle through the pre-made textures for the animals, I will still be happy it's implemented but wonder why it took so long.

 

[HeatherG]

Please everyone, stay on topic. It's already been requested by Joel yet it still continues. Off topic replies will be deleted.

 

[Veranel]

Anyway, on to more cheerful things. I really hope peafowl and zebras end up falling into the major category! This peafowl chart gives an idea of what that could look like: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/peafowl-varieties-chart.933188/
Most of these are selectively bred color morphs, but I still think they would be really cool! Some zoos take in rescued pets (and some animals on the market are listed as such), so I don't think it's unrealistic to include them. Also, I know zebras already have decent variety in-game, but they actually have a bunch of color and pattern mutations that would be really fun to explore!

Oh wow that peafowl chart looks great! I would be super happy with this. But I know I shouldnt get my hopes up.
Lets just wait and see. But mannn those colour variations would make the habitat stunning! We already have so little birds in the game so this would be very welcome.

@ Frontier: Please look at this peafowl chart. lol

 

[giu94]

Please give us more informations/pictures as soo as you can, people are getting mad/exctited about too little informations Personally I want to know more in order to understand how should I feel