Planet Zoo - Colour Variation

[LN]

They even mentioned an example in a livestream before the (beta) launche: that you can have an angry bear, and that you need to make the habitat right for him, find a suitable mate that can handle the 'personality', or you can sell him to someone else...

This is honestly the first time I heard about this.
Which livestream would that have been?

 

[Swjosdotschka]

I agree.. major parts of what they advertised are not in the game. They even mentioned an example in a livestream before the (beta) launche: that you can have an angry bear, and that you need to make the habitat right for him, find a suitable mate that can handle the 'personality', or you can sell him to someone else... have someone ever see these things???? No, because this is not in the game

So not only the coat colors are not in game, also the individuality isn't, since every animal sleep, walk, eat, drink the same... If i follow 3 cubs, they do the same and there is no personality (and sometimes with a delay of like 3 seconds, but it is still the same)..

See, we agree on marketing mistakes being made. But at least with coat variations they are fixing it now. It obviously just doesn't meet the requirement for "unique" with every one. EA said, Sims would be unique as a snowflake - and they never met the expectation obviously.

This is honestly the first time I heard about this.
Which livestream would that have been?

Funny enough I remember that part as well, even way before someone else mentioned it. So there probably was something to it. Though I don't remember a live stream but a some kind of video. Can't find it ever since, but especially the finding the right mate for the bear part got me excited, as it would mean really a challenge with trading animals. If I'm not mistaken it was Liesa in said video. But well, personalities are a different topic.

However, really, we got three screenshots and a teeny tiny bit of info on the coat topic now. Maybe all should wait for more and especially more detailed info on that, before getting the dung forks out. For me, the game isn't one year old yet. It's unfortuante that things that were advertised are not in game, but as long as everything is in eventually, I really don't get what we win if we riot now. Reminding, yeah. But throwing words like "lazy" "don't care" etc. is just too exeggerating for me.

 

[danny420]

"We've been intently reading your feedback regarding animal colour variation, and we've spent many hours researching realistic and well-documented variations to bring you accurate depictions of our animal roster. As a result, we've been working on bringing you varying colour, from the majority of animals with subtle differences to the couple of animals that have large variety in colour."

I was just wondering where are all these threads and feedbacks that were asking for this more than anything else?

 

[Firestar97]

They even mentioned an example in a livestream before the (beta) launche: that you can have an angry bear, and that you need to make the habitat right for him, find a suitable mate that can handle the 'personality'

I would absolutely love this if they include it like that in the Game. It would make Breeding more difficult

 

[giu94]

I hope they will show someting else really soon, I honestly don't know what to think, the announcement is great, but the three pictures didn't make me excited. We all want to understand what they have been working on.

 

[marcnesiumHH]

here's the video with the announced 'personalities' again, many of the active people here could remember it from the previous discussion at the beginning of this year.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qgpleCdQq4&feature=youtu.be&t=6741


another interesting post from this era by @Moonfox shows pretty good what was and still is advertised regarding individuality etc.

Disappointed with lack of coat variation in wolves

It was explicitly stated by Frontier in the beta forum that social interactions had been turned off. No assumptions there when the people making the game say they turned something off. I also spent hours watching for social interactions after the release. Not really playing, just watching to get...

forums.frontier.co.uk

 

[Swjosdotschka]

here's the video with the announced 'personalities' again, many of the active people here could remember it from the previous discussion at the beginning of this year.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qgpleCdQq4&feature=youtu.be&t=6741


another interesting post from this era by @Moonfox shows pretty good what was and still is advertised regarding individuality etc.

Disappointed with lack of coat variation in wolves

It was explicitly stated by Frontier in the beta forum that social interactions had been turned off. No assumptions there when the people making the game say they turned something off. I also spent hours watching for social interactions after the release. Not really playing, just watching to get...

forums.frontier.co.uk

Thanks for finding it! I absoluetly forget about that stream, but not of what was said. I could have sworn it was a developer diary.

 

[marcnesiumHH]

Thanks for finding it! I absoluetly forget about that stream, but not of what was said. I could have sworn it was a developer diary.

I guess that you mean this piece regarding color variation: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threa...ariation-in-wolves.534619/page-4#post-8241973

 

[Mkau]

"We've been intently reading your feedback regarding animal colour variation, and we've spent many hours researching realistic and well-documented variations to bring you accurate depictions of our animal roster. As a result, we've been working on bringing you varying colour, from the majority of animals with subtle differences to the couple of animals that have large variety in colour."

I was just wondering where are all these threads and feedbacks that were asking for this more than anything else?

They have been mostly burried under all the other threads regarding other bugs and features,because these animal related threads are mostly older ones (but still big ones).
Colour variation is one of the most requested features since the beta.
A large portion of these threads were part of the forum's beta section,which was archived after the beta.

 

[xTosca]

I think it's well within my right as a customer to voice any concerns - and, indeed, even complaints - I have about a product I paid for, especially in regards to features that were advertised and not delivered. As random goat said, constructive criticism is just as important - if not more important - than praise to an artist, and I say that as an artist myself. I stand by my comment that I think the coats for the wolves in the image we were provided look lazy - if I were given the base coat, I could take that image into any photo editing software and produce each of those other two or three coats we see in just a minute or two each, as could anyone with any knowledge of said software. Unless there's a color range mechanic involved, or there are more unique patterns we weren't shown, there's really no reason to put so little apparent effort into those particular skins. Simple tonal tweaks are fine for most of the in-game species, but with wolves and a few others, which have vast ranges of colors and patterns in real life, it just doesn't look right to me. It's fine if some of you are alright with the images given, but I, and clearly several other people, are not. As long as people aren't being overly rude or demanding (which I really don't think we have been), I don't see why it should be an issue that we voice our concerns on the subject.



It says right on the homepage of the game's website: "Meet a world of incredible animals. From playful lion cubs to mighty elephants, every animal in Planet Zoo is a thinking, feeling individual with a distinctive look and personality of their own. Craft detailed habitats to bring your animals’ natural environments home, research and manage each species to allow them to thrive, and help your animals raise families to pass their genes onto future generations."

Not "every species", "every individual animal". It would be one thing if the coat variations were never advertised, and then this update was teased and people were still complaining about it, but that's not the case. This was a huge advertising point from the very start, and clearly still is.

At the end of the day, the game certainly has many more things that also need fixing and tweaking, not the least of which include bugfixes, gameplay improvements, and general quality-of-life updates, but for me, variation in animal appearance and behavior is a huge one. I bought the game for the animals, and for the advertised individuality even among animals of the same species, and the fact that they have so little, if anything, to differentiate between them is a big disappointment for me. No, the game isn't about mass breeding for me, it's about building the best zoo possible for the animals, and then watching said animals as they interact with their environment and with each other in unique ways. I want to be able to bond with my animals, but right now I can't, because each looks and acts exactly (or near enough) the same as every other of its species. I quickly lose interest in each zoo I start, because what's the point in building a pretty zoo and excellent habitats when the animals have so little life and individuality?

THIS. This is the point I've been trying to make. I don't play PZ as a "mass breeding simulator", but breeding as a system and attention to detail for the animals in general is highly important to me. I bought this game for the animals. I didn't buy this game for the building. I bought this game so I could build a nice zoo and then watch the animals IN the zoo. What's the point in a zoo game, if not the animals? I want to be able to get attached to the animals, because they're the star attraction of the game, but right now, I can't, because they all look identical and there's no real variation. Why should a zoo game "end" after your zoo is five stars and essentially "finished" being built? I don't WANT to get bored with a zoo and have to move on as soon as the zoo is "finished", but right now that's how it is. Because the animals have no individualism or personality, they all look the same, and there's just no POINT to continuing to play after all the zoo building is finished. I wanted to be able to build a great zoo, and then continue to play in said zoo for a long time, just focusing on the animals, taking care of them, breeding them, and watching them interact with their environment and eachother.

What's the point in continuing to play after finishing your zoo build, if there's absolutely no uniqueness to the animals, and they all act the same, like identical robots? Don't even have any visual differences either?

This game advertised so much regarding the animals themselves, that led people like me to buy the game specifically for the animals- but we didn't get what we were promised.

Builders are not the only ones who play the game. I can bet you there's a MASSIVE portion of the playerbase who actually bought the game for the animals themselves, and care about the ANIMALS, as the main point of the game.

So, ngl, I would appreciate if people could stop making comments like, "you generally don't even look at the animals up close", or other statements that basically say, "If you play this game for the animals, your opinions and criticism is invalid because the animals aren't important and the only players that matter are the ones that play just for building and management, nevermind the fact all this stuff about the animals was advertised that we didn't get".

 

[Indoraptor27]

Edit 2: Removed part of the post.

This may have been an advertised feature, but they probably weren't planning on the community caring so much about the one sentence, and focusing on things like "hey those two zebras have different stripes," not finding each and every possible pattern and pointing out how there are limited variations.

 

[xTosca]

Before you all call the devs "lazy," I'd like to point out that most of you don't even check your spelling before posting something here. And while that's kind of an unimportant thing, so is making every single animal unique. And this is from someone who would love if every single animal was unique.

Edit: Also, before anyone points out that it was an advertised feature, which is reasonable, they probably weren't planning on the community caring so much about the one sentence, and focusing on things like "hey those two zebras have different stripes," not finding each and every possible pattern and pointing out how there are limited variations.

Not everyone has English as a first language, some people are dyslexic, there are many reasonable excuses for missing proper spelling in a sentence.This, unlike the animal variation criticism, is just nitpicking.

Animal variation and uniqueness: Something we were promised since before the game was even released.

People having improper spelling or grammar: Literally not relevant to the situation at all, and not important- and not an indication of being 'lazy', either.

Animals having variation and uniqueness is not "unimportant". ESPECIALLY for the animals which, realistically, should have FAR more variation than others, such as wolves. For one, we were promised animals would all look and act distinctly from eachother. For two, like said above, a lot of people bought this game FOR THE ANIMALS, and feel the animals should get the attention they deserve.

Now, as for the reason people are throwing around words like "Lazy" and "No effort"...


I used to make animal variant mods for Zt2. I modded one of the lion mods to have different fur colors. How did I do this? By LITERALLY taking the base color image, opening it in Photoshop, and changing the hue. So I KNOW what that looks like, and that is EXACTLY what was done with the wolves in the screenshot. That is the BASE wolf texture, opened in Photoshop or a similar program, and hue-changed, with no other differences or any extra effort put in. To put it into perspective- I could make all of these variants in Photoshop in five minutes. Like I did with the lions in Zt2.

I know what hue changing looks like and that is all these variants are. THAT is why I'm calling it "no effort", because it takes literally 0 effort, as someone who has made variants this way, to import an image into Photoshop and change the color. That is all they did here. Sure, maybe you can say they had to put effort in to actually code those variants to work, but the fact is the variants themselves, and their appearance, are quite literally, 0 effort.

If they gave the wolf a new, basic grayscale texture with no markings, i.e. a plain white wolf, they could then make new markings and patterns for the different color variants, so each color variant, even if each wolf of the same color looked the same, the different colors of wolves would all look different marking-wise. But they didn't even bother to do that. They literally imported the base wolf texture into Photoshop and changed the hue.

THAT is why people are calling it "low effort." Because it is. And I am someone with experience doing literally the same thing for Zt2 variant mods, so I know what it looks like, and I know how much effort it takes.

 

[xTosca]

Literally, this is what these variants look like:

Notice how, despite being different colors, they all have THE EXACT same coat pattern? No differences at all? Yeah, that's what these wolves look like. It's LITERALLY the same thing.

 

[Joël]

Hey everyone,

Can we please stop the use of terms like 'lazy' when discussing about other forum members and Frontier employees?

Please treat everyone with respect, no matter their opinion on the game and it's development and features, or the features of the game or lack thereof, and please stay on topic of the game. Also, we don't need call outs of incorrect spelling, grammar etc.

Thanks!

 

[Veranel]

Can we please for the love of god, move away from this endless discussion?
Let me give you guys a spoiler: You wont agree with each other. Someone stated that before, you can agree to disagree.
If you want to give Frontier feedback please do so. But right now I think your message is out there about the wolves and the variations ..and what was advertised etc. Nothing needs to be added, you guys are starting to repeat yourself.

---------------------

Now on topic: Im really excited for colour variations. Cant wait to see more of it ASAP. I was actually hoping Frontier would have shared a bit more info by now, but Im hoping for tomorrow then One week after the announcement.
What other animals are you guys excited about? Wolves we have heard enough of lately

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?

 

[Indoraptor27]

Alright, perhaps spelling was a bad example, I apologize if I've offended anyone. I can be nitpicky . However I think the fact that Frontier is listing to their community is amazing, and this still took lots work to do. I mean, they didn't have to do this, their community asked for it, and they did it. Calling them "lazy" is just rude, and "low effort" is basically a nicer way of saying lazy. Also @xTosca, where did you get those pictures? Like other people have said, this is a FREE update. Yes, it was advertised, but be honest, would you not have bought the gme if you knew that it wasn't what it was advertised as? Come on, Frontier did an amazing job listening to us, and I think this discussion doesn't need to continue.

 

[xTosca]

Alright, perhaps spelling was a bad example, I apologize if I've offended anyone. I can be nitpicky . However I think the fact that Frontier is listing to their community is amazing, and this still took lots work to do. I mean, they didn't have to do this, their community asked for it, and they did it. Calling them "lazy" is just rude, and "low effort" is basically a nicer way of saying lazy. Also @xTosca, where did you get those pictures? Like other people have said, this is a FREE update. Yes, it was advertised, but be honest, would you not have bought the gme if you knew that it wasn't what it was advertised as? Come on, Frontier did an amazing job listening to us, and I think this discussion doesn't need to continue.

Actually, no, if I KNEW before I bought the game that we were lied to and it didn't have a bunch of the main advertised features that made me want the game in the first place, I wouldn't have bought it. Unfortunately, I pre-ordered it.

Secondly... I JUST said I made variant mods.Those lion texture images are mine, I made them, and I made them by doing the exact same thing Frontier clearly did here with the wolves. Opening the OG texture file in Photoshop, and color changing.

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

 

[random goat]

Now on topic: Im really excited for colour variations. Cant wait to see more of it ASAP. I was actually hoping Frontier would have shared a bit more info by now, but Im hoping for tomorrow then One week after the announcement.
What other animals are you guys excited about? Wolves we have heard enough of lately

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?

I'm most excited about llamas tbh. Actually, I expect to see not only different colours but also different patterns in llamas, at least. With this I mean a variant with some sort of spots and a variant with two main colours, one for the head-neck area, one for the rest of the body.

Regarding Green Peafowls, sadly they're a different species from the Indian Peafowl so it's very unlikely we'll see those in-game. If mods become a thing at some point in the future, there's a fair chance someone will make them, given how similar they are to Indian ones, though!

 

[Firestar97]

What other animals are you guys excited about? Wolves we have heard enough of lately

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?

I am most excited for Variations for Llamas and Orangutans.

Regarding the green Peafowl, I wouldn't like it if they would include different Species just as a Color Variation. Also there are enough Things that make them unique. For example, they are more aggressive, so they are not as good for Walk through Enclosures as Indian Peafowl, they need to be contained better because they don't normally stay in one Place like the Indian Peafowl and I think the 3D Model would also need slight Changes. I would absolutely love it if they would include them because they do look absolutely awesome especially the Head. I would also really like the Congo Peafowl in the Game. I really wonder if the Indian Peafowl will get some Variations. I'm really excited to find it out

 

[Swjosdotschka]

I was also hoping we would have heard something by now. I just hope the team didn't melt away
IF llamas have pattern variations, I am most excited about them. Mainly because they are the only animals inn my current project, where I'd actually experience variations. Or.... noooo! Flamingos! I bet Flamingos will get more variations now.

Truth be told, I'm more hyped about what else there is to come. As I lost a customer and probably have very much work until the end of September but very little in octobtre, I expect a gaming autumn. Could need some cool stuff.