Planet Zoo - Custom Billboards

random goat

random goat
I am already working on something similar, though it's still WIP:
Sin título.png
Don't mind the blurred bit, it's my zoo's logo which I'm not showing just yet.
 
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random goat

random goat
Swjosdotschka said:
That is awesome, @random goat ! Love it. Did you find it somewhere or did you make it from scratch? If the latter, could you maybe tell me where you got the awesome drawing from the sand gazelle?
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Thanks! I made the research and composition myself taking bits from here and there. The layout is inspired by some of the EAZA guidelines documents. The sand gazelle is a modified picture straight from wikipedia :D I just partially applied some minor artistic effects (pencil sketch, contrast changes, etc.).
 

Swjosdotschka

Swjosdotschka
random goat said:
Thanks! I made the research and composition myself taking bits from here and there. The layout is inspired by some of the EAZA guidelines documents. The sand gazelle is a modified picture straight from wikipedia :D I just partially applied some minor artistic effects (pencil sketch, contrast changes, etc.).
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I seee, effects! Must try that.
Oh dear, this feature really gets me into graphic manipulation. Who would have thought?
 

Atiggerx33

A
So wonderful! I've been excited for the idea of being able to design a zoo, take an overhead screenshot and then mess with it in photoshop and turn it into a map. Every large zoo I've ever been to has zoo map signs with a "you are here" indicator to help guests navigate with little symbols and whatnot showing bathrooms, eating areas, first aid, etc. It'll be wonderful to be able to add that to our zoos!

I assume there will be non-screen custom custom billboards as well in various sizes. Instead of just random white rectangles to imitate signage I'm excited to be able to write a little custom bio about say my tigers. The Bronx Zoo has this really cool thing where it shows the stripe pattern on all their tigers and has guests see "can you identify who are on exhibit today?" with the tiger's identifying features and names. It's a fun little thing for both kids and adults that shows how field researchers are able to identify individuals they encounter in the wild. I'd love to be able to display custom education boards like that, that aren't just reading but cosmetically would look as if it were trying to engage with guests more than just "here's some stuff to read and a picture".

Will we be able to make custom conservation boards too? Hopefully in a few different shapes and sizes than just the default? Again, the Bronx Zoo has this awesome section in one part of their zoo that talks about deforestation, immersion-wise it looks as if you've walked into a strip-logging camp. There is a chainsaw on the ground, and just a bunch of artificial tree stumps. There are speakers playing sounds of chainsaws, trees falling, trucks running, and other machinery, along with a lot of "Conservation Boards" and videos about deforestation. And a menacing sign ticks away (in real time) the amount of rainforest remaining in acres, ever decreasing. More than just reading any sign or news article, the way the zoo immerses you in the sights, sounds, and that menacing ticker... well it drives the point home and really just breaks your heart. Going there year after year and watching the sign change by the minute, and seeing how the number has shrank over the years... every time it breaks me. But it's a very creative way to drive the message home, because even if you don't stop to read the signs, you can't possibly miss the message. I'd love to create similar immersive experiences in my zoo around the "Conservation Boards", because in my mind that's something that brings it from feeling like a game to truly feeling real and alive.
 

Atiggerx33

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Urufu1997 said:
It would be great if we would also have Versions that don't need to be linked to Animals. The Exhibit Signs would be perfect for Plant Education Signs
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Yeah like a "non-linked" duplicate of everything. It could be a simple scenery piece instead of an education piece.

I'll add that if Frontier doesn't give the option for this, that I'm sure it'll end up on Nexus by others wanting the same thing.
 
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Atiggerx33

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ralphthestick said:
Thank you for the reply!
The edit has in-game sizes (1m, 2m, 4m etc) for all of the screens except for the screen panel square. Would be good to have an idea of the size it will be in-game to know what kind of thing would be appropriate to prepare for it (are we talking a 'please wear a face covering inside' poster, or a map that takes up a whole wall?)
I think I worded the other question really clumsily. What I meant was, would we be able to have one educational sign showing a close-up image of a mandrill's face, one showing a mandrill family group, on showing a mandrill's bottom (for example), and have all of them educating guests about mandrills? From the wording, I wasn't sure if you were only able to replace education board images, or add to a pool of images to choose from.

(also, the 'hookup information' is very good to hear as someone currently involved in a collab project - that will make things a lot smoother!)
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You'd be able to add from a pool. You'd place the pictures in a directory, give them unique names like "MandrillFace", "MandrillFamily", and "MandrillBottom". Then you'd have a drop down like you do now to select the species the sign is educating about, and an additional menu to select the displayed image. If you wanted you could come up with 20 different Mandrill signs and have them all displayed simultaneously in a single zoo around your Mandrill exhibit (that'd be a little too much signage for my taste, but you get it).
 

Atiggerx33

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FunGaming said:
I hope we soon also get the barrier lints from Planco so we can use them around lamp posts and fountains and such so guests dont walk through them anymore
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That would be so nice. I have been doing very careful and creative pathing so that objects like that look like they're on the path but aren't (if you play on NA temperate the dark dirt blends very well with the brown (I think it's supposed to be mulch) path. So I'll make the path an oblong shape and have a little gap area that doesn't connect, paint the terrain to match the path, and place something in the gap. Looks like the signage or w.e. is on the path, but guests won't actually walk through it.

Would be much easier to just be able to use the PlanCo system though to create invisible barriers. Like null fencing but for people.
 

Atiggerx33

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Urufu1997 said:
Didn't think about the one with the Bees. It would be awesome to have a Beehive with a Glass Panel at the Front so People can look inside. Does any real life Zoo have this?
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My small little nature education center has the beehive! I think the Bronx Zoo also has a bee thing like that in their butterfly garden. It's been years since I went in the Butterfly Garden though (it's very seasonal, and my local nature education center has a butterfly garden; I didn't drive 2 hours to look at butterflies when I could see the same species 15 minutes up the road for free. It's definitely nice, but the Bronx Zoo is already impossible to see everything in one day, so I like to conserve that time for the stuff I can't see elsewhere for free)
 

Atiggerx33

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NZFanatic said:
I'll admit, this isn't as big a deal to me as it is to others, but it's great to see some more progress and to see the wishes of so many players be granted. Personally I don't think I'll spend much time with the billboards - I'm certainly not a graphic designer by any measure and even if it is sanctioned by the devs I don't like going into the game's files for anything really. I might have missed this, but will there be a way to import images from within the game, or do we have to drop them into some hidden folder before we play?

Curious about what DLC will follow. Certainly does seem to hint towards Asia (between the imagery here and the sun bear leak a while back). It'll be interesting to see how they condense all of Asia's biodiversity into four animals.
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You'd most likely have to drop them into a folder. It would probably be somewhere under your documents instead of the actual game files. There would be zero chance that you'd accidentally mess something up. The absolute worst thing that could happen would be your sign wouldn't look good in game.
 

Atiggerx33

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Cocolori said:
For those worried it involves too much difficulty I think if they implement it like planet coaster then you'll really have no difficulty. You just place the image in the game folder but nothing else and then in game it will appear on the drop down menu by whatever you've called it and you select it from the list just like you do with the ambient noises in the drop down menus. I didn't do much creating myself in PC but there were some really useful assets and I can totally see using them for signs especially as at the moment the text options in PZ are pretty big and limited fonts. There's some great font options on the workshop but they are piece heavy.

I also think the advertised destinations in a brilliant import from PC. I use it all the time in my parks to get guests to go to some of the less travelled areas or visit shops / rides that were otherwise less profitable. Should be great for tailouring how guests use our zoos and possibly even getting them to visit the right bit of a habitat to view - I'm hoping it is as flexible as PC.
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I'm hoping they fix the 'bug' that has some guests randomly decide to stop and stand 30 feet back from the glass/fence and then complain that the animals are too far away to get a good view.... Just walk forward a bit more you nincompoops! There is nothing stopping you from getting a better view than your own two legs.
 

Firestar97

Firestar97
Atiggerx33 said:
the Bronx Zoo has this awesome section in one part of their zoo that talks about deforestation, immersion-wise it looks as if you've walked into a strip-logging camp. There is a chainsaw on the ground, and just a bunch of artificial tree stumps. There are speakers playing sounds of chainsaws, trees falling, trucks running, and other machinery, along with a lot of "Conservation Boards" and videos about deforestation. And a menacing sign ticks away (in real time) the amount of rainforest remaining in acres, ever decreasing.
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I've built something like this in one of my Zoos. It would be so much cooler with all of this custom Stuff. Maybe I'll rebuild it 🙂👍

I really want to build a Japanese Zoo and I think I know which Pictures I'll use for the Signs
 
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