Francesca Falcini
Senior Community Manager
Hayo Zookeepers!
Phew, what an October it was! We had tonnes of exciting things happening last month, and what better way to highlight them than in another Monthly Catch Up?
News:
The Planet Zoo: North America Animal Pack and free Update 1.7 both launched on 4 October! We have loved seeing all the incredible creations you've been making, and hearing all of your feedback on the new content!
Update 1.7 contained some really exciting new features, including new Mapping Tools to create custom heightmaps, Animal Talk Seating Areas, Path Barriers, and a Scenery Placement Randomisation Toggle! You can read up on all of the additions included in Update 1.7 on the dedicated forum post.
We hope you've loved meeting the 8 incredible animals from the North America Animal Pack, the industrious American Beaver, the towering and majestic Moose, the sleek and smart California Sea Lion, the shy and solitary Cougar, the enormous American Alligator, the highly-sociable Black-tailed Prairie Dog and the elusive yet adorable Arctic Fox - plus the incredible new Exhibit Animal, the American Bullfrog! We also included a brand new Timed Scenario set in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and some exciting new enrichment items to help you provide the best possible care for your zoo's latest additions: the Pronghorn Piñata, Skittle Feeder, Melon Feeder, Underwater Feeder, and the Beaver Pool - talk about making a splash! You can read more about the Planet Zoo: North America Animal Pack here.
If you've had a chance to play the North America Animal Pack, or have watched the trailer, you'll have noticed the incredible sounds that have been incorporated into it - from the amazing theme music to the Arctic Fox's iconic barks - so if you'd like to learn more about exactly how these sounds are created, take a look at the Planet Zoo: North America Animal Pack Developer Journal, which features Benjamin Scholey, the Lead Sound Designer on the Planet Zoo expansions!
If you didn't get to catch our Planet Zoo: North America Animal Pack livestream, with Community Lead Tim and Senior Programmer, James Lockett, not to fret! You can still catch up for a chance to see all of the animals in action!
7 October saw the launch of our Roadtrip competition, in honour of the new North America Animal Pack; we asked you to build your favourite North American landmark (from anywhere in North America, not just the USA), and we were incredibly impressed with all of your amazing entries! If you'd like to see the winning entry, head over to the dedicated forum post!
Community Creations:
As always, there were lots of incredible creations from our community, this month, so we're sharing some of our favourites, in case you missed them!
If you, like us, were missing summer already this month, this Seaside Town build by imJackLee is the perfect reminder of warmer days!
We can't get over how incredible this 1:1.5 scale recreation of Safaripark Beekse Bergen in Hilvarenbeek by Just Goron is - you can even check out their reference photos!
This month's amazing #PlanZoPride build was Unruly Heart by Solumia - we absolutely adore it!
Finally, it's time to round off the month with all the Zoopedia facts we shared:
Phew, what an October it was! We had tonnes of exciting things happening last month, and what better way to highlight them than in another Monthly Catch Up?
News:
The Planet Zoo: North America Animal Pack and free Update 1.7 both launched on 4 October! We have loved seeing all the incredible creations you've been making, and hearing all of your feedback on the new content!
Update 1.7 contained some really exciting new features, including new Mapping Tools to create custom heightmaps, Animal Talk Seating Areas, Path Barriers, and a Scenery Placement Randomisation Toggle! You can read up on all of the additions included in Update 1.7 on the dedicated forum post.
We hope you've loved meeting the 8 incredible animals from the North America Animal Pack, the industrious American Beaver, the towering and majestic Moose, the sleek and smart California Sea Lion, the shy and solitary Cougar, the enormous American Alligator, the highly-sociable Black-tailed Prairie Dog and the elusive yet adorable Arctic Fox - plus the incredible new Exhibit Animal, the American Bullfrog! We also included a brand new Timed Scenario set in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and some exciting new enrichment items to help you provide the best possible care for your zoo's latest additions: the Pronghorn Piñata, Skittle Feeder, Melon Feeder, Underwater Feeder, and the Beaver Pool - talk about making a splash! You can read more about the Planet Zoo: North America Animal Pack here.
If you didn't get to catch our Planet Zoo: North America Animal Pack livestream, with Community Lead Tim and Senior Programmer, James Lockett, not to fret! You can still catch up for a chance to see all of the animals in action!
Community Creations:
As always, there were lots of incredible creations from our community, this month, so we're sharing some of our favourites, in case you missed them!
If you, like us, were missing summer already this month, this Seaside Town build by imJackLee is the perfect reminder of warmer days!
We can't get over how incredible this 1:1.5 scale recreation of Safaripark Beekse Bergen in Hilvarenbeek by Just Goron is - you can even check out their reference photos!
This month's amazing #PlanZoPride build was Unruly Heart by Solumia - we absolutely adore it!
Finally, it's time to round off the month with all the Zoopedia facts we shared:
- Arctic Foxes are the only native land mammal found in Iceland.
- North American Beavers are known to store food branches underwater near their lodge, so they have food throughout the winter!
- Baja, California is one of the lowest regions you can find the California Sea-Lion, ranging all the way upwards to southeast Alaska!
- Despite being the fourth largest cat species, Cougars are not considered part of the ‘big cats’ as they lack the bones and organs required to roar.
Plenty of people have tried to recreate them, but we don't have the pieces to recreate them as they are in the screens/videos