Possibility of Having an Extinct Animal Pack

[IndianRhino19]

I get that this isn’t a very popular idea in the Planet Zoo community, but hear me out. I don’t think it would be a bad idea to add animals that went extinct more recently and because of human activity. Of course animals like dinosaurs and pre ice age animals shouldn’t be added since they didn’t live along side most extant animals.
An extinct animal pack could be a good idea for two reasons:
1. It could serve as a message to us (the human race) to not make the same mistakes that we did in the past which drove many animals to extinction.
2. Of course, there is the fact that scientists are trying to bring back animals that went extinct recently. One idea could be a de-extinction pack which could include not only extinct animals, but also some sort of extinct animal research station which could show guests how de-extinction is done. As for the Zoopedia, extinct animals could be marked as ‘extinct in the wild’ rather than ‘extinct’.

This is my opinion. Feel free to comment your thoughts, ideas, and if you want, pack ideas below.

 

[jcp011c]

I'm not against the idea as an actual concept, if we were getting years of support and dozens of packs. Truthfully, while we don't know what's still to come we can speculate we likely have through sometime or the end of 2022. I think my issue with an extinct pack is not so much that it doesn't fit with the theme or is realistic, just that's it's taking away a limited number of spots for animals or themes that are more line with the game's spirit, that I'd like to see in the game.

 

[SanRazo618]

I agree, I’m not necessarily gonna hate the idea but there’s just more pressing things that still need to be added in my opinion (aquariums, Aviaries)

 

[SalamAnders]

1. It could serve as a message to us (the human race) to not make the same mistakes that we did in the past which drove many animals to extinction.

I don't see how adding extinct animals would help teach that message.
If you are able to bring back extinct creatures, then we got nothing to worry about if they go extinct in the first place.

Planet Zoo is the only game on the market right now that comes close to being a 'realistic' zoo simulator.
There are two games on the way being all about extinct animals. Extinct creatures got their places to shine, while living creatures only got Planet Zoo

 

[paul78]

I would rather not to be honest. I like extinct animals like the caspian tiger or western black rhino and even prehistoric animals like dodos and mammoths but planet zoo needs more modern animals. I would however love a prehistoric animal zoo sim. No dinosaurs or modern animals or even recently extinct animals for that matter. Prehistoric kingdom is set to come out in September of this year and I’m sure this is a game that will have a abundance of prehistoric birds and mammals along with dinosaurs of course.

 

[XT]

If Frontier were to support this game for some years, I'd love some extinct animals, but general consensus seems to be they support games for ... about 2 years then stop? (I usually buy inide games and the developers tend to support those longer). In that case, I'd prefer they stick with existing animals.

I'd love to see some game similar in detail to PZ that had a focus on the age of mammals - there was a hugely diverse range of mammals in NA alone, not just the famous things like sabertoothed tigers but giant ground sloths, the weird turtle like animal, 'demon' pigs, many, many species of camals, the racing cat that hunted pronghorns, etc, etc.

And, I'm of the opinion that - especially if were looking at one more year of support at the most - that we're not going to see aviaries, but rather a fuller example of aquarium animals. I think the development of diving is part of that effort. I still believe the work to create 'air' as a volume that animals can use, guests ignore and etc is too much of a challenge to solve in the time they have left.

 

[NZFanatic]

And, I'm of the opinion that - especially if were looking at one more year of support at the most - that we're not going to see aviaries, but rather a fuller example of aquarium animals. I think the development of diving is part of that effort. I still believe the work to create 'air' as a volume that animals can use, guests ignore and etc is too much of a challenge to solve in the time they have left.

That is incredibly optimistic, considering what a minor role aquariums play in actual zoos compared to birds, on top of all the other information we have (JWE2, the engine update in accordance with JWE2, and so on).

 

[Doran]

And, I'm of the opinion that - especially if were looking at one more year of support at the most - that we're not going to see aviaries, but rather a fuller example of aquarium animals. I think the development of diving is part of that effort. I still believe the work to create 'air' as a volume that animals can use, guests ignore and etc is too much of a challenge to solve in the time they have left.

Birds are inevitable at this point. Everyone who watch our beloved modders know this. Also release pattern point out this december.

 

[NZFanatic]

Birds are inevitable at this point. Everyone who watch our beloved modders know this. Also release pattern point out this december.

Why would the modders matter?

 

[Doran]

Why would the modders matter?

Because they dig in the game files and say what's there and what's changing. IIRC flying is already mentioned in peafowl files for example.

 

[LN]

Do we consider data mining the same as modding?

As for the OP, I'm not in favour of having extinct animals.
Education materials and scenery, yes, actual animals, no.

 

[Doran]

Do we consider data mining the same as modding?

I mean because they dig in the files, they often find interesting things like diving for jaguars or entire Africa pack roster back then.

 

[SanRazo618]

I mean because they dig in the files, they often find interesting things like diving for jaguars or entire Africa pack roster back then.

What else has been found in the files? Diving jaguars, flying peafowls, what else?

 

[Doran]

What else has been found in the files? Diving jaguars, flying peafowls, what else?

Something about waterfalls and non-ironic tyrannosaurus name ( yes, frontier in early planet zoo stage used him for something, perhaps to test animals movement or something)

 

[NZFanatic]

Because they dig in the game files and say what's there and what's changing. IIRC flying is already mentioned in peafowl files for example.

So what? Back in beta files were discovered for a bunch of animals that never made it in, including the howler monkey. I don't believe modders have any more insight than anyone else.

 

[SanRazo618]

So what? Back in beta files were discovered for a bunch of animals that never made it in, including the howler monkey. I don't believe modders have any more insight than anyone else.

Yea I remember the pecarry, black rhino, moose, other animals as well

 

[Leaf Productions]

So what? Back in beta files were discovered for a bunch of animals that never made it in, including the howler monkey. I don't believe modders have any more insight than anyone else.

Well the ones that Doran mentioned were just added in the last update We only found them as a means to expand the current terrain tools. I would say we have a bit more insight as we understand how the files and code work with each other.

Back on topic though, I wish PZ would expand to some extinct animals. Berate the point about it being a "realistic" zoo simulator as much as you can, but it's very surface level stuff. It's a videogame and you play it for fun, not education, and I'd say a T-rex or a Dodo would make it pretty dang fun.

 

[SotF]

Well the ones that Doran mentioned were just added in the last update We only found them as a means to expand the current terrain tools. I would say we have a bit more insight as we understand how the files and code work with each other.

Back on topic though, I wish PZ would expand to some extinct animals. Berate the point about it being a "realistic" zoo simulator as much as you can, but it's very surface level stuff. It's a videogame and you play it for fun, not education, and I'd say a T-rex or a Dodo would make it pretty dang fun.

I could see a recently lost one.

Something like having the Quagga, Tasmanian Tiger, Dodo, Barbary Lion, and Passenger Pigeon for a pack. Passenger Pidgeons would work with an exhibit (Judging by the Cincinnati Zoo maintaining their old exhibit building as a shrine for them).

And an Extinct in the Wild/Suspected Extinct pack

Baiji, Scimitar Horned Oryx, Prere David's Deer, Fuegan Dog, with something for the exhibit part.

 

[NZFanatic]

I would say we have a bit more insight as we understand how the files and code work with each other.

I disagree. Evidently not everything found in the code makes it into the game, at least not in the way you might assume it does. You might be able to go deeper than the surface but in the end it is still speculative.

The "it's just a game" argument is also tired by now. If you want dinosaurs and dodos, mod them in. It's pretty clear that regardless of how you play the game, Frontier has a specific intention behind how they designed the game (besides, there are other games out there for extinct animals - no need to pollute the only decent zoo simulator on the market with stuff like that).

 

[yoav_r]

If we had infinite support and animal slots, I would not mind extinct animals somewhere down the line. Given that our slots are limited at somewhere between 20-80 animals left (the most realistic estimate would be ~30), I would hate extinct animals taking away precious roster slots. After support ends, mods cover it nicely enough.

Besides, two big extinct animals games are coming to the market in the foreseeable future, one of them by Frontiers. On the contrary, PZ is the only high quality zoo game we've had since ZT2 15 years ago, and we can't expect any other high quality zoo game in the years to come. I think we should aim for as many realistic features and animals while we have support, and keep the extinct and fantasy stuff for other games/mods.