Predicting what might be included in a possible free 1 Year Anniversary update

[Bearcat9948]

I want to preface this by saying it's by no means guaranteed that we will be getting any such update, even though it would really, really suck if we didn't. I am basing this off of the 1 Year Anniversary free update that PC got a year (and a few days) after it's release. That update included:

Planet Coaster Free 1 Year Anniversary Update

• 3 new large rides and 2 smaller ones
• Picnic benches
• Custom scenario edits
• More staff micromanagement
• New scenery items
• UI improvements

So, for a free update that's quite a lot of content. More than we've gotten for any update for PZ, I would say. Obviously the most important part that stands out here is that PC got multiple free coasters in that update. Now some people compare the rides in PC to the animals in PZ, which is a comparison I hate to (at least on a 1 to 1 ratio). Rides were way more customizable than the animals are in PZ, if anything I would say 4-5 animals is equal to 1 ride, but I feel like it's best just to not compare them at all and let them exist separately. Do I think we're going to get 10+ animals for free in an update? Not a chance, especially if Frontier is still planning on releasing one last dlc for Q4 of the year, sometime in late November or December. But I don't think 4-6 is out of the realm of possibility.

I think the actual species that would be added could be determined in a few ways. They might give us animals that are highly requested by the community, on the forums, the official reddit, by YouTube creators etc. Or they might give us animals that don't require a ton of work to make, animals that most in the community would refer to broadly as "reskins". I see both as equally likely, therefore I am going to make two lists. I would obviously prefer the former to the latter, but seeing as they would be free animals I would certainly not complain either way. It's more diversity for the game, for free, after all.

I would also like to mention that I highly, highly doubt any major changes to the game/engine, such as the two highly requested aquatic or aviary updates/dlc, would be implemented here. I think that's something for the middle/end of Year 2.

So, some important notes. I'm only considering animals that could be feasibly added under the games current restrictions. Also, any animals we get would obviously greatly depend on the dlc coming at the end of the year, if there is one. I'm a firm believer that it will be a North American dlc, therefore I'm trying to not include any North American animals. That all being said, here are my species predictions.

Highly Requested Species List

• African rhino (white or black, it's a coin toss frankly)
• Meerkat
• Some species of fox (Possibly the Arctic fox, to correct for them adding in the Arctic wolf, which upset a lot of the community. Red fox and Fennec fox remain likely choices though.)
• Some sort of large wading bird (Could be a heron, stork, spoonbill etc. Functions the same as the flamingos in game).
• A small cat species (Highly requested and desperately needed. Some many options too; Ocelot, Serval, Caracal, Clouded Leopard etc.)
• Some random hoof stock species (Could be a deer, or the highly requested Alpine ibex, or something else. Probably not anything from Africa though, we have a ton of African hoof stock already.)

The "Reskins" List

• Any species of tapir (Malayan is probably the most likely)
• White rhino
• Black rhino
• Some leopard species (Probably Amur since that's critically endangered and widespread in captivity)
• Any bear species (Probably sun bear, maybe American black bear if I'm wrong about a North American dlc)
• Mexican red wolf (Maybe a maned wolf, but if this is the direction they've taken we would probably just be getting another Canis lupus reskin.)

As far as features etc. being added I would guess maybe some small UI improvements, perhaps more micromanagement with the staff or guests like what happened with PC. As far as scenery is concerned I would expect some ingame artwork for the new animals, possibly some extra "backstage" pieces to work with, and some new foliage and maybe a new set of rocks. Nothing crazy.

Let me know what you all think!

 

[turkeyfox]

I'd love a free update but that's basically a paid DLC worth of stuff. I doubt frontier would just give that away for free.

I'd love to be wrong though.

 

[Bearcat9948]

I'd love a free update but that's basically a paid DLC worth of stuff. I doubt frontier would just give that away for free.

I'd love to be wrong though.

Well I've based all of this on Planet Coaster's 1 Year Anniversary update, which was all free, like I mentioned. So I think everything I mentioned is fairly reasonable. If PC got a ton of free content along with a 1 Year Anniversary update, and PZ didn't, that would be incredibly unfair and disappointing.

 

[jcp011c]

If we can get some more scenery and building items and one highly requested (non-marine or flying) animal and one reskinned animal as an anniversary "gift" that would be awesome. I think if we do get some kind of reskin a white or black rhino is the go to choice. Scenery, maybe a second type of India/East Asia/North America or African building set?

 

[Bearcat9948]

If we can get some more scenery and building items and one highly requested (non-marine or flying) animal and one reskinned animal as an anniversary "gift" that would be awesome. I think if we do get some kind of reskin a white or black rhino is the go to choice. Scenery, maybe a second type of India/East Asia/North America or African building set?

Personally, I would be really disappointed if a free 1 Year Anniversary was more focused on building pieces than on new animals, especially since the PC update got 5 new rides for free.

 

[jcp011c]

Personally, I would be really disappointed if a free 1 Year Anniversary was more focused on building pieces than on new animals, especially since the PC update got 5 new rides for free.

That's a good point. I guess we'll find out in about a month. Hopefully it would be more DLC sized I'm just trying to not get my hopes set too high. Expectations can lead to disappointment especially when only supported by tangential evidence.

 

[Swjosdotschka]

I don't know... I feel kind of impolite speculating openly what we get for free.
An announcement for a bigger paid DLC would be enough for me. Or just a change in communications. That would be my biggest wish for Planet Zoos birthday. More heart and soul in communicating. Just no soulless, repetitive, random animal facts on twitter anymore. A roadmap, an insight into how feedback is taken into account, a dev diary with favourit moments of the team in the past year while working on Planet Zoo. Just ANYTHING that lets me feel again that these people love their job and have warm feelings for their game. That would honestly be enough for me. I don't need them to work for month for free (which would be the case if they give away several animal species), I just want them to remind me again, that they want this game the best it can be and support it for at least two more years. I'd love them to read the room, see what other games are hyped and why the hype for Planet Zoo is dieing. I want joy and happiness and confetti flying around. Balloons and party music (speaking metaphorically here). And if I get all that, I don't need gifts. It wil be the biggest gift for me to see this game succeed and have a long life span and new and old people jumping on board of the game, enjoying it and having the time of their lives.

Spoiler: complaining around

In any case, one thing I know for sure: Whatever we get for the 1 year anniversary for Planet Zoo will be better than what we got for the 20th anniverssary of the Sims of EA. And yes, getting nothing would still be better.

 

[Aramar]

I try to get my expectations low, but I hope we do get some animals. I wouldn't mind paying for a new DLC, but I think that Frontier can give them for free as they did with the rides in PC. After alll, it's a way of marketing for the game. They might even have already saved some animals for this moment when they created the game if they had a route sheet planned. For instance, we could get one popular animal, two not-so-popular but classic zoo animals and a couple of exhibit animals too.

Maybe we could also get zome features from Planet Coaster, such as hotels, restaurants, more food brands or the long-awaited vista points. They shouldn't require much work to develop and they would add a lot to the game.

And my biggest wish: a search bar in the animal trade centre PLEASE!!!

 

[random goat]

I wouldn't expect too much in the animals department, either. If we'll get animals for free, it'd be 3 at most, imo (red deer, black/white rhino, meerkat?).

I do hope we'll get some sort of new feature though. Not talking about introducing aviaries or diving; if we ever get these, it will most likely be paid content. More like:

• Improved climbing animations and needs (so arboreal animals spend more times on trees).
• Improved animal hitboxes and introducing burrowing enrichment items and/or pre-set shelters.
• Educators, tours and/or vista points.
• Some kind of Thememaker's toolkit.
• Some kind of petting zoo facility that doesn't allow too much customization and basically functions as one of the current 'rides'.
• More customization for exhibits (size, shape, biome).
• Flamingoes colour variation?

Oh, and yes, please, a bit more communication would be welcome.

 

[NZFanatic]

Not talking about introducing aviaries or diving; if we ever get these, it will most likely be paid content.

Actually, it's more likely that these concepts are introduced in a free update.

If they introduced aviaries, for example, as part of a paid DLC, it would mean they can't realistically include aviary birds as part of future DLC's, because then ownership of the next DLC would require ownership of the one before it. In other words, if you didn't want to buy the aviary DLC, then you can't have any future DLC's with birds in them.

However, if they introduce aviaries as part of a free update, they are, in theory, automatically applied to everyone's games at the same time. Then they can comfortably drop a DLC with birds that use those aviaries, and continue adding new birds as much as they want to in the future.

We know they can lock objects, such as blueprints, but we don't know if they can lock animals.

--

As to the thread, throwing around words like "unfair" and "unreasonable" is pretty, well, unfair and unreasonable. PC and PZ are two different games. I expect we'll see something at the anniversary, but getting your hopes up for free new animals is, in my mind, the same as giving yourself an excuse to complain later. If they did drop a free animal, then great, that's awesome, but I don't see why anyone would set themselves up for disappointment.

 

[markun]

I don't know... I feel kind of impolite speculating openly what we get for free.

I don't need them to work for month for free (which would be the case if they give away several animal species),

I’m happy to pay for any content as I think it is all great value. However given there is apparently a precedent with Frontier releasing free content with a comparable game I don’t think we need to feel guilty about speculating. And no one will be working for free, I’m pretty confident that any free updates will be factored into their budget and business plan.

Personally I have no expectations so any new content will be a nice surprise. If anything is released I would like there to be a focus on animals and plants rather than theming though.

 

[Danny_zoo]

I don't know... I feel kind of impolite speculating openly what we get for free.
An announcement for a bigger paid DLC would be enough for me. Or just a change in communications. That would be my biggest wish for Planet Zoos birthday. More heart and soul in communicating. Just no soulless, repetitive, random animal facts on twitter anymore. A roadmap, an insight into how feedback is taken into account, a dev diary with favourit moments of the team in the past year while working on Planet Zoo. Just ANYTHING that lets me feel again that these people love their job and have warm feelings for their game. That would honestly be enough for me. I don't need them to work for month for free (which would be the case if they give away several animal species), I just want them to remind me again, that they want this game the best it can be and support it for at least two more years. I'd love them to read the room, see what other games are hyped and why the hype for Planet Zoo is dieing. I want joy and happiness and confetti flying around. Balloons and party music (speaking metaphorically here). And if I get all that, I don't need gifts. It wil be the biggest gift for me to see this game succeed and have a long life span and new and old people jumping on board of the game, enjoying it and having the time of their lives.

Spoiler: complaining around

In any case, one thing I know for sure: Whatever we get for the 1 year anniversary for Planet Zoo will be better than what we got for the 20th anniverssary of the Sims of EA. And yes, getting nothing would still be better.

I stand by you 100% on your feedback. While I understand the point of the thread, since it is reasonable to compare PZ to PC timeline, I always feel uneasy about anything requested without monetary gain for the company. That is the one thing that up to this date, I have not understood about the video game industry, since it seems to be an issue across all platforms. The DLCs are already so under priced in my opinion, the whole game is to be honest. How about two paid DLCs with a lot more content for a slightly higher cost? That would be a dream for me.

My position is that without monetary incentive what should drive and motivate a team of highly creative and gifted individuals to continue putting in that extra effort towards the game? While I respect every ones opinion in the matter, even if completely different than mine, I do ask them to reflect on that thought. If I came to your job, or company and asked you to give me your product or hard work for free, and then went as far as listing what I expect you to give me, would you be ok with it? How would that make you feel?

Look, nothing wrong with the thread, as it seems to come from a deep love for this game, and someone truly enthusiastic about its future, I can definitely stand behind that. But how about asking for more content, and showing Frontier that we are willing to pay a little more for this game. Just my thoughts. In respects to Swjosdotschka asking for a new spark of enthusiasm from Frontier about the game we all love, and to communicate a little more openly with the community, I have to say that I completely agree. It does seem however that their business model is based on silence up to the moment of disclosure, not a fan of it, have never been, but i respect it.

In the other hand, during the Covid-19 crisis (that we are still experiencing) the company did seem to have experience changes of their own, but that can be attributed to one of their community managers that used to be very active within the forums leaving Frontier. Other community managers have also being great, but no everyone might be so enthusiastic about zoo simulation. Other games in the Frontier universe might be more of their thing. Video game players in general seem to gravitate to games that are full of action and stories, Uncharted comes to mind (Amazing graphics and scenery by the way, I mute all the shooting and ignore the constant violence and watch the foliage and art, amazing) I say all this, because the issue you are experiencing might be closely related to community management, or even Frontier's leadership and direction as a business. The artist that actually created the game, the ones putting in the hours day and day out, to make us all happy, they might be just as enthusiastic as they were on day one. But no one is documenting this during the Covid crisis, if their conventions and showings are not taking place, then this would explain a lot.

I hope that the right promotion of the game is taken into consideration as well, because I remember the playful teasers before the South America DLC on twitter (The Indiana Jones style ones) and personally I never cared for them, and it is not the kind of communication I'm asking for. Remember those amazing video diaries, that showed artwork, game direction, that explained the vision of the artist, that gave you hope about an incredible future for this game, that is what I have in mind. The high end production videos are hard to make, and I understand that it is an investment that Frontier might no longer want to make, or simply can't. But it can be in the form of a newsletter, the breakdowns that Chante Goodman does before each update/DLC are a great example. Look at the upcoming PK game, a tiny company, yet the release incredible monthly newsletters that show artwork, future concepts, talks about game direction etc. Frontier could do something similar for this game, that just showed art and concepts of DLCs we have already gotten, even the base game, there is so much to talk about.

In short, there is ton that they could be doing that would not necessarily change their current format, and would keep players believing that this game is here to stay.

 

[Bearcat9948]

As to the thread, throwing around words like "unfair" and "unreasonable" is pretty, well, unfair and unreasonable. PC and PZ are two different games. I expect we'll see something at the anniversary, but getting your hopes up for free new animals is, in my mind, the same as giving yourself an excuse to complain later. If they did drop a free animal, then great, that's awesome, but I don't see why anyone would set themselves up for disappointment.

I disagree that it's unreasonable to say what I've said. If you look at it objectively, it would be unfair for PC to get a massive boost of free content w/ a lot of free rides, and PZ to never get that same treatment (with animals instead of rides ofc).

There are some in the PZ community who already accuse Frontier of catering to the building oriented audience over the animal oriented audience based off of the current dlc model (I am not personally making this argument, but I have seen it). I think it's a fair statement to say that there is significant overlap between the people who play PC (A game that objectively is more of a building/management sim) and the people who play PZ to build and manage a zoo. Then you have your other larger PZ audience that plays PZ mostly for the animals, people that expected this game to be more like the Zoo Tycoon series (which PZ claims to be the spiritual successor to).

To be clear, I'm not saying I agree or disagree with this argument, but it is an argument that some in the community have raised. So just think for a moment how those people would feel, and how they would react, if there was either:

1. Never a free update, even after the 1 Year anniversary, with any free animals
2. OR if there was a free 1 Year anniversary update, but it only included building and scenery pieces

I personally don't know exactly what to expect, but I would be pretty surprised if we didn't get any free animals at all. And as far as setting ourselves up for disappointment, I would argue Frontier would've done that to themselves by having such content for their other Planet game. Frontier considers them to be part of the same franchise and thus equal, so I don't really see why one would get more attention/better treatment over the other.

 

[Bearcat9948]

I’m happy to pay for any content as I think it is all great value. However given there is apparently a precedent with Frontier releasing free content with a comparable game I don’t think we need to feel guilty about speculating. And no one will be working for free, I’m pretty confident that any free updates will be factored into their budget and business plan.

Personally I have no expectations so any new content will be a nice surprise. If anything is released I would like there to be a focus on animals and plants rather than theming though.

I couldn't have said it better myself lol. I feel the exact same way

 

[NL_Mutso]

I’m happy to pay for any content as I think it is all great value. However given there is apparently a precedent with Frontier releasing free content with a comparable game I don’t think we need to feel guilty about speculating. And no one will be working for free, I’m pretty confident that any free updates will be factored into their budget and business plan.

Personally I have no expectations so any new content will be a nice surprise. If anything is released I would like there to be a focus on animals and plants rather than theming though.

Same here, i don't think speculating is a far-fetched idea ; considering PC and JWE updates somewhere near the 1 year anniversary.
It's not like this is a thread asking/demanding free stuff.

I hope something will happen somewhere next month - but no expectations on the actual content.
But looking at PC: it had their 1.3 update in June 2017 and the 1.4 in November 2017 (the anniversary one)
PZ got his 1.3 update in August, so getting less content in a Anniversary DLC is something to consider as well.

 

[Bearcat9948]

I hope something will happen somewhere next month - but no expectations on the actual content.
But looking at PC: it had their 1.3 update in June 2017 and the 1.4 in November 2017 (the anniversary one)
PZ got his 1.3 update in August, so getting less content in a Anniversary DLC is something to consider as well.

That is definitely a valid point. You're right in pointing out the same relative time-frame for the updates. If you look here you'll see that PC had the 1 Year anniversary update in early November and then a dlc in December. I wouldn't be surprised if that's how it all shakes out for PZ.

 

[Danny_zoo]

I disagree that it's unreasonable to say what I've said. If you look at it objectively, it would be unfair for PC to get a massive boost of free content w/ a lot of free rides, and PZ to never get that same treatment (with animals instead of rides ofc).

There are some in the PZ community who already accuse Frontier of catering to the building oriented audience over the animal oriented audience based off of the current dlc model (I am not personally making this argument, but I have seen it). I think it's a fair statement to say that there is significant overlap between the people who play PC (A game that objectively is more of a building/management sim) and the people who play PZ to build and manage a zoo. Then you have your other larger PZ audience that plays PZ mostly for the animals, people that expected this game to be more like the Zoo Tycoon series (which PZ claims to be the spiritual successor to).

To be clear, I'm not saying I agree or disagree with this argument, but it is an argument that some in the community have raised. So just think for a moment how those people would feel, and how they would react, if there was either:

1. Never a free update, even after the 1 Year anniversary, with any free animals
2. OR if there was a free 1 Year anniversary update, but it only included building and scenery pieces

I personally don't know exactly what to expect, but I would be pretty surprised if we didn't get any free animals at all. And as far as setting ourselves up for disappointment, I would argue Frontier would've done that to themselves by having such content for their other Planet game. Frontier considers them to be part of the same franchise and thus equal, so I don't really see why one would get more attention/better treatment over the other.

Bearcat9948, nothing about the thread is unreasonable, as it speaks of your own expectations from Frontier in regards to the game, as I mentioned before, you are basing this notion of an anniversary gift on Frontier's Planet Coaster timeline, and that is definitely not unreasonable either since both games are fairly equal in many respects. Frontier's general direction with Planet Zoo does seem to run parallel to Planet Coaster's history in a great number of aspects. It is however unreasonable in my opinion to ask any company to give content that costumers would happily pay for, free. That is of course, a general comment in regards to Frontiers business model and of course my opinion. If they go ahead and provide players with a gift on the game's anniversary, that is fine by me, by if they do not, to hold them accountable to that, for something they did in a previous game, is really a bit unfair. Specially when we take into account, that there is no real reason from a marketing perspective to do such a thing, the game has already done financially better than PZ within the same time frame. In any case that is my opinion and in no way, shape of form invalidates yours, both can coexist.

I do want to touch up on the part of your thread that refers to different players wanting different things out of the game. It is actually a lot more complicated that you have stated, in regards to this game, it seems to me, based on all I have witnessed in a number of different media platforms, that there a variety of different factors involved in this, and our needs and wants from the game can be totally different at times, then others, they can co exist. You mention for example a part of the community that just likes to built and create highly detail virtual scenes, that is me all the way, my biggest takeaway from this game is its creative aspect. You however grouped a creative builder with someone that also cares about the management aspect of the game, that is definitely not me, if it went away tomorrow I could care less about it, it is really a non factor for me. Then you separated this group from those who want as many different species of animals as possible in the game, because it is a zoo game after all, and it should be about the animals. The thing is that for me, a creative builder, the animals are the source of inspiration, and ultimately it is what drives me to built a zoo in the first place. So I can not place one before the other, they have equal value to me. In my case only the management/franchise/gaming aspect of Planet Zoo has no value, does it makes sense? I'm sure I'm not the only creative builder that feels this way. Yet there might be those that fit the criteria you described.

 

[SotF]

It could be interesting to have something like a "Best Of" from blueprints that players designed and uploaded...perhaps run by the devs to optimize them more.

Sure, it wouldn't be something for everyone, but it might be a nice thing for the players who don't design things as much.

 

[PeppyPepp]

I wouldn't expect too much in the animals department, either. If we'll get animals for free, it'd be 3 at most, imo (red deer, black/white rhino, meerkat?).

I do hope we'll get some sort of new feature though. Not talking about introducing aviaries or diving; if we ever get these, it will most likely be paid content. More like:

• Improved climbing animations and needs (so arboreal animals spend more times on trees).
• Improved animal hitboxes and introducing burrowing enrichment items and/or pre-set shelters.
• Educators, tours and/or vista points.
• Some kind of Thememaker's toolkit.
• Some kind of petting zoo facility that doesn't allow too much customization and basically functions as one of the current 'rides'.
• More customization for exhibits (size, shape, biome).
• Flamingoes colour variation?

Oh, and yes, please, a bit more communication would be welcome.

I agree. This, to me, seems the most plausible what might happen for 1y anniversary. I honestly don't believe we'll be getting 4-5 animals, but we will be getting something. Maybe they'll include one of the highly requested animals, like meerkats (which personally I would be very happy with).

I think we can certainly expect another DLC by the end of the year. We know they usually include a big free update with DLC. I suspect they will wrap the free update as an anniversary present and put it all out together. The anniversary is on the 5th of November - that's not even 3 months from when the Australia DLC dropped. Since we usually have 3-4 months between DLCs I don't know what to expect. Maybe we'll get the free update first and then later on (like late November/December) they will release the DLC or they will make an exception and we'll get all of it for the anniversary.

 

[FoxyDee]

Tbh I would be very happy with 3 animals for anniversary. Something like animals that could use existing rigs but are also highly requested - I would choose white rhino, malayan tapir and puma. If I were Frontier, I would leave meerkats and such for a DLC as they are an animal that people would more likely pay for (and probably need alot more new animations than say the white rhino) and lets be honest, if they made african dlc, meerkats would steal the spot of a star of the DLC.

If then we will get a paid DLC by the end of the year with 5 animals, combined with 3 animals on anniversary update, it would finally be a nice batch of new animals.

I bet we will get at least one animal for free, if 3 I would be a happy and anything more than that would be a nice surprise.