Some thoughts on the animals

tigris115

tigris115
So while I love how the animals look, even the lesser animals have their charm, I do think there's room for improvement in several respects for the models themselves and the animation.

With the animals that have horse-like tail hair such as zebras and various antelope, I think they should have them flowy like in real life instead of the clumps they are right now.
Now I know that you think this will be a processing nightmare but I looked up Shadow of the Colossus and the horse in that game had a realistically flowing mane and tail that reacted to physics. This footage is from the PS2 so IMO, it should be easy to incorporate in a modern PC game like this without frying computers.

I know Frontier has said they'll look into this but IMO, animals need way more variation than they have right now. I think that things like color and some aspects of the models should vary a bit. One example is with the lions and their manes.
Lion mane variations.jpg


And on the topic of lions, they along with the other cats are quite inconsistent in their design compared to the other carnivorans. Their overall design in models and animations is a bit too cutesy IMO and this especially shows for the lions which look quite a bit like they're from The Lion King (the good one)

Here's something a friend of mine said on the PZ discord

Just in general they took WAY too much inspiration from lion king, and not enough from real footage

The fight animation is just a ripoff of simba vs scar, the base lion model looks like mufasa, the animations are all meant to look either like he's posing for a screencap, smiling or doing a really lackluster lion run cycle

I'm not saying that the cats are bad, it's just that they lack the realism that the other animals have, ruining the sense of consistency.

2 games that really makes lions look good are the Assassins Creed games and RDR2
 
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Noccydies

N
I definitely agree with you, I always found the animals of Planet Zoo identical, they did not have much unique that differentiated them physically from each other .... So yes, they have in my opinion really need variation of colors and models ... Of course it is a lot of work, but I was surprised to see that it was not really done while animals are a central aspect of the game
 

Dinocanid

D
I always thought the lions looked a bit strange compared to the other animals that have a more realistic appearance, as if it was from a different game. The male appears a bit too cartoony and exaggerated, and the female appears to be always smiling. (The cubs I actually don't have a problem with).
 

Paul_Crowther

Senior Community Manager
Frontier
Hey all. We fully understand the excitement and added experience that modding can bring. However, for a number of technical and other reasons, modding isn't something that is officially supported within Planet Zoo. Unofficial modding or software that alters the game's code will always present a risk to players. For this reason, it is our recommendation that you do not use unsupported modding or clients of this nature and we ask that you not post links or screenshots of them on the official forums.
 

Moonfox

Moonfox
Those tusk and horn variations are amazing!! How cool would they be in game? So many possibilities with colours, shades and integument variety... and then to have different behaviour as well! Hopefully these updates are coming, and soon!

PZ wolves certainly look amazing in different coat colours and I can only imagine what potential there is for other animals in the game.
 

Whats0There

Whats0There
Paul_Crowther said:
Hey all. We fully understand the excitement and added experience that modding can bring. However, for a number of technical and other reasons, modding isn't something that is officially supported within Planet Zoo. Unofficial modding or software that alters the game's code will always present a risk to players. For this reason, it is our recommendation that you do not use unsupported modding or clients of this nature and we ask that you not post links or screenshots of them on the official forums.
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With respect, this is 2020.
 

tigris115

tigris115
Paul_Crowther said:
Hey all. We fully understand the excitement and added experience that modding can bring. However, for a number of technical and other reasons, modding isn't something that is officially supported within Planet Zoo. Unofficial modding or software that alters the game's code will always present a risk to players. For this reason, it is our recommendation that you do not use unsupported modding or clients of this nature and we ask that you not post links or screenshots of them on the official forums.
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I understand. I just wanted to showcase how the lion can be improved with a few basic changes. It's not perfect but details such as the eyes improve the realism and make it consistent with the other animals in the game.

Also, one of the CM's were looking into animal variation. Is that still going on?
 
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Dinocanid

D
tigris115 said:
I understand. I just wanted to showcase how the lion can be improved with a few basic changes. It's not perfect but details such as the eyes improve the realism and make it consistent with the other animals in the game.

Also, one of the CM's were looking into animal variation. Is that still going on?
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See this post from another thread:
Bo Marit said:
There's definitely a lot of good feedback in this thread! Rest assured this is still on the radar for Planet Zoo, and the team have been working on it (among other things). We're prepping another update at the moment but please know that colour variations won't be addressed yet in this one - however it's planned in for another one soon after! Thanks for your patience <3!
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tigris115

tigris115
There seems to be something wrong with how certain animals are weight painted

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Also, the female hippo looks kinda weird. It seems to constantly make a face as is it's side-eyeing a homeless guy in the subway
What it looks like ingame
511850578.jpg

I found this on Artstation and it looks much less uncanny
stijn-mininature-rendernijlpaard02-03.jpg

lkvoKnS.png
 

DrBurrito

DrBurrito
Nice observations. I would like to point out to the female saltwater crocodile tail/body proportional issues, as well as how robust they are overall. Female salties in real life are pretty gracile, even "subadult looking". However the biggest problem with them in the game is definitely the stubby disproportionate tail. Tail length should equal head + body length. This is probably the most obvious and odd model issue any animal has in the game. That being said, I do care about the more minor details people point out to.
 

Asylum92

A
A co například zbarvení vlků? Bylo by také dobré postupovat lépe, nejsou to přece jen vlci šedé barvy, ale jsou mnohem rozmanitější, pokud jde o barevné mutace, a nemluvím jen o vlcích, ale také o jiných zvířatech.
 

Swjosdotschka

Swjosdotschka
Asylum92 said:
A co například zbarvení vlků? Bylo by také dobré postupovat lépe, nejsou to přece jen vlci šedé barvy, ale jsou mnohem rozmanitější, pokud jde o barevné mutace, a nemluvím jen o vlcích, ale také o jiných zvířatech.
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Google translate: "What about the coloring of wolves? It would also be good to do better, not just gray wolves, but they are much more diverse in color mutations, and not just wolves, but other animals as well."

Only english is alllowed in the official forums here. You can, however, use Google translate if you aren't comrotable with english :) Just provide a translation.
As to your question / idea: We have a thread tsalking about color variations like those in wolves. The Devs already agreed to look into it and add them. It will, however, take time and we don't know when we can expect an update yet.
 

Asylum92

A
Swjosdotschka said:
Google translate: "What about the coloring of wolves? It would also be good to do better, not just gray wolves, but they are much more diverse in color mutations, and not just wolves, but other animals as well."

Only english is alllowed in the official forums here. You can, however, use Google translate if you aren't comrotable with english :) Just provide a translation.
As to your question / idea: We have a thread tsalking about color variations like those in wolves. The Devs already agreed to look into it and add them. It will, however, take time and we don't know when we can expect an update yet.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry.The following happened. Since I had a translation turned on in my browser, the English text translated with me when I inserted it as a query: (
 
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