Fair digs.
Speculation: The Long Road to a DLC. (Or: Explaining the Spectacled Caiman)
- Thread starter iloveyourzoos
- Start date
I've definitely felt that this was the case for some time. It feels like they went from basically feeling around in the dark with the first year's packs giving us such mostly contentious picks as the arctic wolf, llama, and dingo, plus the entire Aquatic Pack being basically "everyone's third choice" penguin/crocodilian/otter/pinniped. I think the fact that all four of those categories have now been revisited with at least one much more generally popular option shows just how much more capable of responding to fan requests Frontier is now vs. the first year of development.
That said, I still don't think there was ever a time when the lechwe or water buffalo were even moderately popular picks. Sure, they've been brought up on rare occasion, but so has probably every single animal that we could realistically expect to be added at some point. I firmly believe that they were included for the sake of adding more ungulates, and they just so happened to fit the current theme (which is by no means a bad thing, we do need more ungulates).
In my opinion, I was slightly displeased and could have had a sitatunga or Pere David's deer instead, but maybe they'd fall into other future DLCs.
Ehhh, personally my thing about sitatungas is that they still look vaguely similar to the bongo and nyala. The lechwe managed to give us a wetlands antelope that looks truly unique to boot. In a perfect world I'd add a dozen or so more antelopes and the sitatunga would be among them, but given how limited I expect DLC to be from here on, I think Frontier made a good call. I would've gladly taken Pere David's deer over the water buffalo, though. Would've been a nice way to cap off our deer roster.
Honest question, are the sounds of antilopes extremly unique from each other? E.g. do Mods break emergence here? (I have no idea, since in reality antilopes aren't really talk active when you visit a zoo). Because I'd rather have monkeys / primates take that spot of yet another antilope, if I'm honest. There mods are emergence breaking even for me.
It’s funny how some species were high on the original meta wishlist and are not so high anymore.
I would love to see more antelopes especially desert ones, Asian and totally unique from what we have like Giant eland.
I would like to welcome at least 30 animals more in the game. I hope the support and DLC’s would stretch at least to the June od 2023.
I would love to see more antelopes especially desert ones, Asian and totally unique from what we have like Giant eland.
I would like to welcome at least 30 animals more in the game. I hope the support and DLC’s would stretch at least to the June od 2023.
I think that everything is already fully planned, they know from the beginning how many and which packs to release, how many and which animals to release. At most there may be some small changes going on, but small things...
I hope so too, but switching from continent packs to biome packs makes me fear that there are not many packs left, cause from a sellers point of view I guess that packs like a "monkey pack" or a "Cat pack" are too monothemed.
That makes me think that the following packs will somehow be
1. Grassland Pack
2. Rainforest Pack
3. Desert Pack
4. Temperate (Forest) Pack
5. Mountain Pack (not sure if this will happen).
Sure there a are other ideas floating around like a "Coastal Pack" or "Endangered Species" but just from my inner gut reaction I doubt we will get packs like those.
I also took a look which animals of ZT2 we still don't have ingame. There are not many left. I did not consider the "Marine Pack" though, because I also don't think we will get fish
.
Here is my analysis of missing animals:
Main Game Zoo Tycoon 2: Dromedary Camel
Endangered Species: Spectacled Bear, Lar Gibbon, Wolverine, PZW Horse, Scimitar Horned Antelope, Markhor, Javanian Rhino (this could already have it's replacement in the Indian Rhino)
African Adventure: Secretary Bird, Honey Badger, Masai-Giraffe, Gelada, Caracal, Gerenuk, Striped Hyena, Ethiopian Wolf, Barbary Ape (could have it's replacement in the Japanese Macaque)
These animals could perfectly be distributed on the 5 biome packs I mentioned above added by more animals.
1. Grassland: PRW-Horse, Masai-Giraffe, Honey-Badger, Gerenuk , Secretary-Bird
2. Rainforest: Lar Gibbon, (Javanian Rhino maybe)
3. Temperate: Spectacled Bear, (Barbary Ape maybe)
4. Desert: Dromedary Camel, Scimitar Horned Antelope, Caracal, Striped Hyena
5. Mountain: Markhor, Wolverine, Gelada, Ethiopian Wolf
Well, I hope I am wrong cause I would still would love to see a South American Animal Pack or Oceania Animal Pack. Still an African Animal Pack would make sense for me too. But I am afraid that after the biome packs end, there we won't see any more :-/
Had a glance over threads back then and there seemed to be a few desert themes popping up and seemed to be alot of requests for meerkats, gibbons, porcupines, wombats and prezwalski horse. The timeline makes sense to me so if wish lists provide any inspiration then I think that there is either a desert /drylands animal pack with a similar world spread to the wetlands pack, or a Middle & Near East area pack with building pieces.
A desert animal pack may be something like:
African Crested Porcupine
Wombat
Przewalski's Horse (Gobi Desert)
Arabian Oryx
Coyote
Chilean Flamingo (Atacama)
Dromedary Camel and/or Wild Ass / Donkey
Armadillo?
exhibit - King Cobra / Sand Gecko / Thorny Devil
A desert animal pack may be something like:
African Crested Porcupine
Wombat
Przewalski's Horse (Gobi Desert)
Arabian Oryx
Coyote
Chilean Flamingo (Atacama)
Dromedary Camel and/or Wild Ass / Donkey
Armadillo?
exhibit - King Cobra / Sand Gecko / Thorny Devil
I'm not sure that this necessarily signals the end. I do think that biome and region packs make sense for this stage of the game, because they do allow for that diversity of animals. But I could easily see the family packs (primate/cats/reptile/ungulate/etc.) coming at an even later stage of development. I think they would still sell quite well, and would presumably be pretty easy to make. But I do think they make more sense later in the cycle rather than this early, since it is better to sprinkle your primates/cats/reptiles/ungulates/etc around into different packs that make for a cohesive theme/biome, rather than getting to a theme/biome and discovering that the most prominent animals have already been done in the family pack.
I feel like the potential for the packs based on animal family (or genus/order/clade, etc), makes most sense for long-term players and completists. While the biomes seem like they have the potential to pick up more casual players that may want variety. So it may be that those family packs are still coming -- just much later down the line.
I agree that the biome packs are not necessarily a signal for the end. However, I don't see "family packs" comming. Maaaaybe besides birds, if even. They are too niche. There are quite a lot people who dislike monkeys / primates. And while cats and dogs are popular among players, some already argue we have enough.
But as much as I love this game, I think we are at a point where we should try to enjoy every pack that's comming. As I said, there is no reason to get into a doom mood again. If I remember correctly PZ is still Frontiers Flagship and selling better than their other games. But until further notice (e.g. data leaks), for our own sake we should assume that 2022 is the last year with DLCs.
Depending on sales then, I could see them trying microtransactions (e.g. one animal a month) then. Or, sadly, nothing.
But as much as I love this game, I think we are at a point where we should try to enjoy every pack that's comming. As I said, there is no reason to get into a doom mood again. If I remember correctly PZ is still Frontiers Flagship and selling better than their other games. But until further notice (e.g. data leaks), for our own sake we should assume that 2022 is the last year with DLCs.
Depending on sales then, I could see them trying microtransactions (e.g. one animal a month) then. Or, sadly, nothing.
Definitely agree that there's no need for doom! While I understand that leaks and financial document hints only go a certain way out, I feel like all signs point toward a longer life. Sales seem steady, and the packs themselves seem to be pacing popular requests in a way that makes a longer run possible, rather than trying to rush to fit everything in.
If anything, I think the Wetlands pack signals a greater likelihood for a longer run than any of the packs we've seen prior to this, precisely because of the inclusion of lesser-requested animals, meaning that they're saving things for future packs.
Plus, if our timeline theory is correct, we've been giving the devs lots of ideas and requests for the future in the intervening months that this one was in development. So when they come up to their next decision point, there's going to be several clear ways forward, should they choose to take them.
If anything, I think the Wetlands pack signals a greater likelihood for a longer run than any of the packs we've seen prior to this, precisely because of the inclusion of lesser-requested animals, meaning that they're saving things for future packs.
Plus, if our timeline theory is correct, we've been giving the devs lots of ideas and requests for the future in the intervening months that this one was in development. So when they come up to their next decision point, there's going to be several clear ways forward, should they choose to take them.
How about this:
Family diversity packs? Basically, packs that'll feature 1 different member per family:
Edit: I also wanna say that I have mixed feelings about the caiman. Personally, I wouldn't have included them in this pack. At the same time, though, I'm glad we got them in the 1st place, as they were on my personal wishlist. In the end, I'm gonna end go using it a lot, because I noticed that every single zoo I build features a reptile house and at least 1 crocodilian species
Family diversity packs? Basically, packs that'll feature 1 different member per family:
- Carnivora mammal
- Ungulate
- Primate
- Reptile
- Bird
- Arthropod or amphibian (E)
Edit: I also wanna say that I have mixed feelings about the caiman. Personally, I wouldn't have included them in this pack. At the same time, though, I'm glad we got them in the 1st place, as they were on my personal wishlist. In the end, I'm gonna end go using it a lot, because I noticed that every single zoo I build features a reptile house and at least 1 crocodilian species
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This is good! We should make sure they're cohesive though, maybe theme them all after a biome or region. And while we're at it, why not add two wild card slots for other animals... wait.
Well, here's 1 pack idea:This is good! We should make sure they're cohesive though, maybe theme them all after a biome or region. And while we're at it, why not add two wild card slots for other animals... wait.
- Catdog (a cat and a dog. Why not?!)
- Bullwinkle (a skinny little human-moose thing)
- Bigfoot (primate)
- Nile crocodile (we need more crocs. Not enough)
- Foghorn Leghorn (ch- I say - chickens)
- Cat flea (E) (might be a bit big for vivariums)
I think they will never make a packs division by type of animal, simply for a matter of sales and profits, because if there is a category that a person doesn't like the DLC will not be bought.
I think it is good analysis. Honestly, they try to make a formula that can satisfy the most people and sell the most. They do search for what people want the most. What we need to do is push on what we want AND continue to purchase DLCs even if we don't like it as much. This Wetland Pack, I am ok with it so i still buy it. This will motivate them to continue producing. As long as they see the profit. Honestly, compare to other titles Frontier have, I think PZ is the biggest consistent cash cow.