It’s interesting that they ask what we look for in packs with a month to the potential “last” pack coming up, I would expect them to ask us stuff like this a year ago.
Spring 2024 DLC Speculation
- Thread starter The Carcharodontogenius
- Start date
Who knows maybe the whole support ending speculation is completely wrong and it's asking for next year's finale.
They have similar questions for Planet Coaster and JWE. For me, this feels more about them trying to explore more generally what people want out of their games. Creativity or management? Sandbox versus campaign modes? Is it important to just play and watch or do you want to share too?
I think they're probably hoping to see overarching themes across all games that could influence DLC formatting for whatever game is coming next. You can generally apply those same ideas/themes across CSMs: Do people want DLC that add "functional" elements (e.g., animals, rides, game mechanics), added gameplay "challenges," and/or aesthetic items?
It's probably less about Planet Zoo specifically than it is about understanding what people (broadly) want out of the games. I do wish they'd drill down a bit more and ask us about timing of DLC releases, pack sizes, etc. Because man, do I have ideas for that! LOL
I was thinking all of this too until the last questions about Planet zoo. They specifically asked what do we Buy the packs for: scenery, animals or scenarios. That was a weird question to ask among the most general ones. Felt like they are trying to decide what the last pack should be like, animal or scenery.
Interesting we get a survey at this particular point. I did fill it out, leaning heavily into animal variety for PZ specific questions. They're going to use this information in some way, the questions is, for current games or future ones? It does make me wonder if PZ is actually wrapping up like many of us, myself included, think it is. More likely they're using this information for future games...but we'll see.
If you selected any of the other games, they ask similar questions. They had the same kind of question for Planet Coaster and the one for JWE1 was very much in the same vain. I wouldn't read anything into it, they're just gathering information for their upcoming CMS games.
But if the next pack is the last, then it’s a little late. My theory of 2 more packs may be correct after all.
If you marked that you played Planet Coaster or JWE, though, they ask those same questions for those games (e.g., about what you like most - scenery, animals, scenarios; for PlanCo its rides instead of animals). You can look at it per game and see differences but across those similar games.
They may see that, for Planet Zoo and JWE2 people consider species to be critical for DLCs compared to other things; whereas for PlanCo it's campaigns and scenery. They might also see that for all of those games... Maybe scenarios aren't important for people at all.
The categories are similar enough between those games that they could look at them across games in addition to looking at them for each individual game. And it seems like they're trying to sort out what people like most about their games. Which is... Interesting... Because it feels like a pretty even divide from a functional standpoint. For every person who says they didn't touch the game when franchise was down there was at least one other person saying "just play sandbox."
The survey says its specifically for future games. So I would imagine it's to sort out how DLC and updates might be formatted for one of the upcoming projects. I wouldn't read anything into it for the positive or the negative about PZ support.
Yeah I put down animal variety as the most important, I know this might sound weird, but despite how great the building is I’m here for the animals. If Frontier had packs with less animals/ I got less animals in a year I really don’t think I would have got into the game as much as I have.
And tbh if it wasn’t OBVIOUS enough, I find the animal variety could be better. It’s already the best of any zoo game, but that’s not saying much when one of the competitors is well over a decade old and carried by amazing mods.
Honestly, that makes a lot of sense to me. For me, the animal species are what inspire/drive my building and theming. So the animals will always be most important. You can't leave out the theming/building pieces fully, though as it can get pretty boring building with the same pieces over and over again (and there's certain elements that are really key to even subtle themed areas).
And, TBH, I still feel like they put all of this hard work into beautifully themed and well-researched pieces that don't get much use (Twilight is a great example; some of those assets are really well-crafted and look cool but just... hard to find use for them in a zoo). In contrast, the Conservation Pack had a bunch of relatively generic props (e.g., garden tools, hoses) that require less research to create that get used constantly in builds.
So for me, it's more about a variety of animal species and versatile building pieces. (And frankly, if we ever get a sequel I really hope they allow texture-swapping with walls because that would be a game-changer; especially if we could add our own!)
Jwe3 confirmed then
It was a bit weird that they asked how important things were in each game (e.g., for PZ, management) but they didn’t ask how you’d rank that aspect of the game - for examplr, I’d love PZ to have interesting management, but it doesn’t … makes it hard to answer that question!
pz2 bros................... it's over................
I've dipped out basically since console edition was announced, has anything meaningful come to light since the comment in the stream saying support wasn't over quite yet or whatever?
Not really no. We've even slipped back in time a year ago and are pretending that an Islands pack is on the table.
Might be that they are using the opportunity while the player base is still invested in the game, to ask them for feedback on the whole experience of Planet Zoo after it ended.
Most likely so they can start preliminary planning on Planet Zoo 2, sketching out what features to include there.
Ah, I missed the part about it being future games. That totally makes sense. What's coming in the next PZ pack or even if it's 2 packs, has already been decided I'd imagine. Anything we have input on here wouldn't really be of help at this point.
Still, these surveys are good and helpful as well. It gives them input for a PZ2 or Planet Aquarium.