Spring 2024 DLC Speculation

RIDDLE ME THIS.
What would be THREE updates you'd like to see in the Spring DLC?

A few I'd like would be:
  • Petting animations for select animals and guests
  • Playgrounds
  • Certain Exhibits can house multiple species like the butterflies (the tree frogs, certain bugs, maybe the iguanas?)
What you said but add null exhibit walls, a smaller exhibit and a larger exhibit to your 3rd point.

I’d also love to see a city map skirt added, null staff paths, and additional types of guest gates.
 
I was thinking about this, but the exhibit boxes should get fish. I know it isn’t “Planet Aquarium” but being able to place down a box with fish in key areas would be a welcome addition. I was thinking about this when the leafy sea dragon mod came out. I don’t need a ton of species, but some Amazon fish would be nice for a South American section. Or maybe some African cichlids near some hippos. Or maybe some tropical fish in the visitor center. Little details like this would be very nice.
I'd agree that a limited set of fully aquatic exhibit species (e.g., fish, seahorses, jelly fish) would be really neat and could help make zoos feel more realistic and "alive." Piranhas are usually my go-to example for this (especially for the Amazon).

I do struggle a bit thinking about basic aquariums and how they would function because people would inevitably want 3+ species of fish per exhibit in this scenario. But implementing it in some way, shape, or form (in a sequel) would be good.

A city map skirt would be great, we'd finally be able to make city themed zoos without having to build a city from scratch (something that's certainly possible in the game currently but it's very time-consuming and not very easy).
This would be fantastic. I've daydreamed about the sequel having an option, not only for the biomes, but the area the zoo is in (rural, suburban, or urban) that would influence the map skirt.
 
RIDDLE ME THIS.
What would be THREE updates you'd like to see in the Spring DLC?

A few I'd like would be:
  • Petting animations for select animals and guests
  • Playgrounds
  • Certain Exhibits can house multiple species like the butterflies (the tree frogs, certain bugs, maybe the iguanas?)
Are we going for realism? Because if not I'm still on:

More diversity in animal personalities - kind of like the genetics, but for things like playfulness, shyness etc, that would trigger animals to have more or less of certain animations depending on where they fall on the spectrum.

Exhibit update - quarter sized, half sized, double sized and round. Ideally we could also get them being modular to make them as large as we want, with varying shapes as we see fit (3 connected could be a short "L" shape or 3 all in one row, 4 connected could be a more standard "L" shape, 4 all as a square, or 4 a row, etc)

All terrain paints for all biomes.
 
RIDDLE ME THIS.
What would be THREE updates you'd like to see in the Spring DLC?

A few I'd like would be:
  • Petting animations for select animals and guests
  • Playgrounds
  • Certain Exhibits can house multiple species like the butterflies (the tree frogs, certain bugs, maybe the iguanas?)
1. More animals for hammock.
2. Size variance in exhibit, Suitable or not, I don't find it that fancy finding small roaches in a 4m x 4m area. Like, there's a three-star hotel room smaller than that.
3. Triangle, mesh, pieces.
 
RIDDLE ME THIS.
What would be THREE updates you'd like to see in the Spring DLC?

A few I'd like would be:
  • Petting animations for select animals and guests
  • Playgrounds
  • Certain Exhibits can house multiple species like the butterflies (the tree frogs, certain bugs, maybe the iguanas?)
Any of those three would already be a big update, so all of them at the same time I see it unlikely. But they would be great.

Mine (also ambitious) would be:
  • DLC enrichment items added to every animal that could realistically use them: SEA hammock, Australian pool, termite nest...
  • Custom weather and temperature selection in sandbox
  • Alternative map skirts for every biome, specially some urban backgrounds or with any other sign of human life Haha
 
I take a break and apparently the whole forum falls apart sorry for the long post and yes I did read over 70 pages to get to this point

Hot take, I wouldn’t be a fan of it personally, it seems like a thing that would be very overwhelming when it comes to building. I like the challenge of working with what we got, I would only find use for scaling for things like signs or maybe beams.
If implemented right scaling would be great and could potentially make building less confusing. Because having the same beam take up multiple slots in the build menu artificially bloats the menu making it harder to use especially with alot of items having it so you select an item can pick either a predetermined set of sizes or custom size will do wonders to building. The amount of times I have had to redo entire structures because things werent tall enough or fences were too long scaling would reduce frustrations like that as well as clean the build menu.
Everyone complains about the path system, but I honestly also don't see how to imrpove it, without simplifying it (which I don't want). Like with JWE? Easy paths, but not very flexible.
It just has to be less picky with needing a huge distance to a barrier etc. And OMG, just tell me what the heck is your problem when you shout "restricted" or whatever at me. Sometimes I litterally can't tell why and I play this game for a while now.
I want to literally paint the path so I paint where I want the path to go and when im done the game makes the painted area a useable path to the best of its ability. That is the ideal scenario but ultimately even just removing path Collison does so much for making the paths bearable. I cant play without free build for this reason I hate how every slight unevenness in terrain or being too close to a barrier or water causes the pathing system to cry and breakdown.
How many zoos does a species have to be in before you guys see it as common? Seriemas are in way past 100+ zoos globally and these numbers are probably still not fully updated yet for some parts of the world.
ironically it has nothing to do with whether its actually common in zoos though this helps it has more to do with is the animal in the public conscious which seriemas are not so even though the seriemas are from an under represented region and are are more common in captivity the secretary bird is more appealing.
It's To Make It Even With The Other Perissodactyls/Odd Toed Ungulates. We Have 3 Rhinos And 3 Equines And Getting A Mountain Tapir Would Be Different Looks And Gameplay Wise. Here Is An Image Of All 4 Species Of Tapir For Reference.
The second I saw the mountain tapir I wanted it in planet zoo it is just so much better then the other 3 like it looks like a plushie
I'm not gonna lie, I absolutely never understand the love for consoles. I got a switch out of boredom during 2020 and animal crossing loked relaxing. It collects a lot of dust now.
But then again, all games that aren't management / sandbox games really stress me out a ton while playing and no console on this earth focuses on those games.


I understand some people do not have room or money for a gaming PC, but a Planet game on a console still sounds like a nightmare to me.
I have a unqiue perspective as both a heavy console and pc player and ill simply say that the only appeal to specifically xbox and playstation is accessibility thats it they are cheaper than a gaming pc and can be played on a tv have very few if any exclusive games and even a controller isnt limited to consoles but they are much easier to understand. Now for consoles outside of those 2 the story changes because exclusives become a much bigger deal as well as how the controllers work so have a much greater purpose especially when considering retro gaming which I do a fair bit of.

Heres the thing though I would never play a management game made for pc on consoles a keyboard and mouse are just needed for them to work well. As a genre they arent built for console.

From interesting side of console version: it apparently starts with update 15 - (Oceania), with update 16 - (Eurasia + peccary) coming at a later date.
Doesn't sounds like there is multiplatform DLC coming, when they didn't manage to bring last update to consoles.
I think after how the rollout turned for pc they want to double check everything before it comes to console I think it was originally planned to be released on time
"Can't say too much, but I don't think we are quite done with pc" and "we think you'll still be happy with us"
To me especially the youll still be happy with us means its more than we expect whether that be a better theme bigger pack or more packs we dont know

Don't know about the franchise issues, but they shouldnt have released the update knowing there were issues with the gift shops. If they had just admitted that they needed more time and waited a couple of weeks to release the update, there wouldn't be so many upset players and bad reviews.
They honestly might not have known about the issues with gift shop as it seemingly was random who was and wasnt affected
It seems that I will continue to express some "unsociable" opinions. I hope PZ can end after at most 1-2 more DLCs. I'm really losing patience with the limitations of the original engine.
in my opinion it is better for planet zoo to keep going on to shorten the time between it and the sequel but I do agree that the engines limitations are definitely becoming more and more prominent
I don't know why so many people are frustrated, but the live video said that PZ's support is not over,As we all know, when making DLC in PZ, a lot of preliminary work is often done in advance.This means that when they said this, they were already planning for next year's DLC. The DLC for the first half of this year may have already been completed, We just need to wait for their surprise.so we can still get at least four DLCs this year, and perhaps PZ can survive for another two years
exactly I dont think there has ever been a point where they out right confirm more than 1 dlc in advance which we currently have this is nothing new.
Well, the whole point is that so far it isn't the same as usual. Had things been the same as usual, the financial reports would have mentioned PDLC in FY25 or PDLC throughout CY24. But they didn't. They for the very first time did not mention anything about continued support for the rest of the year, whilst they are in a situation where more than ever something like that would be needed. We can pretend that it means nothing and it's not a big deal, but at the end of the day it's a clear departure from business as usual. That's just a plain fact we can't get around.

We've known for a while now that there's at least one more PDLC planned, which is going to drop in this FY, so the whole "PZ isn't over" part was something we've known now. It isn't new information. Whilst you're certainly right that this stuff is planned in advance, the majority of the community understands that it isn't a thing they just whip up in the +- 3 months between releases, what they said simply cannot be taken for granted as "we've got the next year planned". It could be, sure. But it could also be "hey we have one more for you guys as a goodbye".

Given the lack of confirmation for the next FY nor confirmation for more PDLC throughout this CY, and the fact that Planet Coaster's initial reveal of console also indicated support for the PC version being over (because apparently it was already announced in 2019); there's more information pointing towards the one more PDLC than there currently is information pointing towards another full year.

Is another full year impossible? Of course not. Is it likely with all the information we have at hand? Less so. Could it be that they're holding back information? Maybe, but speculation on the information we have at hand is always going to be more likely than the potential scenarios we can imagine in our heads;
I can almost guarantee they are holding back information for at least the last 2 years they have never announced more than 1 dlc in advance even in financial reports this is likely to not over promise but their absence from fy25 in this report likley means nothing since they were confirmed for fy24 which would break the cycle of frontier only telling us the bare minimum in terms of future content
Oh I always interpreted it as "if there's an update coming after this, it's going to include the scenario editor".
the scenario editor would do so much for the game people already do similar stuff with workshop uploads but being able to create custom challenges would add a whole other level to management and building focused players
I never understand the niche argument. For me, the beauty of what the game has become is that we can make meaningful choices about what to include in our zoos.

The possibilities aren’t limitless of course (especially with birds and primates) but we have a variety of desert antelopes for example and that enriches our zoos and expands our options.

Jaguars and ocelots are very different. A lower budget small zoo might have ocelots but not jaguars. A large city zoo might have lions and tigers but also a small mammal house with ocelots.

Basically, if the game worked on the niche principle, we would have far fewer animals and all our zoos would look the same.
I both see your point and understand the niche arguments purpose. The niche argument is important because its a basic summary of what broad sections of a zoo are missing like if someone wanted to build a duck pond for instance the closest approximation is a swan. The swan filled a new niche but this isnt a perfect approximation of what we need we also need diversity within niches as well as more niches just because we have one waterfowl dosent mean we have enough to accurately and creatively explore the niche presented.
But do you have necessary plant selection to do anything outside tropical rainforest? 🤪
weirdly enough yes south america has quite alot of non tropical plants that only a handful of animals can use my favourite being a tundra tree that only the king penguin can use we could still use more plants though.
This oddball talk is making me irrationally scared 😂 They CANNOT mess this up. We need a North America Animal Pack-type roster. No oddballs!
Trust me oddballs are important because without out them the packs feel flat the oddballs are what give the pack and the game its identity should the pack be entirely oddballs no should there be at least 1 in a pack yes
 
After reading alot of posts about it I want to summarise how I feel about the console release and planet zoos future
  • just because fy25 does not have explicit mention of pz dlc doesnt mean it wont happen the confirmed it for fy24 and as far as I know they have never confirmed more than 1 dlc into the future.
  • console release doesnt have to mean the end of support frontier has plenty of games with continued support that are multiplatform pz doesnt have to be the exception and comparing it to planet coaster which was already dead pre console release is not accurate.
  • based on the carefully chosen wording used by frontier is suspect that we will get more dlc this year either that or something out of the ordinary for the next dlc either bigger or more advanced animals they would otherwise have no reason to mentions the happiness of the fans just that continued support is planned.
  • again the vagueness in the quote is deliberate and nothing new
  • I have a feeling that the spring dlc will release either really late this month or early next month based on the order they were put during the presentation I could very well be wrong but it is unlikely that it will be the same week as console release so substantially earlier or later I also have a feeling it will get a simultaneous release on both platforms
  • console edition was inevitable whether it means support is ending or not people have been wanting it since release it may just be frontiers way of getting more money and players and whether they released console now or at the end of support it would still largely be the same amount of work

by the beginning of fy25 we will truly know planet zoos fate but till then im choosing hope
 
I want to literally paint the path so I paint where I want the path to go and when im done the game makes the painted area a useable path to the best of its ability. That is the ideal scenario but ultimately even just removing path Collison does so much for making the paths bearable. I cant play without free build for this reason I hate how every slight unevenness in terrain or being too close to a barrier or water causes the pathing system to cry and breakdown.
That would be an accessability nightmare. I can control my movements perfectly, but still struggle to draw a straight line with a mouse or an even curve. Now imagine someone with slight problems with calm and controlling movements, or someone who has trouble seeing perspective (as if we don't all struggle with that with building sometimes), or someone working with a touch pad even and reaching the stop of it...

Sorry, hard pass for me.
 
for at least the last 2 years they have never announced more than 1 dlc in advance even in financial reports
That's just demonstrably false and can easily be checked by going back to the financial documents of the previous years.

  1. They always announced that there would be more PDLC for the next FY when they had PDLCs planned for that entire year, and with the release timing of those financial documents always having been before the Spring DLC, they by default announced more than one DLC in advance.

    For instance, the FY22 results were published in September 2021, which already announced PDLC in FY23. By the simple confirmation that there was going to be PDLC in FY23 that started in June 2022, two DLCs were already confirmed aka a Spring and a Summer DLC.
  2. We literally had a slide at the end of 2022 that said "PDLC throughout CY23", aka we knew we were going to get more than one DLC in 2023 because there simply is no way to give a single DLC throughout a full year.
their absence from fy25 in this report likley means nothing since they were confirmed for fy24 which would break the cycle of frontier only telling us the bare minimum in terms of future content
Last year they already broke the cycle by not confirming anything for FY24 (FY24 ends in May this year btw). They confirmed a DLC for FY24 in the most recent report, and that's the first time the confirmation is for sure just 1 DLC. That's not something we had in the past, not at all.

I think it's quite important to go by correct information here. Whether you think Frontier is going to release more DLC after 31th of May is to everyone's interpretation, but we should keep by the information we have and the information we have directly contradicts what you've just said. There is a distinct and demonstrable change in their language in their financial reports, we shouldn't act like there isn't.

With the information we have atm there are two scenarios:

  1. Frontier has PDLC planned for the next FY but, for the first time, are explicitly vague about it and do not confirm it ahead of time.
  2. Frontier does not have PDLC planned for the next FY and therefor does not announce one.
Those are the two possible scenarios with the information at hand. The likeliness of each scenario is debatable, but not the scenarios itself.
 
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That would be an accessability nightmare. I can control my movements perfectly, but still struggle to draw a straight line with a mouse or an even curve. Now imagine someone with slight problems with calm and controlling movements, or someone who has trouble seeing perspective (as if we don't all struggle with that with building sometimes), or someone working with a touch pad even and reaching the stop of it...

Sorry, hard pass for me.
Considering how I just painted the guidelines for my upcoming animal area for my zoo, the ability to paint paths would be a nightmare for me aswell. I lost count at how many times I had to go back and fix areas because they were not straight or the correct overall shape because I do have a slight shake in my hand when trying to do very precise painting. At least the current path system with its limitations allows people to do precise building with paths because of the chunk building instead of freeform path building.
 
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