Spring 2024 DLC Speculation

Not really, considering we gained a bat when we had 100 habitat mammals/150 animals in similar circunstances of the JWE ptera, i don't know why a flying bird in a game with 11 other (4 that fly too)/180 animals would be so weird, lol
Hey id prefer just macaws over no birds at all. All i was saying that JWE just having pteranodon is a very different situation from PZ only having macaws
 
I still play ZT2. It specifically said, in the action/thought panel: "Roaring at Coelodonta 3"
I'm really surprised by that then, given that the lion was one of the animals I spent the most time with when writing the tutorial and I don't remember the vanilla lion having cross exhibit interactions; but of course if you play the game modded than that takes away what I said as a bunch of us coded tons of stuff like that. If you have any mods by Lgfcm, Ulquiorra or Thom I wouldn't be surprised, as they were keeping that up all the way till the end.

I still stand by what I said though, ZT2's behavior system wasn't more complex, it just focuses on different things and nostalgia doesn't help with that either.
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I'm really surprised by that then, given that the lion was one of the animals I spent the most time with when writing the tutorial and I don't remember the vanilla lion having cross exhibit interactions; but of course if you play the game modded than that takes away what I said as a bunch of us coded tons of stuff like that. If you have any mods by Lgfcm, Ulquiorra or Thom I wouldn't be surprised, as they were keeping that up all the way till the end.

I still stand by what I said though, ZT2's behavior system wasn't more complex, it just focuses on different things and nostalgia doesn't help with that either.
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I'm embarrassed to admit that I didn't play it modded until a couple months aho. I missed out on a lot of mods.

But yeah, I totally see your point though. I think what many of us want, myself included, is for ZT2 and PlanZo to be similar. There are a few behaviors in ZT2 that PlanZo doesn't, and vice versa. I definitely know that I wanna see a little bit more pizzazz with the animals. I remember how there were tiny Easter eggs, like when the dinosaurs would build nests to breed and how the tiger would jump in the rock pool scenery object; little things like that, while unimportant by themselves, added quite a bit, and I wish that the PlanZo animals could do random things like that, apart from the odd interaction with another one of its species or unique ways of locomotion
 
What's your top Mammal pick for each continent? (including Antarctica if you want)

What's your top Habitat Bird pick for each continent? (my personal rule of thumb is: Birds that would have a decent quality of life if their wings were amputated/clipped)

What's your top Exhibit Animal pick for each continent?
mammal
africa: gelada
asia: markhor
oceania: numbat
north america: american black bear
south america: andean porcupine
europe: muskox
antartica: leopard seal

birds
africa: secretary bird
asia: golden pheasant
oceania: lyre bird
north america: wild turkey
south america: greater rhea
europe: greylag goose
antaritica: rockhopper penguin

exhibit
africa: western leopard toad
asia: asian lady bug
oceania: southern corroboree frog
north america: mexican ccaecilian
south america: hoffmans two toed sloth
europe: western honey bee
antaritica: antarctic starfish or anemone
 
Ibis and spoonbill would definitely work as ground birds, no one seems that bothered the crane and mute swan don't fly.
Disagree, purely because both ibises and spoonbills are perching birds whereas large cranes and swans tend not to be. Ibises and spoonbills rest and nest in trees, hence why they're always kept in aviaries in zoos. I'd be fine with it if they had that behaviour (could be added to the peafowl too, for that matter) and if we had some grid-based building pieces to simulate covered habitats and aviaries instead of those stupid prop fences but I don't see the inclusion of either as especially likely.
 
I think the perching could be fixed by a couple new enrichment or feeding pieces, like for example having a new food piece that is a tray with 2 bowls of food on a pole; scarlet ibis can hop on to the tray like a jump while flapping its wings - similar to an animation the flamingo has I believe. This way we can semi imagine they can fly and just don’t want to.
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Most birds like the ones we’re talking about (scarlet ibis, sacred ibis, crowned pigeon, spoonbill) I see every time I go to my local zoo and they rarely fly. Crowned pigeons and ibis mainly stay on the ground and spoonbills sometimes jump on a large dead tree in their exhibit which could be implemented like a standing food tray or a new branch perch enrichment piece.

All in all I see the ibis possible, as that one can potentially get away with staying mainly on the ground - the spoonbill though would at least need some sort of jumping / perching animations to look realistic.
 
They should add something like this regardless. Not only for the potential ibis and spoonbill, the before mentioned existing peafowl, but also for the secretary which also usually roost in trees.
But i think a better way to implement this would be to add a behavior for these animals to fly/jump to horizontal climbing pieces overhead instead of using the ground bedding to sleep. This way you could make your own perches or just use trees with horizontal branches
 
But i think a better way to implement this would be to add a behavior for these animals to fly/jump to horizontal climbing pieces overhead instead of using the ground bedding to sleep. This way you could make your own perches or just use trees with horizontal branches
While a better alternative, I don’t think this could work. I think having the ability to put the beam at any height would severely mess with the animations of a bird trying to perch on it. I think having just one object or maybe 3 different heights of this object would be an easier way for them to implement it, especially considering how much work they put into recent update features.
 
Disagree, purely because both ibises and spoonbills are perching birds whereas large cranes and swans tend not to be. Ibises and spoonbills rest and nest in trees, hence why they're always kept in aviaries in zoos. I'd be fine with it if they had that behaviour (could be added to the peafowl too, for that matter) and if we had some grid-based building pieces to simulate covered habitats and aviaries instead of those stupid prop fences but I don't see the inclusion of either as especially likely.
Yeah, but we're also talking about a game where zebras love to swim and polar bears can tolerate the desert if you have 2 coolers in their open air enclosure.

I doubt it'd really even matter; if you wanna go realism, then flamingos and cranes shouldn't be in the game because now the practice is that they be kept in aviaries, despite the fact that they don't typically fly
 
Yeah, but we're also talking about a game where zebras love to swim and polar bears can tolerate the desert if you have 2 coolers in their open air enclosure.

I doubt it'd really even matter; if you wanna go realism, then flamingos and cranes shouldn't be in the game because now the practice is that they be kept in aviaries, despite the fact that they don't typically fly
The flamingo thing isn't a good argument. Tons of zoos still keep them with clipped wings. Putting them in aviaries is best practiced but not required welfare. There is a stark difference.

As to your first point, there are obviously compromises that need to be made between gameplay and outright realism, but it's clear that Frontier cares about how flying animals are kept, otherwise there wouldn't be a Walkthrough Exhibit.

I haven't seen any spoonbills in zoos that I can remember (only royal spoonbills in the wild here in NZ), but I've seen plenty of ibises (northern bald and scarlet, and other species I believe but it's been a while), and I can remember them being perched on faux rock formations, branches, and so on, and hardly on the ground at all. Like most aviary birds they barely did much of anything either, mostly just hanging about (ideal behaviour for exhibit animals, incidentally).

In any event, the question isn't "do I want them in the game under these circumstances" it's "will Frontier add them" and IMO it's not very likely. They blur the line between what is acceptable as a habitat animal and an exhibit animal. So do koalas and sloths and they ended up going both ways and nobody was 100% satisfied with either. IMO if they plan on adding another habitat bird, it will be something far more clear-cut; rhea, crowned crane, another swan, another penguin even, possibly even another flamingo.
 
IMO if they plan on adding another habitat bird, it will be something far more clear-cut; rhea, crowned crane, another swan, another penguin even, possibly even another flamingo.
That’s a bit of a stretch imo almost every time we get a new bird it brings something new to the table. Given the last 2 birds have been completely unique to the roster I don’t think they would choose a bird that is just a direct clone of one we already have and brings nothing new to the table.

I think the birds that are possible for us to get are Secretary Bird, Pelican and Scarlet Ibis as the top 3. The Secretary bird brings lots of new animations like striking with its feet and walking differently, can have some new shaking animations etc. making it different than the rest of the birds. Plus not to mention its status on the meta. Pelican speaks for itself, based on the swan but its beak can unload a plethora of new behaviours and animations. And finally the ibis which I already said earlier I think they can manage to do without any changes to enrichment or perching.
 
The flamingo thing isn't a good argument. Tons of zoos still keep them with clipped wings. Putting them in aviaries is best practiced but not required welfare. There is a stark difference.

As to your first point, there are obviously compromises that need to be made between gameplay and outright realism, but it's clear that Frontier cares about how flying animals are kept, otherwise there wouldn't be a Walkthrough Exhibit.

I haven't seen any spoonbills in zoos that I can remember (only royal spoonbills in the wild here in NZ), but I've seen plenty of ibises (northern bald and scarlet, and other species I believe but it's been a while), and I can remember them being perched on faux rock formations, branches, and so on, and hardly on the ground at all. Like most aviary birds they barely did much of anything either, mostly just hanging about (ideal behaviour for exhibit animals, incidentally).

In any event, the question isn't "do I want them in the game under these circumstances" it's "will Frontier add them" and IMO it's not very likely. They blur the line between what is acceptable as a habitat animal and an exhibit animal. So do koalas and sloths and they ended up going both ways and nobody was 100% satisfied with either. IMO if they plan on adding another habitat bird, it will be something far more clear-cut; rhea, crowned crane, another swan, another penguin even, possibly even another flamingo.
True, true, I do agree that they're typically only in aviaries. However, the same could apply to clouded leopards, jaguars, and pumas; these cats are well known for the climbing skills, and I've yet to see an enclosure for these guys that isn't covered by some sort of netting or mesh.

In the same vein, ibises and spoonbills I've only seen in enclosed areas (once behind glass and a solid ceiling, no joke), but judging by how the hame works as of right now, the birds could have perching areas, like trees and the like; it's up to the player if they wanna add mesh on top or not.

Because we've seen many examples of animals that should be enclosed and vice versa. Take the dwarf caimans and monitors; I've never seen dwarf crocodilians or monitors in open air enclosures, yet the 4 animals we have in-game are all shown in open air enclosures.

I personally think that, while inside and spoonbills should be in aviaries, it would be I'm Frontier's best interest to just make them standard habitat birds with unique capabilities (perching). Players can then decide if they wanna go for realism or just let their dreams run wild.

Of course, this is all assuming these animals are even added...
That’s a bit of a stretch imo almost every time we get a new bird it brings something new to the table. Given the last 2 birds have been completely unique to the roster I don’t think they would choose a bird that is just a direct clone of one we already have and brings nothing new to the table.

I think the birds that are possible for us to get are Secretary Bird, Pelican and Scarlet Ibis as the top 3. The Secretary bird brings lots of new animations like striking with its feet and walking differently, can have some new shaking animations etc. making it different than the rest of the birds. Pelican speaks for itself, based on the swan but its beak can unload a plethora of new behaviours and animations. And finally the ibis which I already said earlier I think they can manage to do without any changes to enrichment or perching.
And then there's me, wanting a roadrunner...
 
I did my best to change the discussions with figuring out what topics have been overly discussed on this thread
Now let’s figure out what animal has been brought up more times then others
 
That’s a bit of a stretch imo almost every time we get a new bird it brings something new to the table. Given the last 2 birds have been completely unique to the roster I don’t think they would choose a bird that is just a direct clone of one we already have and brings nothing new to the table.

I think the birds that are possible for us to get are Secretary Bird, Pelican and Scarlet Ibis as the top 3. The Secretary bird brings lots of new animations like striking with its feet and walking differently, can have some new shaking animations etc. making it different than the rest of the birds. Plus not to mention its status on the meta. Pelican speaks for itself, based on the swan but its beak can unload a plethora of new behaviours and animations. And finally the ibis which I already said earlier I think they can manage to do without any changes to enrichment or perching.
I got on the Duck vote very late but I'm now fully on board, honestly would give us something more useful for mods than any of the three you listed. Though I want them all, and the Shoebill and Wild Turkey too. Roadrunner, Spoonbill, and...and...oh, I can't stop. We really need so many birds even if we're not going into flying/Exhibit bird lists.
 
Given the last 2 birds have been completely unique to the roster
Not really. Only the swan has been especially unique. Prior to that we had the kiwi (ratite), little blue penguin (obviously a penguin), emu (ratite), and crane (flamingo rig). The kiwi is the one I'm sure you're referring to, but in terms of motility it's not really any different from the other ratites in the game. It has a few unique animations obviously but then so do other animals built out of existing rigs.

I sincerely doubt we'll see the secretarybird. As far as 'unique' birds go I agree it's a likely candidate based purely on popularity but I still doubt it. I doubt we'll see an ibis for the reasons I already outlined. The pelican feels more likely; it's had more traction for longer than other birds and the swan is an arguably good base for it.
 
The kiwi is the one I'm sure you're referring to, but in terms of motility it's not really any different from the other ratites in the game. It has a few unique animations obviously but then so do other animals built out of existing rigs.
I'd say its unique because its the first smaller non penguin bird we have gotten. Other than the peafowl from the base game there were no other small sized birds that weren't penguins.
 
Not really. Only the swan has been especially unique. Prior to that we had the kiwi (ratite), little blue penguin (obviously a penguin), emu (ratite), and crane (flamingo rig). The kiwi is the one I'm sure you're referring to, but in terms of motility it's not really any different from the other ratites in the game. It has a few unique animations obviously but then so do other animals built out of existing rigs.
I think the community really needs to start using "animation set" instead of the word "rig", because each animal has its own unique rig but every animal reuses or remaps existing animation sets. By sticking with the word rig, you're inadvertently end up saying that the swan is more unique than the other birds in terms of animations; but it isn't. The swan too remaps a lot of the flamingo animations and then has a bunch of unique animations to set it apart, just like the kiwi and just like the little blue penguin does.

It's what Planet Zoo does, and they do it really well. For instance, the majority of people out there haven't even noticed that the Tasmanian devil uses a remapped and adjusted raccoon animation set ( to the point that it can actually be made to climb as those animations are still there).

So that being said, looking at the meta wishlists, there's only very few animals out there that really need a from scratch approach and in that way so end up being unlikely (looking at you, my dear manatee). Others, like the tree kangaroo, the coati, the secretary bird etc. all have an animation set they can start from and Frontier has shown in the past that they're more than capable of doing plenty of animation work within the packs budget (Nile Lechwe's animation set for instance in a pack with already quite a few animation heavy animals).
 
So that being said, looking at the meta wishlists, there's only very few animals out there that really need a from scratch approach and in that way so end up being unlikely (looking at you, my dear manatee).
What Are The Others That Would Require A New Rig?
 
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