Staff, Barriers, and Gates - Suggestions

J-Double U

J-Double U
Heyy everyone, this is my first post on the Frontier Forums so please be gentle with me 😁

I am currently recreating my local-ish Wildlife Park in Planet Zoo and in the process, discovered that there are some features missing from Planet Zoo that, if added, would make recreating real zoos and wildlife parks so much easier in addition to bringing more creativity to original and unique builds. Here are my feature suggestions that I would like to see added into Planet Zoo (preferably via a free update but I wouldn’t mind paying for these features either).
  • Staff Gates/Staff Doors
Whilst habitat gates already exist within Planet Zoo, you can only have 1 habitat gate per habitat. This means that there can only be one entrance/exit to the entire habitat which in reality, simply isn’t the case in most zoos and wildlife parks. Adding staff gates/staff doors would allow keepers and other staff to access indoor and outdoor portions of the habitat, without the need for open archways or empty door surrounds. Let’s say you are building a snow leopard habitat. This habitat has 2 inside dens and 3 paddocks, 2 of which are off-show to the public. Currently, there is no realistic way within the game that the keeper can access both the indoor and outdoor portions of the habitat. In most zoos and wildlife parks, especially where dangerous animals are concerned, there are distinct areas for the keepers and the animals, the 2 aren’t intermixed. Currently, you would place the habitat gate on a null barrier within a building so that it looks realistic however, this would mean that the separated indoor animal area would not be accessible to the staff, nor would the outside paddocks. Having staff gates/staff doors would allow the staff to access all areas of the habitat whilst the animals remained safely confined within the habitat boundaries. This feature would also be useful if you have a habitat with multiple species that have their own indoor/outdoor area.

Ideally, there would be staff gates and staff doors to match all current barriers in the game, including null, as well as some additional gates and doors to match with some of the frequently used construction pieces within the game. Staff gates/doors would have some adjustability in height so that you can place smaller gates and doors for smaller animal habitats if need be ie: Peafowl, Penguins, Tortoises, Meerkats, etc. Staff gates/doors wouldn’t be restricted in number, you could have as many as you need within a habitat. So, using the snow leopard example, there would be the habitat gate granting access to the entire habitat space, and then there would be a staff gate to the main paddock, a staff gate to the first off-show paddock, a staff gate to the second off-show paddock, a staff door to the first indoor pen and a staff door to the second indoor pen. This would allow vets and keepers to access indoor and outdoor areas without the need for gaping holes or walking straight into the snow leopard’s den.

To summarise, my suggestions here are as follows:
  • Staff gates and doors to allow staff to access areas that are reserved for animals such as indoor accommodation and off-show paddocks.
  • No limit on the number of gates and doors able to place in any given habitat.
  • A variety of staff doors and gates to complement the barriers and construction pieces already present within the game, with the same adjustability as those barriers and construction pieces.

  • More Guest Gates & Guest Gate Functionality
Again, whilst recreating my local-ish wildlife park, I found myself in need of walkthrough habitats on 3 occasions. Unfortunately, there is only 1 guest gate in the game and whilst it does what it says on the tin, the gate doesn’t really fit the majority of walkthrough habitats as it is big, wooden, and clunky. Adding more guest gates to match the barriers available in the game, would help players create more aesthetically pleasing and realistic habitats.

Similarly, the guest gates could do with some more functionality. Making guest gates adjustable in height, much like the barriers, would be amazing rather than having this low fence and a towering gate. There would obviously need to be a limit on how low you can take a guest gate but I think hip height, in relation to the staff and guests, would be a great minimum height. This one might be a far stretch but it would be amazing if it could be added … directional guest gates. One-way guest gates would allow players to direct guests through a habitat as desired and would also allow players to create airlock systems to ensure none of their animals escape.

To summarise, my suggestions here are as follows:
  • Adding more guest gates that accompany the existing barriers within the game.
  • Directional guest gates ie: one-way, dual direction.
  • Adding more functionality to guest gates such as height and width adjustment.

  • Staff Customisation
Changing the colour of the uniform. That’s all I’m suggesting here really! 😂


Let me know what you think of the feature suggestions and hopefully Frontier will see this! 🤞🏻

Thanks,

J-Double U
 

NZFanatic

NZFanatic
Unfortunately the game engine doesn't support more than one gate per habitat, at least that's what we've been told in the past IIRC. This topic comes up constantly. Since a habitat is only recognised as a habitat when it has a habitat gate, I presume allowing us to add a second one messes with the game's recognition of what a habitat actually is.
 

ChrisGauthier

C
NZFanatic said:
Unfortunately the game engine doesn't support more than one gate per habitat, at least that's what we've been told in the past IIRC. This topic comes up constantly. Since a habitat is only recognised as a habitat when it has a habitat gate, I presume allowing us to add a second one messes with the game's recognition of what a habitat actually is.
Click to expand...
I'm sure that's part of the reason, but that doesn't mean a way can't be figured out to work around that problem (sure it'll take some work, but it's not outside the realm of possibility). Maybe a habitat's existence doesn't have to be tied to the gate, but the creation of the first/removal of the last gate can be what triggers the habitat being added or removed from the system.
 

NZFanatic

NZFanatic
ChrisGauthier said:
I'm sure that's part of the reason, but that doesn't mean a way can't be figured out to work around that problem (sure it'll take some work, but it's not outside the realm of possibility). Maybe a habitat's existence doesn't have to be tied to the gate, but the creation of the first/removal of the last gate can be what triggers the habitat being added or removed from the system.
Click to expand...
That's just my theory - for all I know it could be infinitely more complicated. All I can say with any certainty is that we were told it isn't possible, some time ago now. Things might have already changed in that regard but we won't know until it's implemented.
 

ChrisGauthier

C
Yeah, I think having an altogether separate category of gate (so adding to the existing categories of habitat, guest, and vehicle) that is only used as additional entry/exit points for staff without ever affecting the game's recognition of a habitat in any way would be a feasible workaround; there's the main habitat gate which there can only be one of, but then the player can place as many of these secondary gates as they want.
 
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