Gave Franchise another shot and gotta say how not fun that was, but while playing i got some idears how some of the more frustrating aspects could be fixed.
The Nr 1. Issue i had was that the Game punishes me for playing the Game and that just is not fun. Its a zoo building game and while i get that you should save up money to expand how are you suppoused to save up money when you have no zoo and actually got standards regarding habitat design?
The way id fix that would be to have prices and stars be connected. As long as you have 1 Star or less the game can expect you to still have a not so great starter zoo, so to actually allow the player to build something, all building props and nature items have a discount, lets say 80%. Once you got 2 Stars 50% and once you hit 3 Stars either 30% or just normal prices. This would ensure that you can do what the game does best, creative building, from the start instead of having to settle for trash for the first whatever how long hours of the zoo. To add to that, i would make terrain tools till 1 star and below completly free, as the number 1 leading reason for a boring zoo is flatness and being able to make your own starting layout on the map would be a great QoL change. Its also not like it would impact the management part for those who enjoy that, as this wont bring you any money but is purely for a decoration and building purpose and just would allow players that do care about having a more interesting layout for their zoo to have that, while also not taking terrain as a money sink completly out as it only gives you a head start till 1 star. And before anyone says it, no the premade sculpted maps arnt a solution for this as they just look horrible to be frank.
So right now i only buffed the lower ranks and nerfed the higher ranks in comparison so why would you still have a high ranking zoo?
Besides the fact that you will most likly get one either way and wouldnt need that safety starting net anyways once you hit around 3 stars, theres currently in game also not much reason to rank higher so why not give it one?
For starters, having each star give extra 10% Research speed would be a neat QoL change and also add some numbers to the progression and if its not allready the marketing and loan options should also be different for each star rank, with for example a tv series about the zoo in the 5 star tier that is very effective advertisment but also costs a ton vs 1 star where you pay a little for an article in the local newspaper about your zoo.
Something im personally a bit iffy about but seems like a general popular thing would be to lock certain species and maybe even building themes behind star lvl, even if id personally argue that thats to much of an impact of the freedom of the player in what they want to build, so while for 1 and 2 stars to be restricted would be fine enough imo from 3 stars on everything should be unlocked, which would also feed in well with the end of the discounts.
Ngl i dont find many things that could be added to the higher end of the star system that would feel meaningfull to unlock without it being just finally gaining access to something that was taken away from you so if you guys got some idears to buff the higher ranks im all ears as i mostly just wanted to state my piece about the lower stars getting discounts
The Nr 1. Issue i had was that the Game punishes me for playing the Game and that just is not fun. Its a zoo building game and while i get that you should save up money to expand how are you suppoused to save up money when you have no zoo and actually got standards regarding habitat design?
The way id fix that would be to have prices and stars be connected. As long as you have 1 Star or less the game can expect you to still have a not so great starter zoo, so to actually allow the player to build something, all building props and nature items have a discount, lets say 80%. Once you got 2 Stars 50% and once you hit 3 Stars either 30% or just normal prices. This would ensure that you can do what the game does best, creative building, from the start instead of having to settle for trash for the first whatever how long hours of the zoo. To add to that, i would make terrain tools till 1 star and below completly free, as the number 1 leading reason for a boring zoo is flatness and being able to make your own starting layout on the map would be a great QoL change. Its also not like it would impact the management part for those who enjoy that, as this wont bring you any money but is purely for a decoration and building purpose and just would allow players that do care about having a more interesting layout for their zoo to have that, while also not taking terrain as a money sink completly out as it only gives you a head start till 1 star. And before anyone says it, no the premade sculpted maps arnt a solution for this as they just look horrible to be frank.
So right now i only buffed the lower ranks and nerfed the higher ranks in comparison so why would you still have a high ranking zoo?
Besides the fact that you will most likly get one either way and wouldnt need that safety starting net anyways once you hit around 3 stars, theres currently in game also not much reason to rank higher so why not give it one?
For starters, having each star give extra 10% Research speed would be a neat QoL change and also add some numbers to the progression and if its not allready the marketing and loan options should also be different for each star rank, with for example a tv series about the zoo in the 5 star tier that is very effective advertisment but also costs a ton vs 1 star where you pay a little for an article in the local newspaper about your zoo.
Something im personally a bit iffy about but seems like a general popular thing would be to lock certain species and maybe even building themes behind star lvl, even if id personally argue that thats to much of an impact of the freedom of the player in what they want to build, so while for 1 and 2 stars to be restricted would be fine enough imo from 3 stars on everything should be unlocked, which would also feed in well with the end of the discounts.
Ngl i dont find many things that could be added to the higher end of the star system that would feel meaningfull to unlock without it being just finally gaining access to something that was taken away from you so if you guys got some idears to buff the higher ranks im all ears as i mostly just wanted to state my piece about the lower stars getting discounts
