Me on the other hand, just hunted down a few critters to use that fit the nocturnal requirement and my breeding needs for this zoo ( 1 male, several females so I can easily release/sell over time and have a constant breeding group ), have a rough idea in my head, and started building it. Design? What design ? roflI'm excited about the Nocturnal House build!
I've been wanting to build a good nocturnal house since the Twilight Pack released. I've done a few smaller ones but no huge ones, mainly because I've been waiting to see if we get an aye-aye or loris (which are nocturnal house essentials IMO). So for this round I have finally gone ahead and treated myself to some mods. This is my first time using them and I couldn't be more excited to build the nocturnal house of my dreams!
Today was spent planning and these were the stages involved:
Hope I can pull off something close to what's living in my imagination
- checked my data chest spreadsheet to see what nocturnal animals I might like to use
- researched and gathered nocturnal house inspo on the web (this zoochat had some great leads)
- spent a long time on nexus finding the mods I wanted
- dreamt up an idea for the mood / experience of the build and developed it as the day went on
- sketched out some rough plans in analog (pencil and paper)
- tested that the mods didn't break my game (all good)
- finally mapped out the layout in the game with pathing and terrain.
The Zoolympic Games
- Thread starter Villanelle
- Start date
Okay, give me a second.@FlameWizard492 just waiting for your scores so we can announce the results for Round 2
Hi guys, sorry I have been silent for a while on the thread, not had a lot of time to get on here over the last week. thankyou so much @Villanelle for your amazing admin work, that was fun filling out the theme voting, really easy to navigate and very lovely of you to put all that together for us! Happy with the Nocturnal house vote! I agree with @Xrystal my first attempt today just looks like every building i've ever made haha. going to start again! & sorry I didn't get my pdf together for this round @Villanelle I'm going to try and get all of that sorted for round 3. Thankyou again for your time spent producing this competition! 
@Villanelle Okay, I got mine submitted.
I hope y’all are ready, ‘cause y’all goin’ down!Thanks for voting for your favourite competition themes! Eight of us have voted so far and one theme is unanimously popular - so let's go with that for the next round! You can still vote on future themes - just add your initials by any number of your favourites at this link
Round 3: Nocturnal House
Sunday 16th June - Sunday 7th July
This round will last 3 weeks
There's an extra week for this one due to personal commitments
Details:
Build a nocturnal house that guests can walk through and view different animals in a nighttime atmosphere.
- Any nocturnal or crepuscular species
- At least 2 habitats
- At least 2 exhibits/walkthrough exhibits
- The animals can have outdoor access but must have indoor viewing from within the nocturnal house.
Here's a list of all the nocturnal habitat animals currently in the game:
Aardvark Addax African Crested Porcupine American Alligator Amur Leopard Baird’s Tapir Bengal Tiger Binturong Bongo Chinese Pangolin Clouded Leopard Common Wombat Eurasian Lynx European Badger Fennec Fox Formosan Black Bear Giant Anteater Hippopotamus Jaguar Koala Nine-banded Armadillo North Island Brown Kiwi Platypus Pygmy Hippo Quokka Raccoon Red Fox Red Panda Saltwater Crocodile Sand Cat Siberian Tiger Sloth Bear Spotted Hyena Striped Hyena Striped Skunk Sun Bear Tasmanian Devil Wolverine
These species are crepuscular and may also be used:
African Penguin American Bison Arctic Wolf Black-tailed Prairie Dog Capybara Cuvier's Dwarf Caiman Dhole Dingo European Fallow Deer Himalayan Brown Bear Indian Elephant Indian Rhinoceros Malayan Tapir Moose Nile Lechwe North American Beaver North Sulawesi Babirusa Nyala Pronghorn Antelope Red Deer Red Kangaroo Red River Hog Red-Necked Wallaby Snow Leopard Southern White Rhinoceros Spectacled Caiman Timber Wolf Wild Boar
Don’t worry, it’s just a little friendly smack talk.
I also have a pretty good idea for how to design it, but I don’t know how well it’ll work once I try to make it.
Yeah, now I won’t have to check Wikipedia over and over.
Don’t forget badgers, caracals, bats, scorpions, and tarantulas.Thanks for voting for your favourite competition themes! Eight of us have voted so far and one theme is unanimously popular - so let's go with that for the next round! You can still vote on future themes - just add your initials by any number of your favourites at this link
Round 3: Nocturnal House
Sunday 16th June - Sunday 7th July
This round will last 3 weeks
There's an extra week for this one due to personal commitments
Details:
Build a nocturnal house that guests can walk through and view different animals in a nighttime atmosphere.
- Any nocturnal or crepuscular species
- At least 2 habitats
- At least 2 exhibits/walkthrough exhibits
- The animals can have outdoor access but must have indoor viewing from within the nocturnal house.
Here's a list of all the nocturnal habitat animals currently in the game:
Aardvark Addax African Crested Porcupine American Alligator Amur Leopard Baird’s Tapir Bengal Tiger Binturong Bongo Chinese Pangolin Clouded Leopard Common Wombat Eurasian Lynx European Badger Fennec Fox Formosan Black Bear Giant Anteater Hippopotamus Jaguar Koala Nine-banded Armadillo North Island Brown Kiwi Platypus Pygmy Hippo Quokka Raccoon Red Fox Red Panda Saltwater Crocodile Sand Cat Siberian Tiger Sloth Bear Spotted Hyena Striped Hyena Striped Skunk Sun Bear Tasmanian Devil Wolverine
These species are crepuscular and may also be used:
African Penguin American Bison Arctic Wolf Black-tailed Prairie Dog Capybara Cuvier's Dwarf Caiman Dhole Dingo European Fallow Deer Himalayan Brown Bear Indian Elephant Indian Rhinoceros Malayan Tapir Moose Nile Lechwe North American Beaver North Sulawesi Babirusa Nyala Pronghorn Antelope Red Deer Red Kangaroo Red River Hog Red-Necked Wallaby Snow Leopard Southern White Rhinoceros Spectacled Caiman Timber Wolf Wild Boar
Last edited:
Big thanks!
No probs at all Miss Possum! Thanks for your several attempts with the template. I think going forwards you can just submit as usual in the thread and I will simply link to your post - unless you have found a way to access the doc nowHi guys, sorry I have been silent for a while on the thread, not had a lot of time to get on here over the last week. thankyou so much @Villanelle for your amazing admin work, that was fun filling out the theme voting, really easy to navigate and very lovely of you to put all that together for us! Happy with the Nocturnal house vote! I agree with @Xrystal my first attempt today just looks like every building i've ever made haha. going to start again! & sorry I didn't get my pdf together for this round @Villanelle I'm going to try and get all of that sorted for round 3. Thankyou again for your time spent producing this competition!
Haha love the smack talk! Let's throw this thing down....
I feel like this round is gonna be a biggy!
Apologies for the delay - Round 2 results are being compiled and will be released tomorrow, watch this space!
Aaaaaand the winner of Round 2 is....
...drumroll....
Purple_Possum with her spectacular African Savannah!
A thoroughly well-deserved win, Miss Possum! You also won the Best Zookeeper accolade for your meticulous animal husbandry!
You scored 143 points and your feedback was:
"Incredible - this is such a creative take on a savannah build, with so many different areas for the guests and animals. I love the art show idea and breakfast with the giraffes!"
"Love the custom font boards, those must have taken a while!"
"Really love the immersive experiences for guests. Looks like a brilliant place to visit!"
"I’m still in awe of this build. I don’t think the pictures do it justice."
Runner up goes to FlameWizard492 for your African Interspecies Habitat - congratulations! You ALSO win Fan Favourite with the enthusiastic comments you received AND you tied with Frogstrich for speediest build! You scored 123 points and here is your feedback:
"Lovely! Super creative"
"Love the path layout around this habitat and realistic views from the path. Great fence work and rocky watering hole."
"LOVE the indoor building, and habitat layout. Great to see the process shots too!"
"The natural barriers are really well done, using the posts and rocks to create some separation between the animals and guests looks great."
Coming in hot on FlameWizard's tail, and also tied with them for speediest build, we have the lovely Frogstrich scoring 121 points! Congrats on such speedy building skills! Here are your comments Frogstrich!
"Very inspiring!"
"Love the ivy on the fence. My favourite part of this build is the raised path over the water leading to the building, this is a really cool idea! very calming"
"Love the guest lookout tower and the idea of little islands - really imaginative"
"The rivers were well-integrated."
Honorable mention this round goes to Xrystal for their Grumeti River Safari. People really thought your build would be a lot of fun for the guests! You scored 109 points and here is your feedback:
"This looks like fun!"
"Amazing diverse and large habitat, lots of natural looking areas for the animals whilst also having that safari adventure feel. impressive for franchise. would be fun to experience."
"Fun variety of species. Bet the guests would love those transport options!"
So that wraps up the second ever round of the Zoolympic Games - congratulations everybody and thanks for playing! Looking forward to seeing what gets submitted for the Nocturnal House build in Round 3...
...drumroll....
Purple_Possum with her spectacular African Savannah!
A thoroughly well-deserved win, Miss Possum! You also won the Best Zookeeper accolade for your meticulous animal husbandry!
You scored 143 points and your feedback was:
"Incredible - this is such a creative take on a savannah build, with so many different areas for the guests and animals. I love the art show idea and breakfast with the giraffes!"
"Love the custom font boards, those must have taken a while!"
"Really love the immersive experiences for guests. Looks like a brilliant place to visit!"
"I’m still in awe of this build. I don’t think the pictures do it justice."
Runner up goes to FlameWizard492 for your African Interspecies Habitat - congratulations! You ALSO win Fan Favourite with the enthusiastic comments you received AND you tied with Frogstrich for speediest build! You scored 123 points and here is your feedback:
"Lovely! Super creative"
"Love the path layout around this habitat and realistic views from the path. Great fence work and rocky watering hole."
"LOVE the indoor building, and habitat layout. Great to see the process shots too!"
"The natural barriers are really well done, using the posts and rocks to create some separation between the animals and guests looks great."
Coming in hot on FlameWizard's tail, and also tied with them for speediest build, we have the lovely Frogstrich scoring 121 points! Congrats on such speedy building skills! Here are your comments Frogstrich!
"Very inspiring!"
"Love the ivy on the fence. My favourite part of this build is the raised path over the water leading to the building, this is a really cool idea! very calming"
"Love the guest lookout tower and the idea of little islands - really imaginative"
"The rivers were well-integrated."
Honorable mention this round goes to Xrystal for their Grumeti River Safari. People really thought your build would be a lot of fun for the guests! You scored 109 points and here is your feedback:
"This looks like fun!"
"Amazing diverse and large habitat, lots of natural looking areas for the animals whilst also having that safari adventure feel. impressive for franchise. would be fun to experience."
"Fun variety of species. Bet the guests would love those transport options!"
So that wraps up the second ever round of the Zoolympic Games - congratulations everybody and thanks for playing! Looking forward to seeing what gets submitted for the Nocturnal House build in Round 3...
9 people scored this round - that means five lovely humans who didn't submit an entry for the competition this round. THANK YOU so much for your time!!! The feedback comments are quickly becoming one of my favourite parts of this comp, they are a real feel-good part of the show so keep em coming!
I've slightly revamped the entry sheet - same link as before but here it is again
Here's a version that should be accessible if you don't have a google account (please only use this if you can't access the link above
https://docs.google.com/document/d/120RWHYGfV11gOLjT4E-3JEFfTCPHLJ1MHZCY3DXhkJY/edit?usp=sharing
Here's a version that should be accessible if you don't have a google account (please only use this if you can't access the link above
https://docs.google.com/document/d/120RWHYGfV11gOLjT4E-3JEFfTCPHLJ1MHZCY3DXhkJY/edit?usp=sharing
aww thankyou so much! really lovely and supportive feedback! I appreciate all your kind words so much
The "breakfast with the giraffes" idea came from my time working at zoos, where the zoos have had experiences that visitors can pay extra for called "breakfast with the...insert animal here". One of my old jobs was doing these breakfast tours!
I'm really excited for the next round, it seems like it is going to be a fun and competitive round with lots of creativity amongst us all. the smack talk comment made me laugh!!Any ideas why are we all so excited about the nocturnal house round? I'm not sure but it seems to be a collective excitement lol!
Thanks again guys! amazing builds and special thanks to @Villanelle for being our awesome competition host!
The "breakfast with the giraffes" idea came from my time working at zoos, where the zoos have had experiences that visitors can pay extra for called "breakfast with the...insert animal here". One of my old jobs was doing these breakfast tours!
I'm really excited for the next round, it seems like it is going to be a fun and competitive round with lots of creativity amongst us all. the smack talk comment made me laugh!!Any ideas why are we all so excited about the nocturnal house round? I'm not sure but it seems to be a collective excitement lol!
Thanks again guys! amazing builds and special thanks to @Villanelle for being our awesome competition host!
@Purple_Possum I have a Q for you!
How do you create your lovely signage? Are you using billboards / screens or are these custom fonts? I'm planning to use a lot more custom signage in my next build so would love to know how you did these (if you don't mind sharing trade secrets!)
They look soooooooooo goooooooood
How do you create your lovely signage? Are you using billboards / screens or are these custom fonts? I'm planning to use a lot more custom signage in my next build so would love to know how you did these (if you don't mind sharing trade secrets!)
They look soooooooooo goooooooood
Ohhh that's so interesting! I thought the idea might have come from this place - Giraffe Manor in Nairobi. A bucket-list dream holiday for me if I ever win the lottery!aww thankyou so much! really lovely and supportive feedback! I appreciate all your kind words so much
The "breakfast with the giraffes" idea came from my time working at zoos, where the zoos have had experiences that visitors can pay extra for called "breakfast with the...insert animal here". One of my old jobs was doing these breakfast tours!
I'm really excited for the next round, it seems like it is going to be a fun and competitive round with lots of creativity amongst us all. the smack talk comment made me laugh!!Any ideas why are we all so excited about the nocturnal house round? I'm not sure but it seems to be a collective excitement lol!
Thanks again guys! amazing builds and special thanks to @Villanelle for being our awesome competition host!
breakfast with giraffes - The Safari Collection
BREAKFAST WITH OUR GIRAFFES Waking up to breakfast with a giraffe must be one of the most incredible and unique experiences anyone can have. This activity is reserved exclusively for overnight guests of Giraffe Manor and is one not to be missed. Loping across
www.thesafaricollection.com
So cool that you've worked at some zoos! Were you a keeper as well as giving tours? Which was the best zoo to work for? I did some volunteer work at Shepreth Wildlife Park many years ago as well as some international wildlife volunteer and conservation work (Sri Lanka and Vietnam). I miss living so much among animals, it is such grounding and joyful work.
@Purple_Possum I have a Q for you!
How do you create your lovely signage? Are you using billboards / screens or are these custom fonts? I'm planning to use a lot more custom signage in my next build so would love to know how you did these (if you don't mind sharing trade secrets!)
They look soooooooooo goooooooood
View attachment 395359
View attachment 395362
Hi @Villanelle
I am using screens, I tend to use the screens which are not lit, I think they look more matte and have less light effecting them in daytime. I am still yet to properly experiment with the billboards. I appreciate your comment as these black unlit screens I thought looked rushed haha! didn't take the time to make them all in proper alignment! If I am spending more time on them then I make them in photoshop, so can use any font on there. But for the savannah build they were made quite rushed on paint and saved as a file. I actually put spaces between the letters on the title to just bring the animal names out a bit clearer from futher away. I think custom signs is really fun to get into! Whats your usual process with signs?Yeah I'm curious about that too! It was my favourite of all the favourites but I don't think I was expecting it to come out as the most popular pick.
What were everyone's reasons? Mine were:
- I've always wanted to build a big nocturnal house, but haven't done one that I felt was doing it justice yet
- My favourite animals are nocturnal animals
- I am a bit of a nocturnal animal
- My favourite parts of zoos are always the nocturnal houses
- Nocturnal house = lots of blue, purple, black - my favourite colour spectrum!
- It's a little bit more constrained as a concept. Sometimes I think having more constraints leads to more creativity - like having a writing prompt that narrows your focus more.
I think I'd be pretty happy if I were a little beastie in a nocturnal house, living my nocturnal dream life. As long as the food was good, the company was fun, and I could be let out for some fresh air and enjoy some summer sunshine. But come winter, put me back in my box please, I'll sleep all day and run rampant all night
Last edited: