Having come close to the end of support for this game, I have to say a herding, grouping and pack behavior in this game is vital to have. Even JWE1 had it added as an update but the Frontier devs working on Planet Zoo keep neglecting this for this game.
As a former student of Zoology and Wildlife Conservation: social animals in fact do herd in captivity unless they are singled out and raised in isolation. I saw once someone saying that animals barely do this in zoos but from a scientific point of view that could not be further away from the truth. Captive animals raised in healthy environments retain some of their instincts and especially for prey animals the instinct to huddle together is not erased in captive situations. This game could gain so much from this especially because one of the huge parts of the game - is releasing animals back to the wild - at the game’s current state: releasing my gazelle that goes off alone 2000 meters away from its group feels silly. Not only does the welfare and educative aspect of this game feel obsolete because of this, it becomes repetitive to play the game after a while.
I have never ever been to any zoos where zebras, deer, gazelles, did not huddle together. I have never been to any zoos where fawns and baby animals go alone across the habitat away from their mothers. They usually are stuck on the mom like leeches.
We have these huge beautiful maps perfect for building expansive habitat zoos but currently animals have no real regard for alphas in their groups. I know the devs for this game are hardworking and amazing individuals but this tiny behavior tweak could be so beneficial. I stopped building interspecies enrichment habitats because I can’t stand the animals spreading out so oddly. It is not realistic. This game- even in its launch trailer years ago - showed “herding” or grouping animals and with every DLC launch there were huge groups of animals seemingly herding but there has been 0 updates on this behavior and it is beginning to make the game repetitive.
Adding something like this could make it possible for PZ players to:
This could even draw in an entire new set of players to the game and would increase its sales! If you have animals that herd and group and overall act realistically: gamers and creators would for sure make in game documentaries or productions which would in turn be a free marketing campaign for the game and draw in a new profile of gamers to the game.
I don’t want birds or aquatics if it means we get herding. What do you guys think?
As a former student of Zoology and Wildlife Conservation: social animals in fact do herd in captivity unless they are singled out and raised in isolation. I saw once someone saying that animals barely do this in zoos but from a scientific point of view that could not be further away from the truth. Captive animals raised in healthy environments retain some of their instincts and especially for prey animals the instinct to huddle together is not erased in captive situations. This game could gain so much from this especially because one of the huge parts of the game - is releasing animals back to the wild - at the game’s current state: releasing my gazelle that goes off alone 2000 meters away from its group feels silly. Not only does the welfare and educative aspect of this game feel obsolete because of this, it becomes repetitive to play the game after a while.
I have never ever been to any zoos where zebras, deer, gazelles, did not huddle together. I have never been to any zoos where fawns and baby animals go alone across the habitat away from their mothers. They usually are stuck on the mom like leeches.
We have these huge beautiful maps perfect for building expansive habitat zoos but currently animals have no real regard for alphas in their groups. I know the devs for this game are hardworking and amazing individuals but this tiny behavior tweak could be so beneficial. I stopped building interspecies enrichment habitats because I can’t stand the animals spreading out so oddly. It is not realistic. This game- even in its launch trailer years ago - showed “herding” or grouping animals and with every DLC launch there were huge groups of animals seemingly herding but there has been 0 updates on this behavior and it is beginning to make the game repetitive.
Adding something like this could make it possible for PZ players to:
- practice in-game photography
- create 4x4 zoos / safari parks and enjoy them
- record game documentaries
This could even draw in an entire new set of players to the game and would increase its sales! If you have animals that herd and group and overall act realistically: gamers and creators would for sure make in game documentaries or productions which would in turn be a free marketing campaign for the game and draw in a new profile of gamers to the game.
I don’t want birds or aquatics if it means we get herding. What do you guys think?
