UI/UX that could use an improvement

[FutureFear]

The last few weeks I've been spending quite some in Planet Zoo again.
Even though I'm really looking forward to the 1.4 update, which might fix some issues mentioned below...
I still like to share my thoughts on UI/UX and just maybe some of them might still be able to fit in the 1.4 update.

As a professional designer I tend to have a critical eye when it comes to UI and UX, call it a professional deformity.

First and foremost what annoys me the most, is the habitat barrier's UI, so here a "short" list:

• Buttons overlapping, inaccessible with certain camera angles.
• Buttons disappearing/bugging out when moving, selecting, lowering, raising the barriers.
• When barriers bug out, the only thing to do is going out off and back in the barrier edit menu. (because they disappeared)
• When clicking the edit barrier button on the "habitat window" the camera moves/zooms in, quite annoying.
• Deleting part of barriers or a whole habitat is/feels clumsy and has no button.

I'm sure other people could add some more things to this list...


Second annoying UI/UX things, more all over the place:

• Every menu where there's a list of animals not having a search bar to type in. (This should have been in the game from BETA, a year later it still isn't)
• staff upgrade/train all button(s) and/or adding such a button per staff category.
• In the construction menu, it would be handy to also get the "reverse" options for filter; for example: Climbable we have, but "not-climbable" we don't have...?
  Even though we can create custom tags for it, it's a clunky system and time consuming to add that tag to all those items. (for the devs it's probably much easier, less time consuming adding it)
• Remove the blueprints from all menus, except the dedicated blueprint menu of course.
  With that in mind, we don't need the clutter in the other menus, and you can remove the turn on/off button for it too.
• Currently not being able to search either in the zoopedia or elsewhere on continent or biome for animals.
  When building dedicated regions in our zoos "like a tropical Asian or Grassland Africa" it's quite a task figuring out what animals would fit in it.
  Having a search function/tags in those places to search for something like "Asia" and show me all animals from Asia is welcome.
• ...

Building on the grid:

• Some items move the grid plane, had this twice now with the "Clay Tiled Roof 4m Eave" in different save files. (like 1/3 or 1/2 the thickness of a 4m wall piece)
  It does get "fixed" when popping in and out editing the building/group, still annoying to do so.
• the height grid often gets placed on 0 (zero) using all kinds of different items, which tend to result in buggy behavior and items not able to align anymore (in height).
  Either make those pieces, not on the grid, or make the smallest grid height unit 1, 0.5, or 0.25 meter and not 0 (zero).

Missing Items (as in invisible when selected):

• Information building signs (both of them)
• ATM sign (with the green $ sign)
• The toilet signs (both of them)
• ...

Things I would love to see/able to do:

• Place bins on sloped paths without them floating on 1 side.
• Having all (picnic) benches, bins, and canopies able to be moved with the gizmo, even if it's only X and Z axis and not Y (height) would be game-changing.
• Barriers placed alongside paths, instead of paths alongside barriers. (Both are the best option)
• Having guest fences, like in Planet Coaster (the ones with the red ribbon, although I prefer something similar to the null barrier.
• Hide special FX, the small floating stumps really annoy me when creating waterfalls, snowstorms, collapsing caves, and zoos during fall (with summer trees and no leave piles animals can jump in).
• Save my games, for some unknown reason, my "save button" is getting grayed out after playing a while, timing seems quite random.
• able turn on/off the boxes around shops and facilities to have more creative freedom.
• bigger exhibits
• able to determine which barrier is the habitat boundary, for more creative freedom, like an aquarium walk trough with (oneway) glass on both sides and a path in the middle.

I left out any animals I would love to see because the list is incomplete. We haven't discovered all animals on the planet yet, so I'll suggest starting with the ones we do know and aren't in the game already.
Can't wait till December 8!!

 

[NZFanatic]

Also smaller exhibits.

As always, I'm baffled by the apparent need for bigger exhibits. Before anyone brings up the green iguana, the current exhibit size exceeds minimum reccommendations. If we were to get something like the green anaconda, then sure, a bigger exhibit would be nice, but currently for the animals we already have we really need exhibits that are far smaller.

Visibility might be an issue for a smaller exhibit size but in the interest of realism I'd take it anyway.

 

[FutureFear]

Also smaller exhibits.

As always, I'm baffled by the apparent need for bigger exhibits. Before anyone brings up the green iguana, the current exhibit size exceeds minimum reccommendations. If we were to get something like the green anaconda, then sure, a bigger exhibit would be nice, but currently for the animals we already have we really need exhibits that are far smaller.

Visibility might be an issue for a smaller exhibit size but in the interest of realism I'd take it anyway.

True for the smaller animals we have like frogs, spiders, scorpions, etc. a smaller version is welcome as well.
I think a more versatile size might be more correct, as in different shapes, able to shape "as in build/stack" to create more creative freedom for exhibits.
Perhaps even a no glass exhibit, more open, as some zoos/serpentaria have, not all species are poisonous or dangerous to keep in a more open environment.

Still, my wishlist is not the priority of this post.

 

[Cool Cats and Kittens]

So many good ideas!

able to determine which barrier is the habitat boundary, for more creative freedom, like an aquarium walk trough with (oneway) glass on both sides and a path in the middle

There is already an option for this somewhere in the menus on the lower right side when you select the barrier

 

[FutureFear]

So many good ideas!



There is already an option for this somewhere in the menus on the lower right side when you select the barrier

That option doesn't seem to work, at least not during the last few weeks I was playing.
I created a simple habitat with 3 squares (all connected barrier):
The first is filled with land + some water fenced off with a glass barrier.
The Second is fenced off with a glass barrier on both sides, one side is from the first square, the other from the third. There also is a path in between and null barriers where guests walk "inside" the habitat, connecting the first, and third squares. (to look underwater)
The third is a full glass barrier tank, filled with water.

The traversable area was determined by the first glass barrier (gharial).
I thought ok fine, let's make that glass wall "not a habitat barrier", with that button you mention.
Then I noticed, it's broken, because it didn't change the traversable at all, the habitat barrier was still the first glass barrier holding back the water. Which btw, I just made into "not a habitat barrier"...
While my idea, was/is to use the most outer wall as barriers for my habitat, so I don't get alerts of animals escaping when they are not...

So I used the infamous workaround of creating a null barrier around my water tank(s) not connecting them, ending up with a mess of barrier.

 

[FutureFear]

@frontier why does this happen? To help, this happened right after the gizmo stopped working properly, I can't place any items anymore using the gizmo during this session either.