Variety Pack

Caemoxie · Dec 3, 2020

I was wondering how people might feel about an essentially resize/reskin variety pack down the line? So far, PZ DLC has focused on a small, quality-focused selection of animals. So they tend to be relatively unique and icon animals for their given theme. And I think that's great for now and I hope they keep it up! But somewhere down the lie, I think it might be kind of great to have a big pack that just adds animals that are similar to animals already have. Essentially animals that are too visually and behaviorally similar to ones that we already have to include in the type of small DLCs we're seeing now.

So something like $20 with animals like:

Malayan Tiger (Also South China, Indo-Chinese, ect.)
Asiatic Lion (Cape, Barbary?)
Malayan Tapir
American black bear
Mountain Zebra (Grevy's, quaggas?)
Nile crocodile (American alligator, maybe a couple more caimans)
Black and white rhinos
More lemurs (there's a lot of them)
Masai Giraffe
Striped hyenas (aardwolf, brown) (not real sure about this one, they might be too different for a pack like this)
Dromedary camel
Emu
Amur Leopard
Arabian Oryx (Scimitar Oryx) (these guys might be too striking/iconic not to be in a themed DLC)
Giant Pangolin
A few more flamingos (a lot to pick from)
Big-horned Sheep
Grey Kangaroo
More penguins (possible examples: rock-hopper, chinstrap, macaroni)
Small-clawed otter (maybe a couple others)
Harbor seal (ribbon seal, ect)

What do you think? Is this a pack you would want to see down the line? What animals did I miss? I tried to keep the list to animals that would be pure re-colors/re-sized, no new animations, but would bring a little extra variety.

jcp011c · Dec 8, 2020

I would absolutely buy it. Can we throw another lion subspecies in there? They're one of the more iconic zoo animals, and I think those animals should get two (sub)species - (when available)

biggest_dreamer · Dec 9, 2020

I'd buy it in a heartbeat, but I also suspect that Frontier is saving more than a few of those for relatively easy additions to other packs. Let's be honest, the African rhino species will sell a 4+1 pack all on its own. The American alligator, Malayan tapir, emu, dromedary, Amur leopard, lemurs, penguins, and seals are all also prime candidates for inclusion in a more traditional DLC pack in my eyes.

Caemoxie · Dec 9, 2020

jcp011c said:
I would absolutely buy it. Can we throw another lion subspecies in there? They're one of the more iconic zoo animals, and I think those animals should get two (sub)species - (when available)

Added a couple! Didn't initially because I'm not overly familiar with their subspecies, so I don't if these are the best selection, but it's an idea.

biggest_dreamer said:
I'd buy it in a heartbeat, but I also suspect that Frontier is saving more than a few of those for relatively easy additions to other packs. Let's be honest, the African rhino species will sell a 4+1 pack all on its own. The American alligator, Malayan tapir, emu, dromedary, Amur leopard, lemurs, penguins, and seals are all also prime candidates for inclusion in a more traditional DLC pack in my eyes.

Almost certainly true! The format so far seems to be three "new" habitat animals (very different from what is currently available) and one species that I would include on this sort of list (Artic wolf, jaguar, dingo, dwarf caiman). Realistically (if anything like this pack ever happens), I would expect it near the end of the PZ supported lifespan as a sort of "cleanup" pack that would implement some relatively easily added animals for variety's sake before they move on. So I fully expect that this wishlist would expand and shrink as time goes on.

jcp011c · Dec 9, 2020

Caemoxie said:
Added a couple! Didn't initially because I'm not overly familiar with their subspecies, so I don't if these are the best selection, but it's an idea.

Almost certainly true! The format so far seems to be three "new" habitat animals (very different from what is currently available) and one species that I would include on this sort of list (Artic wolf, jaguar, dingo, dwarf caiman). Realistically (if anything like this pack ever happens), I would expect it near the end of the PZ supported lifespan as a sort of "cleanup" pack that would implement some relatively easily added animals for variety's sake before they move on. So I fully expect that this wishlist would expand and shrink as time goes on.

Thanks for adding the lions. I think an Asiatic works great. Given that Lions are one of the biggest draws of many zoos I thought having variety was good, like with have with two elephants and tigers. But hey, if there was a second subspecies of the giant panda (arguably the biggest draw in the zoos lucky enough to have them), I'd want that added to. but, like I said...when available.

I'd really love it if they kept with the 4 +1 model and then put out a yearly variety pack of reskins, even if it was say half a dozen to a dozen. Or, just released a reskin animal monthly, for a cheaper cost (Maybe $1 USD per animal?) That way it could get a lot of these animals into the game without sacrificing spaces in the main packs. And that is my worry and it's two fold - if they put these in the main packs, that takes away a space for another variety of animal (I will give allowance to an African Rhino being in a pack since it's so iconic and heavily requested). But if they only go for variety, you also lose out as well because you don't have a choice of which species to use - Say for example you want a lion, well right now you have to go with the one (sub)species. Tiger, you may usually use a bengal but say you can shift that a little with a siberian tiger right now. Tapir - well, you have to use the South American version, but if you are doing an asian animal themed zoo, it wouldn't fit where as a malayan one would. Examples like that are what I mean by choice. I'd love to have a choice of two of all the main, iconic and big draw animals (again, if available of course)