I have an honest question for you, Mr. Konig: what would need to be changed to make vivariums worth it, in your opinion? I'm really asking
What did you do in Planet Zoo today?
- Thread starter Indoraptor27
- Start date
Because this isnt really the right thread for it, i will keep it short.
I can sum up my problems in 3 main issues:
1. They are plain uninteresting. They are a big cube thats decently pretty to look at from the sides when covering up everything besides the glas. Its as uninteractive as it can get, place cube, select the animal, maybe search the animal once or twice, cover it up and never look at it again.
2. They are not fun. Like mentioned above, theres neither a creative/building interaction or a watching interaction like you have when looking at your zoo and spot something funny going on. You only notice the animals if you search for them, the process of building them is uninteresting and if anything their size limits their usecases by alot.
3. They are clunky. Like mentioned above, they are way to big to fit in most sensible builds. You can just cover parts of it to try to make it look smaller, which really shouldnt be the solution to try to build anything even remotly realistic.
So what possible fixes do i have in mind?
There is 1 simple fix that would make them amazing, but i doubt frontier would ever do (but i really hope that modders can figure that one out with time) and one more realistic, eventhough id still doubt theyd be much better.
The way i would handle it would be to abandom the system in its entirty. It can and should stay for those that like the way it is now, but in addition to that exhibit animals should be placeable like props. They will idle on that spot like they do in the tanks rn and there could be different props with different idle animations.
That way, allmost all of the creative limitations are gone and we can do whatever the hack we want with them.
Turtle pond? Sure here you go, place some turtles on wood and stones in your pond, while also add some that will swim on a spot.
Free roaming insects, amphibians and reptiles in a tropical house? Here you go, place them whereever you want!
Actual realistic exhibit? Sure breath live into your faux exhibits as easy as pressing a button!
In addition to that, most of the small placeable exhibit enritchment things should be building pieces as well, making the building of faux exhibits much easier.
Also Iguanas as habitat animals, because this is my wishfull thinking and thats my wish.
And for other solutions? Ngl, aslong as theyd stay in those stupid boxes i wont be satisfied and propaply ignore them.
People talk high and mighty about an exhibit update with smaller exhibits and more customisability, but does anybody actually have an idear how exactly that would be or if it even be possible?
Real life arthropod exhibits are often not bigger then the small exhibit info sign, which for all intense and purposes while realistic,would be to small for any interaction in the game.
Your guests might look at it, but for you thd player it would be even harder and less appealing to look at it.
+ aslong as they stay in those boxes, customisabilty would still be limited and just come with toggles or cluttering up the exhibit with other pieces.
Smaller boxes would defenetly help, but they would just be a bandage fix for the bigger problem that designing and especally building stuff in the realistic small scale of most real life terrarium and vivariums is really hard in planet zoo, as its something a whole game on its own could feature about.
Im honest, i do not see much hope for the exhibit system and abandoning it, letting us us freely use the props and animals in our builds would propaply the best solution that im very sure frontier would never do.
I can sum up my problems in 3 main issues:
1. They are plain uninteresting. They are a big cube thats decently pretty to look at from the sides when covering up everything besides the glas. Its as uninteractive as it can get, place cube, select the animal, maybe search the animal once or twice, cover it up and never look at it again.
2. They are not fun. Like mentioned above, theres neither a creative/building interaction or a watching interaction like you have when looking at your zoo and spot something funny going on. You only notice the animals if you search for them, the process of building them is uninteresting and if anything their size limits their usecases by alot.
3. They are clunky. Like mentioned above, they are way to big to fit in most sensible builds. You can just cover parts of it to try to make it look smaller, which really shouldnt be the solution to try to build anything even remotly realistic.
So what possible fixes do i have in mind?
There is 1 simple fix that would make them amazing, but i doubt frontier would ever do (but i really hope that modders can figure that one out with time) and one more realistic, eventhough id still doubt theyd be much better.
The way i would handle it would be to abandom the system in its entirty. It can and should stay for those that like the way it is now, but in addition to that exhibit animals should be placeable like props. They will idle on that spot like they do in the tanks rn and there could be different props with different idle animations.
That way, allmost all of the creative limitations are gone and we can do whatever the hack we want with them.
Turtle pond? Sure here you go, place some turtles on wood and stones in your pond, while also add some that will swim on a spot.
Free roaming insects, amphibians and reptiles in a tropical house? Here you go, place them whereever you want!
Actual realistic exhibit? Sure breath live into your faux exhibits as easy as pressing a button!
In addition to that, most of the small placeable exhibit enritchment things should be building pieces as well, making the building of faux exhibits much easier.
Also Iguanas as habitat animals, because this is my wishfull thinking and thats my wish.
And for other solutions? Ngl, aslong as theyd stay in those stupid boxes i wont be satisfied and propaply ignore them.
People talk high and mighty about an exhibit update with smaller exhibits and more customisability, but does anybody actually have an idear how exactly that would be or if it even be possible?
Real life arthropod exhibits are often not bigger then the small exhibit info sign, which for all intense and purposes while realistic,would be to small for any interaction in the game.
Your guests might look at it, but for you thd player it would be even harder and less appealing to look at it.
+ aslong as they stay in those boxes, customisabilty would still be limited and just come with toggles or cluttering up the exhibit with other pieces.
Smaller boxes would defenetly help, but they would just be a bandage fix for the bigger problem that designing and especally building stuff in the realistic small scale of most real life terrarium and vivariums is really hard in planet zoo, as its something a whole game on its own could feature about.
Im honest, i do not see much hope for the exhibit system and abandoning it, letting us us freely use the props and animals in our builds would propaply the best solution that im very sure frontier would never do.
I admit, I should have known the answer before hand, but when I asked @NZFanatic for a prompt what to build as my next one shot habitat he wished for Giant Pandas. I obeyed and here's the work of a couple of sessions.
EDIT: Added the back of the shelter habitat.
EDIT: Added the back of the shelter habitat.
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Very nice! Love the theming! It reminds me somewhat of the red panda habitat at Wellington Zoo!
That must be your inspirational influence then, I looked sooomewhat at the habitat in Berlin, but only to get an idea about foliage. Either I overlooked hot wire or Pandas don't rip everything apart.
I vaguely remember seeing the pandas at Berlin Zoo many years ago, but I assume things have changed. The red panda habitat at Wellington is pretty cool, you climb a little hill into a Nepalese temple garden. Red pandas on one side and on the other is an aviary with Himalayan monals and Derbyan parakeets.
I’ve yet to see a zoo where iguana are free roaming habitat animals and rightfully so they are a bit of a escape artist. I think the exhibit animals do their intended purpose. I mean you could say give the animals more looped animations but whenever I go to my local zoo most reptiles and amphibians seem more then happy to sit perfectly still.
There are plenty of examples on the internet, especially in tropical houses.
Tropical houses don't count; they're still contained.
And? Thats still not an exhibit box but somewhere where they can roam freely, so the arguments still stands.
If you build a roof over your habitat in Planet Zoo makes no difference for the animals
Even in a tropical house there contained in a closed off room. I couldn’t see a zoo taking the careless risk of having a large male iguana free roaming as males can be territorial and leave a nasty bite. Not to mention tail whipping and sharp claws. Iguanas are best kept as exhibit animals and away from the general public. I’m sure some zoos may use a trusted individual for supervised educational purposes but I’m sure that’s about it.
I must have been hallucinating on many zoo trips then
Maybe? Alls I’m saying is iguanas probably shouldn’t be kept free roaming. Their not like a bearded dragon. I actually just read a article done by the Omaha zoo in which two zoo visitors were scratched up pretty good by a free roaming iguana. What happened to said iguana? He is no longer free roaming as the zoo of course stated safety is top priority at the facility. Honestly I think the Omaha zoo is one of the best in the world but I’m honestly shocked they’d put themselves in that position in the first place. It’s a accident waiting to happen.
It might not be common in the US, but it is fairly common in Europe. That is a fact
And we probably should take this debate elsewhere
I agree definitely the wrong place for the topic. I have read about the rhinoceros iguana being free roaming and I’m sure someone has green iguana as well but I still say green iguana is a huge risk. I’ve only known two people crazy enough to keep one as a pet. Both like many were bought on impulse and both were soon found new homes. A buddy in high school had a adult male iguana and although pretty well behaved for a adult male he was still no picnic as his claws were sharp and he had a mind of his own. I still think frontier got it right making the iguana a exhibit animal as there far from good pets let alone something you’d let guests be in the same area with.
No offense, but the reason we have them free roaming in some german zoos (I'd say "common" is a stretch) is, that german zoo visitors are... a bit less risky. Only a few people would actually touch a free roaming iguana. Getting scratched? Probably by picking them up which most of us also wouldn't do. We have less warning signs, less "Don't be an idiot" fences and if someone would get hurt because they touched an iguana, chances are they won't win a juristic fight.
When I was at Edinburgh zoo recently I heard some Americans comment to a volunteer about how low many of the fences were and that they had never seen walk-through enclosures. I’ve also read comments by Americans that European zoos are dangerous. So there are definite cultural differences and attitudes to risk.
I mean, there is no argument. At all. Frontier said in a recent interview that they're never going to change the iguanas, so any point to the contrary is just pointless blustering.
On my last visit to Edinburgh Zoo two American teenagers stole a bunch of ants from that neat exhibit they had (not sure if it's still there, but the ants moved freely across a vine from one box to another with their food).