What more did you hope to get in the game this year?
- Thread starter Orque41
- Start date
I’d have to say more animals for sure. Habitat,aquatic,semi aquatic and exhibit. Also the introduction of aviary content and mechanics. I don’t know about enlarging the zoo map tho as I feel this feature would be pointless since no pc can handle a full map at high frame rates as it is. Another point to be made about a larger map is frontier probably tested how big of a map they could do before optimization suffered. I’d also like to see building sets with mesh style aviary type construction pieces and the ability to design and make custom signage for your zoos.
Meerkats
Bigger and more frequent DLC packs without new mechanics and building pieces - just animals.
Animal of the month DLC - to create an animal library where you could buy animals by art.
New plants.
Aviaries.
Better water visibility in underwater enclosures.
Small mammals in exibits and bigger exibits.
Easy working mods tool.
Animal of the month DLC - to create an animal library where you could buy animals by art.
New plants.
Aviaries.
Better water visibility in underwater enclosures.
Small mammals in exibits and bigger exibits.
Easy working mods tool.
I don't expect it to be implemented but I hope for
- Quality if live updates that streamline the UI and make managing big zoos less of a hassle
- Smaller hitboxes that allow the creation of more realistic functional habitats. Smaller hitbox would allow us to build realistic sized doors for the animals and decrease the habitat size cost of decorations like rocks or elephant grass.
- Smaller maps for franchise with more interesting (or at least different) surroundings. I don't need space that I can't fill anyways with the current performance constrains (at least as long as I want an detailed zoo and playable FPS). Especially a city background on a tight map would be nice
- More realistic temperatures in the biomes. I shouldn't need to depend on coolers or heaters to keep some animals in their native biome
- Bigger Dlc (now that we have dive i would like to see, where possible, 1 acquatic or semi acquatic animals per pack in addition)
- Biome Selection Tool (my number one request at the moment, i know how they answered about this, but i don't want lo lose my hope)
- Revamp of the animal market in Sandbox (I play sandbox very often and i don't ever found an albino so far) so i would like a tool to ""create"" my animal
- Less themed objects but more simple Zoo objects (I love the wall panels introducted in the acquatic pack, i hope to see at least one for biome)
- Improved glass quality and more glass pieces in general
- More compatibility for the enrichment items (My aardwarks don't have the natural termite mound yet, even if Chante said that they'are working on it since the South America update
) - Eggs (I will be satisfied even with a simple static object)
Antmar97 said:
I second this and I don't want to give up hopes on this either. It is just so necessary for indoor habitats, which look a bit ridiculous with the same biome soil and grass as the rest of the zoo. Especially when you have a zoo in the deepest tundra and the indoor habitat is tropical or vice versa.
A proper visitor mode
I wish for:
What I think we will get:
Can you tell I gave up on the thought that this game will every meet it's full potential, great basegame aside? Whoever is in charge of planning content, DLCs and resources to work on this game dropped the ball in Spring 2020. And no, it's not the pandemics fault. People who use this argument usually also say, we should only listen to official sources and officially Frontier is still on track.
And again: This game could have been a franchise successful for 6 years if done correctly.
- Bigger and more substantial DLCs
- Less "lazy" implemented features (currently the genetic doesn't work, the educators do the same silly rawr for a lion as they do for an advark etc.)
- Better communication (e.g. roadmap)
- Better quality testing (the bugs which each update go out of hand and a lot are still not fixed)
- A big 2nd year anniversary to make up for the awful year 1 anniversary.
- More Management options
- The pre-relased promised "unique personalities" (again: Please not another half-baked implementation).
What I think we will get:
- Nothing from above
- A "hey, here is a new 4 animal DLC, give us your money!" Announcement every three month and utter silence in between
- A lot more of missed potential for the game, not seen by Frontier. But they'll blame a lack of customer interest for the low numbres.
- More questionable "wellfare" decisions
- 4 flying birds
Can you tell I gave up on the thought that this game will every meet it's full potential, great basegame aside? Whoever is in charge of planning content, DLCs and resources to work on this game dropped the ball in Spring 2020. And no, it's not the pandemics fault. People who use this argument usually also say, we should only listen to official sources and officially Frontier is still on track.
And again: This game could have been a franchise successful for 6 years if done correctly.
I agree planet zoo has the potential to make frontier money for 3-5 yrs easily. I do feel like planet coaster got way more attention from frontier as well which is a shame because planet zoo is a much better game imo. Planet coaster is a great game also imo but PZ has potential to be even better. And last yes the terrible anniversary. No excuse for this one and a terrible missed opportunity. Now don’t get me wrong frontier did a amazing job on aquatic dlc and I really hope this game will meet its full potential. I guess will see what 2021 brings as I feel like the game has endless possibilities and potential if given the proper support.
That's a pure pessimistic point of view, but you're right at the moment. It seems like they are the first to give up on this game and i don't know why honestly. For the future Dlcs they have more than a year of feedback, i really hope they understand that the 4+1 formula is wrong for this game. For sure there are plenty of whishlist on the forum and the can't satisfy all of us, but i like to think that something will change in 2021 from this side. I'm happy that the release of the aquatic pack has raised the active users but this is only a great start, and i really really really hope to see the game at full potential one day.
The anniversary, yeah, not even an in game object, very hard to forget, but it's ok, better leave this year behind and move to the next..please Frontier don't let us down
The anniversary, yeah, not even an in game object, very hard to forget, but it's ok, better leave this year behind and move to the next..please Frontier don't let us down
Honestly, I feel like the whole team are coaster enthusiast ONLY, but no zoo enthusiast. No one that figured that Asian small clawed Otters are very common in zoos while giant Otters are not. No one that knew that no zoo actually has a polar bear habitat like is needed in the game. No one who was active in the community of previous zoo game and realized it works different than a theme park community ( e.g. the DLC model doesn't work out). But that is what is needed. Someone that really gets zoos, have been to more than two zoos and knows at least some basic zoo managements. (For example how animals between zoos are sometimes hard to trade, because there are too much or too little from a species).
All in all someone who gives this game more depth and helps it to not be just the unloved little sister of Planet Coaster.
Ever since the South American pack was announced people have been very vocal about the 4 habitat animals DLC model being insufficient.
4 months later we got the Australian pack with 4 animals again...Back then, the pandemic, the difficulty of making animals and the fact that Frontier probably already had a 1 year roadmap were used as the arguments why we kept getting these DLCs. Of course this was never communicated by Frontier but argumented by some other players. Fair enough, I reluctantly accepted that reasoning.
3 and a half months and no anniversary update later we got the Aquatic pack...4 animals, again. It feels that every DLC that pops up it's a missed opportunity. After 1 year I believe it is about time that Frontier do something about this. Literally in every social media platform people are screaming for more animals. Here, reddit, discord, steam reviews, etc. At this point, the pandemic, the initial roadmap and the difficulty of creating animals are not valid arguments to me anymore, especially since that video about reusing rigs was published.
The continuation of this 4 animal DLC models can only mean three things:
1) It's a business decision from the start and they are not changing it.
2) They purposely put less workforce on PZ's DLCs because they're focused on other proyects.
3) They don't care about that piece of feedback.
The 3rd option is not very likely but unfortunately the 1st or the 2nd (or a mix of both) are very plausible reasons why we keep getting these DLCs. Another 4 animals DLC would confirm it 100%.
So yeah:
4 months later we got the Australian pack with 4 animals again...Back then, the pandemic, the difficulty of making animals and the fact that Frontier probably already had a 1 year roadmap were used as the arguments why we kept getting these DLCs. Of course this was never communicated by Frontier but argumented by some other players. Fair enough, I reluctantly accepted that reasoning.
3 and a half months and no anniversary update later we got the Aquatic pack...4 animals, again. It feels that every DLC that pops up it's a missed opportunity. After 1 year I believe it is about time that Frontier do something about this. Literally in every social media platform people are screaming for more animals. Here, reddit, discord, steam reviews, etc. At this point, the pandemic, the initial roadmap and the difficulty of creating animals are not valid arguments to me anymore, especially since that video about reusing rigs was published.
The continuation of this 4 animal DLC models can only mean three things:
1) It's a business decision from the start and they are not changing it.
2) They purposely put less workforce on PZ's DLCs because they're focused on other proyects.
3) They don't care about that piece of feedback.
The 3rd option is not very likely but unfortunately the 1st or the 2nd (or a mix of both) are very plausible reasons why we keep getting these DLCs. Another 4 animals DLC would confirm it 100%.
So yeah:
- More animals in each DLC or simply a different model (1 extra 'reskinned' animal per month or something like that).
- A bit more communication and information, which are different things. Sometimes there's communication but very few information about things being worked on or which are being looked to be fixed. No more obscurantism for 2 and half months, please.
- Some fix for the murky underwater viewing areas and glass panels.
- Revamp on the animal market in at least Sandbox mode. It still puzzles me that this hasn't been tackled. When are we going to have a search tool for species? A filter by continent or biome? Ideally, there should only be one individual tab for each species in the market. When you select it, you can choose the gender, the coat variation, the age and even the personality (if ever implemented).
- More basic/generic/utilitarian zoo scenery. Mesh, chainlink roof, animal gates (functional or more variety of static ones), backstage props (shelves, crates, staff vehicles, pallet trucks), 'natural' enrichment items, more faux trees, more fences, playgrounds, education boards, etc.
- 'Zoomaker's Toolkit'. There is one in PC, I don't get why this is not in PZ yet. Another business decision I guess.
- More flexible traversable area and smaller hitboxes. Animals should have less strict movement restrictions when navigating through rocks, foliage, and objects in general. This is very apparent when animals can't go into their shelters through a massive hole/gate or when mammals other than ungulates can't navigate on not too steep rock formations. If implemented, some kind of burrowing could be a thing. For that to happen, I believe the hitbox should ideally be based on the animal's width and not the animal length. I know this is very hard to implement so I'd understand if it is not changed.
- More variety in the exhibit boxes. At least add a smaller and a bigger version. Ideally, add more variety in shapes and more freedom when choosing the soil, rocks and foliage.
- Minor revision on the path system. Not asking to revamp the whole system as it is inherent to the Cobra engine, apparently. Just make it possible to have kerb-less elevated paths, null paths, more natural staff paths, 2m and 3m guest and staff paths.
- Find a solution to remove that weird requirement or technical limitation that doesn't allow diving animals to prompt diving animations unless there's a 4x4x4m cube (or bigger) in the water tank.
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My only question tho, if they had a contents roadmap for the entire year, it's possible that they didn't plan anyhing for the anniversary? It feels strange. Getting nothing on that day, knowing the other Frontier games, is what make me feels like a secondary choice, not because i want free items, animals ecc.. but it was a special day and they treat it like a normal one, with some posts on the social and game giveaway. It was an anniversary for who didn't have the game not for us who already had bought it. It could have been anything, even a cake static item that no one would ever use, but al least it was something. 
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If it helps, the frontier annual report has planet zoo listed as being supported to 2024. And investments overall left them in a good enough position to afford to begin producing two new games, so they have funding to do more.
@Khaidu that is fantastic news if true. Despite some of my comments (constructive criticism only) there’s no denying the talent the team has working on the game and support till 2024 would provide the necessary time to add many more amazing things and animals without rushing the timeframe which at the current rate could be a extra 80-100 animals over the base game (including current dlc). Like I said this game has tons of potential and habitat design is definitely my favorite thing in planet zoo. You can literally design anything habitat wise. With prehistoric kingdom on the way these two games will keep me plenty busy.
My only question tho, if they had a contents roadmap for the entire year, it's possible that they didn't plan nothing for the anniversary? It feels strange. Getting nothing on that day, knowing the other Frontier games, is what make me feels like a secondary choice, not because i want free items, animals ecc.. but it was a special day and they treat it like a normal one, with some posts on the social and game giveaway. It was an anniversary for who didn't have the game not for us who already had bought it. It could have been anything, even a cake static item that no one would ever use, but al least it was something.
Yep, I totally did not see that comming either. I was so sure that we will get at least one free animal. Not that I demand anything for free, but because it was unthinkable for me that they would not do anything, especially that Planet Coaster got ALOT free stuff for their 1st anniversary AND a DLC after that, so I assumed they treat their own IP´s with love on the anniversary, but oh well.
I have no idea why it was decided as it was, surely a free malayan tapir or anything that does not require new rig could have been planned very much in advance, so the "But theres pandemic!" argument simply does not work for me this time. Yes, its probably more difficult on many aspects, but I am pretty sure the animals can be done as well from home as it would be from a workplace.
- Biome selection tool in sandbox
- Option to have maps with no/less dramatic background scenery.
- Manually control temperature in sandbox
- Realistic zoo building pieces including mesh roofs. Baffling that we still don’t have these in a zoo building game.
- More animals.
- Possibility to upload our own images for signs and educational materials.
- More animals
- Generic Zoo building pieces
- Customizable banners and screens
- Vista points