What would you expect from a pack that costed $5, $10, or $20?
- Thread starter tigris115
- Start date
$5 - 4 animals, maybe all habitat or 3 habitat and 1 exhibit - no scenery/building pieces. OR a set that's entirely scenery and building pieces.
$10 - what we're getting now. 8 animals and no scenery/building or 5 animals and scenery/building
(going to throw in a middle $15 as well and say 8 animals and scenery/building pieces)
$20 - 10-12 animals and scenery/building pieces or anywhere from 12-20 animals, maybe 15 as the median, and no scenery pieces
I honestly pay less attention to the maps and scenarios so maybe one of each for each pack type regardless of animal/building pieces mix.
$10 - what we're getting now. 8 animals and no scenery/building or 5 animals and scenery/building
(going to throw in a middle $15 as well and say 8 animals and scenery/building pieces)
$20 - 10-12 animals and scenery/building pieces or anywhere from 12-20 animals, maybe 15 as the median, and no scenery pieces
I honestly pay less attention to the maps and scenarios so maybe one of each for each pack type regardless of animal/building pieces mix.
Honestly my most wanted pack would be 5 bucks scenery pack with only scenery related to the animals. So many are still lacking and even thouse that arnt can never have enough. Some examples would be australian road signs for the salty and snakes, a white planet zoo sign for every animal, maybe something like educational items like animal skulls, etc
Imagine an ideal world where Dlc Packs are splitted in Animals Pack and Scenery Pack, basically 10$ with the current formula for the Animals Pack (7+1 every three months) and 5$ for the Scenery Pack in between to break the usual three months of silence and to keep high the hype, pure utopia.
And this system would actually please everyone, animal lovers and builders.
And this system would actually please everyone, animal lovers and builders.
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- $5 Pack: A hyper-focused pack that would effectively be "just" animals or just scenery. Maybe about 4 animals in a given pack (+1 exhibit). Potentially more if they were all exhibit animals. The "just" for the animal pack is in quotes because we might also get an enrichment item or two, maybe some new plants, etc. I've included some examples below.
- Animal Packs
- Diggers and Burrowers: Prairie dogs, burrowing owls, wombat, black-footed ferret, naked mole rats (exhibit
- Would also include new "underground" burrows for burrowing owls, wombats, aardvarks, etc. that could serve as shelters
- Central America: Capybara, nine-banded armadillo, ocelot, kinkajou
- Would add new foliage pieces to the game as well (3-4 new plants)
- New World Monkeys: Spider monkeys, howler monkeys, golden lion tamarin, common marmoset
- Small cats: Serval, caracal, pallas' cat, Canadian lynx
- Mustelids: Wolverine, mongoose, North American river otter, honey badger
- Jungle Lizards: 8 additional tropical/jungle lizards from across the globe
- Diggers and Burrowers: Prairie dogs, burrowing owls, wombat, black-footed ferret, naked mole rats (exhibit
- Scenery Packs
- Restaurant: 4 additional table/chair sets, condiments, soda fountains, various food items, etc. Would also include additional items for line queues, some new sign pieces, maybe a customizable menu sign set
- Entrance: Various pieces to decorate the entrance including new banners, turnstiles, line queues, customizable admissions signs (that update based on the set in-game price), additional statues, etc.
- Gardening: Additional pieces to decorate in-game gardens including slate stone paths, bird houses, bee hives, fairy houses, and an array of new flowers and tees (maybe 5-6 new tree or bush types per biome/region)
- Barnyard: Adds a new barn building set, troughs, hay bales, 2-3 new fence sets, etc.
- Animal Packs
- $10 pack: What we get now!
- $20 pack: What we get now but doubled up. 8 animals and a slightly reduced scenery' building set. Would probably need to have some sort of theme to make it worth the overarching price, otherwise the building set would feel more like a forced tack-on. A few thoughts/examples below (some of which are expanded versions of what I presented for the $5 pack):
- Barnyard: Would introduce a new animal type to the game - domesticated! 2 species of sheep, 2 species of goats, 1 species of chicken, 1 species of donkey, 1 species of cow, and 1 species of rabbit. Plus a complete barnyard building set and maybe some additional foliage (NA or European based) as well as new enrichment items (e.g., salt lick)
- North American Woodlands: 8 animal species from North America (red fox, raccoon, wolverine, skunk, river otter, white-tailed deer, black bear, beaver) plus a log cabin/everglades building set, 6-8 new trees and bushes, and animal-specific enrichment items (otter slide, beaver lodge, new 'prey' toy for smaller carnivores that could be used by the foxes)
From my perspective, the future of the game feels like it would really benefit from the $5 hyper-specific scenery packs to flesh out the gaps left by the larger DLCs as well as $10 animal packs.
After the main support for the game ends, I'd love to see a model where we get a new $10 animal pack every 2-3 months with a $5 scenery or foliage pack every month in-between. That could really help to expand things and keep the community excited. From my perspective, a smaller but more steady (and versatile) array of DLC packs would help keep casual players as well as content creators continually excited about the game, rather than the sudden spike and dip we see once every few months...
Or New Zealand dollars
.I've always thought the current DLC model was fine. The Sims model of smaller packs alongside big expansions, and game packs, and now those random little kits, obviously works, but it's also clear that their fanbase isn't happy about it even if they are spending the money, so I don't know that expanding the model into different price points is the best idea.
In any case, for a $5 pack I'd expect something like the Deluxe add-on. Three habitat animals and that's it, or the equivalent value of exhibit animals and scenery (which none of us actually can equate). The $10 model is fine as-is. For $20 dollars I'd expect the SEA Animal Pack + scenery.
$5 pack. 4-5 animals No scenery. Related to already released packs.
Arctic Pack Animals - Arctic Fox, Musk Ox, Arctic hare and Walrus
Australia Pack - Tasmanian Devil, wombat, echidna, emu and frilled neck lizard
South America Pack- Capybara, sloth, ocelot, maned wolf and yellow spotted river turtle
Aquatic Pack - North American beaver, Australian fur seal, rockhopper penguin, marine iguana and eastern snake-necked turtle
Africa pack - African Leopard, Nile crocodile, honey badger, jackal and black mamba
SEA pack - Malayan civet, Malayan tiger, slow loris, Gaur and Tokay Gecko
$10 like existing model. 5 animals with scenery. With North American and European. Both would have $5 packs released at a later date.
North American - American Alligator, cougar, white tailed deer, raccoon and cottonmouth - scenery to include Native American art and sculptures with New Orleans bayou style buildings.
$5 pack - NA river otter, nine banded armadillo, skunk, bobcat and hellbender
Europe - European Moose, Eurasian Lynx, European badger, Fallow deer and European green lizard
$5 pack - Wisent, red deer, wild boar, red Fox and European pond turtle
Scenery to include cobblestone walls, and moss covered roofs as well as building styles of the Netherlands with colourful walls as well as Dutch windmills.
$20 - Two of these packs. The obvious ones. An Aviary pack and an Aquarium pack. Up to 15-20 animals consisting of 8-10 larger animals and 8-10 smaller animals. I haven’t flushed these out at all yet as there is just so much to choose from.
Arctic Pack Animals - Arctic Fox, Musk Ox, Arctic hare and Walrus
Australia Pack - Tasmanian Devil, wombat, echidna, emu and frilled neck lizard
South America Pack- Capybara, sloth, ocelot, maned wolf and yellow spotted river turtle
Aquatic Pack - North American beaver, Australian fur seal, rockhopper penguin, marine iguana and eastern snake-necked turtle
Africa pack - African Leopard, Nile crocodile, honey badger, jackal and black mamba
SEA pack - Malayan civet, Malayan tiger, slow loris, Gaur and Tokay Gecko
$10 like existing model. 5 animals with scenery. With North American and European. Both would have $5 packs released at a later date.
North American - American Alligator, cougar, white tailed deer, raccoon and cottonmouth - scenery to include Native American art and sculptures with New Orleans bayou style buildings.
$5 pack - NA river otter, nine banded armadillo, skunk, bobcat and hellbender
Europe - European Moose, Eurasian Lynx, European badger, Fallow deer and European green lizard
$5 pack - Wisent, red deer, wild boar, red Fox and European pond turtle
Scenery to include cobblestone walls, and moss covered roofs as well as building styles of the Netherlands with colourful walls as well as Dutch windmills.
$20 - Two of these packs. The obvious ones. An Aviary pack and an Aquarium pack. Up to 15-20 animals consisting of 8-10 larger animals and 8-10 smaller animals. I haven’t flushed these out at all yet as there is just so much to choose from.
Couldn't possibly agree more. We are fast approaching the point (if we haven't hit it already) where a handful of "filler" animals will benefit the game more than an equal number of additional big ticket animals.
I too think we are getting to a point where Frontier is going to have to re-evaluate how they approach PZ’s DLC if they wish to continue them. Majority of the animals they have featured in their DLCs have been the classic “ABC” species, which are primarily charismatic megafauna. I understand their decision to do so as they likely wanted to play it safe financially and ensure that the casual player (which most of PZ’s dlc buyers are) knows and already loves majority of the species featured in a pack. The problem is though that by filling each pack with mainly “stars” and typically having just one option that is not well known by the larger public, Frontier has potentially made it far more difficult for themselves to capitalize on a greater range of future DLCs and ensure that majority of the casual player audience would be interested.
The Africa pack is a prime example of this. Not only did the pack feature the White Rhino, but also the Fennec Fox and Meerkat. All three of these animals were some of the PZ community’s most requested animals until the point of the pack’s release. Knowing that the White Rhino and Meerkat were two of the community’s most requested species, Frontier could have easily made both these species “headliners” in two separate packs. I’m not saying that the Africa pack isn’t amazing, I personally think it is, but in some ways I wonder if Frontier didn’t potentially limit themselves in additional DLC opportunities.
Hopefully my concerns aren’t necessary and casual players will still be interested in DLCs that may not have a well-known, “headliner” species. If the rumors I’ve heard are true though and the SEA pack didn’t have nearly the financial success of PZ’s other DLC, I can’t help but wonder if it was simply because the pack lacked a species that was iconic enough publicly. What would the outcomes had been if Frontier had held-back the Orangutan from the base game and promoted it as the face of SEA pack?
I’m also totally aware though that the potential underperformance of the SEA pack could actually be caused more so by the DLC’s lack of building pieces and could have nothing to do with Frontier’s species selection. I should also mention too that perhaps all the rumors aren’t true and the SEA pack was in fact a financial success. Hopefully we will receive clarification on this in the coming months as Frontier shares some sales stats with their investors.
To touch on how Frontier could expand their DLC formatting, I don’t really see them moving towards DLC that is larger in scale than any of the ones we’ve already received (although I personally wish they would and I’m totally willing to pay a higher price point for it). I think at most, we would receive one or two of these more “expansion-style” DLC if development continues through 2022. Something similar in scale to Planet Coaster’s Ghostbuster pack.
Really the current model of roughly $10 USD seems to work well and is selling enough to not only keep Frontier updating the game but also continue to invest in the creation of more DLC. Maybe once Frontier has felt they’ve adequately presented “continent-based” packs they can move more into biomes and habitats. I could see something like a “Temperate Pack”, “Mountain Pack”, or “Marine Pack” doing really well. Additionally, something more abstract like an “Islands Pack” or “Endangered Species Pack” would also be an option that could pull together diverse and iconic species.
Smaller packs (something around $5 USD) could also be a nice option to keep income flowing in for Frontier as they start to close in on finishing official support for the PC version of the game. It costs them money to keep the Franchise servers up and running and small packs that feature two or three animals with maybe a few pieces of scenery would be a win-win for both the community and Frontier. It’s easy money for them as these smaller projects could be achieved with a small team and the community would be pleased to still occasionally receive new material.
Well, I think you would want to anchor each pack with a "headliner." A "must have" reason to buy the pack. I do think it's cool/interesting to delve into animals that are less popular, more niche, etc. But you need something to really drive sales, whether that be building pieces or a top requested animal. Or a super versatile, regularly asked for set of building pieces.
I think what the SEA pack lacked was a super strong reason for people who are builders to purchase. And while I, personally, am a massive fan of all the animals in that pack? I'm not surprised it supposedly didn't do as well as the others... Several animals were perceived as 'clones' or similar to animals already in game by a number of people. And the unique animals aren't very well-known (and in two cases--were kinda ugly). This isn't my perspective, just what I've seen talked about.
I'd imagine the DLC might have sold better if they had a silver langur instead of the proboscis monkey and a gibbon instead of the tapir... And they just gave away the tapir with a free mini-update somewhere along the lines.
The packs that seem to get the best reception thus far are the ones that have at least one "must-have" animal, animals that are cute and unique, along with some decent building pieces that are very versatile. Africa and the Aquatic Pack are great examples of this.
This is a really good critique, though I think there's plenty of "headliners" left if they shuffle the deck in a different way each time. Focusing on "regions" is very limiting.
But let's say they were to release a mini-animal pack for $5. "Wild Cats" with the African leopard, bobcat or lynx, a new tiger sub-species, and a Pallas' cat. There's a headliner (leopard), a relatively well-known and popular species (bobcat or lynx), a "clone" that would be relatively easy to create, and an oddball one that's less popular but could get some notoriety in game because it's so unique. It also saves a few (caracal, serval, sand cat) for other packs. The Africa pack worked really well because it had two very popular species, a new feature, an animal that wasn't the most "iconic" one but was close enough that it works (white rhino), and one that's kind of similar to things that are in-game but unique in that it lives in a warmer climate.
When the game was initially announced, what you've outlined is kind of what I expected them to do. A mixture of continent/region-focused DLC as well as animal types, biome types, etc. And I fully agree that pivoting to that approach could do them really well! Especially if they add more foliage and enrichment items.
If they continued doing bigger packs once every few months with smaller packs in-between (pure animal or pure scenery) with very focused themes, and maybe focusing on "function" rather than location? It would probably be easier to do! I would imagine a "Gardening Scenery Pack" would require less research than, say, a Central American theme with an Adobo-specific building style, Native American artwork, etc.
Sorry to snip most of your post out but I wanted to highlight these two - great post all around though.
Africa I think still has the opportunity to have other highlighted animals in another pack maybe even two. I would agree that the Rhino and Meerkat were far and away the two most wanted animals from that region (and for the most part most of the time, overall prior to the pack's release) but I think I can also see why they doubled up on two "stars" for this pack. So they wouldn't have the backlash at stretching them out to two packs, knowing these were two animals that many would consider "must haves", that they would be disgruntled at having to buy two packs to get them. That and...of course keeping one of the two of them out of the game for longer. I think the Fennec and Penguins were great additions, but both the Rhino and Meerkat just needed to go ahead and get in the game at that point.
Other headliners though, to a lesser extent - Africa has a huge amount of potential yet to be included. There's still a lot of people wanting the Red River Hog, Crested/Caped Porcupine, Baboons, Leopards, Caracals, Honey Badgers, Jackals (no??? well maybe just me on that one), and more antelopes that you could shake a stick at. Along with animals similar to what we already have like the Black Rhino. Do I think this could fall into the same situation as the Asia pack with no headliner? To a lesser extent yes, but I don't think as extreme.
Bringing me to the SEA pack. I do agree that there wasn't really a single "headline" animal. it felt like they chose to make the banner animal the Sun Bear because there had already been the leak about them. The trailer showed a lot of the Clouded Leopard (my favorite of the pack), and a bit of the Babirusa. Probably the three more popularly requested of the pack. None of which to me really felt like a headliner. Had they included a Gibbon, I think that would have been a winner. More importantly, if they had not just limited it to "South East" Asia, but Asia over all, they could have brought in the highly requested Amur Leopard as another potential headliner. And while not a headliner, I know some of us would have loved to have seen an Asian Small Clawed Otter, even though we'd just gotten the first otter in the pack prior to SEA.
In a way feel like Frontier constrained themselves a little by keeping to just the South East Asian region, and then opted to not include the one animal that could have served as a brilliant and highly requested star animal. I know there's more to it than that in terms of coding, but the fact remains they opted not to go through that with that coding for it (at this time). And while really do like the SEA pack, it definitely does feel like it's a pack of "runner up" animals without a star to carry the pack.
Quick final additional point. to use your example of the Orangutan. We got a lot of animals in the base game, more than have ever come with a base game in the zoo genre (excluding that 2013 Zoo Tycoon and it's "20 different lions" type of number padding). I think if they'd left out something like the Orangutan, it would have been fine, and they could have easily served as a headliner to the SEA pack. Sure they would have been very high on the requested animals lists, but that's how they get to be the star animals of the packs.
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