Where do you find inspiration + references (for buildings etc.)?

solacefruit

solacefruit
Hey, everyone! Not sure if this is the right thread for this, so I'm sorry in advance if I'm in the wrong place.

I love the building aspect of this game (never played Planet Coaster, so I've been learning the system for the first time)--but I've got a long way to go before I'd describe myself as "good" at it! I've seen so many players create really beautiful architecture and design really neat buildings and other non-habitat spaces for their zoos, and I'm working towards that kind of skill for myself. I'll be honest, though: it's pretty intimidating, particularly since there's so many building pieces in the game so far.

So I wanted to turn to you all to ask where you draw your inspiration for your builds (particularly buildings + shelters etc.), and how/where do you find reference images for architecture and such? I'm definitely at a stage where I'm trying to learn through imitation and I think reference images would be super useful, but it's hard to know where to begin.

Any advice or recommendations you can offer are very welcome! Plus if you have any tips or suggestions for an aspiring Planet Zoo architect, I'm all ears and would be very grateful. Cheers!
 

crg_41

crg_41
I didn't play planet coaster neither so I've been at your place too. I would reccomend you to start slowly and don't rush, in my first "complex" building I spent almost a month, a kind of tropical house for gorillas and okapis, and I'm quite happy with the result. Also, for inspiration I use mostly real life zoos that I've been to and pictures through the internet. I get the most inspiration from Berlin Zoo, probably my favourite zoo. Just google zoo habitat and the animal you want, or zoo inspiration, or something like that and you'll get some really good pictures to think and create. I will also reccomend you to check a web called Zooinstitutes, which has photos of a lot of exhibits and gates and maps and general views of a lot of zoos around the world, for me it's really helpful sometimes, and also has photos of the signage in case you want some inspiration for some custom billboards. I hope it helps you. 😃😊
 

solacefruit

solacefruit
@crg_41 Thank you, that's very helpful! I didn't know about Zooinstitutes, but that's very much the kind of resource I was looking for.

I'm also seeking just general architecture for guest buildings around the zoo, so if anyone's got suggestions for finding those, that would be stellar.
 

DarthQuell

DarthQuell
I get inspiration from local zoos and all the awesome builds I've seen here and on Steam. But I'm not the best builder around.

As always, don't give up if it looks terrible. I've been tempted to give up before but i kept going, and now my builds are ×10 better than when I first started (not the best, of course, but way better)
 

Bearcat9948

Bearcat9948
Zoo Tours on YouTube is great. It's just a guy who tours around the U.S going to different zoos and aquariums. He usually breaks it up by section, so like he'll have a video over a zoos Africa section, then another about the Asia section. It makes it really easy to see what habitats look like at a ground level without having to either visit it yourself or scour the internet for good enough pictures.

There's also ZooChat, which is a website the just generally has a lot of info about zoos, including habitat pictures and diagrams. Some very knowledgeable people over there!
 

solacefruit

solacefruit
Thank you so much, everyone, this is really helpful! I've definitely seen some absolutely amazing builds created by Planet Zoo players and it's very inspiring--but also overwhelming for sure, so I'm glad to have these suggestions to look into. These resources sound fantastic and I'm keen to check them out soon!
 

solacefruit

solacefruit
I'm familiar with their channels. They're very fun to watch, but not really what I'm looking for re: references for my own designs and projects. I'm not really looking to recreate their habitats and buildings (especially since they're kind enough to put many of their blueprints on the workshop). Thanks for the suggestion anyway!
 
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