Zoo layout

[Snaffles1301]

Any tips on zoo layout? Pictures?

I started my franchise zoo with a main plaza that had 2 habitats and then food and drink just to the side. My zoo then had evolved in a sort of giant circle, one side Africa and one side other countries. But now it’s a bit to cluttered and hard to make guests happy. I’ve scattered food and drink and shops around but guess keep saying their thirsty.

 

[Dr4gon]

Back to the drawing board I guess.

 

[CMDR Fresh]

Any tips on zoo layout? Pictures?

I started my franchise zoo with a main plaza that had 2 habitats and then food and drink just to the side. My zoo then had evolved in a sort of giant circle, one side Africa and one side other countries. But now it’s a bit to cluttered and hard to make guests happy. I’ve scattered food and drink and shops around but guess keep saying their thirsty.

Don't look at their recent thoughts as it makes no sense lol If you go in to zoo overview and then click the guests tab and you can get a break down of what is needed. Try to get them all green and try to make things nice with tree's and flowers and using buildings for facilities so they think the zoo is nice.

 

[NL_Mutso]

This is mine 3rd one... Bland but effective..
4 zones

2 zones per paths color - 1 for habitats/generators etc and 1 for shops
3 keepers/2 mechanics/1 vet per habitat zone. And a lot of vendors for the shop zones..

Thirst hit bar hits green occassionaly and on the overview page <10%

 

[Jaggid Edje]

The key is more about frequency of the shop placement and minimizing congestion so people aren't getting stuck for long periods of times due to the crowds more than overall layout. I experiment with different ideas of layout on ever zoo and what I've learned works best for keeping folks happiest is to have a lot of branching paths and to scatter the food and drink throughout the park rather than building food-court like places. (The problem with food courts is they attract a lot of people which leads to that congestion issue along the most common routes. Scattering them also helps attract people to different habitats nearby that might not get as much traffic otherwise.)

In the zoo I made last week for Cheetahs, my layout looked like this by the end of the challenge. 1st image is so you get a general idea of the myriad of options for direction that guests get (the branching paths) and the 2nd image is to show where all the shops are. Green buildings are shops. Where there are clusters of 3 or more shops together it's almost always 1 or 2 drink shops, 1 food shop and a souvenir shop. Next expansions are going north-center and to the east in the north east corner and in both instances another group of 1-2 drink and 1 food shop will be added with the 2-3 habitats in each of those areas. And that seems to be what works the best... Having a place for both food and drink always within no more than ~2 habitats worth of distance (unless they are really small habitats).

The zoo is a savannah biome (i.e. very hot) so guests get pretty thirsty. It bounces between them being fully (green) happy and having thirst in the yellow. As long as it's hitting green some of the time though I'm satisfied there are enough drink shops. I'm well aware that the main reason for it hitting yellow is that area along the western edge where an elevated walkway is talking visitors through the 2 very large habitats. Can't exactly put drink shops in the middle of a habitat (well you can...but I don't like how it looks) and I'm not ready to expand more to the west to give them a rest stop there.

 

[wowman]

i would look up real zoo maps and see how those layouts are

 

[Klinn]

Here's an overview of my previous zoo, the first one I built. The idea I wanted to test was centralizing almost all staff facilities in the middle to see if they could serve all of the habitats around them with no work zone micromanaging. It basically worked with pretty short distances to the habitat doors for all enclosures.

However, the zoo entrance didn't get janitorial service as frequently as it needed so I think the range is pushing what's possible for workers.

Note that the zones labelled "Shops" also included things like washrooms and information booths. There were Staff Lounges to the far north and south to handle vendors at those ends of the zoo.

As far as guests are concerned, the basic design is a ring around the zoo with little off-shoots at each N-S-E-W cardinal point to house shops and monorail stations.

I think this particular design would break down if you expanded the zoo much beyond its small size. Then again, with a smaller zoo you're not facing a zillion pop-up messages all the time nor having to worry about lag building up. It's comfortable.

 

[Jaggid Edje]

I like that layout @Klinn. Question though, with the patch 2 weeks ago that led to visitors using staff paths did you find they started cutting through the middle?

 

[Klinn]

Nope, by some miracle that bug never hit that zoo or my subsequent one which was an refinement of the design.
-- cross-fingers --

 

[kinagatng7lions]

My franchise zoo at the moment. I'm expanding sideways and currently thinking if I should get some form of transportation, but the guests don't seem tired at the moment. For the number of animals in my zoo it's quite compact so the guests don't have to travel far and get tired (and benches do help). East side are Taiga/Tundra animals, west are tropical, and the top is African grassland.

 

[NL_Mutso]

I really like Klinn's one… I'm glad Klinn already commented about expanding such a zoo.. For a small zoo it looks great, nice structured zoo with a nice flow throughout.
But expanding such a zoo would be a trial and error experience..

A bit curious, having ostriches and warthogs habitats next to each other, isn't this a 24/7 job for 1 zookeeper? Or do keep a low population of those animals to avoid constant notifications?

I like the viewing areas for some habitats from Jaggid Edje's zoo. Might add those in future habitats except with a roof on top, so it would look like a viewing building. Or raise that path, to make a viewing platform.

Mine is just a basic zoo (South America) meant for breeding animals for my other zoos.. But this will be a small zoo compared to my second one..
Most likely I lost my main zoo (corrupt file), so I have to start over with that idea, so i'm making a few smaller zoos with specific species..
Someday soon, I'll make a "pretty" zoo with a more natural look, once I mastered building more..

The number of drinks shops you need for your zoo is a bit too much (imo) but that's a game feature and you need to work around such high demanding features.
If you build a few habitats, you'll always need to be sure you leave enough space for enough shops.
You can adjust it, but most times it doesnt look good.

 

[Chante Goodman]

Some great screenshots here! I love seeing how people create their zoos. Planning it out is a strong idea!

 

[Jaggid Edje]

I like the viewing areas for some habitats from Jaggid Edje's zoo. Might add those in future habitats except with a roof on top, so it would look like a viewing building. Or raise that path, to make a viewing platform.

Funny you should say that! The raised paths and viewing platforms are already involved in the zoo pictured above, it's just zoomed out so far you can't really make out all of that. Paths in the large western habitats and all of the ones in the north central area are raised platforms. And adding viewing buildings into the mix is something I have I started experimenting with doing in my newest zoo started earlier this week!

The zoo I pictured above was an experiment by me to see how visitor traffic handles a lot of side paths going pretty much "into" habitats with the habitats wrapping around the viewing areas. I wanted to see how the game handled the 2-way traffic in tighter/narrower paths for those things before I take the time to do it in a more time consuming fashion involving construction as well. It can get crowded when the habitats first open but once it's not as "new" the traffic gets a lot more manageable. Having the ability to set a overall guest limit in franchise mode has helped a ton too though.

My next zoo I'm going to do one that is almost entirely enclosed for visitors with just outdoor paths connecting buildings. That's a few weeks away though, still working on this one. All my zoos have a plan at the start for what animals it is going to have in it so once I get them all in, it's done growing and I start working on the next.

 

[NL_Mutso]

Ah... Nice..

Same here, doing a lot of experimenting with different zoos (already closed a few - because fixing the flaws would take too much time)
My viewing platforms are very basic but the visitors are happy. I already encountered some problems with visitors being stuck on the ramp of a viewing platform. So the incomplete part will also focus on that part.

Gray paths are reptiles only and brown is African animals only. (the one south couldn't connect nicely to the brown path). It also defines the work zones.

The habitats near the entrance (gray paths) are such an example..
The left ones in the front are 2 habitats for both tortoises and the one on the right is 1 for the croc with the same platform style and same/similar size.

Same goes with the employee facilities, gray has the facilities in the middle and for the brown path on the east part. I will be adding another African section to the east to check the limits of the current staff ratio.

I'd rather make some basic platforms and improve on that design, instead of spending too much time making some pretty and not efficient.
In time I will make a natural/good looking zoo.

Also the minimal amount of employees is something I really wanted for this zoo.

Adding enough shops near the entrance work really well for me. And still trying out some ideas for shops..
IMO, double pathing in certain sections (10m) and removing 1 square of 10m creates a nice spot for 2 or 4 shops.

 

[Klinn]

A bit curious, having ostriches and warthogs habitats next to each other, isn't this a 24/7 job for 1 zookeeper?

Well, that was the nice thing about creating a zoo with no work zones. I didn't really care about how busy one particular zookeeper was or if I needed a second one for a couple of habitats. Everyone was shared across all compounds. I just kept an eye on the overall staff workload and added a new one if too many folks were heading into the red.

The number of drinks shops you need for your zoo is a bit too much (imo) but that's a game feature and you need to work around.

Are your demanding guests endlessly complaining about being thirsty? Your zoo needs a Tower of Refreshment! (tm)

Starting with a Gulpee at the bottom, patrons can then climb a few stairs for a delightful Milkshake and if that isn't enough, continue on for a Smoothie and finally Coffee right at the top!

Note: I never actually used this, it was just a joke and a quick break from various other blueprints I was making at the time.

 

[Skawt]

Im working on a "Las Vegas" inspired zoo at the moment. Progress is painfully slow (light, lights, and more lights). Generally, I divide by continent inspired by the Toronto Zoo, but try to take it a step further where I can.

These are the districts:

Central guest area

• Mojave building
• Mall
• Flamingo

Middle East
- Replica Luxor Pyramid

South America
- Amazon Tunnel

- Indian Subcontinent

- East Asia

- Oceania

- Europe

- North America

- The Fridge (Hoping Frontier throws me a bone with polar animals)

 

[kiilljoy908]

My franchise zoo at the moment. I'm expanding sideways and currently thinking if I should get some form of transportation, but the guests don't seem tired at the moment. For the number of animals in my zoo it's quite compact so the guests don't have to travel far and get tired (and benches do help). East side are Taiga/Tundra animals, west are tropical, and the top is African grassland.

All that rock work! I don't have the patience for that, and try to get away with as little rock work as I can get away with!

 

[Averalorax]

I must say that I am very impressed with the pictures that have been shared of their zoos

I am playing in Franchise mode and just started my 2nd zoo last night, trying for more variety in exhibits and layout. But my first zoo is really busy with 15(?) habitats and maybe 19-20 different species. Most of the habitats are fairly boring in design. Box off a rectangle. Add Shelter and Plants, fix the terrain. No beautiful landscaping or designs as I am seeing here. Mostly just straight paths and flat habitats. But the animals are pleased, until too crowded.

So please do keep sharing pictures of all of the beautiful and creative zoos and their layouts. It helps me to think of more creative designs.

 

[Vayman]

These screenshots look fantastic! It makes me want to plan better for my next zoo. My first (only) zoo grew organically with only a little forethought into where the staff buildings would be to avoid angering guests. I'm happy with it, but it's really just a beautiful mess! Everyone in this thread has really inspired me to open a new zoo and try a different approach. Good job and thanks for sharing!

 

[kinagatng7lions]

All that rock work! I don't have the patience for that, and try to get away with as little rock work as I can get away with!

Thanks! I'm very fond of habitats with no actual barriers, so I often use rocks and both dry and wet moats for my animals. Here's a photo of my Orangutan enclosure with a wet moat (I used a climbing blueprint from the workshop for the structures because I suck at buildings):