Zoo Tycoon A better Zoo Tycoon - how would you improve it?

One of the biggest problems with the family relationship record is if a female gives birth, the father of that baby assumes paternity of all her offspring (if they don't already have a father listed). This means a newly imported male cannot breed with a mother/daughter combination long term like they could in real life.

Yes I definitely agree with some realism in human/animal interaction! No more "Ouch, I've just been attacked by Bengal Tiger 79!" when the tiger has gripped the guest in his jaws and shaken him. Also the animals are remarkably sexist, they only attack men in ZT1!

If a keeper enters an enclosure with a dangerous animal, the animal should be called into a holding cage/indoor area automatically. The animal should not become unhappy on the happiness metre and flood the message screen with complaints if it is confined to anything less than a full sized exhibit for a few minutes.

I also hate when a guest somehow gets into an enclosure and the zoo keeper runs around crating everything in sight, even when I have removed the guest.

I do however find it somewhat amusing to see a ZT1 penguin eat an entire herd of elephant, giraffe or hippopotamus.

Good idea about animal's mood/behaviour affecting performance in shows etc. In real life, certain individuals are more likely to attack trainers, or be faster learners than others so this should be varied in the game.

 

I quite like the idea of a holding area for animals. It would be a small touch, but one that adds some realism.

Speaking of small touches, I'd also like for more physical variation between individuals of the same species, even if they're just small details.

ZT2 didn't have that father/offspring problem, fortunately. Though I did have an issue of people falling off of raised paths somehow and then I have to pull them out of the stupid thylacine exhibit. That was so annoying.

Those ZT1 penguins were insane. I remember discovering that glitch on accident and being like "wat" and then testing which animals the penguins would kill, ha ha. In ZT2, if you failed in cloning an extinct animal there was a chance you'd end up with a Killer Penguin. (it looks like a rockhopper penguin except it has sharp teeth and glowing eyes) In Challenge mode, you could also get a scenario where a zoo offers you a penguin, and if you accept, it's the Killer Penguin. (the in-game encyclopedia entry for the species hints at this, saying that if another zoo offers you a free penguin, you should say no) Apparently they can kill any animal in the game, though I never tested it. Hm, I wonder if they can be bred...

The personality mechanic would affect not only shows, but needs/preferences. Energetic animals want more space and enrichment items, while lazy animals are less interested in those things, playful animals will want more toys and socialization, shy animals will want more shelter, aggressive animals want more space, etc. This could also impact the value of certain animals. Playful, energetic, and social animals are more interesting to the guests, and are better suited to shows and interaction programs, so they'll generally cost more. If you want to get a sea lion or a dolphin for a show/interaction program, well, it's one of those times where you'll want to go someplace other than Krazy Karen's Discount Exotic Animal Warehouse.

Also, after watching videos of people playing the Planet Coaster video game, I'd kill for more landscaping/terrain options! How cool would it be to place exhibits and facilities inside of a cave? I've got my fingers crossed that Planet Safari will be a hardcore zoo game. (it's more likely to be a Planet Coaster expansion pack, but even if that's the case it'll be worth looking into. Assuming it gets made at all)

 

I've always been a fan of Zoo Tycoon ever since I was young and of course when I replayed not long ago after a few years I added mods to enrich my experience. I think most defiantly I want to see more animal variation, from the larger and most common species, to the smaller species. Xbox zoo tycoon did this somewhat but we all know how that went. Customisation and theming should be a bigger thing as well as of course animal breeding and zoo management. If the makers of Planet Coaster could make a zoo game I'd be thrilled! Also I would like more viable safari options, to create a real safari park as I loved doing it on ZT2 but if enhanced it opens up so many oppertunites. I hope we do get a great Zoo Tycoon type game soon though because I am craving a new one.

 

What kinds of stuff would you want to see in a safari feature? (I haven't had the opportunity to visit safari parks much so I don't really have ideas beyond "you get to feed some of the animals", ha ha)

I'd like more themes as well. I really love creating themed areas and it would be super cool to have more options. Like, instead of just getting a generic "marine" theme set, we could also get "deep sea", "tropical reef", "arctic waters", stuff like that.

 

I'd just want the safari feature to be more realistic, proper entrances, off road vehicles, actual people driving their own cars not just a track with set cars.

 

A big issue for me in ZT1 was that breeding of a male and female animal could only occur if the male had no current infant offspring. Ie. the male couldn't breed until all offspring had grown up. Of course in real life, one male can mate with multiple females! I'm glad they fixed that at least for ZT2. Interestingly in ZT1, a female could give birth again a day after she last gave birth if provided with a new mate (who had no infant offspring). I discovered this by accident one day when I placed two male bears in with one female. One male bred with her to produce two cubs and then left the tank to use the snow cave on land. This left her with the second male, who immediately bred with her and she gave birth to a second pair of cubs less than 2 ZT1 days after the first litter!

Those penguins were insane. A mate of mine had two ostrich chicks orphaned after a less conservation minded aquaintance of his introduced a penguin and hence chaos to the savannah. The ZT2 Killer Penguins can indeed breed. I used a cheat to make the female lay 8 eggs but they need a lot of space so this was ultimately a stupid thing to do! They were housed with some Emperor penguins but killed them. Zoopedia states that Killer Penguins enjoy sunsets, long walks on the frozen beach and pecking other animals to death!

 

Off road vehicles would be good, and realistic car/animal interactions. The jeeps frequently bunch up because a lion has decided to sleep on the tracks. In real life, the lion would move out the way, or if it resisted, the jeep would drive around it rather than spending ages tooting the horn.

Also, what's with the time in ZT. A guest can spend up to a year in one of my larger zoos. I usually spend a day at the zoo lol.

They could have shark cages to swim with the sharks, and of course a walk through shark tunnel. Walk through aviaries would be good too.

 

By making it free

 

Agreed

 

Heh, the time thing is necessary for gameplay. You want to be able to see the guests move around, see their thoughts and such, but you don't want the game to move too slowly either.

I love the idea of shark cages!

Walk-through exhibits in general would be super awesome.

More realism for the vehicles would be great. (a jam because of a sleeping animal is so annoying) Speaking of vehicles, I'd really want to see boats. (shoot, maybe even little submarines!) That way you could do safari park type attractions in aquatic exhibits. Guests could ride a glass bottom boat through a big shark exhibit, or go from one side of the zoo to the other by riding a pontoon boat down a river, seeing all sorts of animals along the way.

 

These wishes might be more relevant than ever. The company Frontier,behind Rollercoaster Tycoon and the recent dazzling success of Planet Coaster,a new Rollercoaster Tycoon-style game,has filed a trademark for "Planet Safari". Whether or not it's simply an expansion for Planet Coaster or it's own game is debated,but I'm personally hoping it's its own game. They revived the rollercoaster simulation genre with roaring success,hopefully they're trying to do the same with zoo simulation style games.

 

I've seen videos of Planet Coaster, it looks awesome. (I hope to get a more powerful computer soon so I can play it!) I'd say Planet Safari is most likely an expansion, but I'd be really happy if it turned out to be a new game.

 

Does anyone think that a native wildlife mechanic might be an interesting addition to a zoo game? Like, based on where your zoo is located, native wildlife species might come in and hang around. You can't move them or do anything to them, and they don't cause any harm. Guests would enjoy seeing them, so it's a good idea to do things to attract them and make it easier for guests to see them. Like, trees outside of exhibits would attract more birds. If you have a zoo on the coast, a viewing area where you can see the water would allow guests to see sea lions or whales.

 

I would have an extra gameplay mode in which you run a typical "hobby farm" or private-run zoological collection like what is common in New Zealand. You wouldn't have access to tigers, lions or such but you would have things like farm animals (including rare breeds), pet-type reptiles and fish, "exotic" farm animals (yaks, buffalo, deer, etc), waterfowl, cage and game birds depending on the area you choose to put the zoo in.

Also, I would include more plant species and add a mechanic which makes guests like certain exotic plants so in addition to the animals you could also have a botanical section to your zoo.

 

I had this idea where animal availability can vary depending on where your zoo is located. (though all animals would still be available) Like, if you have a zoo in Florida, you'll have more rescued bottlenose dolphins, manatees, and certain coastal birds available. A zoo in China, pandas are cheaper to obtain (though you'll still need a lot of money/fame to get one) and commonly smuggled species like pangolins would be available through rescue more often.

I like the idea of guests enjoying exotic plants! That would certainly make it more motivating to decorate a zoo with plants as opposed to just fountains and statues. Maybe you could get bonus points for correlating them with themes areas, like, if you have an area that uses Amazon rainforest themed items and has Amazon animal exhibits, it's even better if you use Amazon plants.

 

I like the idea of animals becoming available due to scenarios that arise. Eg. seal pup washes up on beach and needs rehabilitation or bear straying too close to civilisation and needing relocation. Or like your idea of smuggled animals like the pangolin being confiscated at an airport and being gifted to your zoo. It'd be nice to have an option to give and receive animals on loan. Eg. A zoo with one male giraffe and three female could produce three female calves, which could be loaned to another zoo for breeding until their father (the orignal male) has passed away and they can return to breed with a new male.

 

Yeah, my idea for a zoo game wouldn't just have a purchase tab, you could also look for animal rescues and do loans. (these things would also pop up as challenge opportunities) There would be sanctuary-style campaign challenges where you can only get animals from rescue. And species availability would vary depending on how you're getting animals, like, beluga whales would be rare in rescue but common from wild capture and captive breeding sources. Pangolins would be rare from captive breeding sources but could be more easily obtained from wild capture and rescue.

My idea for a purchase/trade system would show animals from different types of sources, with some more ethical and reliable than others. You'll probably want to avoid buying from Krazy Karen's Discount Animal Warehouse, but there are plenty of high quality zoos and research and breeding facilities that you can count on. Obtaining animals from an unethical source, or getting certain species wild caught, can result in bad PR for your zoo and counts against you for accreditation.

 

That sounds good. I also like the idea of trading with 'real' players around the world. I often export a large amount of offspring bred at my zoo so it'd be nice to 'supply' other people and in turn receive animals as needed eg. a new breeding male to breed with daughters of my previous breeding male. It'd be nice to export/import individuals of a range of ages. Sometimes, I've had a polar bear give birth to twins and exported one at birth because I only wanted one cub. A newborn could be in high demand by other players. On other ocassions, I've wanted a mature male that can breed with females on arrival and sometimes I've wanted an older animal to fill an exhibit for a short amount of time prior to it's demolition.

It'd also be good to have a record of releases and contribution towards a 'conservation' goal. Ie. repopulating a forest in Africa with gorillas.

Another idea I have is linked to the playing against other players. The creators of the game could award 20 players around the globe with a breeding pair of a species totally new to the game. They would have to trade and exchange with others with the goal of creating a breeding programme for this species and increasing it's presence in 'zoos' around the world. Eg. Player 1 breeds 5 offspring from their breeding pair, they export 3 offspring to Players 2, 3 and 4. The keep the 4th offspring to breed with an import from Player 17 and the 5th offspring is sent to an entirely new person, who becomes Player 21 and so on....

 

I honestly hope, the developers are reading this.

 

Online play might have to be done on servers or groups, to preserve gameplay challenge and all. All species would become common and easy to get if everyone is connected.

It would be interesting if players could set up their own servers and groups and control limitations. They can also add other limitations, like everyone has to play sanctuary style, or it's all aquariums and you can only have aquatic species, or you can only have extinct animals. Like you suggest, there can also be conservation goals.