Speculative Zoo Game Thread

Wildlife Watcher

Wildlife Watcher

Well-Known Member
In line with the Speculative Zoo forum, I thought it would be fun to start a thread for brainstorming imaginary zoo games. I've seen threads about predicting Planet Zoo DLCs or changing the roster of Zoo Tycoon, and it got me wondering what sort of games ZooChatters would create.

This thread is focused mostly on designing the animal roster of your imaginary zoo game, but if you want to go into further details about building themes or guest facilities, you totally can. I don't want to restrict anyone's imagination with this thread, but other zoo games usually don't go overboard with their rosters, so let's start by laying down some ground rules.

Thread Rules:
  • You are in charge of creating a zoo simulator with a base game and three expansion packs
  • Your game will have four types of enclosures: habitats, small exhibits, walkthrough exhibits, and aquariums.
  • Your game will have eight types of habitats: desert, grassland, freshwater, marine, taiga, temperate, tropical, and tundra
  • The animal roster for your game will include 95-110 animals total
    • Your roster must include at least 10 birds (including flying species), 10 reptiles, 5 amphibians, 5 fish, and 5 invertebrates. You can have as many mammals as you want just a long as the other animal classes receive adequate representation.
    • You roster must include at least 5 animals for every enclosure type.
    • Your roster must include at least 5 animals for every habitat type (note that some animals can be applied to multiple habitats).
    • Your roster must have at least 8 animals from every continent (this rule doesn't apply to Antarctica unless you want to).
  • The base game must have a roster of 50 habitat animals and 15 exhibit animals (65 animals total)
  • In addition to the base game roster, your game will have three expansion packs
    • Each expansion pack must have 10-15 animals (any enclosure type)
  • Keep the animal selection moderately realistic (no extinct or fantasy species)
Optional:
  • Your game can include ambient animals that show up in players' zoos but are non-adoptable
  • You can go into further detail about non-animal related features of the game (staff, guest facilities, rides, building themes, pathing, etc.)
  • You game can have cheat codes, where players input a certain number and something funny will happen to the game
Other than that, go wild! I look forward to seeing what you guys can imagine!
 
Just to start us out, here’s what my own roster would look like:

BASE GAME
  1. African Bush Elephant
  2. Alpine Ibex
  3. American Bison
  4. Arctic Fox
  5. Asian Elephant
  6. Bald Eagle (exhibit)
  7. Black Rhinoceros
  8. Blue Wildebeest
  9. Bornean Orangutan
  10. Bottlenose Dolphin
  11. Brown Bear
  12. Brown-Throated Sloth (exhibit)
  13. California Sea Lion
  14. Caribou
  15. Capybara
  16. Cheetah
  17. Chimpanzee
  18. Common Ostrich
  19. Coquerel's Sifaka
  20. Dromedary Camel
  21. Emperor Scorpion (exhibit)
  22. Emu
  23. Eurasian Otter
  24. Eurasian Lynx
  25. European Badger
  26. Fire Salamander (exhibit)
  27. Galapagos Giant Tortoise
  28. Giant Anteater
  29. Giant Malaysian Leaf Insect (exhibit)
  30. Giant Panda
  31. Gila Monster (exhibit)
  32. Giraffe
  33. Goliath Birdeater (exhibit)
  34. Greater Flamingo
  35. Green Sea Turtle
  36. Grey Wolf
  37. Hercules Beetle (exhibit)
  38. Indian Peafowl
  39. King Cobra (exhibit)
  40. King Penguin
  41. Koala
  42. Komodo Dragon
  43. Lion
  44. Meerkat
  45. Nile Hippopotamus
  46. Orca
  47. Plains Zebra
  48. Polar Bear
  49. Rainbow Lorikeet (exhibit)
  50. Red Deer
  51. Red-Eyed Tree Frog (exhibit)
  52. Red Kangaroo
  53. Red Panda
  54. Ring-Tailed Lemur
  55. Saltwater Crocodile
  56. Scarlet Macaw (exhibit)
  57. Snow Leopard
  58. Snowy Owl (exhibit)
  59. Thomson's Gazelle
  60. Tiger
  61. Toco Toucan (exhibit)
  62. Walrus
  63. West Indian Manatee
  64. Western Diamondback Rattlesnake (exhibit)
  65. Western Gorilla

EXPANSION PACK #1: SAFARI PACK
  1. African Buffalo
  2. African Bullfrog (exhibit)
  3. African Wild Dog
  4. Common Warthog
  5. Grey Crowned Crane
  6. Indian Rhinoceros
  7. Leopard
  8. Mandrill
  9. Malayan Tapir
  10. Nile Crocodile
  11. Okapi
  12. Panther Chameleon (exhibit)
  13. Perentie
  14. Southern Cassowary
  15. Spotted Hyena

EXPANSION PACK #2: NEW WORLD PACK
  1. American Beaver
  2. American Black Bear
  3. Black-Tailed Prairie Dog
  4. Blue-and-Gold Macaw (exhibit)
  5. California Condor (exhibit)
  6. Colombian White-Faced Capuchin
  7. Common Blue Morpho (exhibit)
  8. Dyeing Poison Dart Frog (exhibit)
  9. Emerald Tree Boa (exhibit)
  10. Green Iguana (exhibit)
  11. Jaguar
  12. Mexican Red-Knee Tarantula (exhibit)
  13. Moose
  14. Mountain Lion
  15. Northern Raccoon

EXPANSION PACK #3: AQUARIUM PACK
  1. Axolotl (exhibit)
  2. Beluga Whale
  3. Blacktip Reef Shark
  4. Clown Triggerfish (exhibit)
  5. Common Seahorse (exhibit)
  6. Giant Pacific Octopus (exhibit)
  7. Green Moray Eel (exhibit)
  8. Japanese Spider Crab
  9. Ocellaris Clownfish (exhibit)
  10. Red Lionfish (exhibit)
  11. Regal Blue Tang (exhibit)
  12. Sandtiger Shark
  13. Schooling Bannerfish (exhibit)
  14. Southern Stingray
  15. Whale Shark
 
Wildlife Watcher said:
This thread is focused mostly on designing the animal roster of your imaginary zoo game, but if you want to go into further details about building themes or guest facilities, you totally can. I don't want to restrict anyone's imagination with this thread, but other zoo games usually don't go overboard with their rosters, so let's start by laying down some ground rules
Click to expand...

Though this thread is an excellent idea, I feel you've already sort of done what you've set out not to do. By setting a number for each group of animals and each biome, you've restricted it so that the only game you could create would be another Zoo Tycoon, Planet Zoo, Zoo Empire or what have you. Meanwhile a lot of good zoo games don't actually have such a numerous or diverse group of animals in its roster. Megaquarium's roster for example, is mostly fish, while Jurassic World Evolution and Prehistoric Kingdom are filled with mostly reptiles and contain no fish or invertebrates. Planet Zoo doesn't even have fish and Zoo Tycoon 2 has no invertebrates (unless you count the ones in the Insect and Jellyfish houses).

My suggestion would be to focus less on the roster size and what groups of animals would be included and instead allow people to describe what makes their zoo game unique from the rest of the zoo-builder games available. Think of it like this, why would people buy your game instead of playing Zoo Tycoon or Planet Zoo? How would you pitch it to them?

For example:
Zoo Tycoon 2 is a zoo game made for kids, not as if it's a bad thing. With a roster of animals filled with recognisable ABCs and some obscure species, a full encyclopedia of knowledge, simple placement mechanics and fun additional games, it's no surprise many of us here remember it fondly.

Planet Zoo seems like a zoo-building game first, and a zoo-management game second, almost certainly made for fans of Zoo Tycoon and its sequels, allowing people to build their dream zoo with as much detail as they desire without being hindered by grids.

Megaquarium seems like the opposite, it's not the best graphically, but prioritises management first with a roster filled with various fish and invertebrates. Mixing species in enclosures is not only possible, it's a necessary step to maximise your aquarium's appeal, and consequently HOW you mix species is an important factor in how successful you'll do.

Jurassic World Evolution aims to appeal to the young John Hammonds (or Simon Masranis?) out there, and allows them to create their own Jurassic Park, filled with lots of fierce dinosaurs. True to the franchise it's adapting, you'll have to be ready when things go wrong, keeping visitors safe and neutralizing any rampaging dinos.

So yea, what makes your zoo game unique?
 
Last edited:
Mossman Joe said:
Though this thread is an excellent idea, I feel you've already sort of done what you've set out not to do. By setting a number for each group of animals and each biome, you've restricted it so that the only game you could create would be another Zoo Tycoon, Planet Zoo, Zoo Empire or what have you. Meanwhile a lot of good zoo games don't actually have such a numerous or diverse group of animals in its roster. Megaquarium's roster for example, is mostly fish, while Jurassic World Evolution and Prehistoric Kingdom are filled with mostly reptiles and contain no fish or invertebrates. Planet Zoo doesn't even have fish and Zoo Tycoon 2 has no invertebrates (unless you count the ones in the Insect and Jellyfish houses).

My suggestion would be to focus less on the roster size and what groups of animals would be included and instead allow people to describe what makes their zoo game unique from the rest of the zoo-builder games available. Think of it like this, why would people buy your game instead of playing Zoo Tycoon or Planet Zoo? How would you pitch it to them?

For example:
Zoo Tycoon 2 is a zoo game made for kids, not as if it's a bad thing. With a roster of animals filled with recognisable ABCs and some obscure species, a full encyclopedia of knowledge, simple placement mechanics and fun additional games, it's no surprise many of us here remember it fondly.

Planet Zoo seems like a zoo-building game first, and a zoo-management game second, almost certainly made for fans of Zoo Tycoon and its sequels, allowing people to build their dream zoo with as much detail as they desire without being hindered by grids.

Megaquarium seems like the opposite, it's not the best graphically, but prioritises management first with a roster filled with various fish and invertebrates. Mixing species in enclosures is not only possible, it's a necessary step to maximise your aquarium's appeal, and consequently HOW you mix species is an important factor in how successful you'll do.

Jurassic World Evolution aims to appeal to the young John Hammonds (or Simon Masranis?) out there, and allows them to create their own Jurassic Park, filled with lots of fierce dinosaurs. True to the franchise it's adapting, you'll have to be ready when things go wrong, keeping visitors safe and neutralizing any rampaging dinos.

So yea, what makes your zoo game unique?
Click to expand...

You do make a good point. When I made the “thread rules” I wanted to encourage more biodiversity in zoo games, but now that you mention it, I can see how that narrows the scope of this thread rather than expands it.
Unfortunately, I don’t think I have the option to edit or delete my own posts, so from this point on, the “thread rules” are just a suggestion. A “what would you do differently than other zoo platforms” question would definitely open the conversation to more possibilities.

As far as my own concept went, I wanted to brainstorm a game that combines the best qualities of Planet Zoo and Zoo Tycoon 2 but has a much wider selection of species, which is why I highly prioritized biodiversity in the former thread rules.
 
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