Planet Zoo 2...

TNT

TNT

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
With the support for PZ apparently coming to an end this year in terms of DLC's and such, it's probably time to start a thread to discuss the possibilities of PZ2! Below are some of my thoughts, wishes, and predictions...
  • Flying Birds! At this point in time with PZ, I think it's "too late in the game" for us to be getting birds. It would seem pointless IMO to give us birds with so few DLC's left as we'd end up with a poor variety making it seem like a wasted opportunity. That said, Mods would increase the potential here, but I'd probably guess that there are more folks that don't use them than do. I'd much rather wait until PZ2 for it to be done "properly".
  • Conservation. Zoos play an incredibly important conservation role that I feel PZ brushed over in a way. They certainly highlight it, but not to the extend that it deserves. I'm not sure how they'd implement it, but I'd love to see more of an emphasis in PZ2. The development of coordinated breeding programmes similar to EEP's or SSP's would be interesting.
  • Animal Transfers. The current market has it's pros and cons as we all know, but I'd love to see the ability to directly trade animals with others/friends implemented.
  • Social. Partly building on my previous point, I'd love to see the social aspects of PZ improved. The ability to visit other peoples zoos is a no brainer, as is the development of zoo associations allowing you to work together (somewhat reminiscent to the clans that can be made in clash of clans).
  • Aviaries/Mesh Exhibits. I love building aviaries and meshed exhibits in PZ, but dear lord does it take some time! It would be good to see something implemented to help expedite the process.
  • Object size. The ability to re-size objects (not much more needs to be said here).
It would be great to hear the thoughts of others looking at what they think will happen with PZ2!
 
Certainly adding aviaries and flying animals in a sequel would make sense, considering the "testing of the waters", shall we say, in the current game. It feels exactly like what Jurassic World Evolution did with its sequel.

Heck, why not go the full distance and add aquariums too? Even if you don't want to include dolphins, there's still plenty of things like sharks, rays, manatees, sea turtles, etc that could be included.

So, yeah, Planet Zoo 2 I see as following what Jurassic World Evolution 2 did. Not entirely original, but eh, it makes sense.
 
One of the biggest issues with the base game and the first year of updates is that the base game roster lacked geographical diversity, had “essential” animals (such as jaguar, polar bear, and red kangaroo) be locked behind paid DLCs, and had animal designs that aged like milk.

Since the roster seems to be planned to be “incomplete” so the DLCs act as a necessity rather than add ons that enhance the game, I could see Frontier pull this trick again. But I hope that Frontier redesigns most of the base game animals (wart hog, Bactrian camel, and mandrill come to mind) to look better.
 
I agree with your statements, but I can see Planet Zoo 2 having less of a focus on birds, and more of aquatic creatures; fish, dolphins, rays, etc.

I also could see better Exhibits as the current exhibits are, well, terrible.
 
Bactrian Deer said:
I agree with your statements, but I can see Planet Zoo 2 having less of a focus on birds, and more of aquatic creatures; fish, dolphins, rays, etc.

I also could see better Exhibits as the current exhibits are, well, terrible.
Click to expand...
I completely agree with you on that but I would also like to see mixed species exhibits in the game or do what the Bronx zoo does with their African savanna section and what i mean by that is have it look like the predators can go after the herbivores when they can’t.
 
Bearing in mind that Planet Coaster came out in 2016 and is yet to receive a sequel, I think it's a bit soon to be talking about PZ2! :)
 
oflory said:
Bearing in mind that Planet Coaster came out in 2016 and is yet to receive a sequel, I think it's a bit soon to be talking about PZ2! :)
Click to expand...
Of course - just a bit of fun :)
 
Even if the game's official support ending soon is all theoretical, this is what I'd like to see in a sequel:

Aviaries and aquatics: As mentioned above. I don't think that birds and aquatic animals can really be done justice if only a couple of DLCs remain - I'd rather some flying birds and aquatic animals were included in the base-game, to provide a better foundation for future additions.
Improved exhibit mechanics: Adding different shapes and sizes of exhibit is paramount. I'd like to see some species maybe get the option to be kept in either a habitat or exhibit, such as the iguanas, which would add more creative options. For a real creative addition, make it possible to edit the inside of exhibits in a similar manner to the diorama feature - just have some spots where animals will spawn and you can build around those. Obviously, also add a much higher diversity of exhibit species as well.
Animal personalities: I believe this was advertised for the base game, but doesn't seem to really be much of a thing. I'd say have four different personalities, each with their own benefits or downsides:
  • Relaxed - the vanilla personality, comfortable with basically anything.
  • Curious - has lower shyness and so is better for walkthrough enclosures, but has lower fertility and is less suitable for reintroduction to the wild.
  • Timid - has elevated shyness and needs a more complex habitat, but is the most suitable personality for reintroduction to the wild.
  • Assertive - has higher aggression and is less suited to walkthrough and mixed enclosures, but has increased fertility.
Animal training: Goes hand-in-hand with personalities. Several different training walls can be placed onto habitat fences, and keepers can do basic animal training with them. Training sessions can boost animal happiness, mellow out their personalities and reduce/eliminate the need for animals to be moved off-show to the veterinary centre.
Reintroduction updates: Planet Zoo seemed to follow ZT2 in terms of reintroductions to the wild - simply press a button and off they go. I'd rather that there was more work required, with the potential for a reintroduction to fail being paramount (obviously, this could be turned off in sandbox mode).
Nutrition customisation: One thing that could increase the management of the game is having more control over the animals' diet, and would improve knowledge about animal nutrition (some of the current 'high-quality' animal diets in-game would be very bad for animals in real life). Several food storage facilities could be added (a general feed store, a cold store for meat and maybe an additional store for insects). Also included would be the ability to harvest some zoo plants as browse for animals. Different food items can be added or removed from an animal's diet, and quantities controlled with sliding scales. The player then has to balance nutritional requirements with cost. And, if that all seems like too much work, there can also be a new staff member, the nutritionist, who can do all the work for you.

Those taken together would make for some very interesting additions to any potential sequel.
 
With a PZ2 I'd love for them to upgrade exhibit animals to at least be housed in walkthrough exhibits. Animals like the Green Iguana and Lesser Antillean Iguana should at least be upgraded to walkthrough-exhibit status now that we have those. A variety of exhibit sizes would also be great.

Related to this, I would love to have ways to further customise exhibits aside from just changing some decor and backgrounds, using the engine for larger enclosures to design individual exhibits (although ideally this concept warrants an entire game all by itself).
 
Planet Zoo 2 is going to have to cater to the different player-bases of Planet Zoo, some of which have it better than others. There is a split between people who play sandbox vs challenge/franchise and people who prefer building vs people who prefer animal interaction. I will split this post into five sections based on this as well as some other features...

Sandbox:
Currently, sandbox is by far my preferred way to play Planet Zoo because the possibilities feel almost endless... However it can be improved still. First of all, let us be able to pick custom animals stats-wise. We should be able to edit any animals stats and colour morphs if we want to, currently to get rare morphs or certain stats in sandbox you need to search endlessly in the market which is no fun.

We should also be able to resize any object in the game and make all of them flexicolour, I can understand this potentially not being in the challenge modes but there is no reason not to have this in sandbox. Also, how about custom skirts? Right now you can't change it once you make a zoo.

Challenge/Franchise:
Currently, I do not particularly find Challenge fun as it is quite hard to make a realistic zoo in this mode. First of all, please revisit some of the animal needs... Some of the size requirements are either way too big or way too small. Currently the mode feels a bit like sandbox but with money and animal needs. Having some extra challenges like in Zoo Tycoon 2 would be nice as well as other features such as having to be part of Endangered Species programs, separation of certain animals, having certain individual animals become popular and having to cater for that, dealing with disasters such as flooding perhaps, special events that you can run to raise more money for a limited time, I could go on. There's a lot of things that could make the game feel much more alive and real from a management perspective.

Building:
All the current building sets should return, I think we could have a few expansions to the classic sets as well (mesh wire, horizontal wood planks and different fonts, please) but in general the building sets we currently have are very expansive though I wouldn't mind some getting better textures. Some of the mechanics need tweaking however, being able to split groups based on the object type would be incredible, as would redoing the group merging and splitting system because it currently feels very arbitrary.

Also please allow us a bit more customisation for shop stalls and restaurants and such, the current system of having to build around stuff isn't the greatest. The fonts on the custom signs are also not very good and their usage is quite limited, I'd like to see them improved. It would be nice to have null staff paths as well, and maybe a less obvious looking staff path? I'd also like to see water physics be made a little less janky as they currently can be quite annoying.

If I am to talk about habitats, a lot of the barriers look quite ugly (I tend to just use null barriers and build over them) so I'd like to see them redone/more added... And also the ability to add multiple habitat gates would be really really useful.

Animals:
Of course, the most important part of all... The animals! All the animals currently in PZ should return, though some should definitely have their models and textures updated for consistency (looking at you, Malayan tapir). I'd like to see better individual animal personalities, currently it feels very basic... It would be very interesting to have to manage your animals based on their interactions with one another and general temperament as well as being able to train certain "problem" animals to improve their relations with others. Please, please, please, redo the climbing system, it is currently very broken and I think getting it to feel as natural as possible would be amazing and help animals which don't work like they should such as the koala... Ideally I'd like to see it fixed enough that the sloth and iguanas can become proper habitat animals.

Talking about exhibits, the whole system needs to be redone. The current boxes are very big and silly looking. I'd like to see different base size exhibits that can be joined together in a modular system and given different wall types like the walkthrough exhibits. This would go a long way to making them feel a lot more customisable. Also, we need way more exhibit animals... They shouldn't be too hard to make I feel yet we don't really have enough.

Let's talk about the main thing now, birds. Planet Zoo 2 is going to need a big draw to get people to actually play it and I think it obviously has to be this. It is by far the biggest request from the player-base. A new aviary exhibit system similar to habitats but more enclosed would be ideal for large birds like raptors and parrots (I think the current exhibit system with looped animations would better suit smaller birds) with more complex behaviours and such similar to habitat animals. Giving aviary support to existing birds like flamingo and crane would also be great. I'm not sure if just birds will be enough to sell a new game however so I'd also like to see aquariums. Small fish as exhibit animals is something which would be very nice but also larger fully aquatic habitats for manatees, turtles, sharks, rays.... maybe even cetaceans would go a long way.

I'd also like to see animal shows/presentations, if birds and cetaceans were to be implemented, being able to do educational dolphin shows or raptor displays would be very nice and this could be expanded to other animals we have such as sea lions. It would add another level of interactivity to the game.

Other:
There is some other features I'd like to see that don't fit the categories here... I'd like to see guest AI be improved because all too often they can get stuck in places, same with staff to be honest. More scenarios would be very nice, I felt like there wasn't enough in base game and new ones to show off new features would be very good to have.

This one might be a stretch but I would absolutely love to see multiplayer! I'd like to see both joint "friend groups" where you can play franchise just among your friends or a more in-depth co-op mode where you and a friend (maybe even multiple) could edit a zoo together from separate devices, I think that would be lots of fun.

I could probably think of more features but this would go on forever, these are the core things I think a sequel should bring.
 
Fallax said:
Planet Zoo 2 is going to have to cater to the different player-bases of Planet Zoo, some of which have it better than others. There is a split between people who play sandbox vs challenge/franchise and people who prefer building vs people who prefer animal interaction. I will split this post into five sections based on this as well as some other features...

Sandbox:
Currently, sandbox is by far my preferred way to play Planet Zoo because the possibilities feel almost endless... However it can be improved still. First of all, let us be able to pick custom animals stats-wise. We should be able to edit any animals stats and colour morphs if we want to, currently to get rare morphs or certain stats in sandbox you need to search endlessly in the market which is no fun.

We should also be able to resize any object in the game and make all of them flexicolour, I can understand this potentially not being in the challenge modes but there is no reason not to have this in sandbox. Also, how about custom skirts? Right now you can't change it once you make a zoo.

Challenge/Franchise:
Currently, I do not particularly find Challenge fun as it is quite hard to make a realistic zoo in this mode. First of all, please revisit some of the animal needs... Some of the size requirements are either way too big or way too small. Currently the mode feels a bit like sandbox but with money and animal needs. Having some extra challenges like in Zoo Tycoon 2 would be nice as well as other features such as having to be part of Endangered Species programs, separation of certain animals, having certain individual animals become popular and having to cater for that, dealing with disasters such as flooding perhaps, special events that you can run to raise more money for a limited time, I could go on. There's a lot of things that could make the game feel much more alive and real from a management perspective.

Building:
All the current building sets should return, I think we could have a few expansions to the classic sets as well (mesh wire, horizontal wood planks and different fonts, please) but in general the building sets we currently have are very expansive though I wouldn't mind some getting better textures. Some of the mechanics need tweaking however, being able to split groups based on the object type would be incredible, as would redoing the group merging and splitting system because it currently feels very arbitrary.

Also please allow us a bit more customisation for shop stalls and restaurants and such, the current system of having to build around stuff isn't the greatest. The fonts on the custom signs are also not very good and their usage is quite limited, I'd like to see them improved. It would be nice to have null staff paths as well, and maybe a less obvious looking staff path? I'd also like to see water physics be made a little less janky as they currently can be quite annoying.

If I am to talk about habitats, a lot of the barriers look quite ugly (I tend to just use null barriers and build over them) so I'd like to see them redone/more added... And also the ability to add multiple habitat gates would be really really useful.

Animals:
Of course, the most important part of all... The animals! All the animals currently in PZ should return, though some should definitely have their models and textures updated for consistency (looking at you, Malayan tapir). I'd like to see better individual animal personalities, currently it feels very basic... It would be very interesting to have to manage your animals based on their interactions with one another and general temperament as well as being able to train certain "problem" animals to improve their relations with others. Please, please, please, redo the climbing system, it is currently very broken and I think getting it to feel as natural as possible would be amazing and help animals which don't work like they should such as the koala... Ideally I'd like to see it fixed enough that the sloth and iguanas can become proper habitat animals.

Talking about exhibits, the whole system needs to be redone. The current boxes are very big and silly looking. I'd like to see different base size exhibits that can be joined together in a modular system and given different wall types like the walkthrough exhibits. This would go a long way to making them feel a lot more customisable. Also, we need way more exhibit animals... They shouldn't be too hard to make I feel yet we don't really have enough.

Let's talk about the main thing now, birds. Planet Zoo 2 is going to need a big draw to get people to actually play it and I think it obviously has to be this. It is by far the biggest request from the player-base. A new aviary exhibit system similar to habitats but more enclosed would be ideal for large birds like raptors and parrots (I think the current exhibit system with looped animations would better suit smaller birds) with more complex behaviours and such similar to habitat animals. Giving aviary support to existing birds like flamingo and crane would also be great. I'm not sure if just birds will be enough to sell a new game however so I'd also like to see aquariums. Small fish as exhibit animals is something which would be very nice but also larger fully aquatic habitats for manatees, turtles, sharks, rays.... maybe even cetaceans would go a long way.

I'd also like to see animal shows/presentations, if birds and cetaceans were to be implemented, being able to do educational dolphin shows or raptor displays would be very nice and this could be expanded to other animals we have such as sea lions. It would add another level of interactivity to the game.

Other:
There is some other features I'd like to see that don't fit the categories here... I'd like to see guest AI be improved because all too often they can get stuck in places, same with staff to be honest. More scenarios would be very nice, I felt like there wasn't enough in base game and new ones to show off new features would be very good to have.

This one might be a stretch but I would absolutely love to see multiplayer! I'd like to see both joint "friend groups" where you can play franchise just among your friends or a more in-depth co-op mode where you and a friend (maybe even multiple) could edit a zoo together from separate devices, I think that would be lots of fun.

I could probably think of more features but this would go on forever, these are the core things I think a sequel should bring.
Click to expand...

The Malayan Tapir has been given an update remodel.
 
Since the Release of the Zookeeper’s Animal Pack and the Upcoming Planet Coast 2.

I want to know what new features and animation from the Planet Coaster 2 can be used and updated for a Future Planet Zoo 2?

What changes and additions you like to see in New Scenarios, Guests, Maps, Animation Rigs, Guests, Staff, Buildings, Decorations, Campaigns, Features, and Ride Attractions?

Also what animals need to be remastered and updated, what new behaviors and animations, and what new animals you like to see?

Here is my wishlist based on the animals that are yet to appear from the Zoo Tycoon Franchise either if this pack isn’t the last pack or the sequel.

Savannah or Safari Pack: Masai Giraffe, Secretary Bird, Honey Badger, Gerenuk, Olive Baboon, Blackbuck, Nile Crocodile, and Onager.

Mountains or Highlands Pack: Bighorn Sheep, Gelada, and Ethiopian Wolf.

Forest Pack: American Black Bear, Mexican Grey Wolf, Japanese Serow, Barbary Macaque, and Iberian Lynx.

Rainfoest Pack: Indian or Indochinese Leopard, Javan Rhinoceros, Crested Gibbon, and Mountain Gorilla.

Coastal/Tundra Pack: Sea Otter, Walrus, Southern Rockhopper Penguin, Emperor Penguin, and Muskoxen.

Of course, there could be the long-awaited Flying Animation Birds and possibly Fully Aquatic and Aquarium Animals with the animation rig system used for the Pterosaurs and Marine Animals of Jurassic World: Evolution 2.

What are your Thoughts?
 
Two mechanics I hope to see added:

- The first mechanic I would love to see is differently sized exhibits. The current animal exhibits are mostly either over- or undersized. With Goliath beetles and Poison dart frogs being nearly invisible, and the iguanas really being squeezed in there, I hope for the addition of a smaller and larger terrarium. Along with those, I'd also like to see mixed species terrariums to become a thing, since they are often mixed in real zoos, I see no reason why Goliath beetles and African giant land snails don't have a mix option in Planet Zoo. The Larger terrariums could also be home to new larger species, such as smaller monitor lizards, mixed lizard habitats, small mammals like hedgehogs and echidnas, en Chinese giant salamanders. Some species would be able to go in multiple sizes of exhibits; all snakes can go into both medium-sized and large terrariums, and invertebrates can go in all sizes.

Along with this, I think they should use something similar as in Zoo Tycoon: Ultimate animal collection, and have the animals play on a looped animation of walking around their terrarium, instead of them sitting still and teleporting between places.

- The second thing I'd like to see is joined habitats. Either by allowing multiple habitat gates per enclosure, or by allowing animals to inhabit multiple enclosures. This way you can, for example, have multiple monkey islands and allow for Capybaras to swim between them, or have a savanna area with separated regions for rhinos and elephants, while allowing for smaller antelopes to get freely between the different areas.
 
Here’s my reasoning for these add in animals.

Masai Giraffe: I wouldn’t mind if we have a second giraffe species and they’re a conservative importance too as most zoos are breeding this Endangered Species.

Secretary Bird: It’s the Last Zoo Tycoon 2 Bird and heavily wanted by the fandom if added it would make the first bird of prey in the game.

Honey Badger: Since we got European Badger and Wolverine, this is a well-known mustelid that is fearless, tough, and can be an escape artist and they don’t care or give dang especially to people who complain not wanting it in the game.

Gerenuk: A unique African antelope that can stand on its hind legs while browsing on leaves and could make a great comparison to browsing ungulates like the Giraffes and the Dik-Diks.

Olive Baboon: Although we are getting the Hamadryas Baboon, Olive Baboons are the more classic savannah baboons in Africa.

Blackbuck: We could use an Asian or Indian antelope species especially they can mix with water buffaloes and Indian rhinoceros.

Nile Crocodile: It’s the more classic Crocodile species, most social and would be a great African river animal alongside Hippopotamuses, Greater Flamingos, Nile Lechwe, and Nile Monitor.

Onager: An Endangered Conservation Important species and an asian equine and would make mix with Bactrian Camel and Przewalski’s Wild Horse

Bighorn Sheep: A more classic wild sheep to add to the mountain regions other than the Dall’s Sheep.

Gelada: Becoming more common in zoos in Europe, they are a unique primate due to their mountain living and grass diet.

Ethiopian Wolf: Although none in captivity, they would make a unique endangered canid to add.

American Black Bear: It’s the last Bear to add to the game and to complete all the bear species represented in the game.

Mexican Grey Wolf: Although it’s a gray wolf subspecies, but they make a great conservation dependent species.

Japanese Serow: A Japanese animal to add with a conservation story.

Barbary Macaque: This monkey is the only primate native to Europe as well as North Africa.

Iberian Lynx: Unlike the Eurasian Lynx, it’s an Endangered Conservation dependent species that is making a recovery!

Indian or Indochinese Leopard: I wouldn’t mind to add a fifth leopard that represents a tropical asian species to the game.

Javan Rhinoceros: There are none in captivity, they would make a unique endangered species.

Crested Gibbon: I wouldn’t mind if we have a third gibbon to add to the game and makes it more diverse.

Mountain Gorilla: The only few in captivity live in an sanctuary in central africa, they would be an endangered dependent species and comparison with the Western Lowland Gorilla.

Sea Otter: They would add more variety in the marine mammals, playful, cute, tool using, and they’re an endangered species with a conservation story and how they are a keystone species.

Walrus: It’s a highly requested pinniped and would make a great addition to any polar arctic region.

Southern Rockhopper Penguin: A penguin with those yellow feathers crests and hopping on rocks would be a great addition.

Emperor Penguin: They are the more famous well-known penguin species and would make the first true only Antarctica native species to the game.

Muskoxen: It’s another arctic ungulate requested for the game and known for their shaggy fur.

What are your Thoughts and Opinions?
 
@Thomas the provided list of yours is a solid one at best, although, there are some outliers that I objectively disagree with.

For one, I’m glad that the original PZ avoided the Mountain Gorilla and Emperor Penguin in favor of realistic alternatives; and I hope that trend continues, somewhat, in the eventual sequel.

Thomas said:
Indian or Indochinese Leopard: I wouldn’t mind to add a fifth leopard that represents a tropical asian species to the game.
Click to expand...
Note it would a third, not fifth species of leopard; Snow Leopards and Clouded Leopards are not ‘true’ leopards. Furthermore, with the arrival of the African Leopard as a tropical alternative to the Amur subspecies, the inclusion of a separate subspecies native to Tropical Asia would be remarkably irrelevant.

Regarding the Javan Rhino, I personally think that it would be a bit too similar to the Indian Rhino already in game; and I say this because, they are almost identical in appearance. With the biggest differences being their size and the lack of horns in Javan females.

Otherwise, I agree with the majority of the animals you proposed, and I hope that Frontier will consider a decent number of them as potential additions for future dlcs.
 
Austin the Sengi said:
@Thomas the provided list of yours is a solid one at best, although, there are some outliers that I objectively disagree with.

For one, I’m glad that the original PZ avoided the Mountain Gorilla and Emperor Penguin in favor of realistic alternatives; and I hope that trend continues, somewhat, in the eventual sequel.


Note it would a third, not fifth species of leopard; Snow Leopards and Clouded Leopards are not ‘true’ leopards. Furthermore, with the arrival of the African Leopard as a tropical alternative to the Amur subspecies, the inclusion of a separate subspecies native to Tropical Asia would be remarkably irrelevant.

Regarding the Javan Rhino, I personally think that it would be a bit too similar to the Indian Rhino already in game; and I say this because, they are almost identical in appearance. With the biggest differences being their size and the lack of horns in Javan females.

Otherwise, I agree with the majority of the animals you proposed, and I hope that Frontier will consider a decent number of them as potential additions for future dlcs.
Click to expand...
Thanks for your feedback and pointing out the details. What about the other Animals and any animals you like to see in future DLCs or potential sequel?
 
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