Hayo Zookeepers!
Curious to hear what's coming up for Planet Zoo? Then you're in the right place! We're very happy to share that free Update 1.6 will be available to download and enjoy from 22 June!
As always we're reading everything you share with us and working hard to include some of your most requested changes (in case you missed it we shared about changes coming to the Polar Bear a couple of weeks ago that will be in this update!). Free Update 1.6 will also bring custom audio speakers, habitat cameras, some deep swimming additions, vista points, expanded sandbox settings and search options! Read on to find more details about all of these below:
Bear Updates
We've got a few changes to the bears for Update 1.6! We know that the Polar Bear has been a long discussed topic for the PlanZo community, and we've done more research into current holdings of Polar Bears to find a way to make them more viable picks for your Zoo. You can read more about those changes in detail here.
Alongside this, we're also adding Deep Swimming for multiple Bears including the following:
- Polar Bear
- Grizzly Bear
- Formosan Black Bear
- Sun Bear
Be sure to research how you can create even better habitats for these wonderful creatures and get them swimming in June.
Custom Audio Speakers
Custom Audio for your speakers will arrive in free Update 1.6. You will be able to pick various speakers throughout your zoo and adjust what they play, create the perfect audio-scape for your zoo! We've provided a preset list of Frontier tracks, but you'll also be able to add and select custom tracks and even mark some as favourites to reach them quickly if you know you'll be using them often. When you get your hands on this feature, be sure to experiment with the different types of speaker available to you as there are different types of 'audio feel' that will change how your choice of audio is output accordingly. Are you adding an ambient track for atmosphere, or livening up a guest centric space? See which works for you! The audio formats that will be compatible are:
- .ogg
- .oga
- .flac
- .mp3
- .wav
- .wma
- .aac
- .m4a
Vista Points
The Planet Coaster veterans among you will know this one, we're bringing Vista Points to Planet Zoo! With a Vista Point, you can help guide your guests to recommended locations and directions to view your wonderful habitats and focal points in your zoo! While they will default to the location you point them in, you can also use this to direct your guests to a specific focus as well, such as a piece of scenery you've created. Doing so will leave your guests feeling very appreciative of your efforts and reward them with a small happiness bonus when interacting with it.
You can also set vista points to be looking at habitats which will function differently than when set to scenery. While with scenery they will look directly at the piece you've selected, instead it will provide a boost to the attractiveness of nearby viewing points, and will tell you in it's info panel if it isn't currently near any for the selected habitat. A Vista Point will help guide and direct your guests, however if they find an easier to reach viewing point that is just as good before they get to the one you want them to use, they are likely to stay where they are (once you've got a good view already, who can blame them!). With this great new tool at your disposal, your guests are sure to see the very best that your zoo has to offer.
Timed Scenario
Get ready to travel to Central America for our newest free Timed Scenario! This scenario has something a little different planned for you. Take charge of an animal sanctuary where you will receive new animals on a regular schedule in need of your care and attention! Some have even arrived before you, giving you a focus right away. This scenario is all about the animals you save and their welfare, as you'll see reflected in the requirements to complete it. For those who do, there's a Chimpanzee statue waiting for you to claim as your prize.
Habitat Cameras and camera effects
A new feature we're adding will help you feel a bit closer to your animals in enclosures, thanks to a new camera asset. To find this, go to Facilities> media devices and education> visual media. These cameras can be placed and used however you like, although one of the best places for them is within a habitat. Once there, you'll be able to view the habitat using the camera itself (just like a webcam in a zoo in real life!). Much like in real life as well, Planconians LOVE to see their favourites from home as well as at the zoo, so you'll be able to gain a small marketing bonus for up to 6 Habitat camera's in your zoo (but they will need to be in range of your habitats for this to apply!).
We're also adding camera effects, ranging from vignettes to various levels of warmth/cold and night vision too. You'll find a bespoke button in the UI for accessing this, and it will also provide access to a camera light too (which is especially great for getting those night vision shots looking just right). For the avid photographers here, these filters will also be maintained when using Nvidia Ansel. We can't wait to see what how your screenshots look with these new tools.
Animal Trading Changes
In free Update 1.6, we'll be making a few changes to animal trading. This will include an increase in the storage limit from 50 up to 200, as well as updates in the UI that will give you more information about each animal's trade status. We're also including search options! You will be able to search through your animal storage, and use filters for which parameters you want to see. Are you looking for a specific genetic makeup that you know you've got somewhere? You can search for it! These search parameters will be saved per zoo, but can also be easily reset with the click of a button.
Search will be available in the following places:
- Animal Management
- Animal Market
- Animal Storage
- Exhibit Market
- Exhibit Storage
Staff Management Changes
In a previous update we rolled out the staff management changes a little too fast, and so reverted this so we could work on them a little longer but we're happy to be releasing them soon in Update 1.6. These changes will create categories for each type of staff that you can toggle to be collapsed or not (and this will be remembered in each save) as well as the ability to use multiselect on your staff to adjust wages, set work zones and much more. These changes will help those of you with bigger zoo's have a much easier time managing all of your diligent staff.
Continue your Zoo in campaign scenarios
Many zookeepers have shared how they would love to continue the zoo's they create in career scenarios, so we've added a small change! Once a player achieves gold in a career scenario, a new fanfare will pop up to inform you that the animal exchange will start to populate with all available animals. This means you can continue to play in your career scenario park that you've built up and love without the set limitations on which species will appear.
Expanded Sandbox Settings
Last but not least, we're introducing a whole new host of sandbox options! These options will give you even more control over your sandbox zoo's as well as let you organise which zoo has which options enabled. Sandbox will now be receiving new preset selections for you to either emulate another mode, or save your favourite custom settings. These will be available in Default preset, Creative preset, Challenge preset and Saved Custom preset. The settings you use for each sandbox zoo will be saved to that specific zoo, meaning you can have a different set up for every zoo if you would like to! If you've found your dream sandbox settings however, you can use the Saved Custom preset option to save those and apply them to any other zoo you build as well. So that you can prepare your sandbox zoo's for these new options, check out the list of what we'll be adding below:
Social Welfare
- Enable Social Groups
- Enable Overcrowding
- Enable Animal Stress
- Enable Animal Fights
- Enable Animal Predation and Fear
Habitat Welfare
- Enable Water Cleanliness
- Enable Animal Defecation
- Enable Animals Temperature Needs
- Enable Animal Terrain Needs
- Enable Animals Plant Needs
- Enable Hard Shelter
- Enable Food Spoiling
General Welfare
- Enable Escapes
Guest Settings
- Enable Guests Fleeing
- Enable negative effect of facilities on guest happiness
- enable Pickpockets
We hope you're looking forward to these new changes! This update will come with other tweaks and bug fixes, which we'll have a full list of patch notes to share with you when we release it.
We'll have more to share with you very soon, so keep your eyes peeled!