"Planet Zoo has a wonderful community of players, who help guide us to create something that we’re hugely proud of." Ever since release, we’ve kept our ear to the ground, releasing new features and quality of life updates alongside our DLC releases, based on community feedback.” “Planet Zoo has a wonderful community of players, who help guide us to create something that we’re hugely proud of, and to make sure we bring things to the game that they really want to see! This is something we really pride ourselves on at Frontier Developments. So, did Frontier’s fanbase help shape Planet Zoo? One thing we noticed from Frontier’s previous game, Planet Coaster, was how engaged the community is with that game.
(Image credit: Frontier Developments) Embracing the community In these cases, we reduce this slightly within the game, keeping the general feel of a large litter, but without forcing players to deal with 24 new-born Indian Peafowl every 20 minutes - that would be very tricky indeed!”
"A good example of this is that some animals will produce very large litters of offspring. “We look to nature when defining the characteristics of the animals in Planet Zoo,” Wilkins explains, “however sometimes real-world requirements can end up being prohibitively difficult, or unexciting. This balance has meant that while Planet Zoo strives to be as realistic as possible when it comes to the animals, a certain degree of artistic licence was needed to make sure the game remains fun.
“For us, the most important thing to consider when designing and developing a simulation game is to maintain a healthy balance of real-life expectations and fun.” "We spend lots of time looking at the animals themselves, and working with real-world zoos to find inspiration." Steve Wilkins, Planet Zoo Game Director So, what does Wilkins and the team at Frontier think is the most important thing to consider when making a simulation game? “As well as looking at simulation titles from across the world of gaming,” continues Wilkins, “we also spend lots of time looking at the animals themselves, and working with real-world zoos to find inspiration and opportunities to innovate within the development process.” Interestingly, it wasn’t just other games the Planet Zoo team took inspiration from – but the real world as well. “Taking the feedback and lessons learned from those two games has helped guide Planet Zoo into the game it is today, and to take the genre to new heights.” So, what management sims did Frontier look to when planning Planet Zoo? “Both Zoo Tycoon and Planet Coaster have been huge influences on the development of Planet Zoo from a gameplay perspective,” says Wilkins. (Image credit: Frontier Developments) Influences
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