u/Nynnny9

I’m not saying this to play the victim; it’s just completely understandable that they won't add it, since I’ve never seen anyone else ask for. Plus, we just got a South American chelonian, even though it's natively endemic to just one island (the Galapagos giant tortoise). The one in the pictures is a Red-Footed Tortoise, more specifically a Cherryhead Red-Footed Tortoise. (And here I’m being even more demanding, since the Cherryhead is a variant. So on top of the Red-Footed, I’m asking for this specific morph, though it’s still the same animal). Anyway, it's more of a personal thing. I didn't just look up some exotic animal on the internet; they are actually found in zoos, like in Canada. They are also native to both the Atlantic Forest and the Amazon—two diverse ecosystems and potential reserves, considering other already confirmed animals like the Toco Toucan or the Golden Lion Tamarin. This highlights the importance of these places and how much they need to be preserved from urbanization and exploitation, respectively.

The red-footed tortoise is a crucial seed disperser like many other tortoises, as it tends to travel long distances, and it’s a species that has always meant a lot to me. (You don't really need to read past this point)

As a child, I remember playing with one that belonged to my aunt. She (the tortoise) was already an adult, and for a kid who didn't leave the house and therefore had no friends, that tortoise was one. Well, maybe just because she couldn't run fast enough to get away from me, lol. She was with me during a phase where a lack of socialization could have really affected me, which made her passing a core memory.

What do you guys think of the reveals?

I saw many people saying 'It's an eel' and being told it couldn't be. But for those saying that, you know the silhouette might just be from a different angle of the animal, right? Like a top-down view, for example. Especially since we’ve already seen that, at least for aquatic animals, the silhouette was taken from the Zoopedia art, which tends to play a lot with angles and perspective, unlike the first teaser animals we got.

I’m not claiming it’s an eel, but it seems shortsighted to look at it that way and assume it can only be the tail of some primate or other mammal, especially right now when the focus is still on aquariums.

And here’s the thing, the Zoopedia arts are still stylized...

It's a dream come true to have a unified style for all animals, especially since the community always wanted this. I still hope for some unique variations like themed ones, but who cares? It gives me a Marvel comic vibe btw. Something very nostalgic, idk.

If I could tweak anything, I'd show the Wildebeest's face and change one of the giraffe poses (the Reticulated one, since the Masai sign is perfect). Still, they're great—I’m definitely using the tree kangaroo art on a path sign to guide guests!

At first, I was just gonna use images purely as reference, but now I see myself spending hours trying to replicate real-life stuff. Though I know I’ll only do that for a few buildings and scenery pieces to bring in that realistic Tuscany vibe. There will still be plenty of original architecture, especially when it comes to the animal houses.

I’m still gonna finish these starter buildings, they're missing windows and other details.

The peacock garden is the furthest thing from the final result. I just put down some temporary fences while focusing on the plants. Everything is basically a rough draft at this stage of the zoo haha.

First look at my future 'Giardino Toscano zoo' 🦚

I see way too many people talking about that terrible snake model they showed recently (honestly, some of you are totally overreacting), and it’s literally the exact same old model btw. They just loaded the Boa into the new graphics engine to take a screenshot. It’s kinda obvious they can rework it after the launch. And it’s not just the Boa that's outdated— look at all the other returning exhibit animals. Man, they haven’t even touched the exhibit Animal Signs yet. The first two they showed were still using the old photos from the first game, and they only fixed it later.

Plus, there's something different about the habitat looks in that screenshot. Focusing on structuring the exhibits first, before even worrying about how the animals look—which is a completely logical strategy.

You guys can’t make up your minds if you want them to focus on exhibits, aquariums, aviaries, or different continent animals. It’s like everyone forgot how game dev actually works just because we’re watching this one happen live. There’s literally a massive 'Beta' warning on the screen. You’re losing your minds over a model that hasn't even been touched yet, from a category that isn't even the focus for us right now.

My boy works in game dev too, so I know how many details get changed at the very last minute.

What other item seems essential for the base game?

I really hope there are also maps where the borders look like cities or something like that. I get creative block when trying to build a zoo only to face a surrounding world that looks completely uninhabited. It feels like it's only immersive if I make it an isolated reserve or something.

I wouldn't even mind if it was just a 2D city background in the skybox rather than fully modeled buildings, lol.

I really hope PZ2 manages to break out of the niche bubble that these types of games are in. Bringing the modern zoo perspective on conservation (or just the general view on conservation) to the mainstream media as something genuinely worth thinking about. And I say this because I'm so tired of the algorithm recommending those fake animal rescue videos, where the person recording or supposedly helping is actually the one who put the animal in that situation in the first place. Sadly, these people achieve their goal since they reach the masses as soon as they scratch the surface of the ecology niche.

This game is extremely fun and inspiring even if you just want casual gameplay and simply want to forget about real-world troubles, but it still manages to play an educational role like this, and sometimes even actively helps with preservation. I'm happy that we are somehow contributing just by playing or supporting it, much more than those fake saviors.

It's cool to see grass physics too, especially now that we'll actually use this grass. If it were applied to the grass in PZ1, nobody would even see it cause we only used the buffalo one, lol.