Hayo Zookeepers!

Since we launched Planet Zoo over a year ago, we've visited various landscapes: we've trekked through the freezing tundra; hiked around the lush, dense jungle; journeyed across the Australian Outback, all to meet the various species in those regions and learn more about them! But, there was something we just couldn't get out of our minds, somewhere we wanted to explore further, but just weren't quite able to. Until now.



It is our absolute pleasure to announce the Planet Zoo: Aquatic Pack, which will be making a splash alongside free Update 1.4 on 8 December, 2020!

In the Planet Zoo: Aquatic Pack, you'll meet five stunning, iconic animals, including four deep swimming animals and one exhibit animal which will arrive with a new exhibit landscape! Get ready to meet the wonderful Diamondback Terrapin, charming Giant Otter, beautiful Cuvier's Dwarf Caiman, brilliant Grey Seal and adventurous King Penguin. With the introduction of deep swimming, which we will be sharing more on very soon, these animals will come with their own challenges, as they have specific needs you'll need to keep in mind when building their habitats, to keep them happy and safe.



Alongside the animals, the Planet Zoo: Aquatic Pack will bring 170+ scenery, building and foliage assets, which will enable you to build a water wonderland your animals will thrive in. These assets in this pack have a more 'modern' look, meaning they have a lot of versatility and can be used in a wide range of zoos - something that a lot of community members shared that they were looking for!

That's not all! We're also bringing you a brand new timed scenario! You'll be travelling over to Oregon, USA, to take on the task of managing a zoo that's set around a drained riverbed. This zoo will test your abilities, thanks to its tight space restrictions, and you'll need to think outside the box of how to make the best of the space you have - but don't worry! What this zoo lacks in space, it makes up for in elevation.



Planet Zoo: Aquatic Pack will be available to purchase for £7.99 ($9.99, €9.99) on Steam and the Frontier Store from 8 December. Until then, you can wishlist it on Steam to be notified as soon as it's available. Please note you will need to have the Planet Zoo base game in order to download and play this extra content.

Thank you, fellow Zookeepers, for all of your support! We're excited to bring this highly requested content to you, and we can't wait to see you play it! Keep an eye on our forums and social channels for all the news and announcements.

Hayo Zookeepers!

We're proud to reveal more of what we've been working on: free Update 1.4, coming to Planet Zoo 8 December 2020.

This free update includes marvellous new additions, as well as some community requested features - thank you for sharing your suggestions with us! This post will explain the forthcoming update, what you can expect and how it will affect your gameplay.

With Update 1.4, we'll be adding a new Water Temperature Regulator facility that will allow you to customise the temperature of all water volumes within its range. This will help you have full control over the welfare of animals that like to spend a lot of time in the water, which will enable you to ensure your animals have maximum comfort in your care.

Using the Water Temperature Regulator Information Panel, the facility can be customised to suit the layout and requirements in your zoos, as you'll be able to:

• Adjust the Regulator's effective range.
  
• Adjust the target temperature all water volumes in range should be regulated to.

There will also be a new Heat map mode added to the Water overview for the Water Temperature Regulator, that will show you:

• The current range of each Water Temperature Regulator in your zoo.
  
• The temperature each Water Temperature Regulator is set to.
  
• The temperature of each volume of water in your zoo.

The Underwater Box Feeder, a new feeding station, will be available as part of the free update. For now, the only animal that will use this in the game is Saltwater Crocodile, but we will be adding this to more animals in the future. When using this feeder, like any other food enrichment, its Information Panel will provide you with details on its food capacity, usage by animals, and food suitability. Additionally, there will be a status bar that will tell you if the feeder has been placed deep enough.



Update 1.4 will include a new management screen that will summarise all of the Transport rides in the zoo. This screen will enable you to make faster and more accurate decisions about your transport rides to better manage your zoo.

The new Overview Tab will inform you on:

• The number of different rides.
  
• The most popular ride in your zoo.
  
• The most popular station in your zoo.
  
• The total annual profit for all rides.
  
• The total number of guests that have used the rides in the current year.
  
• The lifetime profit from the rides.

The Stats tab will break down each individual ride into more detailed information for you, by showing you:

• Annual profit.
  
• Annual guests.
  
• Total track length.
  
• What stations guests are using.
  
• Each station's scenery rating.

The Management Tab will allow you to edit:

• The number of trains (only while the ride is closed).
  
• The number of cars per train (only while the ride is closed).
  
• Maximum speed.
  
• Ticket price (per station).
  
• The status of the ride (overall and per station).

We're excited to travel to the Philippines with you, for a new timed scenario set in the mountains of Luzon! Take on an adventure and transform disused rice terraces, while pushing conservational awareness. Make sure you have it ready in time for the grand opening ceremonies!

We can't wait to bring you Animal Talks, something that we recently shared more about. A staple activity in zoos that help educate guests about the zoo and their conservation efforts, in Planet Zoo, Animal Talks will be run by Educators, a new Staff type that will help educate our guests about animals around your zoos!

For Animal Talks to happen, you're required to place an Animal Talk Point in the area you've set up for the talk to take place (we recommend carving out a section for each Animal Talk so that your guests don't block the path for your Staff and any guests travelling around the zoo). Animal Talk Points can only select a species for the talk from nearby habitats and exhibits. Once you've got it all ready to go, an Educator will get ready to do the Animal Talk, and both guests and (sometimes) animals will gather around to see what all the excitement is about!

These Animal Talks come with a new Information Panel. Each talk can be set up for one habitat or exhibit, and one species of animal. Through this panel, you will be able to:

• Enable and disable Animal Talk Points.
  
• Pick an animal species for the talk.
  
• Pick a month to schedule the talk (it will take place annually).
  
• Assign an Educator to the Animal Talk Point.
  
• Assign the Animal Talk to a work zone.
  
• Select music, which will play while the talk is not in use.
  
• See if your placement of the Animal Talk Point will allow your Educator to throw food in.

There is also a new management tab for Animal Talks. In this tab, you can see:

• List of Animal Talks
  
• Location of the Animal Talk Points.
  
• Habitat or Exhibit Talk Point type.
  
• Assigned Habitat.
  
• Assigned animal species - a talk can only be for one species.
  
• Month the talk is scheduled.
  
• Works zone assigned (Yes/No).

We can't wait to see what you do with the new, free scenery assets! Update 1.4 will bring you a set of 'decal decorations', two new guest paths, one new queue path and two variants to pre-existing queue paths, a new font for your 3D letters, 2D letters, and a range of foliage. We love seeing what you create, and we're looking forward to seeing how you incorporate these into your zoos.



Thanks to your suggestions and feedback, we've added in a new feature:

• Multi-Select for Franchise Mode Animal Storage

Something that has been requested for a long time now, we're proud to bring you the multi-select tool to Franchise Mode Animal Storage! This will make it easier for you to manage your animals, especially for when breeding gets out of hand quickly!

Update 1.4 will arrive with gameplay tweaks and bug fixes that we've worked on with your feedback and suggestions in mind. You'll get the full list of the Update Notes when Update 1.4 goes live on 8 December.

Thanks, PlanZo Fam, for all of your brilliant support and feedback as we continue to work on Planet Zoo. We're looking forward to sharing more about what we've been working on very soon! Stay tuned!

Hayo fellow zookeepers!

Thank you for sharing your Issue Tracker reports and feedback with us, it is greatly appreciated! We have just released Update 1.3.4, and you can read what this involves here:


General fixed

• Fixed guests randomly entering a state of 'trapped' and then heading home.
  
• Fixed staff not finding available staff rooms
  
• General staff and guest navigation fixes.

Stability

• Further crash and stability fixes.

Please make sure your game is up-to-date, and continue to share your feedback, suggestions, and any bugs you discover with us.

Hayo, fellow zookeepers!

Thanks for all of your feedback, and Issue Tracker reports! We've just released Update 1.3.3, which you can download for Planet Zoo right now.


General fixed

• Added new sandbox option to disable maintenance, stops vending machines, water facilities, power facilities, toilets and rides from breaking down.
  
• Tweaked the input fields for sliders into a capsule design.
  
• Added the ability to type numeric values for temperature\humidity sliders.
  
• Fixed staff facilities sometimes not showing their negative impact radius after first being placed.
  
• Animals will no longer break barrier walls when dilapidation is turned off.
  
• Fixed missing string for animal colourisation on the zebra, panda and gharial albinos.
  
• Fixed staff not moving animals from trade centre to designated habitat.
  
• Fixed staff and guests struggling to navigate down a 4 meter path with vending machines snapped to both kerb edges.
  
• Fixed 'mechanic not visited for long time' notification appearing with barrier dilapidation turned off.
  
• Fixed exhibit temperature/humidity missing tooltips text.
  
• Fixed Fahrenheit temperature sliders skipping numbers.
  
• Fixed an issue when subscribing 100's of workshop items would eventually crash the blueprints tab on the browser.
  
• Fixed an issue where pressing escape in the community challenge window would lock out keyboard input.
  
• Fixed an issue when an animal dies in the box it was impossible to unbox it or move it.
  
• Fixed an issue with the conservation management not allowing setting back to "none".
  
• Fixed an issue where you would need unsubscribe to a workshop blueprint twice before it is removed from construction menu while in game.
  
• "View All of this Species" button in exhibit info panel should now filter animal list to only show that species.
  
• Fixed "New World Area Light" to function as it did before the 1.3.0 update.
  
• Fixed guests littering, despite bins being present.
  
• Staff and guest navigation fixes.

Stability

• Further crash and stability fixes.

Please continue to provide us with suggestions, feedback, and Issue Tracker reports!

Hayo zookeepers!

Thanks for your patience while we have worked on our new update. We've been hearing your feedback, and reading your Issue Tracker reports, and we've now released Update 1.3.2. It is available to download now, so please make sure your game is up-to-date.

Please read the update notes below:


General fixed

• Added notification for vending machine breakdowns. 
• Added Red Kangaroos tags missing from small ball enrichment items. 
• Added South America and Australia tags to the Steam workshop. 
• Temperature, humidity, heaters and coolers UI fixes:
  • Added ambient temperature tool tip when hovering over the bar for heaters and coolers. 
  • Fixed ambient zoo temperature tool tips not showing the appropriate number while set to Fahrenheit. 
  • Added numeric display of the temperature value to the side of temperature slider bars. 
  • When Exhibits are placed temperature is now set to match the ambient temperature.
• Fixed an issue where vending machines can reach 0% maintenance and not break down. 
• Fixed vending machines breaking down more frequently than intended.
• Fixed mechanics not repairing vending machines to full maintenance level. 
• Fixed mechanics not always repairing broken down vending machines after being called. 
• Fixed players being unable to exit "Terrain Stamp Tool" by pressing escape.
• Fixed players not being awarded the free content Kangaroo costume. 
• Guest and staff navigation on paths with less than 4m width adjusted.
• Fixed an issue that prevented the players from re-colouring a group of scenery items. 
• Fixed an issue where selecting a colour on a double-clicked scenery item would close the colour picker.
• Fixed animal colour variations (particularly timber wolves) being incorrectly labelled - the genetic colour of the animals will not change.
• Fixed an issue where the best time for a Timed Scenario on the main menu would be different from the time achieved in-game.
• Keepers assigned to two habitats are no longer counted twice in the assigned keepers section of the food tab. 

Stability

• Further crash and stability fixes.

Hayo Zookeepers!

We hope you've been enjoying Update 1.3, and the Australia Pack! We're looking forward to seeing all your blueprints, screenshots, and videos - what have you been working on so far?

Thanks for making us aware of the issues you've been experiencing. We appreciate all the Issue Tracker reports and contributions, as they have been super helpful.

With that being said, here's Update 1.3.1!

General fixes

• Fixed protesters not leaving the zoo on load when there's nothing for them to protest.
  
• Fixed crash in multi-selection and work zones, caused by facilities being in the multi-selection.
  
• Corrected behaviour of the "view all of this species" button on the social tab of exhibit animals, it now opens a filtered version of the animals tab showing only the selected species.
  
• Fixed issue where animals would not climb in habitats containing many climbable objects beyond what the animals could reach.
  
• Fixed guests becoming trapped or teleporting to the zoo entrance after using ATM that is on the 2x2 grid-based path.
  
• Fixed the water jet enrichment item reducing the surrounding temperature to 0 degrees.
  
• Fixed staff not accessing the African Wild Dog Habitat in Scenario 5 due to issue with the pre-built staff path.
  
• Fixed some Koala climbing problems including levitating, playing incorrect idle animation while hanging vertically and teleporting due to trying to rest while climbing.
  
• Fixed male Dingo sitting down abruptly during the Male/Female interaction animation.
  
• Fixed Staff management work zones not moving correct staff via the drop down in the footer.
  
• Fixed continent filter in the environment tab of a habitat's UI showing the incorrect plants.
  
• Fixed Vendor training level being incorrect on the UI for the shop they are assigned to.
  
• Fixed issues with animals walking/climbing on the Planet Zoo Log, animals used to hover above the surface and navigate the roots poorly.
  
• Added animal colour description text string when using compare mates with an animal from the animal market.
  
• Added Dingo social rest interaction audio between adults.
  
• Added "Koala" tag to applicable climbing Enrichments.
  
• Updated missing Flexi-colour Tag on banner assets.

Stability

• Further crash and stability fixes.

G'day Zookeepers!

We're on our way Down Under, and hope you're ready to join us! We're pleased to announce that Planet Zoo: Australia Pack and free Update 1.3 have launched, and are ready to download and play!



Update 1.3 is free for all of our community, and will add a variety of different features that will add to your gameplay experience. In this update, we're bringing animal colour variation that will help you identify individual animals around your zoos.

We're adding in Timed Scenarios, which differ from Career Scenarios, as you'll have to maintain your objectives throughout the scenario to complete them in a time frame. We'll also be adding the highly-requested Vending Machines, Staff Management multi-select, and, of course, added creativity!

We can't wait for you to visit our new Desert Oceania Sandbox Biome, and try out the free, lush foliage, warm-red rocks and three paths! Read all about what's included in Update 1.3 here.



Planet Zoo: Australia Pack is adding five beautiful, iconic animals: Koala, Red Kangaroo, Dingo, Southern Cassowary and Eastern Blue-Tongued Lizard. They'll arrive with their own challenges, so make sure you keep visiting the Zoopedia to see how best to care for them.


This update contains many more bug fixes, updates and some new content.

Animals

• Animal colour variation
  • Introduced meaningful difference in colour where appropriate for the species, to allow for easier identification of individuals.
  • Improved upon the general appearance of groups and herds with subtler differences in colour.
    
    • These changes will update animals in your existing save games based on their current genetics.
  • Provided a written description of colour and pattern information from the trading window, so players can set their own breeding or population goals, and provide information for colourblind players.
    • Wolf colours are complicated by interbreeding between wolf subspecies, but also domestic dogs and even coyotes. We’ve chosen a classic range of wolf colours that work well with our existing textures.
    • Expanding upon our simulation capability, the availability of colourmorph genes in the animal population is now variable per species. Here are some examples of these changes:
      • 6% (approx.) of the jaguar population are now black jaguars. Note this does not affect existing jaguars in save games, instead jaguars from the animal markets will be carriers for black jaguar genes much more frequently.
      • Bird and Reptile Albinism or Leucism are now more likely than before; in-line with natural results.
      • Llamas in existing save games will now have brown patches through pattern variation, as well as different off-white tones through colour variation. We've also added an additional set of all-body colour variations to their colourmorph slot, which is now extremely common for Llamas from the animal market.
  • Colour and Pattern Genetics
    • All animals carry pre-existing genetic information for both colour and pattern variation, though not all are used. This information is in addition to Colourmorph genetics, and is intended to be used in a different way from genetic inheritance.
    • The information applies colour variation on top of the animals existing textures and colour. This method allows for gradual changes in colour between individuals through tens of barely perceptible individual steps. The written descriptions will stick to the major colour and pattern changes.
    • When animals breed, their offspring create colour and pattern values in a range around the average of their parents, most often looking similar to at least one of their parents.
    • There is now a small chance that colour or pattern will 'mutate' and pick a value far away from the parent colours, perhaps looking like a more distant relative.
    • Genetics tweaks will allow offspring to have a wider possible variation of patterns from their parents than before to encourage more obvious individual differences.
  • Bug Fixes
    • Animals in the Sandbox and Challenge animal market should now show correctly when an animal is albino, both in the icon, and in the colour string. This previously only worked in Franchise mode.
    • Analysed and fixed unintended differences between breeding in Franchise and Sandbox/Challenge modes specifically for colour and pattern genetic outcomes.
    • Fixed offspring with the same two parents in Franchise mode always having identical patterns due to a bug in inheritance genetics. Note that savegame animals will retain their genetics, so you may have to cycle out animals through breeding and trading to see faster results.
  • Research
    • We tended to find that formal documentation of animal colour and pattern was rare and highly variable in quality. We’ve done our best to stick to photo reference, with the following considerations:
      • Overall image colour (hue, saturation intensity etc) can vary depending on the camera settings, as well as adjustments afterwards, eg. photoshop.
      • Colour can alter its presentation for many other reasons including the natural lighting, time of day and natural surroundings.
      • Wetness and/or dirtiness of fur, which we may want to hint at in the colouration of the animal anyway.
      • We try to avoid colouration that only applies to single individuals, as the frequency of the colour would begin to look strange in groups.
      • Written descriptions of the same colours vary highly, and depend on the preferences and natural language of the writer.
      • Closely related subspecies can make determining colour more difficult.
      • Very often written descriptions will lack photo evidence.
      • Photos are very commonly mislabeled for the correct subspecies, or aren’t labelled for subspecies at all.
  • Existing game animals – subtle colour variation (35 Animals)
    • African Elephants
    • African Buffalo
    • Aldabra Giant Tortoise
    • American Bison
    • Arctic Wolf
    • Baird’s Tapir
    • Black Wildebeest
    • Bongo
    • Bonobo
    • Bornean Orangutan
    • Chinese Pangolin
    • Common Warthog
    • Formosan Black Bear
    • Gemsbok
    • Giant Anteater
    • Giant Panda
    • Hippopotamus
    • Indian Elephant
    • Indian Rhinoceros
    • Jaguar (Yellow)
    • Japanese Macaque
    • Mandrill
    • Nyala
    • Plains Zebra
    • Pronghorn Antelope
    • Red Panda
    • Red Ruffed Lemur
    • Reindeer
    • Ring Tailed Lemur
    • Sable Antelope
    • Snow Leopard
    • Spotted Hyena
    • Thomsons Gazelle
    • Western Chimpanzee
    • Western Lowland Gorilla
  • Existing Game animals – approx. medium colour variation (12 Animals)
    • Aardvarks
    • African Wild Dogs
    • Bactrian Camel
    • Bengal Tiger
    • Cheetah
    • Grizzly Bear
    • Himalayan Brown Bear
    • Nile Monitor
    • Reticulated Giraffe
    • Saltwater Crocodile
    • Siberian Tiger
    • West African Lion
  • Existing Game animals – major colour variation (2 Animals)
    • Llama colours and patterns added
    • Timber Wolf – colour range from white-grey to grey-brown to red-brown with dark mottling
  • The following animals we felt either had no clear variation and/or benefited in some way from looking identical as a group (12 Animals)
    • Common Ostrich – we already have variation for male and female
    • Galapagos Giant Tortoise
    • Gharial
    • Greater Flamingo – would want to be more linked to food, which we haven’t achieved yet.
    • Indian Peafowl – we already have variation for male and female. We have avoided hybrid colours.
    • Komodo Dragon
    • Okapi
    • Pygmy Hippo
    • Springbok
    • Dall Sheep
    • Polar Bear - differences appear to be seasonal seasonal or dirt-related rather than individual
    • Capuchin Monkey
  • No colour variation has been added to exhibit animals, as their environments are so dense it would be harder to distinguish subtle detail.
• General Animal Bug Fixes and Improvements
  
  • Adjusted skinning of upper legs to fix male springbok. 
  • Fixed a gap in the geometry of the male Western Chimpanzee's gums when fighting (singular hole in gum, as well as small gap between gum and lips). 
  • Jaguars now require and use water more based on player feedback and our research info.
    
    • Added water requirement of approx. 5% of land space requirement, decreased land requirement by the same amount to not jeopardise player zoos.
  • Updated the Llama Zoopedia images to represent the new pattern and colour variation.
  • Adjusted the animation on the Llama while drinking to allow the head to reach the water. 
  • Increased sexual sterility age of African Buffalo from 15 to 20 years to make them easier to breed. 
  • Fixed Zebras in a Habitat with a steep hill opting to traverse the steepest section of the slope, causing animation and postural issues in the process. 
  • Fixed Juvenile African Wild Dog not sleeping while parent is present in the habitat. 
  • Fixed water noises playing when Juvenile African Wild Dog drinks from a water source but does not make contact. 
  • Cleaned up the animation on the Giant Anteater to avoid the model clipping while fighting.
  • Fixed issues with the Giant Anteater Female LODs not rendering.
  • Improved the Giant Anteater family tails to help stop them clipping through the floor as much in certain situations. 
  • Improved fur rim light on Giant Anteater family.
  • Fixed the final fun fact failing to unlock in the Zoopedia for the Capuchin monkey when all research is complete. 
  • Fix to stop the Juvenile Gharials falling through the floor when ragdolling.
  • Fixed waterfall and metal frame toy Enrichment causing animal welfare alerts by balancing the temperature.
  • Fix for animals being unable to automatically unbox in some Habitats despite successfully unboxing when animal was added to the Habitat. 
  • Fix for the elephant interact and Sable antelope jaw popping during the animation.
  • Fix for incorrectly aligned defecation for Bonobos, Orangutans, Cheetahs and Lions.
  • Fix for the Siberian Tiger where the tongue clipped through the mouth while eating.
  • Fix nostrils distorting on the Adult Western Lowland Gorillas as they walk.
  • Fix for Arctic Wolf's howl audio being out of sync with howl animation.
  • Fixed the Zoopedia map for the Lehmann's Poison Frog. 
  • Reviewed and adjusted herding systems to work better for both large and small animals (zebras being a medium size reference).
  • The following animals will now choose to spend species-specific amounts of time in and around wading-depth water: Flamingo, Nile Monitor, Saltwater Crocodile, Gharial, Hippo, Pygmy Hippo, Tapir, Jaguar, Polar Bear, Indian Elephants and African Elephants.
  • The following animals can now sleep in water of appropriate depth: Saltwater Crocodile, Gharial, Hippo, Pygmy Hippo, Flamingo, Nile Monitor.
  • Adding additional paragraph to Hyena Social needs description in the Zoopedia, to help explain why their population settings are so low.
  • Fixed the reproduction section of the Snow Leopard zoopedia entry to match in-game offspring numbers.
  • Reduced teleporting of animals when stepping onto climbable objects.
  • Improved spawned food placement to reduce animals clipping with Habitat boundaries and prevent food appearing on tops of walls. 
  • Fixed dominance fight notifications playing incorrectly for pack species. 
  • Fix for Juveniles playing incorrect animations during social theatres (cause of body contortions).
  • Fixed animals sometimes pouncing straight through other animals during predation at max in-game speed.
  • Fixed cases of animals pouncing on enrichment items without moving and therefore having the food appear a long distance from the enrichment item. 
  • Audio
    • Fix for Adult Male Bison not making a sound when jumping into water. 
    • Fix for Juvenile Jaguar not making sound when eating from a Blood Pumpkin. 
  • Enrichment
    • Fix for Juvenile Snow Leopard getting stuck when using Pinata Enrichment.

New Content

• NEW GAME MODE - Timed Scenarios
  • Complete a list of objectives against the clock.
  • A single list of objectives, to complete.
  • Unlike Career Scenarios, objectives can 'uncomplete' and must be maintained once achieved.
  • Bronze, Silver and Gold is awarded based on how long it takes to complete.
  • The new Estonia scenario is available in the free 1.3 update.
  • The new Australia scenario is available in the Australia pack. 
• New Scenery
  • Foliage
    • Century Plant (Agave)
    • Rainbow Eucalyptus
    • Staghorn Ferns
    • Mat Rush Grasses
    • Umbrella Thorn Acacia
    • Oak Sapling
    • Scots Pine Sapling
    • Beech Sapling
    • Brazil Nut Sapling
  • Free Australia avatar costume
  • 3 x New paths
  • 28 x New rock assets
  • New Desert Oceania Sandbox
• Vending Machines
  • 11 x new vending machines added, including the following:
    • Food
      • Chief Beef
      • Cosmic Cow Ice Cream
      • Hotdog Squad
      • Mexelente
      • Missy Good
      • Monsieur Frites
      • Pizza Pen
    • Drink
      • Cosmic Cow Milk
      • Gulpee
      • Pipshot
      • Street Fox Coffee
  • Vending machines are a cheaper way to help satisfy guest’s needs, but the food/drink doesn’t satisfy as much as an item from a shop.
  • Placement of vending machines differs to Planet Coaster. In Planet Zoo they are placed on the edge of paths, like ATMs, benches and bins.
  • The items in the vending machines cannot be customised like those in the shops.
  • Vending machines require power to work.

Game Modes
Scenarios

• Toxic barrels no longer contribute to scenery rating for buildings.
• Fixed an issue where toxic barrels would appear in the power heatmap.
• Fixed some z-fighting in the Bernie Goodwin Memorial Zoo.
• Fixed a Flamingo with alpha status in the Panda Park Career level. 
• Fix for a crash after completing the Panda Park Career level at the bronze objective level.
• Fixed the Bernie Goodwin Memorial Zoo buildings doors not being attached to the wall. 
• Fixed "Myers rain forest conservation project" misplaced scenery pieces. 

[/*][/list]Challenge Mode

• Fixed an issue where converting a challenge zoo into a sandbox wouldn't stop research alerts.

[/*][/list]Franchise Mode

• Removed albino Dall sheep icons from trade centre as not supported in game. 
• Fix the 'Zoologist' achievement failing to unlock despite meeting requirements. 

[/*][/list]Research

• Fixed a number of problems with DLC animal research when the DLC was enabled while playing in-game in a non-sandbox zoo. This will also fix instances of old zoos with an incorrect research state.

Management

• Reduced maximum entry ticket price from 200 to 100, guests could never afford the old maximum and this gives more fidelity on the slider.

Staff

• Fixed vets walking on the spot if player moves a habitat gate before/whilst a vet is walking through it.
• Keepers will now finish a feeding task before leaving the park after getting fired.
• Fix an issue where vets or caretakers could get stuck in a queue outside a building to do a transport job when fired. Fix for staff becoming temporarily stuck going from staff path to normal path.
• Fix for caretaker becoming stuck going from off-path to normal path with escaped animal box.
• Fixed an issue where keepers could get stuck while preparing food. 
• Fixed notification saying staff rooms are full when they are not.
• Fixed being notified that a Mechanic hasn't inspected habitat for a while, despite one having just inspected it.

Guests

• Added guest history thoughts for pickpockets, indicating whether they had been caught.
• Prevent guests from getting stuck in park with the state "going home via ATM". 
• Fixed cases where guests would get stuck off the path.
• Fixed an issue where balloon pops were not always audible.
• Guests will no longer flee from many Juvenile animals, even if they flee from the Adults of that species.

Zoo Construction

• Scenery Light Toggle
  • Lights and lamps can now be turned on via the asset's UI info panel, the same as in Planet Coaster.
  • This is the ability to turn a light on all the time or off all the time, rather than only turning on automatically at night.
  • Lights will not work without power unless solar powered.
• Improved New World Spot Light emitted light culling when looking away from the light.
• Added flexicolour to concrete walls.
• Adding size tags to rock, foliage and scenery assets.
• Updated various architecture structure assets that were missing tags or had excessive tags.
• Updated all grid based assets from South America Pack with grid prop tag. 
• Notifications for education boards and speakers have been improved to specify whether the target species is too distant, or whether speakers are providing conflicting information. 
• Improved LODs on Arctic Architecture Beam 2m. 
• Improved New World Spot Light emitted light culling when looking away from the light.
• Added flexicolour to concrete walls. 
• Updated various architecture structure assets that were missing tags or had excessive tags. 
• Updated all grid based assets from South America Pack with grid prop tag.
• Increased the vertical range of education boards to capture animals in Habitats that are further away.
• Fixed incorrect tags for the Habitat Education Board set. 
• Fixed Arctic Shelters not unlocking via the "Arctic Theme" Research.
• Fixed performance stalls when editing paths near lake volumes. 
• Fix for editable text signs so that their text can be deleted. 
• Fixed an issue where various Palm Thatch Roof assets would include floating bundles of thatch. 
• Fixed Glass Modern Wall 4m 02 not being treated as transparent by Guests. 
• Fixed Glass House Roof Arch 6m and 4m having very noticeable LOD pop on inside. 
• Fixed New World Sign Editable 02 text clipping.
• Fixed Ambience speaker 02 and powered lights not displaying if they are powered or not in the power heat map.

UI

• NEW Animal Food Management UI - One location to see all of the animals and habitats in your zoo and what Food Grades the animals are being given.
  
  • Food grades can be changed in this menu.
  • You can see how many keepers are assigned to look after the animals in a habitat.
  • A projected cost per year for the food costs.
  • Time since the animals were last fed.
  • Whether the animals are hungry or not.
  • A total cost per year for feeding animals.
  • The total number of keepers in the zoo.
  • How many keepers are assigned to habitats.
  • How many keepers are not assigned to habitats.
• Staff management multi-select
  • You can now select more than one member of staff at the same time.
  • This allows you to train, give a pay rise to (in increments of $10), assign to work zones and fire multiple members of staff at once.
• Info panels
  • Exhibit info panel - Humidity and temperature UI has been improved/simplified to allow it to be adjusted without the need to scroll up and down. 
  • Habitat info panel - Enrichment objects will now highlight when hovered over.
  • Info panel flexi colour is now accessible via a single button.
  • Drop downs are now disabled when there are no items available in them.
• Dismiss Functionality for Zoo Alerts
  • Added the ability to dismiss zoo alerts by clicking on a new trash can button or selecting the cross icon on the alert notification.
• Added new animated animal silhouettes to the loading screen
  • Anteater - South America DLC owners only
  • Camel
  • Chimpanzee
  • Elephant
  • Giraffe
  • Gorilla
  • Kangaroo - Australia DLC owners only
  • Lemur
  • Lion
  • Llama - South America DLC owners only
  • Reindeer - Arctic DLC owners only
  • Rhino

[/*]

• Added status indicator in the Trading UI for animals that cannot be sold because they are pregnant.
• Added species tags to Blueprint creation.
• Added new display symbols on duplicate items in the UI Browser to indicate if the item is small, medium or large.
• Added new 'select all' button to the barrier widgets tool set and improved click reliability.
• Added infertility indicators for the age icon.
• Added ability to apply contraceptive settings to all animals of one species in a habitat, including new animals entering the Habitat.
• Added a tab showing biome information when selecting plants in the browser.
• Added new icons in the Blueprints tab to distinguish the categories. 
• Added missing animal tags to shelter blueprints for arctic and south america packs 
• Management screens now display tool tips on input fields. 
• Updated 'button disabled' colours for the animal management screen.
• Items being researched now show tool tips. 
• Timeline, objectives and help windows will no longer overlap the main browser, instead resizing to fit.
• When cancelling a multi-select move the player's selection is no longer deselected. 
• Minor update to the guest history tab icon. 
• Education speaker overlap alerts will now only trigger if it is directly affecting guests.
• Updated the staff fire icon so it is now consistently represented by a trash can throughout the UI. 
• Fixed animal genetics percentages being rounded differently between Habitat and Trading UI.
• Fix an issue where clicking a timeline notification could take you to the wrong subject.
• Fixed an issue where animal management would not reset the action buttons when animals were deselected by sorting/filtering. 
• Fixed crash when fanfare disappears. 
• Fix TAA settings for graphical presets being always turned on regardless of pre-set. 
• Fixed an issue where the 'rebuilding navigation' loading screen message could occur again after a save and load. 
• Fix an issue with the donation box UI rendering.
• Fixed drop down menus detaching from their buttons when scrolling through management panels. 
• Fixed the face of the Komodo Dragon image being completely obscured by the progress label/completion when researching the Komodo Dragon. 
• Fixed Habitat food grading drop down sometimes being ordered the wrong way round.
• Fixed lowest graphical preset keeping the texture resolution on medium.

Localisation

• Added in more animal names for Spanish male and female list as well as Russian female names.
• Clarify the 'This one's a keeper' achievement text to refer to work zones. 
• Clarified the difference between the guest education need and the education coverage in the heat map views.
• Fix a localisation issue with the 'Research completed' popup. 
• Fix to localise the names of months.
• Various localisation fixes.

Stability

• Further crash and stability fixes.

G'day Zookeepers!

With Planet Zoo, we've travelled far and wide across the globe, but we've yet to travel Down Under. We're on our way to explore the natural splendour and intrigue of the Australian Outback, to take in the beautiful wildlife and, of course, meet brand new animals.



We're thrilled to announce the Planet Zoo: Australia Pack, arriving alongside free Update 1.3 on 25 August, 2020!

Meet our five marvellous, iconic animals that will be making an appearance: the curious Koala, handsome Red Kangaroo, cunning Dingo, striking Southern Cassowary and inquisitive Eastern Blue-Tongued Lizard. These five animals will present their own challenges, which will require learning how best to care for them, to ensure their health and wellbeing.

These new additions also arrive alongside over 230 new scenery and building pieces, that include eye-catching construction pieces that are designed to feature upcycled materials that evoke the wonder of contemporary Australian architecture. These, as well as the new spectacular fauna and flora, will have your animals feeling like they're back in the Outback, no matter which Biome they're in.

Planet Zoo: Australia Pack will be available to purchase for £7.99 ($9.99, €9.99) on Steam and the Frontier Store from 25 August. It's available to wishlist now on Steam, and you'll be notified as soon as it's available to purchase. Just a few days to go before our next great adventure!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1349400/Planet_Zoo_Australia_Pack/

Hayo Zookeepers!

We're pleased to reveal free Update 1.3, coming to Planet Zoo 25 August, 2020.

This free update contains community requested features and some exciting new additions to Planet Zoo! This post will go in-depth about the upcoming additions, and how it will affect your gameplay.


We're excited to introduce a differences in animal colour, which will make it easier to identify individuals around your zoos. We've done so by sticking to known and realistic colours, and by improving upon the general appearance of groups and herds with subtler differences in colour.

We've added a way for you to see colour and pattern information from the Animal Market trading window, to make it easier for you to carry out your breeding and population goals, and to provide our colourblind players with information. This includes the scientific terms for the Colourmorphs we use in-game, such as if an albino is classed as Albino, Leucistic, or simply another colour.



The availability of inheritable Colourmorph genes in the animal market population is now variable per species, in particular:

• 6% (approx.) of the Jaguar population are now Black Jaguars
  
• Bird and Reptile Albinism or Leucism are now more likely than before; in-line with natural results
  
• Llama colourmorphs are extremely common, and follow the same breeding rules as albinos, with an additional set of colour variations

In addition to the Colourmorph genetics, your existing zoo animals carry existing genetic information for both colour and pattern. This information applies colour variation on top of the animals existing textures, and allows for subtle and gradual changes in colour between different animals.

When animals breed, their offspring create colour and pattern values in a range around the average of their parents, most often looking similar to at least one of their parents. However, there is now a small chance that colour or pattern will pick a value far away from the parent colour, perhaps looking more like a distant relative.

The team researched animal colour and pattern variation, and found that documentation was rare and highly variable in quality depending on the species. We've done our absolute best to stick to research photo reference, and do them justice. With this in mind, we've tried to avoid colouration that only applies to single, individual animals, as the contrast of colour would begin to look strange in groups.

We have not added colour variation to exhibit animals, partly because their environments are so dense it is harder to distinguish minor variation at a distance. The highly saturated and often very distinct colours and patterns would be more suited to additional Colourmorphs.


The team are adding an Animal Food Management page, to provide you with one location to see all of the animals and habitats in your zoo and what Food Grades the animals are being given. In this menu, you'll be able to see:

• The projected food costs for the year
  
• How many keepers are assigned to look after your animals in a habitat
  
• How much time has passed since your animals were last fed
  
• Whether your animals are hungry or not
  
• The total cost per year for feeding all of your animals.
  
• The total number of keepers in the zoo
  
• The total number of keepers assigned to habitats
  
• The total number of keepers not assigned to habitats

You'll be able to change the Food Grades for your animals in this menu. This menu has been designed with community feedback in mind, to make it easier for you to access and stay on top of Food Management around your zoo for multiple habitats.


A brand new landscape set in a location to be revealed soon! With new terrain textures, surroundings and sky.


With this update, we are adding a free Timed Scenario in Estonia! Make sure you check it out!

Timed Scenarios task you with completing objectives against the clock, awarding Bronze, Silver and Gold medals based on how long it takes for you to complete a scenario. We'll be providing you with a list of objectives, but unlike Career Scenarios, these objectives must be maintained once they're achieved, or they will become incomplete again.


Vending Machines have been heavily requested, so we're introducing them into Planet Zoo! These work as a cheaper alternative for your guests to help satisfy their needs, but it's important to note that the food and drink from the Vending Machines don't satisfy as much as an item from a shop. They require power to work, so make sure you place them around power sources.

Our veteran Planet players should know that the placement of vending machines differs to Planet Coaster; in Planet Zoo they are placed like a path extra, such as a bench or a bin, and not like a shop with a path connection.


Thanks to community feedback, we're adding in multi-select to the Staff Management UI, meaning that you can select more than one member of Staff at the same time. With this, you will now be able to:

• Train multiple Staff at once
  
• Give multiple Staff pay rises (in increments of $10)
  
• Assign multiple Staff to work zones
  
• Fire multiple members of Staff at once.

We've been reading your community suggestions and, thanks to your feedback, we have created a variety of new features:

Dismiss Functionality for Zoo Alerts

You'll now be able to dismiss zoo alerts using the new trash can icon.

Scenery Light Toggle

You'll now have the ability to turn on or off scenery lights all the time, instead of them just coming on automatically at night. Lights will not work without power unless they're solar powered.

More Creativity!

We're thrilled to bring you additional creativity with new scenery assets! The foliage includes plants and smaller sapling trees to complement their larger cousins, while we're adding in three new paths, and the free rocks have been made to complement our new Biome.

Update 1.3 will be paired with bug fixes and gameplay tweaks that are designed to improve your Planet Zoo experience - you'll get the full list of Update Notes when 1.3 goes live on 25 August!

Thanks to you all for providing us with feedback, suggestions and support. You've been absolutely fantastic.

Hayo Zookeepers!

We have just released Update 1.2.5, thanks to all of your Issue Tracker reports and save files that you sent in to us. Please continue to file Issue Tracker reports whenever you come across the issue, so the team can look into resolving it in a timely manner.

Here's what Update 1.2.5 contains:

Planet Zoo - 1.2.5 Update Notes

Stability and Crashes

• Fix for crash-on-load or infinite loading screen of old and/or large park saves.

General

• Fixed the nav mesh rebuild loading tool tip being re-triggered incorrectly after saving and reloading.
  
• Bobbin Drum Enrichment item is now correctly unlocked after researching the following animals:
  
  • Bonobo
    
  • Bornean Orangutan
    
  • Formosan Black Bear
    
  • Giant Panda
    
  • Himalayan Brown Bear
    
  • Mandrill
    
  • Polar Bear
    
  • Western Chimpanzee
    
  • Western Lowland Gorilla
• Small Ball Colourful Enrichment item is now correctly unlocked after researching the following animals:
  
  • Capuchin Monkey
    
  • Aardvark
    
  • African Wild Dog
    
  • Aldabra Giant Tortoise
    
  • Bairds Tapir
    
  • Bornean Orangutan
    
  • Chinese Pangolin
    
  • Common Ostrich
    
  • Galapagos Giant Tortoise
    
  • Gharial
    
  • Japanese Macaque
    
  • Nile Monitor
    
  • Red Panda
    
  • Red Ruffed Lemur
    
  • Ring Tailed Lemur
    
  • Timber Wolf
    
  • Western Lowland Gorilla