‘Planet Zoo’: Interview With Steve Wilkins, Game Director & Kilian Schmitt, Game Designer
For those of you looking for a last-minute Christmas gift for your animal-loving gaming friends and family, I can heavily recommend the wonderful ‘Planet Zoo‘ from Frontier Developments, which recently released their latest Europe Pack DLC, alongside Update 1.8, which adds a whole bunch of new features. To celebrate this latest release, I had a chance to pose some questions to Game Director, Steve Wilkins, and Game Designer, Kilian Schmitt.
For those of you that have yet to pick up the game, ‘Planet Zoo’ is a management sim from the developers of ‘Planet Coaster’ and ‘Zoo Tycoon’ which lets you build and run your own zoo! You can play through a bunch of pre-made scenarios, or start your own franchise from scratch, populating it will a huge array of animals, from tiny frogs to lion cubs to mighty elephants and everything in between.
The new Europe Pack introduces the Eurasian Lynx, the Alpine Ibex, the European Badger, the European Fallow Deer, and a new exhibit animal, the Fire Salamander. It also comes with over 250 new scenery pieces, inspired by various European countries and cultures influenced by Italy, France, Germany, The Netherlands, and Switzerland. They also have a bunch of winter-themed scenery just in time for the holidays, allowing you to make your zoo feel more Christmassy than ever!
Alongside the DLC, Frontier Developments also released the free 1.8 Update. This adds new restaurants to expand dining options for your visitors, along with stand-alone Shop Counters, meaning you no longer have to build shops around a boxy building. There are also new burrow enhancements available for a number of your digital furry friends, and Animal Memorials, so you can remember them when the pass on to the big zoo in the Sky.
The get a bit more info about all this new content, I spoke with Game Director, Steve Wilkins, and Game Designer, Kilian Schmitt.
How did you pick out the animals for the new Europe Pack?
Steve: We tend to look at several factors when creating a roster of animals for a new pack, from their popularity in our player base to their conservation status and history, how common they are in captivity, any development challenges they might present, and how they fit within the wider ‘Zoopedia’ of animals available in Planet Zoo.
For Planet Zoo: Europe Pack, the Eurasian Lynx was a must-have – it’s Europe’s biggest native wild cat and has been the subject of an exciting rewilding project. The same goes for the Alpine Ibex, with their magnificent recovery from the brink of extinction in the Italian mountains. We chose the European Fallow Deer over other deer species for their versatile coat variations and abundance in European wildlife parks (additionally, this was a nice surprise for those of our community, who often try to guess which species are coming). The European Badger is so widespread across Europe we felt its iconic stripes couldn’t be missing from the pack either. Lastly, the Fire Salamander Exhibit Animal was chosen for its unique colouration, temperate exhibit, and so that we could bring a new type of amphibian to the game.
Can you talk through some of the new European props and scenery?
Steve: When designing the scenery for Planet Zoo: Europe Pack, we wanted to focus our list of pieces around the concept of water being a way to connect the different European countries and cultures, for example the Netherlands has many canals, Venice in Italy is on the water, and so on. The scenery pieces in the pack are inspired by the idea of bridges as a connecting element, the wealth of architecture found in different countries, and the diverse folklore and cultures found on the European continent. The result of a beautiful selection of over 250 scenery pieces that our players can use to bring Europe to life and explore different styles.
What have been some of the most interesting or impressive creations you’ve seen made in Planet Zoo?
Steve: Our amazing community of players have come up with some really impressive builds! There are too many to name, but the dedication and passion put into huge projects, for example 1:1 scale recreations of real-life zoos, has the whole team in awe whenever we see them.
Are there scenery/props you personally would like to see added into the game which have not been yet?
Steve: From a personal perspective, animated props are always an interesting eye catcher in zoos and pose a fun creative challenge.
We’re 2yrs on from release – what have been some of the major milestones for you in the game over that period?
Steve: Each Planet Zoo DLC launch is full of smaller milestones, allowing us to introduce new content and features to provide the best possible experience for players. Maintaining a game that has evolved so much since launch is really rewarding – we’re very pleased with how all of our content has been received by the community.
From a development perspective, the addition of the diving system added in the Aquatic Pack certainly is one of the most memorable post-release milestones we have achieved. Many people worked incredibly hard to bring this feature to life, and we are happy to have been able to introduce diving for more of the animals that pre-date the update as well as our more recent DLC animals. The heightmap tool was another milestone that unleashed even more creative options for our players.
You’ve added in some new animal behaviour over the releases. Are there other animals with unique behaviours you’d like to add?
Steve: For each pack, we do a lot of research into potential animal candidates and what behaviours they would need in order for them to feel authentic and realistic in the game itself. We’re always assessing and scoping potential new behaviours and features behind the scenes.
Any animals you personally would like to add in that you haven’t managed to yet?
Steve: There are so many amazing animals available in Planet Zoo that it’s hard to think of one that we haven’t yet recreated in-game!
I know this probably changes with each release, but favourite animal right now?
Kilian: When you work so closely on the new animals, you’re bound to find a new favourite with each pack we’re working on. From Planet Zoo: Europe Pack, the Alpine Ibex and European Fallow Deer tie in first place for me – the models and animations for these animals turned out amazingly! I’m in love with the expanded colourmorph system on the deer, that our coders and artists worked really hard to bring to life.
Would you like to see a Planet Zoo/Planet Coaster crossover (not in this version maybe, but in v2 of both games?)
Steve: While Planet Coaster is a fantastically successful title in its own right, there are no plans regarding any crossover with Planet Zoo.
It feels like a game that could keep running for years with expansions and updates. Do you see a point the game is “done”, or do you still have a lot more to come?
Steve: The team are currently focused on supporting the launch of Planet Zoo: Europe Pack and the latest free update.
If you’re a fan of business sim games and/or building games, ‘Planet Zoo’ continues to be one of the best on the market. The Europe Pack DLC comes in at £7.99 and is worth the money, especially for the builders amongst you with the new scenery options. Update 1.8 is free and the additional options for the shops, along with the restaurants should really give you some great new options for your zoos. If you’ve not yet joined the ‘Planet Zoo’ family, now is a great time to jump in!
