Animation Source Forums

This is just a topic for discussing the original Zoo Tycoon game and it's expanded form, Zoo Tycoon: Complete Collection. Ideas for animals or other downloads, what your favorite animal or expansion pack was, etc. Just put it here.

I'll start off with something. My favorite expansion pack had to be Dinosaur Digs, although I really enjoyed the whole game. I loved to come up with habitats and try to make them as realistic as possible, and I came up with a lot of different ideas for downloadable theme packs (although I was never able to make any) with themes like mythology, movie animals (including a Balto/Jenna download), and Bionicle. I even had an idea of making some based on "Romero's Zoo 2" from Spy Kids 2 (including a gift shop that would sell the miniature versions).

I never got why people always complained when I created a caged deathmatch zone where dinosaurs and lions devoured each other, on mars. Seriously, that is completely awesome, I'd pay to see that!
Must have been a bunch of PETA activists.

I wouldn't have liked it either, but then it is a game. My roommates would ask me to do stuff like let the T-Rex loose so they could see it munch some guests (I always saved first and then went back later). Personally, I'm just the opposite. Even in games where animals are either a threat or potential food supply, like Age of Empires, I try to pen them up in my own private zoos.

I had a hard time with the dinos doing that, and not just the herbivores. I always solved it by making large blocks of them running diagonally up in the corners of the exhibit, between the shelters and the fence, or surrounded by water so they couldnt trample on them. I'll see if I can upload some screenshots at some point.

And yes, I lokved the unicorns too (I was kind of amused at how they had the babies zebra-striped). I always named their keeper Rose or Jake Long as a joke.

I was going to pick this game up the other day, because I had played something I think is similar to it. That game is Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis. I think Zoo Tycoon is a very similar game, but once I looked closely I saw that it looked a little too cartoony on the back of the box. Does this game offer a decent challenge and lots of customization?

My favorites were the wolves, Lochness monster Saber tooth tiger, T-rex, and orcas! I liked them all! I'm going to try the unicorn thing now!

It offers a decent challenge, yes. There are a range of animals, with differing needs for their exhibits, and some are easier than others. The exhibits themselves are fully customizable, with options for altering the type and layout of the terrain, your choice of foliage and placement, shelters, and so forth. One of the greatest challenges, at least in my experience, was arranging the exhibit so guests could see the animals, but the animals wouldn't feel too crowded. You can put animals of different species together in exhibits in exhibits (I found zebras and Thompson's gazelles mingled very nicely), although it can be tricky because some kinds aren't compatable and others are compatable but have different needs which might make them unhappy in mixed exhibits. Example: The Loch Ness Monster and plesiosaur from the Complete Collection are compatable (they will like having each other in their exhbits), but their needs are different; one requires salt water and the other wants fresh. That and the fact that they'll eat each other's eggs.
You can also customize the buildings, to a limited degree. Most of them have the option of changing their colors (not very impacting on gameplay, but it can be fun), and the programs they use to educate guests.
And if you want REAL customization, there's a downloadable program called APE (I don't know if it stands for anything) that lets you make your own animals, structures, foliage, and other objects to place in the zoo.


Yeah, I loved the Loch Ness Monster too. And wolves were a blast, even if it was a huge chore keeping their exhibit big enough, not to mention giving the guests a chance to see them while keping them from feeling too crowded.