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Exotic Animal Zoo EP: What’s Needed for a Very Good Zoo Expansion? (Pics)
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There’s a response to the German Sims Team’s question “What’s needed for a very good Pets EP?”, but because of the way the question was asked, the response separates farms, zoos, and safaris out from a general Pets EP. There’s already a substantial thread on farm life started, but I think we could continue to develop ideas for zoos and safaris. So. . .
What’s needed for a really good Zoo EP? I think there are potentially two different types of zoos: exotic animal zoos and petting zoos. For an exotic animal zoo:
1.) It should be content rich. There should be more than just animals to look at, but lots of things for Sims and players to do. Lots of gameplay.
2.) Loads of exotic animals, of course.
3.) Many of the animals could be tied to cages, pens, enclosures, and tethers if necessary.
4.) Some of the animals should be free to roam and interact. Like peacocks, squirrels, and a renegade monkey.
5.) Lots of interactions with bound zoo animals: feeding, brushing, petting, mimicking apes (and vice versa), surprise 🐸🐸🐸🐸 and kisses, viewing, and playing with them through fencing.
6.) Even more interactions with unbound zoo animals: an elephant or camel ride, getting lifted by elephants, loose monkey that could steal food or other items from your inventory if you have them and eat or play with them, tortoise rides, maybe an inter-species playground where apes and humans could play together, play chess with a great ape, etc.
7.) Large aviary that sims could walk through: observe birds, make bird calls, have some sit on their arms or shoulders, get pooped on for good luck, animal whisperers could commune with them or sing duets, and so on. Maybe Sims could zipline through it (to see high altitude birds and experience flying).
8.) If there is no petting zoo, then a butterfly house where Sims can view, chase, capture, and have butterflies land on them.
9.) Playground made from animal shapes.
10.) Zookeeper Occupation. This could include: acquiring animals for the zoo (possibly from exotic vacation locations if that is added as an EP option); feeding & grooming animals; cleaning cages; training animals; possibly running a zoo OFB/Zoo Tycoon style; catching fish to fill the aquariums; treating sick animals; performing shows; catching strays; making money for the zoo through OFB giftshop and/or concession stands.
11.) Gift shop where you could buy: various animal themed items, books on animals/animal care, animal themed coloring books for toddlers, monkey house style tree with treehouse (for human kids), animal themed clothing, posters, animal gnomes, a new kind of safari music or animal calls to play on home stereos?, animal hats and costumes, animal balloons, animal ballhoppers, cage storage for stuffed animals, butterfly houses to raise butterflies (maybe having one of these would make the gardens self-fertilizing?), etc.
This could possibly be combined with a visitor center where Sims could get tickets and sign up for zoo tours conducted on animal trolleys and/or animal rides.
12.) Ability to build some enclosures via build-mode. Add some iron bars and/or mesh fencing to these. Add some glass walls for special tanks. Special category windows/pass-throughs can be added that allow Sim to animal exchanges like feeding. (You were thinking about doing more with windows like making line-of-sight peeping Toms, right?).
13.) Animal themed carousel or other ride:
14.) Aquariums. Large aquariums for viewing and feeding various fish, sharks, or marine mammals. Maybe a zookeeper task could be filling the tank with fish caught?
15.) If an aquarium pack isn’t planned for the future, an open fish tank for kids (and adults) to pet, feed, and discover small sea animals like mantas, sea urchins, horseshoe crabs, sharks, etc.
16.) Concession stands that sell foods with animal names: elephant ears (funnel cake or palmier type), hot dogs, bear claws, monkey bread, phish food, Kit Kat, ratatouille, animal crackers, cow tales, monkey tails, lion bars, pigs in blankets, burrito, etc.
17.) Various facilities – bathrooms, picnic areas and tables, vending machines for animal pellets, balloon maker to make animal balloons, etc.
18.) Some kind of group activities. Maybe a life-size game of Hungry Hippos?
19.) Layout could feature a single large commercial lot with visitor center, gift shop, and concessions stand. The rest of the surrounding area could be the zoo broken up into a number of habitats. Rides (as previously mentioned) could be offered to tour the whole area:
20.) Should be a few ‘bad’ interactions too. Aviary birds could poo on Sims in aviary giving ‘good luck’ moodlet, kids could get splashed by animals in the petting tank, monkeys could steal inventory items, llamas and camels might spit on Sims trying to feed them, etc.
If animal feeding is permitted, I’d like to see kids being a bit squeamish about feeding them. (Not terrified, but a bit squeamish.)
21.) Feeding ducks, swans, and fish in lakes and ponds.
22.) Paint and photograph animals. Set up easels to paint animals from reference.
23.) Craft area where kids could paint animals or learn animal origami or plastic taxidermy? These skills could be acquired at the zoo and taken home to use at their activity tables to make origami or make animal chains to hang. This would be especially good if they could do it as a group and meet other kids and get their social up at the same time:
What’s needed for a really good Zoo EP? I think there are potentially two different types of zoos: exotic animal zoos and petting zoos. For an exotic animal zoo:
1.) It should be content rich. There should be more than just animals to look at, but lots of things for Sims and players to do. Lots of gameplay.
2.) Loads of exotic animals, of course.
3.) Many of the animals could be tied to cages, pens, enclosures, and tethers if necessary.
4.) Some of the animals should be free to roam and interact. Like peacocks, squirrels, and a renegade monkey.
5.) Lots of interactions with bound zoo animals: feeding, brushing, petting, mimicking apes (and vice versa), surprise 🐸🐸🐸🐸 and kisses, viewing, and playing with them through fencing.
7.) Large aviary that sims could walk through: observe birds, make bird calls, have some sit on their arms or shoulders, get pooped on for good luck, animal whisperers could commune with them or sing duets, and so on. Maybe Sims could zipline through it (to see high altitude birds and experience flying).
8.) If there is no petting zoo, then a butterfly house where Sims can view, chase, capture, and have butterflies land on them.
9.) Playground made from animal shapes.
10.) Zookeeper Occupation. This could include: acquiring animals for the zoo (possibly from exotic vacation locations if that is added as an EP option); feeding & grooming animals; cleaning cages; training animals; possibly running a zoo OFB/Zoo Tycoon style; catching fish to fill the aquariums; treating sick animals; performing shows; catching strays; making money for the zoo through OFB giftshop and/or concession stands.
11.) Gift shop where you could buy: various animal themed items, books on animals/animal care, animal themed coloring books for toddlers, monkey house style tree with treehouse (for human kids), animal themed clothing, posters, animal gnomes, a new kind of safari music or animal calls to play on home stereos?, animal hats and costumes, animal balloons, animal ballhoppers, cage storage for stuffed animals, butterfly houses to raise butterflies (maybe having one of these would make the gardens self-fertilizing?), etc.
This could possibly be combined with a visitor center where Sims could get tickets and sign up for zoo tours conducted on animal trolleys and/or animal rides.
12.) Ability to build some enclosures via build-mode. Add some iron bars and/or mesh fencing to these. Add some glass walls for special tanks. Special category windows/pass-throughs can be added that allow Sim to animal exchanges like feeding. (You were thinking about doing more with windows like making line-of-sight peeping Toms, right?).
13.) Animal themed carousel or other ride:
14.) Aquariums. Large aquariums for viewing and feeding various fish, sharks, or marine mammals. Maybe a zookeeper task could be filling the tank with fish caught?
15.) If an aquarium pack isn’t planned for the future, an open fish tank for kids (and adults) to pet, feed, and discover small sea animals like mantas, sea urchins, horseshoe crabs, sharks, etc.
16.) Concession stands that sell foods with animal names: elephant ears (funnel cake or palmier type), hot dogs, bear claws, monkey bread, phish food, Kit Kat, ratatouille, animal crackers, cow tales, monkey tails, lion bars, pigs in blankets, burrito, etc.
17.) Various facilities – bathrooms, picnic areas and tables, vending machines for animal pellets, balloon maker to make animal balloons, etc.
18.) Some kind of group activities. Maybe a life-size game of Hungry Hippos?
19.) Layout could feature a single large commercial lot with visitor center, gift shop, and concessions stand. The rest of the surrounding area could be the zoo broken up into a number of habitats. Rides (as previously mentioned) could be offered to tour the whole area:
20.) Should be a few ‘bad’ interactions too. Aviary birds could poo on Sims in aviary giving ‘good luck’ moodlet, kids could get splashed by animals in the petting tank, monkeys could steal inventory items, llamas and camels might spit on Sims trying to feed them, etc.
If animal feeding is permitted, I’d like to see kids being a bit squeamish about feeding them. (Not terrified, but a bit squeamish.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NY8Wd-2GO7s
21.) Feeding ducks, swans, and fish in lakes and ponds.
22.) Paint and photograph animals. Set up easels to paint animals from reference.
23.) Craft area where kids could paint animals or learn animal origami or plastic taxidermy? These skills could be acquired at the zoo and taken home to use at their activity tables to make origami or make animal chains to hang. This would be especially good if they could do it as a group and meet other kids and get their social up at the same time:
Post edited by [Deleted User] on
15
Comments
The truth is, though, that we're in the dark as to what they're working on and when they're working on it, so I thought on the off-chance that the question about Pets from the German Sims team might extend to other animals, we might as well get some ideas in sooner rather than later.
1. There have been indications from EA that there are likely to be more EPs than there have been with past versions, so a second zoo, safari, or farm EP wouldn't necessarily cut into other things that people want in their games.
2. Standard domestic pet type EPs have been done a couple of times already. For people looking for variety or novelty, this could be more interesting.
3. The ideas put forth here wouldn't necessarily require players to heavily manage their games.
This is pretty much how standard neighborhoods are in the game currently. They are pre-built with houses and other facilities, and players don't need to modify them. They only do so if they choose to, and often they do choose to, so incorporating some build tools for a zoo EP is unlikely to be a waste.
4. Adding a multitude of options expands gameplay and can appeal to more players as not everyone is looking for the same thing.
5. Should EA decide to do a second animal EP such as this one, some of the things proposed may overlap with the mechanics and objects included in a Standard Pets, Farm Life, Safari, or Petting Zoo EP, so this wouldn't necessarily be as taxing on the team as it might seem at first glance.
6. This isn't an all or nothing proposition. I'd love to see it all incorporated into an EP, but if it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen. I'm sure the team has or would have a bunch of ideas of what they'd like to see realized in a Zoo EP should it be the direction they go in. My ideas may or may not mesh with the teams' own ideas and capabilities.
Likewise, I think some players probably have some interesting ideas, too. It would be great if everyone contributed those ideas.
However, I highly doubt it will be done, and if it is it probably wouldn't be near as extensive as we'd like for it to be. With the small worlds we've gotten from GTW and OR it would likely just end up being a zoo, and that's about it. Probably not many other fun activities.
Edit: I also noted that it was tweeted the same day I posted this thread. Great minds.
We might be able to make good use of those bear costumes here.
It would be great if the zoo, in general, had a park like/nature preserve setting:
Also, before we see such an expansion, we need more terrain edits (height adjustment, water placement, etc.). Otherwise, enclosures would be extremely bland. Certain animals should be able to climb up/over certain objects (better pathfinding), and Z-Axis Diving underwater for everyone (even in pools, because pool depth does very little functionally). Both would portray realistic behaviors that are sorely needed for this expansion.
I will be writing about this topic soon...
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The terrain tools are a good point. I had had forgotten about them not being in Sims 4 yet, even though I was dreaming of a setting where they would be vital. They would definitely make a big difference in this kind of EP.
Making animal cutouts:
Animal Bingo:
Mask making:
Plastic taxidermy:
Paper mache animals and piggy banks (they could hold allowances should that be introduced):
Animal Origami:
Animal Cutouts:
Paper bag puppets that could be used to hold puppet shows (fancy ones too):
Read animal popup books:
Make birdfeeders and houses:
Make finger puppets:
Animal jigsaw puzzles:
Make pinatas:
Maybe some make-believe games. For example, kids at the table could pull the string on a See-and-Say and then have to imitate that animal (sound and gesture):
Make a terrarium:
Mold clay animals:
Make paper animal hats (for parties and fun):
It would be cool if animals could escape from the zoo/enclosures and go on a rampage.
This would be good for Simmers to set ambiance in certain areas of the zoo, add atmosphere to parties, or simulate a natrual forest, jungle, or other outdoor setting.
Maybe an animal whisperer, veterinarian, or zookeeper would learn to make some animal calls.
Perhaps slumber parties where kids and teens could wear animal themed PJs and slippers while watching Lion King and munching on hot dogs and animal crackers?
Maybe a swank, upscale animal theme party to go with the new Luxury Party Stuff Pack? Animal print outfits, animal themed food and décor, and Simpagne?
Decorations
Balloons, pinatas, arches, balloon animals, animal print balloons, streamers, stuffed animals, cardboard cutouts, and kazoos that make various animal noises.
Food
Animal shaped creations – cupcakes, suckers and lollipops, cookies, cakes, ice cream sundaes, and hors d'oeuvres.
Animal named items – elephant ears (funnel cake or palmier type), hot dogs, bear claws, monkey bread, phish food, Kit Kat, ratatouille, animal crackers, cow tales, monkey tails, lion bars, pigs in blankets, burritos, etc.
Costumes
masks, hats and headbands, animal print fashion wear, tails
Games
Pin the tail on the donkey, leapfrog, animal piñatas, animal charades (one Sim acts like an animal, and the others hold up flash cards with their guesses). . .
Party favors
Perhaps for attending the party kids and teens could get an animal backpack filled with a stuffed animal, animal mask, animal piggy bank, and noisemakers that made different animal noises depending on which one you got?
Adult party favors – animal ear headbands & tails, unlock a safari/zookeeper outfit, or a pair of binoculars.