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Exclusive: Zoo Empire Q&A Feature
Derek dela Fuente
22/07/2004
TVG’s resident animal and zoo keeper for the day, Derek dela Fuente, speaks to Enlight...
Tycoon games are exceedingly popular, controlling the purse strings and the whole shenanigans of a zoo, its animals and all it entails in running a successful and thriving zoo. Tending to your animals' health, happiness and nutrition by hiring employees and adopting new animals as you unlock the numerous features hidden within the game. Attend to visitors by providing facilities for them to eat, drink and buy souvenirs as they revel in your zoo.
It is quite apparent that this game will be compared to Zoo Tycoon from Microsoft and so what better way to get a real insight than to talk with the development team itself.
TVGâs resident animal and zoo keeper for the day, Derek dela Fuente, spoke with Enlight.
TVG: You have a wide diversity of animals - do they come on stream as you progress?
Some animals are locked depending on the scope of each scenario. Other animals need to be researched in order for the player to be able to include them in their zoo. In the zoo career, passing a scenario with flying colours will net you awards, which include extremely rare animals that you can later include in your exhibits in the free game mode.
TVG: Feeding the animals is obviously an integral part of the game but is feeding visitors? Do you have to keep them fed and watered?
Visitors, as other animals, have their own set of needs and desires. They want to be entertained, they want to see a wide variety of animals, they want to shop, eat, drink, and have fun. Providing visitors with their wants and needs is as essential as maintaining animal happiness; failure to do so will definitely deter visitors from returning and will net your zoo with a bad reputation, so they are as important to keep happy as your animals.
TVG: Do the animals behave as one would expect? Monkeys playful, lions prowling, etcâ¦
Yes, the development and animation teams really did a nice job of recreating animal behaviours. Elephants wallow in mud, lions roar, panthers climb on trees to rest, and gorillas groom each other.
TVG: Do you have to employ keepers, etc. and keep them happy?
Yes, there is a host of staff to manage, train, and motivate (or fire, if they are underachievers). Hiring managers for research will net you new items to include in your zoos, while training your staff in their various attributes will make your employees more efficient and diligent in their jobs. In total, there are nine staff positions to hire, from zookeepers who will tend to your animals to veterinarians who research cures for rare diseases.
TVG: Is Zoo Empire mission based? If so, explain some of them.
Zoo Empire features a 21-scenario zoo career mode where players are first introduced to the game, its interface and basic gameplay concepts. Then they are free to explore the scenarios, which either focus on animal welfare or economics, and the player is free to choose their own path on their quest to complete their zoo career and graduate as top zookeeper.
The scenarios vary: in some, players will have to research cures for a mysterious disease running rampant in the zoo and threatening to decimate the animal population; other scenarios will have players engaging in conservation efforts to save critically endangered animals from the brink of extinction. Still other scenarios will have players try to rake in the money as they train animals to become star attractions. In all, there is a wide variety of assignments that players will be engaged in as they progress through their zoo careers.
TVG: Is there an easy mode of play for inexperienced players who may simply want to build a zoo?
Yes, there is a free game mode where you can set the zoo size, number of available animals and the cash amount. There are no goals to meet in the free game - basically; you can set your own rules.
TVG: Can you design animal pens any way you want?
You mean exhibits? Sure! Basically each animal has their preferences as to what constitutes an ideal exhibit - their âhabitat away from their habitatâ. You can try to satisfy the animals by keeping in line with their preferences, or if you are (heaven forbid!) the cruel type, you can make them suffer - of course, the animals will get sick, angry and may die as a consequence. Try placing a polar bear in a desert environment, and you'll see what I mean. Unfamiliar habitats will cause animals to eventually suffer from disease, lose their temper, or eventually die.
TVG: Do the animals change in appearance if they aren't looked after?
They won't change their appearance, but their behaviours will certainly change. Some animals will simply keel over and die, but others may break out of their enclosures and wreak havoc in your zoo.
TVG: How large can your zoo be? Do you build in other geographic regions?
The maximum size is huge! You can easily lose perspective of size and get lost in the largest map settings. There are a total of nine unique terrain maps that are unlockable within the game, and represent some of the more familiar geographic regions commonly found the world over: there's a tropical island, a mountain range, a polar map, even an impact crater for determined gamers who play the zoo career mode to unlock.
TVG: Can animals escape and can visitors/employees get caught in with the lions for example?
Yes, if your animals are not treated with dignity, or their exhibit fencing is not maintained, or simply if you place a weak fencing to enclose very strong animals (such as using a wood slat fence to enclose an elephant, for example) your animals will break out. Depending on the animal, your visitors will also run away scared (from a tiger perhaps, but definitely not a koala!). Some animals may also engage in mischievous acts, such as riding touring trains, stealing soda cans from your friendly beverage concession stand, or stealing fresh food from food stalls.
TVG: How did you research this game? Who advised you on the habitats of the animals involved?
We did all the research in-house, but what amount of research! We went through literally dozens of books on animals, plus virtually all the wildlife documentaries you can think off (most of them from the BBC, no less!). I myself religiously tuned in to the National Geographic channel every night. The time invested in research was very rewarding and enlightening, and really made me respect the world of wildlife much more. You can also read reams of curious titbits included in the game under Scientific Information - did you know that a polar bear traps heat so well that they are invisible under infrared?
TV:G Do you control pricing, security, etc?
Yes, there is a host of pricing concerns that you will have to deal with in Zoo Empire: admission fees, boat ride costs, research expenditures, among others. Security is also an issue: A lack of security stations will see your zoo vandalized, or robbed blind.
TVG: Does weather play a part? What about night/day cycles?
We originally intended to include day/night cycles, but later drew upon the conclusion that most zoos in real life are closed at night, so having day/night cycles would not have added much in terms of gameplay. However, weather does impact your zoo - visitors are more reluctant to visit your zoo during rainy days, for instance.
TVG would like to thank the guys at Enlight for answering our questions; weâll have more on Zoo Empire soon.
