"Zoo Tycoon 2 Endangered Species" is an expansion pack for "Zoo Tycoon 2." We had a chance to ask the Lead Designer, Linda Currie the of Blug Fang development team of "Zoo Tycoon 2 Endangered Species" a few questions.
Q: What is Zoo Tycoon 2 Endangered Species all about? We know there will be new animals, what are the new gameplay features?
A: Yes, there are new animals… but as the title says, the emphasis in on endangered animals. Some of the most rare and exotic creatures are included in this expansion along with some animals that were just too cool to pass up, like the Gray Wolf and the Koala. There is new game play game play designed around them in challenges, awards and scenarios and since endangered animals are more sensitive to their environment, players will need to pay extra attention to how they create their exhibits to ensure that they can successfully breed these rare creatures.
But there are definitely new features beyond the animals. Our new transportation options and elevated paths ought to leap right out at Zoo Tycoon fans: ). Players can now build sky trams and Jeep® tours through their zoos and place elevated paths up and over everything. Building options are almost limitless and players can now build zoos that just simply weren’t possible before.
You can adjust the height of your sky trams to make it high or low and you can create a Jeep® tour that travels right through your exhibits. When that Javan Rhinoceros plants itself in the middle of your road, or the African Wild Dog playfully chases your Jeep, your guests will get really up close and personal with your animals. And YOU can get up close and personal too since you can ride around in your Jeeps® and sky trams in first person Guest mode and take the tour yourself. It’s very cool to really see what your guests see!
Q: What is the development team’s favorite new animal?
A: You know, I think that there are probably as many “favorite” new animals as there are developers here ; ). Personal favorites for me are the Florida Panther, the Spanish Lynx and the Wolverine…and it’s hard not to get a kick out of the Crested Gibbon…the Fennec Fox and Koalas are adorable… I guess I have a lot of favorites!
Q: Were there animals that you wanted to add that didn’t make it into the expansion?
A: Yes, but not quite in the way that you probably mean. An important consideration for us when creating the animal list for Endangered Species was making sure that the new additions were balanced for each biome, world location and fame level. There were very few Desert animals in Zoo Tycoon 2 so it was important to us to add more animals that are at home in this biome. And to some extent, it was the opposite for the Savannah biome. So from a huge list of possible animals we culled it down to what we felt was going to add the most to the game. And of course there are a lot of very cool animals that didn’t meet our goal to have the emphasis on endangered animals.
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