To the people who make beautiful zoos: how do you start? Do you draw plans on paper or smth?

[Lycon]

Or do you just wing it? I usually start with just a long path and some entrance square and from there usually everything ends up being symmetrical with square enclosures.

[Pantheonus]

Well, depends! I recommend starting from the middle of the area or even deleting the original spawn area where the game gives, this way you can just let your imagination free as well. I first plan the theme out and the animals I want to have, then I either start from scratch and original out of my imagination and what I want/have in mind OR I take some ideas from others or even real zoos, maps too. You can even download some workshops of buildings, habitats and stuff, or even a starter zoo where it can help you unleash your creativity and imagination!

[Sabeloryx]

I usually make basic scetches in my notebook, for example building my current zoo I envisioned a huge tropical lake and a park built around it. So starting off I made the lake and the river, then I added rough terrainwork - just using the "add terrain tool" with 20 x 20 to get a feel for heights. A tip here is to make small height differences throughout the park, makes the place feel less flat.

Then I look through the zoopedia for reasonable animals to add, in my current build its about the southeast asia animals + some asia based tropical animals such as the indian rhino etc. When all the animals are semi decided I look at my map and try to figure out where animals would fit, sometimes I start with easy ones, for example the gharial would logically be placed in some part of the lake. After that I have a sort of foothold on the map and expand outwards. Some great tips I've received from example Rudi is to plan the parks main path to loop, from Geekism is to make some sort of feature in every habitat, from Paulsley is to use copy paste alot - then add small varieties, saves aloooot of time in the long run.

I could try to post some progress pics if you think it would be helpful?

[Lycon]

Originally posted by Sabeloryx:

I usually make basic scetches in my notebook, for example building my current zoo I envisioned a huge tropical lake and a park built around it. So starting off I made the lake and the river, then I added rough terrainwork - just using the "add terrain tool" with 20 x 20 to get a feel for heights. A tip here is to make small height differences throughout the park, makes the place feel less flat.

Then I look through the zoopedia for reasonable animals to add, in my current build its about the southeast asia animals + some asia based tropical animals such as the indian rhino etc. When all the animals are semi decided I look at my map and try to figure out where animals would fit, sometimes I start with easy ones, for example the gharial would logically be placed in some part of the lake. After that I have a sort of foothold on the map and expand outwards. Some great tips I've received from example Rudi is to plan the parks main path to loop, from Geekism is to make some sort of feature in every habitat, from Paulsley is to use copy paste alot - then add small varieties, saves aloooot of time in the long run.

I could try to post some progress pics if you think it would be helpful?

I always love some pics. ^^

[Sabeloryx]

https://imgur.com/a/ZirakrV

Never used imgur but hope it helps! As you can see in the top right corner of the pictures I plonk down stuff I used from the workshop, my own blueprints and also walls to try and make a general theme. It's kind of having a creative corner and also allows me to give credit to the right authors when uploading the park since I know what stuff I've used.

[Lycon]

Originally posted by Sabeloryx:

https://imgur.com/a/ZirakrV

Never used imgur but hope it helps! As you can see in the top right corner of the pictures I plonk down stuff I used from the workshop, my own blueprints and also walls to try and make a general theme. It's kind of having a creative corner and also allows me to give credit to the right authors when uploading the park since I know what stuff I've used.

Nice, how long did it take you to do all those trees? And I should really watch some tutorials on how to do paths. Its near impossible to go up hills and stuff

[Sabeloryx]

For the trees in the backround I just made a "forest wall" blueprint, I could post it tomorrow as an example on how to use plant blueprints. Then you just add random plants to the blueprint and it gets really hard to notice the massive copy paste haha. The the other areas are mostly free placement so that do take some time, but usually those are areas of focus so I like to be more thoughtful with plant placement

[Lycon]

Originally posted by Sabeloryx:

For the trees in the backround I just made a "forest wall" blueprint, I could post it tomorrow as an example on how to use plant blueprints. Then you just add random plants to the blueprint and it gets really hard to notice the massive copy paste haha. The the other areas are mostly free placement so that do take some time, but usually those are areas of focus so I like to be more thoughtful with plant placement

I need to learn how to make those copy paste forest and plants walls without them looking lioke a copy paste.

[Sabeloryx]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2430077447

This is the one I use. A tip for plants is using the "heart tool" in the build menu, makes scrolling through plants easier, also adding "tree" in the searchbar makes life easier when doing rough plantwork. Mike Sheets have alot of good tips on plants in his Youtube videos

[MissedHurry]

I really enjoy making/using my own blueprints too. I also create landscape blueprints with trees, plants and rocks. If you make them really big, then you can place the giant heap somewhere, and then multi-select different parts of it to place in the habitat, or around the zoo. It makes it a little less copy/paste looking, but still way faster then doing all those items one by one. I also like to create building clusters for blueprints. Like I might have a bunch of staff buildings together in a certain arrangement, or a bunch of shops and restrooms with nice landscaping, and the place those around the zoo. I kind of like having the uniformity of the "food courts" throughout the zoo sometimes, while focusing the individualization more on and around the habitats. I also tend to terraform a great deal before I build anything, including having big hills and valleys and some canyons or lakes filled with water. THEN I start running paths, building bridges over the water and placing habitat walls, while just sort of encompassing whatever landforms I created.

[grampers62]

My theory...
I begin by making up a story about my zoo. Then thinking about where my zoo will be and what theme or themes I will be using.
Knowing where the zoo will be can help plan the basic landscape. Like will there be a river or a lake. If there will be hills or mountains, slopes or cliffs. If it will be full of nature or buildings.
With building the required buildings I use themes filters a lot. I try to develop what the basic buildings will look like and then add details as they get placed.
For habitats I try to plan ahead on what animals I will be using and get a basic idea where I want hem in the zoo. Small and weaker draw in the front and big ticket in the back.
For paths I try to get the main avenues in first and add branches as habitats get built.
From there it's just a matter of what feels good to the creator.