Did Birds Kill Frontiers' Parents or Something?

[Cinderblaze3]

And why are there so many gibbons in the recent DLC? I don't wanna cry "LAZY RE-SKINNERS" or anything because we have had some completely new animals in the new packs too, like the Fossa and Red River Hog, but I think its weird we get so many biome inspired DLC without any bird representation at all. Birds are a fascinating and diverse group of animals that add a lot to the picture of what people imagine when they hear "savannah", or "rainforest", or other habitats.

Right now, the amount of bird species, base game + all DLC, is 9. If you don't count the two different species of peafowls and penguins as their just slightly different versions of each other in game, that brings it down to 7. It feels like they just added the bare essentials of what everyone expects to see for birds at zoos and left it at that.
Frontier went above and beyond for some groups, like hoofed mammals, the cat family, endangered species, and overall fan favourites, but when it comes to birds, it feels like they go silent.

I've been to a lot of aviaries and bird sanctuaries irl and loved it. I know adding aviaries and species like owls, falcons, eagles, curlews, ravens, and others would add a lot to the game. So why aren't they doing it? Is modelling and programming birds that hard? What gives?

[Jaggid Edje]

They did aviaries with flying dinosaurs in the Jurassic World game, and even moreso in Jurassic World 2, so I think it's just a matter of time for PZ to get them. The new walkthrough exhibits with flying animals (butterflies and bats) is probably early iterations.

I'd say we just have to be patient, but at this point the game has been out for a few years, and I'm kind of getting impatient to see 'em add real birds as well.

[Anthracite]

No birds, no sale from me any more. I'm fed up with it.

[Paintera]

"no birds"...so can i get my...

[Kiru]

what 2nd species of peafowl do we have?
also in the last year wevve had the crane and emu. Its not like we dont get any avian species.
also its likely birds that arnt ground birds are difficult to program, hence the flamingo and crane dont fly.
I do hope we get a shoebill stork and some other birds still.

[Zhanzara]

You need to see this in the PoV of a Dev: (Flying) Birds are realy hard to implement. It starts with the animations and I guess a big problem is the flying thing itself. PZ animals are very high detailed and if they want (flying) birds, they need to react to EVERYTHING people could build in a habitat: Trees, walls, waterfalls, people, barriers, windows, other animals, how high is the habitat itself? I would love to build a whole bird Zoo. But I can understand the struggle of the devs and I guess we need to be a bit more patient. People tend to forget devs have to work hard for some things. And when it comes to animations, I guess it is the same "problem" like human characters have in high realistic games: Realistic face animations are hard enough already. Realistic hands are still a problem (try to focus on them in the next trailer you watch^^). And now imagine Birds: They have so many movement when they are flying. Just think about the wings or even more difficult, the feathers itself. And we all know how much detail and work Frontier Devs are doing when it comes to the animals. Just give them more time and I´m sure we all will love them =)

[SLG]

Originally posted by Zhanzara:

You need to see this in the PoV of a Dev: (Flying) Birds are realy hard to implement. It starts with the animations and I guess a big problem is the flying thing itself. PZ animals are very high detailed and if they want (flying) birds, they need to react to EVERYTHING people could build in a habitat: Trees, walls, waterfalls, people, barriers, windows, other animals, how high is the habitat itself? I would love to build a whole bird Zoo. But I can understand the struggle of the devs and I guess we need to be a bit more patient. People tend to forget devs have to work hard for some things. And when it comes to animations, I guess it is the same "problem" like human characters have in high realistic games: Realistic face animations are hard enough already. Realistic hands are still a problem (try to focus on them in the next trailer you watch^^). And now imagine Birds: They have so many movement when they are flying. Just think about the wings or even more difficult, the feathers itself. And we all know how much detail and work Frontier Devs are doing when it comes to the animals. Just give them more time and I´m sure we all will love them =)

In a way, they have added flying animations (Egyptian fruit bats), they could build on that.

Also they added it to JWE 2. It is not loop animations.

[SomniumImperator]

I doubt we'll see fully aquatic animals or birds until Planet Zoo 2 if that ever happens.

[Just Kevin]

You would think that now they have the animation for bats, birds that fly would be the next step. But I hope that if and when they do flying birds they don't stick them in exhibits, unless they make huge ones. Huge exhibits would be handy for the sloths also. I know they don't move much, but space is limited.

[Cinderblaze3]

Originally posted by Zhanzara:

You need to see this in the PoV of a Dev: (Flying) Birds are realy hard to implement. It starts with the animations and I guess a big problem is the flying thing itself. PZ animals are very high detailed and if they want (flying) birds, they need to react to EVERYTHING people could build in a habitat: Trees, walls, waterfalls, people, barriers, windows, other animals, how high is the habitat itself? I would love to build a whole bird Zoo. But I can understand the struggle of the devs and I guess we need to be a bit more patient. People tend to forget devs have to work hard for some things. And when it comes to animations, I guess it is the same "problem" like human characters have in high realistic games: Realistic face animations are hard enough already. Realistic hands are still a problem (try to focus on them in the next trailer you watch^^). And now imagine Birds: They have so many movement when they are flying. Just think about the wings or even more difficult, the feathers itself. And we all know how much detail and work Frontier Devs are doing when it comes to the animals. Just give them more time and I´m sure we all will love them =)

Thank you, this is exactly the kind of response I needed! I wanted to be reasonable and not come across as argumentative or pushy, I legit just wanted to hear it from a dev perspective. Personally, I would be more than happy with exhibit only birds, especially considering a lot of the ones I am thinking of, (ravens, owls, hawks, etc.) don't need too much space. It would be cool to build aviaries with more than one kind of bird too, though.

[Just Kevin]

They don't really need a lot of space, being smallish, and not having to search for food, but it's nice to give them a lot of room. After all, in the wild they have the entire world.

[Just Kevin]

The ideal would be to be able to create very tall habitats, that when fully enclosing an area, it automatically roofs it over with netting.

[Jaggid Edje]

I actually want them to add some birds for the new walk-through exhibit. I know many people would like bigger for birds, but my favorite birds are hummingbirds, and I think the walk-through exhibit would be ideal for them.

I would like some larger aviary options some day too though. But short term I'd be satisified with some hummingbirds for the exhibit we already have.

[SLG]

Exactly parrots and macaws would be good for the walk-through exhibits.