We can't wait to share Planet Zoo with you in just a few days! On 5 November we are launching globally and you will finally be able to play through the entire story in Career Mode, develop your global zoo network in Franchise Mode, test your zoo management skills with Challenge Mode, and unleash your limitless creativity in Sandbox Mode!
You're probably as excited as we are, and we know many of you have been asking what time the game will go live. Today we're happy to share the global Planet Zoo release times with you, so you know exactly when you can start playing:
Los Angeles 4:00 AM PST
Calgary 5:00 AM MST
Chicago 6:00 AM CST
Mexico City 6:00 AM CST
New York 7:00 AM EST
Toronto 7:00 AM EST
Rio de Janeiro 9:00 AM BRT
London 12:00 PM GMT
Paris 1:00 PM CET
Athens 2:00 PM EET
Cape Town 2:00 PM SAST
Moscow 3:00 PM MSK
Istanbul 3:00 PM TRT
Dubai 4:00 PM GST
New Dehli 5:30 PM IST
Bangkok 7:00 PM ICT
Beijing 8:00 PM CST
Seoul 9:00 PM KST
Tokyo 9:00 PM JST
Brisbane 10:00 PM AEST
Sydney 11:00 PM AEDT
Auckland 1:00 AM NZDT (Wednesday 6 November)
*Please note release is global and pre-loading is not possible.
We've also got an update on Beta saved games progress as well as your Steam Workshop items. As mentioned in the Beta Information post, we previously weren't sure that your saved games would function on launch day. We're now happy to report that your Career Mode - Scenario 1 save file will still be valid, however for the best play experience we do recommend starting over again – whilst we have tested many different saves we cannot 100% guarantee all save files will work. Franchise Mode save files will no longer function, so you are free to start over your new Franchise!
In terms of the Planet Zoo Steam Workshop blueprints that were uploaded during the Beta, they will stay on the Steam Workshop and should all work in-game. Beta blueprints are marked with a "Beta" tag on the Workshop. If your blueprint doesn’t function in game, it may be because some of the assets have been updated and might need re-positioning.
Lastly, for those who have played the Beta, you will automatically be credited 500 Conservation Credits to your account as a thank you for pre-ordering the Deluxe Edition and providing us with such amazing feedback.
As per our recently posted November Streaming Schedule, we will be counting down to launch from 10:30 AM GMT in our official Launch Livestream - be sure to tune in for some chats with the developers and awesome prizes!
See you soon!
Planet Zoo Beta - Now Closed! 🐻
Hello Zookeepers!
The Planet Zoo Beta has now come to a close and what an experience it has been! The creativity you have shown in your animal habitats and zoo layouts has been an absolute joy to witness!
You've have all been incredible with the feedback and reports you have shared with us and thanks to your efforts we were able to introduce three updates (and one update of an update) to help resolve some of the most important issues raised during the Beta. We will continue using your feedback in the next few weeks ahead of launch to make sure that Planet Zoo on 5 November is the best it can possibly be! Of course, we'll continue the hard work even after launch as well.
Over the next few weeks we'll do our best to keep you posted about all things Planet Zoo; there's still stuff to talk about and we want to keep hearing from you! You are still welcome to share any feedback you have remaining here and include any suggestions or wishlist items you might have here.
Also, do make sure to tune in every Friday on our Facebook channel for our Facebook Friday sessions and say hello in the chat.
Thank you again for an amazingly informative and fun two weeks! We can't wait to see the amazing zoos you create this November!
Planet Zoo - Beta Update 1.3.1
Hello Zookeepers!
Thank you for the reports you've sent in since our latest update. We've now released Update 1.3.1 which should resolve some crashes and other issues you have highlighted to us.
Fixes
Fix for juveniles not growing into adults;
Further crash fixes.
Please be sure to report any other issues to us via our Issue Tracker so we can investigate them right away!
Planet Zoo - Beta Update 1.3
Hello Zookeepers!
Thank you for all the reports and feedback you have shared during the Beta. We have a new update for you today that we hope will improve your Beta experience further.
Notes
A number of enrichment items are locked in the Beta, and will therefore always show as locked in the research UI!
If Zookeepers are tired and they can't go to a Staff Centre to rest, then they won't perform their tasks (including inspecting and feeding).
Fixes
Further improvements to Zookeeper feeding behaviour;
Mitigation against an issue causing finances to suddenly drop by large amounts - if you still see this issue, please raise it on the issue tracker and submit your save game;
Vets and Mechanics will now remain assigned to research when they go to perform another job or go to the staff centre. Once done they will return to performing research where they left off;
Further balancing to breeding;
Improvements to Zookeeper cleaning behaviour and cleanliness ratings;
Entrance prices are now saved correctly;
Fixed an issue where guests were walking on staff paths;
Fixed an issue whereby path and terrain UI will not open if you have opened them twice in a row beforehand;
Fixed an issue when autocompleting transport rides;
Fixed an issue where deceased animals become stuck in the Vet's surgery;
Fixed an issue leading to marketing campaigns not being able to be cancelled;
Various crash fixes.
Please be sure to keep sharing your feedback, it's been hugely helpful for our teams as we aim to keep improving your experience with the Planet Zoo Beta!
Planet Zoo - Franchise Mode Feedback
Hi all,
We often talk about how incredible our community are. Whether it’s designing the most amazing creations for the workshop or sharing your passion in one of the many hubs and communities around Planet Zoo, community breathes life into our games.
That’s why this Beta is so important. Being able to have thousands of people playing, testing and giving feedback ahead of launch is an incredibly powerful process and one that we as a team always listen to and consider.
We’ve seen some feedback and discussion regarding Franchise Mode and the fact that it is always online. As we mentioned in our previous post, Franchise Mode working online is an important requirement in order to utilise all of the community and online features. HOWEVER, we are also aware that many of you would like to have the option to play a Sandbox-style gameplay mode which includes many of the Franchise features that offer a greater managerial challenge, in an offline experience.
That’s why we are pleased to say that thanks to your feedback, we will be increasing the number of game modes at launch from 3 to 4 modes. We will still keep the Career, Sandbox (which will include a number of options such as no breeding, no ageing and no animal death etc) and Franchise Mode but we will be adding a fourth.
This all-new, currently unnamed, mode will allow you to enjoy much of the Franchise experience, without the online requirements.
This new mode will still include a full economy with both dollars and Conservation Credits, guest needs, Research, Education, animals and more all with the ability to create your zoo, with your vision from the ground up. Naturally, with this being an offline game mode, there are certain features that will only be available in Franchise Mode. These include: Trading between players, Leaderboards zoos and Community Challenges.
This addition to the game is directly thanks to your feedback. The Planet Zoo development team are always focused on making sure the experience for our community is as great as it can be and we’re excited to be able to bring this additional game mode to all players as part of the Planet Zoo launch on 5 November.
We hope you continue to enjoy the second week of our Beta. It’s been a fantastic experience from everyone on the Planet Zoo team to see so many incredible videos, creations and comments. Please do remember to continue submitting bugs and issues on our issue tracker to help us in the run-up to launch.
Many thanks!
Planet Zoo - Beta Update 1.2
Hello Zookeepers!
Our developers continue to be hard at work reviewing your feedback and using it to make improvements and fixes to the issues raised so far. Here's all you need to know about the latest update!
Fixes
Fixed a crash when making a new franchise game
Fixed a crash when going in to the orbit camera of an escaped animal
Fixed an economy issue resulting in instant multi-million dollar zoos - sorry!
Fixed a poor juvenile Bengal Tiger distorting when playing with an enrichment box
Improved some issues with enrichment feeder capacities leading to other feeders not being filled by the keeper
Fixed animal birth and death notifications
Further animal breeding balancing
Keepers who are already going to prepare food will continue to do so when tired, before visiting the staff room
Balanced the failure rate of power facilities
Fixed issue with path widths not changing when set to ft
Fixed issue with Hippos getting stuck whilst swimming
Fixed save state on contraceptive button in the compare mates UI
Fixed a crash when double clicking train camera
Fixed an issue with the Bengal Tiger objective when adjusting barrier height to 4M
Fixed franchise zoos not being able to be closed
Various crash fixes
Known Issues
We are currently investigating the following:
General
Frame rate improvements ongoing
Autocompleting a transport ride can lead to stalls, we advise against using this option currently
Entrance prices are being reset
Infrequent crash seen when deleting a habitat
Scenario related
You can block your progress completing the scenario by releasing animals to the wild too early
Hint - Call keepers to your habitat if animal welfare is low
Save related
A delay when saving a zoo can make it appear that it isn’t saving when it is, please be patient
Animal related
Animal disease is turned off for Beta
Sometimes animals can be boxed, but the option to unbox is unavailable. You can get round this by moving the animal to storage and placing back in a habitat.
Animals sometimes jump through barriers
Staff related
Staff are not automatically placed back on research if they have to re-energise at the Staff Centre
Staff can get stuck walking. This can be fixed by moving them.
UI related
Path and Terrain UI will not open if you have opened them twice in a row beforehand. If you open other UI and try again this fixes the issue.
Thank you for your continued feedback. We will keep you informed of any new updates or changes in the Beta!
Planet Zoo - Beta Update 1.1
Hello Zookeepers!
Thank you for all your awesome feedback on Planet Zoo so far. We have our first update for the Beta available now which will resolve a number of crash issues that have been reported to us. We will continue to investigate the feedback and reports you have shared with us and will keep you updated with any news!
Fixes
Fixed a crash when clicking on a boxed animal in traversable heat map mode
Fixed a crash whilst loading a saved game from Scenario 1
Fixed a crash that occurs shortly after enabling contraceptives on a female with "Offspring Imminent"
Fixed crash after African Male Buffalo jumps into water
Fixed a crash when deleting a workshop that is in use by staff
Fixed a crash when firing Vet/Mechanic whilst researching
Fixed the Hippopotamus occasionally getting stuck while swimming
Fixed a crash when deleting a large number of items
Fixed a crash when selecting the second ride camera button
Fixed a crash when selecting 'Compare Mates' after adopting an objective animal during scenario 1
Fixed a crash when placing down a conservation education board
Balancing on birth rates - Ongoing
General crash and stability bug fixes
Keep the feedback coming!
Planet Zoo Beta live NOW!
Hello Zookeepers!
Our Planet Zoo Beta is now live for you to enjoy!
The Planet Zoo Beta is available to everyone who has pre-ordered the Planet Zoo Deluxe Edition and runs from 24 September until 5PM BST on 8 October! If you haven't bought the Deluxe Edition just yet; don't worry, you can still pre-order here and join before it ends!
What's available? Our Beta is not the full Planet Zoo experience, but rather a focused selection of game content to let you have a taste of what's to come! If you'd like to know exactly what will and what will not be available during the Planet Zoo Beta, please read our post here.
Bug Reports You may encounter the odd bug or issue from time to time, as this is not the final game build of Planet Zoo. If you experience any problems, please report via our Issue Tracker so that our teams can investigate as soon as possible! We're also really interested in your gameplay experiences and feedback, so please share any thoughts via our brand new, dedicated Beta Feedback forum. You'll be helping us a lot by leaving us your constructive comments, as we aim to bring you the most fun, final experience on 5 November!
Known Issues The build you are about to enjoy is a Beta game build, so it’s not the final version of the game that you will be playing on 5 November. This means there may be a few issues or bugs you encounter which we’d like you to report to us via the Issue Tracker here.
We are also aware of some potential framerate issues you might encounter. Our developers are working incredibly hard to optimise the game’s performance, but you may experience some issues at the start of the Beta. Please know that we are working on this and we’ll keep you updated on further improvements. Again, this is not indicative of the final build in November.
As you will be playing the Beta build of the game, there are a few Known Issues you may run in to. You don't need to highlight these to us as we're already on the case!
General
Frame rate improvements are ongoing
A delay when saving a zoo can make it appear that it isn’t saving when it is, please be patient!
Several crashes we are aware of:
Crash when deleting a workshop that is in use by staff
Crash when selecting the traversal heat map on a boxed animal
Crash when comparing Warthogs after Scenario 1 objective to adopt them
Rare crash seen when deleting a habitat
Crash when double clicking Steam Train camera
Scenario/Career Mode
You can block your progress completing the scenario by releasing animals to the wild too early
Occasionally hippos get stuck swimming in the water.
Moving them to the trade centre and placing them back into the hippo habitat will resolve the issue
There is no hint pop-up for the heat maps in the bottom left corner
Juvenile Warthogs in pre-built habitat can be seen as escaped if interacting with the mud bath
Franchise Mode
Avatars don’t currently visit Franchises.
Unable to close a zoo under a Franchise.
Animal history does not update when starting a new Franchise, so you can get duplicates from previous Franchises
Franchise management tab work in progress
Animals
Animal disease is turned off for Beta
Occasionally Animals can fall through the ground and are then boxed; you will need to unbox them
Sometimes animals can be boxed, but the option to unbox is unavailable. You can get round this by moving the animal to storage and placing back in a habitat.
Animals sometimes jump through barriers
Animals will not be able to interact with feeding stations placed close to the habitat gate (including enrichment feeders)
Animal Animation issues when displaying certain behaviours like stretched muzzle on walking animation or floating enrichment grab animation.
Big cat jumping animations are being refined
Climbing animations are being refined
Navigation on slopes as well as general navigation is being refined
People
If Staff or Guests get stuck walking, moving them manually will solve that.
Some Staff or Guest reactions to management issues are ongoing, for example upset at ticket pricing.
Building
Inconsistent costs when raising barrier height
UI related
Path and Terrain UI will not open if you have opened them twice in a row beforehand. If you open other UI and try again this fixes the issue.
Several outstanding issues in the Animal Market
Shop finances appear green even if they are losing money
Cannot change ticket price from the zoo management menu
Various Help Buttons aren’t connected to their help
Guest UI's "Group Finances" spending categories are inaccurate
You are free to stream and share content of your Planet Zoo Beta experience, and we look forward to seeing the magnificent zoos you create! Be sure to keep checking our forums and social pages for some exciting Beta activities you can participate in - there's some great prizes to win as well!
We hope you enjoy it,
the Planet Zoo team.
Planet Zoo - More Beta Information!
Hello Zookeepers!
We are officially one week away from the Planet Zoo Beta, and we've just released a brand new trailer to celebrate: https://youtu.be/HANxaztC4M8 As you all know, the Planet Zoo Beta runs from 24 September to 8 October 2019 for those who have purchased the Planet Zoo Deluxe Edition. Today we want to give you some additional information so you know what to expect, what activities you can take part in, and where to go if you get stuck.
When is it available to play? We aim to have the Planet Zoo Beta live by 4PM BST on 24 September, and it is expected to run until 5PM BST on 8 October.
Whilst we cannot support pre-loading the Beta at this time, the download size will be a relatively small 10GB. Hopefully that should let you jump into the game quickly!
What's available to play? The Planet Zoo Beta will feature the following:
Scenario 1 of Career Mode (no additional Scenarios as we do not want to spoil the story ahead of launch!)
This features the first part of the tutorial within the Temperate biome, several objectives, and has free play after the objectives are completed.
Franchise Mode
This features a full economy within the Savannah biome and will not contain any narrative or objectives, so you will start with an empty map and develop your zoo(s) from there.
The Animal Market will be available (online play only).
Please note you can only have one Franchise per player, but your Franchise can feature multiple zoos.
A host of previously announced animals, as well as some new species!
Various Staff types and Buildings;
Various Themes and Rides;
Research Options and the in-game Zoopedia;
Habitat Blueprints;
We've made an upgrade to the blueprints you may know from Planet Coaster! When you select your blueprint, it will now also include any terrain you've put around it!
And a massive host of enrichment, habitat, building, scenery, and foliage pieces!
The Planet Zoo Steam Workshop will be activated during the Beta, which means you can upload and share any in-game blueprints you create! However, please note that we cannot guarantee to support Beta blueprints upon launch, as we may need to wipe your blueprints if we discover something post-Beta that invalidates them.
The Beta will be localised in all available in-game languages.
What's NOT available to play?
Sandbox Mode (however, you can replay both maps as often as you like, with the available in-game mechanics and economies).
Saved Games; you can save your progress at any time during the Beta, but all saved games will be invalidated upon launch.
None of the Deluxe Animals (Komodo Dragon, Pygmy Hippopotamus, Thomson's Gazelle) as well as some other already announced animals; Planet Zoo Beta focuses on a wide selection of animals, with the rest being available upon launch.
Full Career Mode (you only have access to Scenario 1).
Fun Activities to Join
Of course we're not letting you play by yourself; we'll be right there with you! Here's a few activities we've organised to keep you entertained.
Creative Forum Competition // on 25 September we will kick off our first creative building competition on our forums. You'll have the full two weeks to participate and have the opportunity to win some excellent prizes!
Beta Community Goal // a special challenge running from 26 September 12PM BST until 3 October 12PM BST. Whilst there is no unlock reward at the end, taking part in this community challenge will give you a good idea of what's to come upon launch.
Twitchcon Streams // whilst the team is away at Twitchcon between 27 - 29 September, some of your favourite content creators will be streaming the Beta live from the show floor! So even if you can't play yourself, you'll be able to be in their chat and ask questions. We will post the schedule as soon as it's finalised.
World Animal Day // 4 October is World Animal Day, and we've got some exciting things planned for you! Be sure to check in on our social channels for a bunch of fabulous reveals and celebrations!
Wild About Wildlife - Special Streams // On 5 and 6 October from 4PM to 7PM we will be streaming the game live from our Frontier office. Join your community team and some developer guests for an interactive let's play of the Beta content, and a chance to chat to the people who created the game. More info in the October Streaming Schedule (soon)!
Giveaways! // Of course there will be several opportunities throughout these two weeks for you to win amazing prizes! Aside from the above, there will be social competitions, livestream giveaways, and exclusive newsletter prizes.
This all sounds great, but... Yes, we know - we're still working with a special Beta build of the game, and this is the first time lots of players gets their hands on Planet Zoo; what could go wrong?!
In case you do run into trouble, anything from game crashes to bugs, we urge you to log all your findings via the Issue Tracker. This way we can keep an eye on what's going on with everyone's games and jump in with critical fixes where needed. Of course we are also available on the official forums and via our Customer Support team, but you can help us react quickly by reporting diligently. We will have to prioritise issues when they come in, so do bear with us during Beta time - but of course our main goal is for everyone to have an amazing Planet Zoo experience, so thank you in advance for all of your valuable feedback.
We hope you're looking forward to playing Planet Zoo really soon!
Planet Zoo - Deluxe Edition Animals
Hello awesome Zookeepers!
The Planet Zoo Beta is coming on 24 September, and everyone who pre-orders the Deluxe Edition will be able to take part! As well as access to the Beta (running from 24 September to 8 October 2019), the Planet Zoo Deluxe Edition also includes three exclusive animals: the Pygmy Hippopotamus, Thomson’s Gazelle, and the Komodo Dragon!
The Pygmy Hippopotamus is only half as tall as the Common Hippopotamus, and is native to the forests and swamps of West Africa.
Living in the Serengeti regions of Tanzania and Kenya in Africa, Thomson’s Gazelle prefers to live in dry grassland - although it can also be found in woodland.
The Komodo Dragon is the largest living species of lizard. They can grow up to 3 metres long and weigh over 300 pounds, as these dominant predators will eat almost anything.
These three animals all come with their own set of habitat and enrichment needs you’ll need to fulfill to ensure they are happy and cared for in their habitats. They are exclusive to the Deluxe Edition of Planet Zoo so be sure to pre-order your copy today!
