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Hello! Long time no see - I have been playing some Zoo Tycoon 1 again the last few days and wanted to share what I have come up with! Last year when I played ZT1 I had this idea for elevated vantage points for guests that go into the exhibit (My other post Little City Zoo) and the idea worked quite well in my opinion. For some reason I never really thought much about using "natural barriers" for my zoos to use less obstrusive fencing around the habitats for the animals, a few days ago I suddenly had the idea to do this in ZT1, use water, rocks and whatnot in conjunction with low fences that many animals normally are able to jump over, this is what I cam up with: EDIT: The screenshots seem to be super small in this thread, I uploaded them to imgur where they are a bit bigger so you might look at details a bit better: https://imgur.com/a/Z4dHZU4 This is an overview of the whole zoo, it's a medium grasslands map, no money or guest name cheats were used, just a few decorative mods. While building I kinda also got the idea to thematically divide the areas a bit. The grizzly exhibit was the first exhibit I built, I was experimenting with the barriers a bit and since they can jump and swim it was kinda hard to create an exhibit where they couldn't escape all the time. I put elevated vantage points in the back and tried making them look like they are part of a rock-like mountain, some slightly raised points hidden by plants and on each side I used low fences with rocks so that it kinda looks like a river that has a natural rock-barrier running through it: This is the serow exhibit, the fencing in combination with the roofing reminded me a bit of hunter's perches in forests, so I used this look for the elevated lookouts and used low fences for the water barriers. Since they can't swim it was much easier to contain them here. The bison exhibit - I used the ranger / hunter perch look for the elevated views again and the low fence for the water, I also lowered one "watchpoint", made it advance into the exhibit and hid the barriers in bushes and (modded) grass. I liked the look of it - kinda like you would sneak through the bushes like a hunter to get as close to the prey as you can. This is a wolf exhibit, I was able to cut off escape ways with water here again and "pierced" the exhibit barrier with slightly elevated viewpoints into their forest. Since the serow exhibit had some hills in it that I used for the elevated lookouts I extended these hills outside of the exhibit and made the japanese garden building into a little "mountain monastery": Siberian tigers exhibit, used rock fences for a little mountain where the guests can look down as well as slightly lowered and elevated vantage points and water barriers: With the pandas I had another idea - why not try to use the rock walls and roofings to create a little cave that goes through one of their exhibit mountains and leads to a vantage point inside their exhibit: I used the same technique for the snow leopard exhibit, just a few more times because they need more mountains in their enclosure: This is the savanna area - I must admit I am kinda proud of this one haha. The bridge "walls" are modded obviously but it could have been done without them as well, the large rock-walls are normally not accessible to the player but I used a mod that adds developer mode items for the player to use. The exhibits here have multiple species in them, I wanted this area to feel like being on a safari through the large open savanna. Water barriers with low fences and the "bridges" made for really great ways to hide obstrusive fences. There are elephants, giraffes, rhinos, buffalos, zebras, ostriches, gazelles and wildebeests. Other side of it with leopards and cheetas. All animals have green habitability ratings: Right next to the savanna I was experimenting a bit... tried building some kind of harbour with a ship where stalls are in lol. There are sea lions and manatees but I am not that happy with the area, might going to reconstruct everything there: The last corner of the zoo has some tropical animals in it, bengal tigers, okapis, tapirs etc. The center of this area I tried to make look a bit like a village "marketplace": I must say I had a lot of fun with this zoo, it was quite challanging at times - let's just say there were a few... "incidents" with tigers and bears that were in places where they were not supposed to be (can I blame them though? Hotdogs right next to the exhibit probably smell great...). As you might see from the exhibits my "techniques" have gotten a bit better over time (grizzly exhibit was the first I build, savanna one of the last). two exhibits I forgot to take screenshots of but they aren't that special (moose and horses) and use the same techniques as the other exhibits anyway.

Love your caves and harbor. Good concept, good build!

I think they do. Can´t find any particular case of observed predation though. I´ve already made Galapagos fur seal compatible with marine iguana. Is there a model for Galapagos hawk available? Just a small aquarium this time. North American desert fish. Animals: Bonytail Chub, Razorback Sucker, Apache Trout All compatible together. Enjoy! hawkkeyes NA desert fish.ZTD

What a beautiful, well laid out zoo. The observation areas are really nice. Thanks so much for sharing your work.

Here I will share what I do in the game. For now, I have only completed the beginner scenarios, but I have started my own project. Please bear with me, I still have a lot to learn. But I would be very happy to receive any feedback on how I can improve. The concept of my first zoo is based on creating three distinct levels. The animals are located on the first level, services for guests and other main areas on the second, and pedestrian routes on the third. In terms of animals, I tried to keep the herbivores in a relatively common area with invisible fences. I'm not sure I like what I've created, so I don't know if I'll continue. Mod List: x MM Freeform Unlock 1.0.0 x Invisible Fence by Willie T. 1.0.0 x ZZ Rocks - Terrain Stones Expanded Pack 2023 by Z.Z. 1.0.0 Edit: The pictures are very small, maybe I use printscreen next time...

Of course you can dream about playing in a contest MsOnary Your screens look very nice to me so I'd say your basisc are well covered Basically if a contest has a nice theme that appeals to you It is all about the fun ..... And after the fun when you are still within the deadline what's the harm of sending it in? The award is not the winning it is the fun with the game that is the best award Also you could join one of the clubs (perhaps the one Fern is in lol I can see she gives great feedback ) then you get to play with other members and that will double your fun

We all had to learn at some point. It was ages before I entered contests or joined a club. I think the first contests I did were screenshot only ones so happy animals and guests did not matter. Like making your craft critters ZT can be a relaxing meditation. You can get absolutely lost in creating what you want in design and tweaking it all you like. On the whole I like your screens. You will learn how to refine them as you go. Have a look through the tutorial area here at Tek. You will find useful hints and ideas to try out. Here is another useful idea. If you don't want unhappy guests you can keep them out until you have a nice area for them to view. Just use a Decorative Fence across the entrance to stop them getting in. Also hike up the admission costs for a while. As you build you can block paths until the areas are good enough to see. Decorative fences work for that too. Also stops guests wandering off into the wilderness. There is always one that seems to stray..... I have kept guests in a small area that had a restaurant, gift stand and an attraction plus a couple of animal exhibits while I built the entire rest of the zoo. Was able to keep all ratings up doing this.

Okay..... I quite like the concept and it looks great, but it is really going to depend on whether or not you care what the zoo rating and the guest happiness are. If this was a contest it would probably not work. If just for looks it is fine. And also for screens it is fine. There are waterfall fences you can get for that tiered water area. And cobblestone walls that look good against cliffs. Here are a few things to keep in mind. Guests like to be close to animals. If you look at contest screens you will see that buildings are interspersed with the exhibits. Guests are notorious whingers and whine about anything and everything. Some bad enough to get fed to a predator if they annoy enough. And yes, most of have done that at one point or another. Guests can only see 10 deep into an exhibit. This is useful to know for animals that moan about too many people. You do not need a slope up to the gate. Most animals will moan about elevated terrain they do not want. And you will find the keepers just drop in and get out anyway. Now since I quite like this idea I would tweak the idea this way. I would use the various levels for habitats perhaps. One level would be savannah. Another level might be rainforest. Another could be Tundra, marine, or whatever. On each level I might choose buildings that fit the habitat. ie for savannah there is a Roaring Lion Retreat. For rainforest there is a Madagascar Amphibian House. Like I said, it depends on what you want from your zoo. Just fun or as a challenge to skills getting all the various ratings. Not to mention the various awards. edit: Just looking again, I see at least most buildings are close enough for guests to view some animals which is a plus.