Immersion exhibit

[Guest Philipp]

hello,

 

I loved to play ZT for a long time. But then I got bored, somehow. Building suitable exhibits for the animals wasn't anymore a challenge to me. But then I got inspired by this site:

 

http://www.zoo-ag.de/spiele/zoo-tycoon-1.htm

 

It's in german, so most of you won't understand it, but its more about the pictures. They are a bunch of people who are interested in real life zoos. They are checking zoo simulations, too. And they come from an other perspective than most of the gamers: They see a real zoo and expect to build that with zt, too. What appealed to me most, was the idea of immersion exhibit:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immersion_exhibit

 

I gave it a try! Of course, ZT sets some restrictions to that approach. But you can do much more than what they tell you in the tutorial! And it is so much fun!

 

With the following posts I want to share my experiences!

 

 

All the best

 

Philipp

 

 

PS: If you already tried to biult immersion exhibits (or even whole zoos) than share your outcome!

 

[Guest Philipp]

This is my Australian Outback Zoo.

 

Clockwise rotation: Wombat, Dingo, Koala (you can see just a tiny bit of the exhibit), crocodile, dromedary, kangaroo, crocodile, wallaby and in the center another crocodile pond.

In that picture the best example for immersion is the crocodile-wallaby exhibit. If you start at the entrance you see the wallaby exhibit. The fence is covered by water, rocks and plants. Between the two ehibits a used a lot of rocks to hide the fence as best as possible. The ground is very important for a natural look. It really looks like a natural scenery with a pond, a sandy-muddy shore and the savannah-like ground. Don't stop your designing at the fences. Involve the visitors area as well.

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[Guest Philipp]

This is the Emu-Koala exhibit. The don't share a fencing together. The fences are hidden in a ditch. Between the two exhibits, there is a non-exhibit-area. In this example, that is important for a natural design. What makes the exhibits somehow sticking together are the ground, the rocks and the eucalyptus forest.

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[Firehawke]

Love the look of your exhibit! What size map did you use?

[Guest Philipp]

The dromedary is a difficult animal for immersion. I didn't very well here! You can't use many plants, water or rocks. The more plants etc. are required, the better you can use them to hide the fences.

 

@ Firehawke: Thanks! I used the small basic grassland. Don't know what it is exactly called in the english version.

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[Firehawke]

Fun camel exhibit!

 

Love that map!

 

Have you tried out the invisible fence?

 

http://zootekphoenix.com/forums/index.php?app=downloads&showfile=829

 

I love using this to make natural looking exhibits and then pairing it with decorative fencing.

 

Can't wait to see more!

[Guest Philipp]

Another example, taken from my African Savannah Zoo. That was my first approach to immersion.

 

As you see I am using the same methods you already know to do the imersion: Rocks, plants, ditches. What is new here is the co-housing concept. Keeping different animals together in one exhibit is a lot of fun! You can change the combination from time to time. This way you can turn not-so-interesting or not-so-special animals into an exciting experience. Another thing you can see here is how you can work with views. If you imagine being a visitor, what do you see? There is no direct path to the gnu-ostrich exhibit. From some perspectives you look at three exhibits at the same time. That creates the illusion of being in a real savannah, where predators and prey animals share the same habitat.

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[Fern]

Nice work

 

I looked at the pictures at that site and one screen would look great if they used waterfall fences which you find several types of here.

Waterfall Fences by Zootan

ZA Waterfall Fences by Fern

Ice Waterfall Fences by Genkicoll

Terrain Waterfall Fences by Genkicoll

Waterfall Fences by Genkicoll

 

Then there are lots of terrain type paths to chose from too.

 

[Kreek]

This idea is what I essentially try to do in all my zoos. In the last I used it to create a healthy shorelife in waters around an island. As Firehawke suggested, the invisible fence is a good tool for this. I find that over time building like this, this game becomes more a land scaping game and I love using it this way. Though I have never tried pairing predators and prey together. Or at least the look of it. That is a challenge! I love what you have done so far! You could also try browsing through the download section for inspiration. Can't wait to see more!

[(Admin)Savannahjan]

I love your screens, this is my favorite type of exhibit. Your combo exhibits look great, you're doing a very nice job of making your zoo look very natural and true to the animal habitat. So glad you are taking part and sharing your work, we're glad you are here.