When is enough scenery enough?

[Guest Caddienoah]

Twigibor asked me in my topic "Caddienoah's Screenshots Two", the question "When is enough scenery enough?"

 

I gave him this answer...maybe some other members can tell what they do to answer this important question?

That you learn with practice..."Fern Hollow" started at the entrance...then I started playing with a small hill, which got larger, and larger, and larger...with a little bit of forest near the entrance...then up further on the hill...I thought to make the hill part of the inside of the zoo with a mountainside habitat for deer or bear or sheep...but the forest didn't look right and balanced...from there I kept ading till I thought it was balanced...

It is a long process..."when enough is enough"...maybe some of the other members can add what they do to solve this problem...

[twigabor]

Thanx Caddinoeah

I'll be following this topic closely

[Guest zoomeister]

That's a hard question.

 

Are we talking ZT1 or ZT2?

 

I know that there are certain limitations on how much scenery you can place.

 

I would guess that it would be up to the individual to decide, I've seen some wonderful screen shots by the entrants of the screenshot contest that are truly amazing and are like miniature forests. Really blows me away, I'm not that creative..... LoL.

[Marlizdu]

With me it usually depends on the theme of my zoo. Although in most cases, there is no such thing as too much scenery. hehehehe

 

I decide how much of what to put in according to the theme. Such as this workshop contest I did. I added everything I could to the small space I was allowed.

 

But when doing a beach scene, I left things a little more open.

 

But when it comes to rainforests, my favorite, it really is just what mood I am in. hehehehe

 

[(Admin)Savannahjan]

Beuatiful screens, Marli! Maybe we shall dub thee the Scenery Queen!

 

There can never be enough. :laugh: One thing to think about are those pesky guests, though. They like it, somewhat, but they really want to see animals. That's why I love the neutral things that can go into exhibits and the animals don't mind. That way you can have lots of beautiful extras and still have lots of animals close to the guests.

[(Trustee)genkicoll]

As far as scenery goes, I used to be pretty clueless, but from long experience, and a LOT of seeing other peoples' creative screens (like ZooGrammy and SavannahJan), I've adapted how I make zoos.

 

Here's the thing: If you're making a zoo that guests will like, you can't put too much scenery in, or the guests won't like it. As Jan said, it's the animals that guests want to see, and their happiness drops if they can't see them. A lot of the time, though, I like to build without the guests' happiness in mind. I prefer to be creative when I build. Take ZZ's screens for an example (HERE and HERE). She has made some of the most beautiful zoos I've ever seen for ZT1, but her guest happiness isn't that high because there's so much scenery.

[(Designer)Z.Z.]

I like making densly planted zoos.

In one of the first zoos I built I planted a little here and a little there, then suddenly I had a lot of guests that were "stuck" because there was a 1/4 tile that was open and they went in, but the other 1/4 tile next to it was blocked by a fern so they couldnt get out.

Thats when I started planting every free space so they couldnt go in in the first place.

As a result, my zoos look like dense forests.

Guests love scenery, flowers plants statues fountains, but they love seeing animals even more, so I try to get as many exhibits in as I can, and the rest of the zoo is covered with scenery.

But there are some user made buildings that have dead space around them, you cant plant right next to the building image so for those I leave some empty spaces so they dont look too odd.

Mostly though it depends on what looks good to you.

 

[(Trustee)genkicoll]

Here's something else about the neutral-habitat items that Jan mentioned: I've found that animals can be programmed to actually like neutral-habitat items, so I've been trying to remember to program them all (that I make) to like those items... and a couple of the animals are also programmed to like bad-habitat items like working buildings and statues :laugh: Appropriate for those creatures, you'll see :wink: :elkgrin:

[Guest zoomeister]

Genki....... is that a hint of things to come?? I can't believe you would do such a thing as hint around like that.... ;-)

[Eragon845]

Recently, I actually haven't been using scenery at all. If it's all themed, then it looks great. But if you have random scenery at random areas, it looks bad, but all of your zoos are great with themes, your scenery always looks great.