What are some of your favorites?
Planet Zoo is really good, but I hate that they left out animal genitalia, it just sucks the ultra-immersiveness that the game is going for.
Other games I've enjoyed:
>Zoo Tycoon 2
Great game, though the graphics have really dated.
Planet Zoo more or less replaced it, though.
>OpenRCT
Probably still the best theme park sim.
Despite that, I have no interest in theme parks outside of video games, which says a lot about how well RCT was designed.
>Planet Coaster
Feels more like a "building game" than a "management game".
>Industry Giant 2
I kind of love it and kind of hate it. The game doesn't like people who want comfy industries.
Also, the sound design is atrocious and annoying (chainsaw sound...)
 It's All Fucked Shirt $22.14 |
 CRIME Shirt $21.68 |
It's All Fucked Shirt $22.14 |
Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 got a lot of hate but I love it.
RCT 3 is in a weird place right now.
If you want a 3D successor to RCT 2, Parkitect feels much more faithful.
If you want an ultra-immserive theme park simulator, you have Planet Coaster, now.
My main issues with RCT 3, however, are very autistic details.
Firstly, the GUI (for example, the window tabs) are absolutely soulless.
Secondly, the paths are waaay too thick, especially with queue line paths.
Planet Coaster is the successor to RCT3, the people in it even look the same.
>Firstly, the GUI (for example, the window tabs) are absolutely soulless
In hindsight, not so much. At least compared to more modern management games. It has that charming, early 2000s look to it that's leagues better than the spew of mobile asiaticclickers we get nowadays. Also the mascot entertainers are kino, frick you.
Vanilla Zoo Tycoon is fun.
But the only tycoon game that I always have installed and play on regular basis is RRT2
Planet Zoo might be a better Zoo game but it's a much worse Tycoon game than ZT 2. I'm learning shit about animals but there isn't as much screwed financial moves you can pull and the animal exchange mechanic is more frustrating than it is engaging.
The Planet games in general are more about pretty dress up, rather than tycoons.
I've once found a Youtube video where someone spent hours working on just one enclosure.
For Planet Zoo 2 they need to add pre made scaling enclosures for people like me that lack artistic talent.
It's always difficult balancing management and building, I've always played these games for the building so I'm not too bothered but I can appreciate being annoyed by the lack of depth.
Megaquarium is supposed to be okay but it looks rather basic.
i can understand the complaint toward the overwhelming building system(but with enough adaptation and practice from playing scenarios, its doable) and the lackluster base game animal roster(esp when compared to ZT2), and the very expensive DLC price for a content that is only a 1/8 of the game it self(2-4 animals+a single cosmetic architecture pack), and the horrendous path system, never really get how noone ever figure out to implement C:S style of pathmaking(you can use either grids/gridless seamlessly)
but i never get the "not enough business management side of things" complaints directed toward frontier games, i can understand it with JWE1 (and JWE2, albeit not as much as the abomination that is JWE1), but with Planet Zoo and Coaster you literally got a lot of control towards the business management aspect, not a far cry from ZT, as well as slightly more managerial stuff in general(you can customize price instead of "low/mid/high", staff needs, work zones), obtaining animals aren't a massive slog like it was in ZT2 since you can buy but there aren't any "selling" mechanics to obtain new animals. not saying that ZT2 is a shallow game, i still play it on my older working laptop when i'm away from home, but for me ZT2 is more easy to get into, PZ's appeal is in the overtly autistic micro aspects of the building and animal husbandry, and a slightly more(emphasis on the "slightly") in-depth approach toward the business management aspect of the game. people really need to stop looking at old games thru rose tinted glasses
I'd like PZ more if it didn't charge lots for small amounts of samey animals and it had preset buildings for people who aren't super obsessed with placing the roofing tiles of the snack food stand.
same, i pirated it since the price of DLCs is abnormally high for a content that it actually offers, sadly no one is willing to pirate the entire DLC roster(i guess due to absurdly expensive it is)
Workshop blueprints solve a lot of the building issues. But frontier fricked up by not releasing the building materials as part of their free updates, there's nothing more depressing than downloading a cool blueprint and finding out you need 4 different dlcs to place it.
Planet zoo has a curve to it. Its impossible to lose money with a small number of enclosures, but later on guest blobbing can make it hard, once you have like 15+ enclosures. You're functionally soft capped on the amount of money places generate based on how well guests can see them and how many guests you can pack into those viewing spots, so if you don't design your zoo for good flow its possible for congestion to make it so you only generate a small amount of money from an expensive exhibit. The problem with the game from a management perspective is that there are a number of little systems that don't really mean much. Like, you can spend more to feed animals better but it doesn't do much for you unless you care a lot about minmaxing animal stats so it feels kinda pointless.
Still waiting on a decent aquarium management sim with the customizability and detail of Planet Zoo/Coaster. I want to design my own building and tankis, dammit.
There's Megaquarium but it's pretty shallow, grid based, and lacking any in-depth customization. I'd make one myself if I weren't so clueless at Blender (fricking awful software btw) and Unity.
>(fricking awful software btw)
You take that back. Blender is about as good as FOSS can get.
>fricking awful software btw
>about as good as FOSS can get
no contradiction detected
Why the FRICK is there not an Open Zoo Tycoon yet? That game still (somehow) has a modding scene that's active for it and making great stuff, including UI mods. But still, no Open Zoo Tycoon, which could really elevate it to be the best Zoo game.
Megaquarium is really fun when you get into it proper. It's hard to explain, but when you get into the right mindset it really clicks. The game is more about discovering and experimenting with ideal tank setups, along with managing guest flow and staff flow. Megaquarium has a really fantastic set up for its Sandbox mode, best I've seen since Zoo Tycoon 2's Challenge Mode. Also mods, but that's a staple of this genre.
They just announced a new expansion, focused on both abyssal animals and arctic animals. It should be focused on more post-game content and looks to be really interesting.
Probably because zoo tycoon 1 is much harder to mod, and also because it's not that good of a game that was pretty much fixed in 2 and with PZ.
>is much harder to mod
It literally went through a renaissance a few years ago when major breakthroughs were made in making animals.
>and also because it's not that good of a game that was pretty much fixed in 2 and with PZ
Both of those are much more different games from the original Zoo Tycoon. And Planet Zoo is more of a sandbox building game than a management one quite frankly.
These fish bring me SereneScreen Aquarium 2 screensaver nostalgia.
Oligarchy is a fun game from the flash era.
Even has a funny parody of the rawhide theme for the title screen.
redpill me on cartel simulator
>Planet Coaster
>Feels more like a "building game" than a "management game".
You haven't got the same problem with Planet Zoo? I always feel like I spend the vast majority of my time trying to get the wall/path to go where I want than I do being a tycoon. The management basically plays itself.
What I want is a Zoo Tycoon 1 clone with bigger maps and more animals, use the simpler graphics to squeeze more in.
are those games actually challenging to not go bankrupt or its another game like simcity4 where money practically doesnt matter
All tycoon games are the type of game where you can easily go bankrupt when you don't know what you're doing, and easily swim in money if you know what you're doing.
It's very hard to balance, basically.
who here playin' openttd these days? I still love this game. Also, by OpenRCT do you mean openrct2? I'm thinking of checking it out. I used to have fun with RCT2 as a kid. Not sure if openrct and openrct2 are two separate projects.
>Jurassic World Evolution 2 sucks shit for building and every park looks the same in the end unless you mod
>Pic-related development is slow as hell and the game itself might get canceled if Unity fricks them
Dino zoo builder bros it's looking grim for us.
I'm really into business/factory games but man there isn't much to choose from.
Upcoming ones I'm interested in;
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2460920/ACRES/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2174790/Farmistic/
Aeromogul by Gearcity dev which I don't think has any sort of site or steam page
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1736220/Might_of_Merchants/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1345910/The_Airline_Project_Next_Gen/ (dead as far as I know)
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1537630/iCorp/ (last update says a lot of old work was developed, that update was in December)
Any others?