Introducing: Animal Talks

Today, we wanted to take the opportunity to tell you about a new feature the team have been working on, which will be added into the base game of Planet Zoo for free and we think you'll all be excited for: Animal Talks!

Animal Talks are staple activities in zoos, where educators will share insight into their animals housed at their zoos and share more about conservation efforts. Like in real life, we wanted these Animal Talks to benefit both your guests and your zoos. Let's go into detail about how they work, so you can get an idea of how to use them in Planet Zoo.

When you'd like to set up an area for a talk to happen, you will need to place an Animal Talk Point. These Points need to be placed near a habitat barrier or an exhibit to work correctly - they function similarly to other Education items, and need to be in range of what they are educating the guests about. Make sure you provide enough space on the path for the Animal Talk, as once guests join to spectate, they can take up a fair bit of room on the path, but who can blame them! Who wouldn't be excited to learn more about the wonderful animals you have in your zoos? Animal Talks work a similar way to Education Boards, where you will need to set them up for a certain type of animal. Once you've set up the area, hire an Educator (a new type of Staff!) who will be hosting the Animal Talks. You can schedule the talks and, if you do it well, can have one Educator take care of multiple talks throughout a year. After guests gather around to watch the Animal Talk, the Educator will commence the session. You'll see some animals also walk over to see what all the commotion is about, and if you're lucky, sometimes to join in! If you set the Animal Talk Point up so that the back of it is towards the habitat, and there are no obstructions such as water, then the Educator may also throw food into the habitat during the talk (depending on the animal species - this will not be available for every animal)!

With the Animal Talks comes a new information panel. Each talk can be set up for one habitat or exhibit, and one species of animal. Through this panel, you will be able to:

• Enable and disable Animal Talk Points.
• Pick an animal species for the talk.
• Pick a month to schedule the talk (it will take place annually).
• Assign an Educator to the Animal Talk Point.
• Assign the Animal Talk to a work zone.
• Select music, which will play while the talk is not in use.  
• See if your placement of the Animal Talk Point will allow your Educator to throw food in.  

There is also a new management tab for Animal Talks. In this tab, you can see:

• List of Animal Talks
  • Location of the Animal Talk Points.
    • Habitat or Exhibit Talk Point type.
• Assigned Habitat.
• Assigned animal species - a talk can only be for one species.
• Month the talk is scheduled.
• Works zone assigned (Yes/No).

There are a few things to keep in mind for the Animal Talks. Educators with higher training will increase the amount of happiness and education that guests receive, which will benefit your zoos through donations. An Animal Talk will be cancelled if the Educator does not turn up within the prep period, which is used to gather around guests, or the talk duration. Be mindful of your scheduling, as while one Educator can do several talks, you'll need to carefully plan to prevent your talks from being cancelled. An Animal Talk Point will disable if their habitat or animal is invalid, so keep an eye on them while you move animals around your habitats!

We hope you've enjoyed learning about our Animal Talks, make sure to stay tuned to our official channels for any news and announcements.