Update 1.9 coming to Planet Zoo, 12 April

Hayo Zookeepers!

It's time for us to take a closer look at what you can expect from the upcoming Planet Zoo free update, which will be available for you to enjoy from 12 April.

Are you ready to see what you can expect from Update 1.9? Let's go!

Roaming Educators

That's right, free-roaming Educators will soon be...roaming their way to your Zoo! This is a brand new way for your Educators to share their animal knowledge with your guests as they walk around, bringing some extra educational activity along with them. Whenever an Educator isn't travelling, resting, or at an Animal Talk Point, they'll be able to wander around and give mini talks to your guests to help educate them on some of the animals present in your zoo! To celebrate this exciting new experience for your guests, we decided to try our hand at replicating some of the hard work that Roaming Educators will be putting in at your Zoo very soon...see how we got on, below!

Explore Camera Mode

Speaking of roaming, we're very excited to share that with the launch of Update 1.9, you'll be able to make the most of a new Explore Camera Mode - seeing (and editing!) your Zoo from a guest-level point of view! You'll be able to see your Zoo as if visiting it yourself, giving you a great perspective from which to make any building or decorative adjustments, as well as offering a brand new way for you to fully immerse yourself in your builds.

Audio Visual Management Screen & Webcams on Billboards

Managing your audio and media boards just got even easier! This new Audio Visual Management Screen will allow you to manage the screens and speakers within your Zoo from one location, allowing you to see which clips or audio are being used by each output device, as well as the status and running costs of each screen, speaker, or camera in your Zoo, so you can deliver a fully immersive educational experience with total ease. To add to this offering, you'll also be able to incorporate your Webcam feeds from burrows onto your billboards, allowing your guests to get a closer look at your animals when they are using their burrows!

New Water Options

Did someone say flexicolour? With the upcoming Update 1.9, you can now completely customise the colour of water in any exhibit which features it, allowing you to have more control than ever over exactly how your exhibit animals are displayed and viewed in your Zoos. Which exhibits are you going to inject with a burst of colour first?

Your Habitats won't be missing out on some aqua-based features, either; with Update 1.9, you'll be able to add both Mist and Bubble effects to your Habitat's water! You'll be able to implement these options from the water information panel, alongside the transparency and water colour options which are already in-game, and the Mist VFX will also offer customisable colour.

Bathing Behaviours

The perfect way to unwind? In a hot spring, of course! With Update 1.9, we're introducing bathing behaviours - simply create a shallow pool of water and heat it with a water temperature regulator (keeping it to the animals' requirements, of course!) to create the perfect hot spring for your Japanese Macaque to bathe in. This behaviour will help to reduce animal stress, so it's a great way to provide a more relaxing environment within your habitats.

Flatten to Terrace Brush

To help create the shallow pool you'll need for your new hot springs, you'll be able to use the new Flatten to Terrace brush! This new terrain brush is available with Update 1.9, and offers a Terrace Height setting and a Shallow Pool Offset option, which are incredibly helpful if you're wanting to create rice terrace structures within your Zoo.

Small Burrows

With Update 1.9, smaller animals will now be able to adopt burrowing behaviours. You'll be able to place small burrows for both Meerkats and Prairie Dogs in your Zoos - and don't forget that you can now add webcam feeds from burrows to your billboards, too, so you'll be able to see your animals enjoying these new smaller burrows!  

As always, these exciting new features in Update 1.9 come with various fixes which will be included in the full patch notes upon release.

We'll have more news for you soon, but until then, join us this coming Monday, 28 March, on Twitch and YouTube for a very special self-care stream that you won't want to miss - we'll see you there!