Zoo Tycoon
Encyclopedia
Zoo Tycoon is a business simulation developed by Blue Fang Games
and released by Microsoft Game Studios
. It is a tycoon game in which the player must run a zoo and try to make a profit. Although first released for Microsoft Windows
and Macintosh
in 2001, it was ported to the Nintendo DS
in 2005. It was followed by two expansion packs, Zoo Tycoon: Dinosaur Digs
and Zoo Tycoon: Marine Mania
, which were released in 2002, as well as a sequel, Zoo Tycoon 2
, released in 2004.
The goal of Zoo Tycoon is to create a thriving zoo by building exhibits to accommodate animals and keeping the guests happy. Exhibit-building is one of the primary goals of Zoo Tycoon. To keep the guests and animals happy, exhibits should be suitable to the animal; for example, a lion is best suited to a savannah environment. Choices in terrain, foliage, rocks, shelters, fences, toys and the presence of zookeepers all contribute to the suitability of an exhibit and the happiness of the animal. Guest happiness is dependent on animal choice, animal happiness, buildings, and scenery. Buildings may include bathrooms, restaurants and food stands, shops, or entertainment buildings such as movie theaters. Scenery involves aesthetics that raise guest happiness slightly, such as topiary
art, light posts, or benches. Keeping both animal and guest happiness allows the player to gain monetary awards and steady income. To help manage the expanding zoo, players can employ maintenance workers, zookeepers and tour guides.
There are three modes in Zoo Tycoon: Tutorial, Scenario, and Freeform. Tutorial teaches the player how to build exhibits and keep guests happy. Scenario mode has the player complete a series of objectives, sometimes within a specific time-frame. These objectives may include achieving a certain guest and animal happiness, achieving a certain exhibit suitability, displaying a certain number of animals, or breeding a certain animal. Freeform allows the player to choose the amount of money and the map with which they start. They are presented with an open lot and a limited selection of animals, buildings, and scenery available for purchase. As the game progresses, more animals and items become playable. Additional animals and items may be researched, where money is invested to make them playable.
s were created to fix problems with the game and unlock new features. Many of these mods were made possible by an official program created by Blue Fang named Animal Project Editor (APE), which allows the player to easily create one's own animals or objects, with either simply re-naming a premade item or creating frames one-by-one for something new.
game RollerCoaster Tycoon
, which sold well for many years. Zoo Tycoon did well enough for Microsoft and Blue Fang Games to release two expansion packs: Zoo Tycoon: Dinosaur Digs
, which added prehistoric-themed items and animals, and Zoo Tycoon: Marine Mania
, which allowed aquatic-themed items and animals. Eventually, Microsoft bundled the expansion packs with Zoo Tycoon to create Zoo Tycoon Complete Collection which had the functionality of both expansion packs and bonus content.
Zoo Tycoon 2
was released on November 2004. Although released with fewer animals than Zoo Tycoon, more animals were introduced in its expansion packs: Zoo Tycoon 2: Endangered Species
, Zoo Tycoon 2: African Adventure
, Zoo Tycoon 2: Marine Mania
, and Zoo Tycoon 2: Extinct Animals
. The first two were bundled in the Zoo Tycoon 2: Zookeeper Collection. All of them were bundled in Zoo Tycoon 2 Ultimate Collection.
. Positive reviews came from Computer Games Magazine
and GameZone
, which gave the game scores of 4.5 out of 5 and 8 out of 10, respectively. The more negative reviews came from Adrenaline Vault
and PC Gamer
. Commercially, Zoo Tycoon did quite well, with 4 million units sold worldwide from its initial release to 2004. It was also one of the top 15 best selling PC titles in the US.
Zoo Tycoon and its compiled Complete Collection also garnered several awards and accolades, gaining the Bologna New Media Prize in 2002. Zoo Tycoon: Complete Collection received the Parents' Choice Foundation Gold Award - 2003, the AIAS
Computer Family Title of the Year Interactive Achievement Award - 2004, the Scholastic Parent & Child Teacher’s Pick – 2004, and the Children’s Software Revue All Star Award – 2004.
Blue Fang Games
Blue Fang Games, often shortened to Blue Fang, is a computer game developer .Blue Fang is noted for the popular Zoo Tycoon series.-Games:*Zoo Tycoon **Zoo Tycoon: Dinosaur Digs **Zoo Tycoon: Marine Mania...
and released by Microsoft Game Studios
Microsoft Game Studios
Microsoft Studios is the video game production wing for Microsoft, responsible for the development and publishing of games for the Xbox, Xbox 360, Games for Windows and Windows Phone platforms. They were established in 2002 as Microsoft Game Studios to coincide with the release of the Xbox, before...
. It is a tycoon game in which the player must run a zoo and try to make a profit. Although first released for Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
and Macintosh
Macintosh
The Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a...
in 2001, it was ported to the Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
in 2005. It was followed by two expansion packs, Zoo Tycoon: Dinosaur Digs
Zoo Tycoon: Dinosaur Digs
Zoo Tycoon: Dinosaur Digs is an expansion pack released for the PC game Zoo Tycoon. It included dinosaurs and ice age creatures, as well as prehistoric themed items.-Gameplay:...
and Zoo Tycoon: Marine Mania
Zoo Tycoon: Marine Mania
Zoo Tycoon: Marine Mania is an expansion pack for Zoo Tycoon, which includes aquatic animals and themed buildings.Players can create and manage underwater exhibits or merge aquatic tanks with traditional land habitats. Interactive tutorials and virtual marine specialists are available to help...
, which were released in 2002, as well as a sequel, Zoo Tycoon 2
Zoo Tycoon 2
Zoo Tycoon 2 is a video game in which the player may create and operate a zoo by managing its finances, employees and animal exhibits. The goal is to become a "zoo tycoon". Originally released for Windows, Zoo Tycoon 2 is also available for Windows Mobile, PDA, Mac OS X and Nintendo DS...
, released in 2004.
Gameplay
Topiary
Topiary is the horticultural practice of training live perennial plants, by clipping the foliage and twigs of trees, shrubs and subshrubs to develop and maintain clearly defined shapes, perhaps geometric or fanciful; and the term also refers to plants which have been shaped in this way. It can be...
art, light posts, or benches. Keeping both animal and guest happiness allows the player to gain monetary awards and steady income. To help manage the expanding zoo, players can employ maintenance workers, zookeepers and tour guides.
There are three modes in Zoo Tycoon: Tutorial, Scenario, and Freeform. Tutorial teaches the player how to build exhibits and keep guests happy. Scenario mode has the player complete a series of objectives, sometimes within a specific time-frame. These objectives may include achieving a certain guest and animal happiness, achieving a certain exhibit suitability, displaying a certain number of animals, or breeding a certain animal. Freeform allows the player to choose the amount of money and the map with which they start. They are presented with an open lot and a limited selection of animals, buildings, and scenery available for purchase. As the game progresses, more animals and items become playable. Additional animals and items may be researched, where money is invested to make them playable.
Third-party creations
The success of Zoo Tycoon also led to the creation of new features by fans, both fact and fiction. ModMod (computer gaming)
Mod or modification is a term generally applied to personal computer games , especially first-person shooters, role-playing games and real-time strategy games. Mods are made by the general public or a developer, and can be entirely new games in themselves, but mods are not standalone software and...
s were created to fix problems with the game and unlock new features. Many of these mods were made possible by an official program created by Blue Fang named Animal Project Editor (APE), which allows the player to easily create one's own animals or objects, with either simply re-naming a premade item or creating frames one-by-one for something new.
Expansion packs and sequels
Zoo Tycoon was created in the wake of the success of the 1999 Hasbro InteractiveHasbro Interactive
Hasbro Interactive was an American video game production and publishing subsidiary of Hasbro, the large game and toy company.Hasbro Interactive was formed late in 1995 in order to compete in the computer and video game arena. Several Hasbro properties, such as Monopoly and Scrabble, had already...
game RollerCoaster Tycoon
RollerCoaster Tycoon
RollerCoaster Tycoon may refer to:*RollerCoaster Tycoon - a series of video games in which a player must manage an amusement park**RollerCoaster Tycoon - the first game, which came out in 1999...
, which sold well for many years. Zoo Tycoon did well enough for Microsoft and Blue Fang Games to release two expansion packs: Zoo Tycoon: Dinosaur Digs
Zoo Tycoon: Dinosaur Digs
Zoo Tycoon: Dinosaur Digs is an expansion pack released for the PC game Zoo Tycoon. It included dinosaurs and ice age creatures, as well as prehistoric themed items.-Gameplay:...
, which added prehistoric-themed items and animals, and Zoo Tycoon: Marine Mania
Zoo Tycoon: Marine Mania
Zoo Tycoon: Marine Mania is an expansion pack for Zoo Tycoon, which includes aquatic animals and themed buildings.Players can create and manage underwater exhibits or merge aquatic tanks with traditional land habitats. Interactive tutorials and virtual marine specialists are available to help...
, which allowed aquatic-themed items and animals. Eventually, Microsoft bundled the expansion packs with Zoo Tycoon to create Zoo Tycoon Complete Collection which had the functionality of both expansion packs and bonus content.
Zoo Tycoon 2
Zoo Tycoon 2
Zoo Tycoon 2 is a video game in which the player may create and operate a zoo by managing its finances, employees and animal exhibits. The goal is to become a "zoo tycoon". Originally released for Windows, Zoo Tycoon 2 is also available for Windows Mobile, PDA, Mac OS X and Nintendo DS...
was released on November 2004. Although released with fewer animals than Zoo Tycoon, more animals were introduced in its expansion packs: Zoo Tycoon 2: Endangered Species
Zoo Tycoon 2: Endangered Species
Zoo Tycoon 2: Endangered Species is the first of the Zoo Tycoon 2 expansion packs...
, Zoo Tycoon 2: African Adventure
Zoo Tycoon 2: African Adventure
Zoo Tycoon 2: African Adventure is the second expansion pack for the video game Zoo Tycoon 2. Developed by Blue Fang Games, work for the game began in early 2005 for a May 2006 release....
, Zoo Tycoon 2: Marine Mania
Zoo Tycoon 2: Marine Mania
Zoo Tycoon 2: Marine Mania is the third expansion pack for the video game Zoo Tycoon 2. The expansion focuses around marine animals, as did the Marine Mania expansion for the first Zoo Tycoon game.-Animal shows:...
, and Zoo Tycoon 2: Extinct Animals
Zoo Tycoon 2: Extinct Animals
Zoo Tycoon 2: Extinct Animals is a video game expansion pack for Zoo Tycoon 2 released October 17, 2007. The expansion focuses around extinct animals, mainly dinosaurs or ice age creatures, as well as more recently extinct creatures like the dodo, thylacine and quagga.This expansion pack follows...
. The first two were bundled in the Zoo Tycoon 2: Zookeeper Collection. All of them were bundled in Zoo Tycoon 2 Ultimate Collection.
Reception
Zoo Tycoon was received with mixed reviews, gaining an average 68 out of 100 at MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
. Positive reviews came from Computer Games Magazine
Computer Games Magazine
Computer Games Magazine was a computer gaming print magazine. It was formerly Computer Games Strategy Plus, and before that, Strategy Plus, which had been founded as Games International in the UK in 1988. While its initial focus was on strategy games, it covered a wide range of game genres...
and GameZone
GameZone
GameZone is an American multiplatform video game website. GameZone's daily coverage includes reviews, previews, news, hints & cheats, and editorials. Additionally, GameZone offers downloads, a child-targeted website and in association with GameStop, hosts GZGameShop, an online retailer...
, which gave the game scores of 4.5 out of 5 and 8 out of 10, respectively. The more negative reviews came from Adrenaline Vault
Adrenaline Vault
The Adrenaline Vault was launched November 1, 1995 by gaming entrepreneur Angel Munoz. The site provides PC, console game and hardware news, previews and reviews. Once a large commercial website, Avault is now published primarily by a team of volunteers....
and PC Gamer
PC Gamer
PC Gamer is a magazine founded in Britain in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future Publishing. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games magazines in their respective countries...
. Commercially, Zoo Tycoon did quite well, with 4 million units sold worldwide from its initial release to 2004. It was also one of the top 15 best selling PC titles in the US.
Zoo Tycoon and its compiled Complete Collection also garnered several awards and accolades, gaining the Bologna New Media Prize in 2002. Zoo Tycoon: Complete Collection received the Parents' Choice Foundation Gold Award - 2003, the AIAS
Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences
The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences , founded in 1996, is a non-profit organization that promotes computer and video game entertainment with the annual D.I.C.E. Summit event, where its Interactive Achievement Awards ceremony has been held annually since 1998...
Computer Family Title of the Year Interactive Achievement Award - 2004, the Scholastic Parent & Child Teacher’s Pick – 2004, and the Children’s Software Revue All Star Award – 2004.