Build Ideas: 10 Projects and How to Make Them

Stuck for ideas? These are ten builds that show off what Planet Zoo 2 can do, each with the key steps and the tricks that make them work. Most can be built in Sandbox or Franchise.

1. A zoo where guests never touch the ground

The idea: every path is a raised wooden walkway, so guests always look down on the animals.

Lay angular wooden paths set to "suspended", and let them rise and dip as they wind between habitats.
Add circular platforms around large trees, like a forest village.
Choose animals that suit a cold mountain forest: red pandas, snow leopards, tigers, a mixed wisent and red deer habitat, and a river habitat with beavers, bitterns, common rudd and brown trout.
Treat the whole zoo as one big landscape, using the same rocks and plants everywhere so it feels connected.
Mark habitat edges with big boulders and wooden logs, which also bring in some colour.
Give the red pandas climbing bridges over the guest paths. They're one of the few animals that can safely climb above visitors.
Add firefly effects (they can be recoloured) for a magical look at night.

2. A walk-through vulture canyon

The idea: guests walk into a deep canyon and watch vultures soar overhead.

Slope the path underground, dig a cave, then carve a long canyon with the push and flatten to foundation tools. Go deeper than you think, then trim it back. Bigger isn't always better.
Run one path through tunnels inside the rock with windows over the canyon, and another along the cliff edge.
Vultures don't allow walk-through aviaries, so use glass aquarium tunnels as bridges across the canyon, one high and one low.
Trace the barrier along the outside edges of the paths, add a keeper gate, then place roof poles around the rim. If the netting only appears at the bottom, drop one pole into the canyon, reapply the roof and lift the pole back.
Paint the floor with rock texture, then do layer after layer of African desert and savanna rocks.
Add a waterfall from a pool at the top, and a stream that narrows as it flows away. White-backed vultures love to bathe.
Fill it with sand, dead trees, dry bushes, and greener plants only around the water.
Place perches everywhere (even on top of the glass tunnels) and big nests on the highest ledges.
Put food trays right in front of a viewing window so feeding time becomes a show.

Glass tunnels used as bridges through an aviary

3. An otter grotto with underwater viewing

The idea: otters you can see from above, from underwater, and inside their own cave.

Use the stamp tool set to remove to dig a path down below the water level, then line it with watertight glass.
Give the otters lots of shallow water as well as deep water.
Build a cave from large rocks, with big flat rocks for the ceiling and plants on top.
Add one-way glass so guests can peek into the cave without disturbing the otters.
Fill the habitat with reeds, mangroves, tree litter and hollow logs.
Put heaters in the water if the otters complain of the cold.

4. A stingray touch pool

The idea: a shallow pool where guests can reach the rays.

Place a path first, then put an aquarium fence over it. The game cuts the habitat out of the path automatically.
Keep the barrier as low as it can go while the water is still 1 m deep, which rays need.
Animals can only be placed when the water is above the aquarium gate (about 2 m). The trick is to make the far side of the pool deeper near the gate, with a gentle ramp up to the shallow touch area.
Put food and toys in the shallow area so the rays spend their time where guests are.
Cover the floor with fine sand so the rays can bury themselves.
Javanese cownose rays and ocellated eagle rays share well: same water height, salt water and temperature.
Build a ray rehab centre behind it, with a viewing area, a vet room and a staff catwalk.

5. An open-ocean mega tank

The idea: a huge tank floor-to-ceiling in the middle of an aquarium building.

Make the outline big and dig the middle deep so you can't see the bottom.
Hide plaster walls with big rock wall pieces, and paint any wall you can see through the water blue to match it.
Use pre-built coral blueprints on the rock walls.
Stock it with blacktip reef sharks, leopard sharks, cownose rays, sardine shoals and surgeonfish shoals. Five species gets you the "Full tank" achievement.
Cownose rays dislike too much coral, so trim it until they're at 100%.
Add ceiling wave pieces, education boards on metal poles, speakers with reef sounds and a long row of benches.

6. An indoor tropical house

The idea: a big glass hall with several habitats inside, including otters, manatees, monkeys and fish.

Plan the water first: a waterfall at the back, a river through the otter habitat, flowing into a manatee river.
Make waterfalls with the torrent effect angled slightly upwards, splashes where it lands and mist on top.
Build back walls from soil/mud pieces at different scales mixed with tropical rocks.
Make education screens with your own images and info for each animal.
Include underwater viewing, bridges, and a dedicated viewing plaza with sun shades.
Add a small backstage for each habitat (see Backstage).

7. A snow leopard hill with a viewing tunnel

The idea: guests walk into a grassy mound and look out at snow leopards through big windows.

Build a path tunnel, then pull the terrain up over it to make a mound, like a hobbit house.
Use soil panels where the terrain won't meet the path.
Inside: wooden walls, planters, signs and two or three windows of different sizes.
The habitat itself is almost all rock work, built in layers and aligned to the surface, with high ledges.
Put a piñata pronghorn feeder on the highest rock to tempt the cats up.
Add an aviary-style net roof and a small backstage with holding pens.

8. An old city zoo makeover

The idea: take an old-fashioned "animals on display" enclosure and modernise it.

Build the "old" version first: a round concrete platform surrounded by a ditch, with a shelter in the middle.
Then reshape it: raise the land behind it as a natural barrier, give the animals more space, and add an indoor area.
Keep part of the old structure (the ditch, now filled with water, or half the old shelter) and add a viewing platform where an education board explains how zoos used to keep animals.
Fix accessibility while you're at it: ramps instead of steep stairs.

9. A koi pond from exhibits

The idea: a pretty pond in the middle of a plaza with no habitat needed.

Sink large round exhibits into the path, hide the glass and fill the water halfway.
Overlap several of them and cover the gaps with fake water cubes and rocks.
Add koi (they only fit in large exhibits), fountains and a statue.

10. A classic tycoon-style aquarium building

The idea: recreate a colourful, over-the-top aquarium building from an old zoo game.

Lay out exhibit boxes and turn them into aquariums.
Use grid pieces to make a perfect circle for the building, with a concrete lip around the middle.
Build a shell-shaped roof with the scaling tool.
Light each tank in a different colour and add hanging pots.
Give every tank its own theme: a dark cave, a broken tree trunk, bamboo, a sunken submarine with glowing portholes.
Combine two corner exhibits with their glass removed and glass panes in between to make one big tank.

Tips that apply to every build

Use reference photos of real zoos and aquariums, either copying one closely or just borrowing ideas.
Plan sightlines. Where will guests stand, and what will they see first?
Keep the roof separate on indoor builds, so you can lift it off while building and drop it back on to check the lighting.
Use blue placeholder boxes to block out a layout before committing.
Save the good bits as blueprints for your next zoo.