- Dinosaur Zoo
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Dinosaur Zoo 
Title card for Dinosaur ZooDeveloper(s) Dotnamestudios Producer(s) Andrew Kerr Designer(s) Andrew Kerr (lead designer) Engine Thumbspark Version 1.0 (iOS) Platform(s) iOS Release date(s) May 15, 2011 Genre(s) Game Dinosaur Zoo information from leading paleontologists and expose them together with current knowledge on specific species in a more accessible medium. Dinosaur Zoo was released on iTunes May 2011.
Users tap, stroke and roar at the screen and the various animals display their hunting and defensive techniques. Pop-up panels give a detailed account of the animal based on current palentological knowledge. Additional animals then become available in the form of extension packs for users to customise their menagerie.
Contents
Gameplay
Interaction
Monolophosaurus bites at a tap on the screen.
The users are provided with prehistoric animals in a suitable environment and the animals react to tapping, stroking and sound by demonstrating their defense strategies or hunting techniques. Gameplay is limited to simple interaction and there aare no points, level-based reward system or assets which can be unlocked.
Information
The current ==Production== Production began in 2010 and was completed and released in May 2011. Dinosaur Zoo was initially developed under the name Dinosaur Safari but later renamed in order to shorten the name for iTunes. The project was directed by Andrew Kerr and code development was provided by Thumbspark. Digital models and animation were provided by Dotnamestudios.
Development
An iPhone version is currently under development and an android tablet version is currently under discussion but awaiting a clear market leader in the Android tablet market.
Distribution Dinosaur Zoo is currently solely distributed through iTunes and is available only for iPads.
ular dinosaur colouration is scant although recent clues from the recently discovered Hadrosaur and fossilized skin fragments from sinosauropteryx suggest both crytic patterns and bright colours are in evidence.
ENVIRONMENTS
Kentrosaurus with modern day blue-bells in the background.Critics have suggested two errors in the background environments, the blue-bell flowers in the Kentrosaurus environment and the modern variety of banana tress in the Muttaburrasaurus environment were unlikely to be present during the Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods.
AUDIO In the audio of some scenes, there are sounds of modern-day frogs, although it is again conjecture to assume prehistoric frogs sounded much different.
PALEOGEOGRAPHIC MAPS The Maps are accurate in form althuogh the pin-point location is somewhat broad and critic might argue not specific enough.
SCALE On the “relative to an average human male” scale, Dinosaur Zoo has tended to err towards the maxium size of each animal rather than the median.
TIME PERIODS The time periods are mostly accurate except for the Ornithocheirus which is said to live in the Middle Jurassic when in reality it lived in the Early Cretaceous, this was most likely a mistake.Reception
Reception Review scores Publication Score iTunes US store iOS: 
Reviews of Dinosaur Zoo have been positive. Casey Chan of Gizmodo for Gizmodo's app of the day wrote "Think of it as an encyclopedia for dinosaurs but instead of giving you monotonous info that bores you, it places you in an interactive Dinosaur Zoo - It's an app that lets you play with dinosaurs man, who's not going to love that?"[1]
Awards
In June 2011, Dinosaur Zoo was named "App of the day" by Gizmodo.[1] Later that month, Dinosaur Zoo was named "New and Notable" on the US iTunes app store
Charts
Highest iTunes App store ranking : Over all
United States: #34
Ireland: #21Highest iTunes App store ranking : Education category
United States: #2
United Kingdom: #2
Ireland: #1
Singapore: #1
New Zealand: #1
Argentina: #1References
- ^ a b Chan, Casey (June 10, 2011). "Gizmodo- app of the day". Gizmodo. http://gizmodo.com/5810494/dinosaur-zoo-for-ipad.
External links
Categories:- IOS software
- Educational software
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