What if Jurassic Park but with non-violent dinosaurs, even the carnivores? They're as easygoing as Barney. Like to cuddle with kids and only like to eat hotdog or hamburger. That's what John Hammond wants. But unfortunately for him the dinosaurs that he recreated using the advance genetic technology, are rebellious. The ungrateful gits. Anyway about the zoo filled with non-violent dino, i think it's only in Manley & Associates inc's DinoPark Tycoon (1993) on DOS.
Look how happy and fun the dinosaur zoo there. No need for security armed with gun as the dinosaurs there are cute and cuddly. No option setting here that's because in most DOS game the configuration is executed outside of the game by running config.exe. Anyway, in this menu screen there's only new game, old game (which is load saved game) and exit. So let's get into the new game immediately.
The game starts with the bank gives you loan of $5,000. Not bad starter, i guess. Check out that Brontosaurs with cute propeller hat on notification. So cute. :)
This dinosaurs with top hat kindly point me where i can buy the land for my zoo. Engineer_thanks01.wav
You have 3 choice of land: desert, plains, and marsh. Some dinosaurs' habitat is in desert, plains, or marsh. I think the way the land type works is Desert is the worst type and only desert dinosaurs that like to live there. They can live in better land type while Plains dinosaurs can only inhabit in Plains land. I just notice that it's plain land that's the most expensive and not marsh type. I thought the order of the land's price/quality is from left to right but no. This is scam! Anyway, there's wolf howling in desert land option. What weird technology on this paper? Medic_sf12_badmagic06.wav
Next you select which block that you want to buy. Unfortunately, there's no way to change the land type beyond this point. So choose wisely. I choose Plain type not because i'm confident with my business management skill but because i realize too late that it's the most expensive one although it's located in center and by my quick thinking it's supposed to be the one with medium cost.
Next, my assistant wants me to buy fence at the general store. Pyro_yes01.wav
The general store also offers concessions (which is term for both gift shop and food stall, apparently and advertisement. But for now you should pick Fence's tab and pick wooden fence because it's cheap. It's rustic but it's cheap and good enough for the very first establishment of your Dino zoo.
Now my assistant wants me to hire some employee. Soldier_go03.wav
My assistant didn't tell me specifically who i have to hire. I go with tour guide because he's the cheapest. It will be nicer if they tell me what are they doing once i hire them but their function is kind of self-explanatory except Management. I suppose i'm the one who take on the management role. Why i want to hire her then?
Obviously we have to buy Dinosaurs as they're the main attraction. I mean the one with wild and primitive mind and not intellect one like my assistant here.
Within this screen, i spot 2 Dinosaurs with the cheapest cost of $1,250. They're Coelophysis and Deinonychus. I remember from various book about Dinosaurs that Deinonychus is vicious carnivore with wicked toenail. But i don't remember about Coelophysis. Luckily there's info about selected dinosaurs. First you have to choose them and then click on "question mark" icon on bottom, which located on the left of "buy" icon.
This skeletal chap proudly presents you with the info of selected dinosaurs. He looks happy and adorable. So i take it that Coelophysis is also carnivore like Deinonychus but less vicious with same price tag. I guess i take this one for the first inhabitant of my Dino zoo.
Next stop is: food supply. It's essential to see what diet's of dino that you just bought. You don't want to give carnivores a bundle of grass, do you?
One thing that bothers me in this Diner screen is the constant fly buzzing anywhere. I with my cursor can be functioned as fly swatter but apparently not, sadly.
So i buy several rats for the food supply. Don't worry! They're laboratory-type of rat. 100% sterile and good for Dino's food. I'm not sure the strategic differences between these food stock. Judging by the cost, i assume duck is equal to 3 rats and cow is equal to 4 rats. Rat that's a quarter size of adult cow? That's horrible! They probably as big as average bulldog or even twice! I don't know why there's no goat for food stock so we can live up that scene in Jurassic Park.
Meanwhile the Dino on the bank note take accusatory glance at me. I know he silently judging my budget management as he's on the current monetary indicator. But sometime he blowing a raspberry at me. How rude!
The last place that i need to visit before opening the zoo is our own management office!
Oh, man! Our office is messed up. Like really disarray. I try to explain all of these icon on office. The bank business card will take me to the bank to either make loan again or pay the debt. The Dino guide is the info like what we saw when buying Dinosaurs. Ticket is the number of visitor today. That scribble of "Dino Count" is not just meaningless decoration. It tells you how many Dino you have. That blue sticky note? It tells you about immediate problem like "Visitors wander around aimlessly, we need Tour Guide" or "There's vandalism on food container, we need security". "Check profit statement" is profit/loss this month. That Dino toy is to manage your gift shop. General ledger is the main money management including ticket price. That half-bitten snack bar *Gross* is to manage your food stall. Finally the long message about sellout is to sell your Zoo or in other word you give up/retire.
Anyway, the standard ticket price is $4.00 and you can set them for each season: Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. I leave the ticket price untouched for Spring and Summer while i increase it by $0.50 in the Fall and Winter. Reasonable, no? Besides ticket pricing, on the general ledger you can see Dinosaurs list, number of visitors in more detail, food stocks, food stall and gift shop profit, staff list, and profit/loss. The most baffling of all, you can put auction on your Dino in this General Ledger menu! Don't treat Dino like slave, please!
Finally, i can open my Dino zoo and hopefully earn some profit. To do so click on the most right icon on bottom.
Here it is my pride zoo that's 85% wasteland yet there's visitors around. It's a wonder why anyone want to visit this barren wasteland. Oh, right! The dinosaurs. Let's meet them now! By dragging the screen way to the right.
There they are looks well for now, i guess? If you ask why i located the dino far away from visitors, they're barely dangerous Tyrannosaurs? That's because i'm fairly imbecile. I bought the land block on the corner of top left because it's the first block that's highlighted in real estate menu. But it doesn't matter much as visitors come and income flows quite well.
The time runs fast and the cash change too. You shouldn't be surprised with the sudden "We're out of food. Hurry buy more!" notification once in a while. It's like Tamagochi's hungry notification but in your DOS.
It's winter, already? I'm as confused as that dino on top of notification.
I know. I know. I will go buy more food. You don't have to look at me with that puppy/kitty eyes!
That Dino with begging eyes again *sigh*
There's no save option in direct way. It's on the exit menu. First you have to click on the red restart icon and then the game ask you if you want to save the game first before exit to main menu. There you can save the game. While loading the game can only be done in main menu. The save/load game mechanism is quite crude but it gets the job done.
Sniper_cheers02.wav. Last month's profit is $1,074. Look at that adorable dino at the top of notification. So cute!
Blegh! This one is less cute. I particularly dislike her big fat lips like clown's. Also i don't like the news that she carries. I suppose it's time to hire security.
After hiring a security later...
There you go. Problem solved! That message of quite in Dino front, that's the one where you pray to God to always see. Believe me.
Yikes! This Dino is just straight clown! Red big nose and big fat lips. Horrible! Although i reckon 43 visitors on yesterday is pretty good news.
Suddenly...
Just as i exit my office, our one and only Coelophysis escapes! When i though the business goes well with budget of $8,239 (that already cut to pay the debt to the bank monthly). When a Dino escapes, you have to buy replacement for the Dino (naturally) and the fences. Because once a Dino break a part of the fences, the rest is disappeared or become useless. That makes sense [Isla Sorna site B-sized sarcasm].
Later on the Dino shop...
I never heard of Pentaceratops. So it's like the less-known relative of Triceratops and they live in Marsh land type. Plains is less watery than Marsh. Can they live in my Zoo? Maybe yes. Maybe not.
Naturally with the Dino attraction gone, the income begins to fall. I should fix this.
Besides replacing the Dino and the fence. I take initiative to buy some advertisement, hopefully increasing our income. But i take the cheapest one: Fliers, mind you. I can't take some big risk, you know.
I know i have the corner land ready for the Dino but i decide to buy another block (and put fence on it) nearer to the visitors. Soon or later, i have to put than more than 1 Dino.
By the way, i decide to put Ornithomimus on the pen this time. They're less risky than the Coelophysis because they're herbivore Dino.
Because the new Dino's diet is plant, i have to buy new kind of food for them. I hope they like mushroom which is unrelated to grass and leaf. While moss is pretty close enough.
But suddenly...
The vegetarian bastard escapes as i finish buying food for them. Ungrateful schmuck! I can understand a carnivore escape and break the fence but this Ornithomimus here is small herbivore. How they're strong enough to escape? Oh, right! This time it's because of poor maintenance. I should hire maintenance crew but i barely have enough money for that because the attraction Dino escape before making lots money! Spy_jeers04.wav
The game automatically ask me to loan more money at bank but no! I choose to restart from beginning and hopefully this time it goes better than this.
This time i buy the cheapest land type. The wolf is no longer howling instead they run away after surprised that i select Desert land type. You confuse me, canine.
Knowing that Dino can escape due to pen's poor maintenance, i reckon i have to hire maintenance crew as soon as possible and ignoring tour guide for now. Sure. I can trust this maintenance crew that keep pulling in and out his nose with wrench of his. [Coelophysis-sized sarcasm]
Bu then, visitors walk around in my zoo aimlessly due to no tour guide. Although the Dino is in main walkway right there and there's only one. How they can miss that?
Not again! The sole Coelophysis escapes, again! As i have only small money the game offers me to loan to Bank, again. Even with that adorable face, i will not be persuaded to make loan because in my book making loan is lose. I want pure profit making build.
As i browse concessions tab on General Store, i notice there's toilet there. Does building Toilet affect my profit? I assume yes, especially if it's toilet with fee. If you surprised with concept of "you pay fare to use toilet", you certainly aren't familiar with Indonesia.
Our ticket sales is in valley but if you look closely it's about to rise. Maybe that's because of the Rest Rooms?
I reckon my monetary is in good shape thus i dare myself to buy more land and Dino. Also i replace the wooden fence with chain link ones. To make the zoo more interesting, i put on Deinonychus instead of more Coelophysis. Plus they are both carnivore, i don't need to buy another type of food for them. What makes me baffled is i can't put more than 1 Dino on 1 pen to cut the budget. I mean i can understand if both carnivore with different type can't get along in 1 pen. But why i can't put 2 Dino with same type in 1 pen? If i'm lucky, they can mating and i get small yet more adorable Dino! More attraction Dino for free and hopefully lead to more visitor!
Naturally, having more than 1 Dino will make your zoo less susceptible to vacuum of visitor if one of the Dino "decide" to escape.
I might be overkill here. I bought advertisement so more visitor arrive. 100% more Dino than ever plus (cheapest) advertisement. That should boost my profit, right?
So far so good. Some visitor comes in with limousine! And some of them with police car. I hope i didn't do anything criminal.
Finally, we survive for 1 year. I have to pay some annual tax at the end of the year, but i still get hefty profit.
Before you move on to next year, you have to manage everything in this office. Time is frozen while you're at it but it will move normally once you get out the office. Kind of reminds me Harvest Moon where time stop while you're indoor.
But then...
I was doing fine until Deinonychus escapes. I replace it with herbivore Hypsilophodon and they escape as i buy food for them! In the end, i'm fairly broke and decide to load the game state before this disaster happens.
For God's sake! I even not click on the restart icon and another problem happens! The mainstay Coelophysis is over-eating and the advisor tells me to hire Veterinary! NO! I should fire the old (invisible) zookeeper because they feed the Dino too much, instead. Are they get persuaded by the adorable look of Coelophysis for more treat? Medic_jeers04.wav
After load the game several times later...
So far no problem. I just want to show you the grass part on right bottom corner changes as the season change, which is neat. Oh, shoot! I forget to install rest rooms on the northern part of main walkway!
If you go to Bank, you can see your current loan or you can borrow more money. I choose pay the loan off because i don't like debt. I'm just simple as that.
This time around i dare myself to buy and keep Pentaceratops. They look impressive, huh? If you think this strong herbivore like Triceratops can't be contained with chain link fence, you're correct. They escape not long after this moment. At least i show you other Dino than Coelophysis and Deinonychus.
This is my safest plan. I have 2 Coelophysis in steel chain fence and both pen is electrified. The electric installment is an extra protection besides the fence to further "convince" the Dino not to escape (and break the fence in process). It cost $1,000 each much like wooden fence. So it's not risky to get.
*Sigh*. I try but the randomness reject me to play the game. Here's recap: 2 Coelophysis on the same terrain type, fence and i even put electricity on both pen. Then one of them escape. How or why???? Why that one can't stay easily like the first one? Oh, great! They're overfed again! I quit! I have tried really hard. At least, i manage to put 2 Dino in the zoo until one escape, that is.
Manley & Associates inc's DinoPark Tycoon (1993) is not as good as Jurassic Park Evolution. Given, at the time the business strategy game is in early era. Not many competition and most of them are not friendly user. On the presentation factor is beautiful. The buildings and the Dino npc(s). As you can see one of them is (literal) street sweeper Dino. Then there's the one with top hat that i assume is my assistant. There's one flying a plane with banner hanged. There's also the one with skateboard. They're quite adorable. It begs question. With those Dino npc around, why people want to see other Dino in my zoo. Perhaps those npc don't want to be attraction animal that mandates them to be naked and mustn't speak to visitor. They're way beyond their primitive ancestors. Or perhaps those npc is human in Dino custom thus explains why they can ride plane and skateboard. Besides those npc, the dino on notification also stands out beautifully. Now on to the gameplay. It's quite the opposite of the quality of the presentation. It's pretty crude with mysterious meaning like prehistoric writing. Obviously, the main problem is Dino escape. It determines very randomly. I'm sure there's soil type and fence's strength on the mix but i'm not sure how certain are they. What bothers me very much is: i have to buy the fence again besides buy the replacement for the escaping Dino. Can they just mend the fence a bit to cut the cost? Some function of employee is clear but through trial and error. The game doesn't explain it beforehand. If you meet certain problem now you know what their function is. But if you employ them, will there be some kind of monetary feedback? Because naturally hiring them will add my monthly expense besides paying the loan to the bank. Does Tour Guide will increase visitor numbers? No idea, really. Maintenance crew (hopefully) will diminish chance of Dino escape due to low maintenance on fences. Security's function is to diminish vandalism that break food storage which lead to food supply decreases unnaturally. But i can just ignore the vandalism and resort to buy more food instead of hiring security. It's cheaper that way. Maybe the food supply decrease is in percentage. Because i only stock on many rats the lost is minimum compared to duck or cow stock, i think. Concessions staff is definitely needed for food stall but sadly i haven't built any of that. The monetary feedback problem also occurs in the main attraction: The Dino. There's no direct bonus if you keep certain Dino. All i can think is, the more expensive the Dino the more reason you can ramp the ticket fare. But i'm always afraid of rise the ticket fare because it may cause the visitor number goes down. There must be balance between ticket price and visitor number but it's mysterious. As i have mentioned before that you can sell Dino on auction that clearly tied to their price but that's heinous :( . What about the toilet? Do they raise my income? Again, no idea. I think there's no real game over because you can borrow money from bank unless there's limit to that i'm not aware of. I have this simple pride that whenever i'm forced to loan money again i will just restart the game. The automatic notification of "low on food" is pretty usefull. The music is pretty simple and nice.
It's quite shame but i can't recommend you to play DinoPark Tycoon (1993). Despite the beautiful presentation, the game is unexpectedly brutal. The main problem is how random the Dino escape. I try to reload the game before it happens and no matter what i do to prevent it, it keeps happening consistently. Thus the bad thing works randomly yet consistently. However the game is still better made than Sim City 2000 due to significant faster pace and simpler management. Time flies very fast in DinoPark. You can watch your budget increase (or decrease :P) in matter of second. Whereas in Sim City 2000 you can barely see your budget change. Perhaps Sim City 2000 focuses on terrain engineering (and waiting for long time for change to happen) wheras DinoPark doesn't have none of that but in exchange with faster pace and more engaging gameplay. Give this game a try (with dozen of save slot game). At least this is safer than Jurassic Park where the escaping Dino will likely kill visitors and you don't want to pay for their insurance. That will be huge nightmare!
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