Zoo Tycoon Unlimited

[Bielski]

About a year ago, Zoo Tycoon Unlimited was split up in:
- Zoo Tycoon Unleashed
and
-Zoo Tycoon Unlimited.

This topic is for Zoo Tycoon Unlimited.

Go ahead Spikegirl it is all yours. :elvis:

[Spikesgirl309]

Thanks for getting this set up for us Bielski!

As mentioned, about a year ago, what was Zoo Tycoon Unlimited split into two sites. The site that at the time was functioning as the Zoo Tycoon Unlimited forums became Zoo Tycoon Unleashed and continues to be run by much of the same staff that was there before. I chose to go back to my main site (which I am ashamed to say that I had been neglecting a bit) and reestablished forums for Zoo Tycoon Unlimited.

Now, a year later we are growing quickly back to where we want to be, with close to 1100 members with more every day. In October the new forums will have been open for a year, and the site itself for 5 years. Since it has been quite some time since we have done an update for the community here, I'll do my best to get you all up to speed.

1) We are planning a birthday celebration in October to celebrate our 5 years as part of the community. We plan to have several contests for the big day, and are tryng to set up a little something special with Blue Fang. This week will see us posting a community zoo project signup, to be completed by the end of October. If there is enough intrest, we will do one for ZT2 as well as the original.

2) We are running a banner design contest to go with the revamped forums. The winning banner will take the place of the exisiting banner for the forums. Anyone interested in entering can find details HERE Entries are due by the end of this month.

3) We are running a quarterly contest for both ZT1 and ZT2. The ZT1 Quarterly contest will run from now until December 1st and will focus on mixed exhibits. Details can be found  HERE . The ZT2 Quarterly contest is currently running until the end of October and has a 4 seasons theme. Details can be found HERE

4) There are a number of other cotests running right now, from ZOTM to screenshot contests. Each have varied goals and deadlines. They can be found by using the following links:
   ZT1 ZOTM - Sand & Surf Zoo
   ZT1 Screenshot - Making an Entrance
   ZT2 ZOTM - Zookeeper In Training
   ZT2 Screenshot #1 - Wet & Wild
   ZT2 Screenshot #2 - Snap Happy!

5) There are some news items that can be found in the ADMIN ANNOUNCEMENTS section.

6) We are working on setting up an inter-site zoo building project with a number of Zoo Tycoon Sites, so hopefully we can update you on that within the next couple days...

I can't think of anything else major to add, but one of our staff members will update this thread regularly....

[Spikesgirl309]

I managed to get a bit more accomplished today then I had originally planned, so I have posted the signup for the Fall 2006 Community Zoo project. We welcome builders from all over the community so please join us!

Community Zoo Signup

In addition to the community zoo project, we are trying to organize an inter-site zoo building event. We are hoping to have teams from Zoo Tycoon Unleashed, Zoo Admin and Zootek participate - so if you are a member of one of these sites and are interested in participating, please let the staff at your site know so that they can see if there is enough intrest. Hopefully we can get this kicked off next week...

[Spikesgirl309]

Microsoft just sent us a new tuesday tidbit.... all of our tidbits can be found at the main site on the From The Zebra's Mouth page

[Spikesgirl309]

A couple of members have asked that I hurry up with more information on the inter-site zoo building project - so here is an overview:

We wanted to do something special to celebrate 5 years in the community... key word being community. I am sure that most of you will agree that the Zoo Tycoon community is unlike any other. There is such friendship, creativity and passion for this game that it can be overwhelming. While there are many sites out there, I think we can all agree that we are where we are because of the other sites in the community. Each site pushes the others to be better, friendlier, and find new things to draw in the members. I have heard many first time members say that they can't pick a favorite site, because each one brings a little something different to the table... Things like our design workshops, Zoo Tek's PPNE, Zoo Admin's downloads, or Zoo Tycoon Unleashed's suitability guide contests. Everyone has something to offer, and we are hoping that this contest can show the community just what fantastic people exist in the sites around them.

For that reason, we are hosting an inter-site zoo building contest. Each site will have a team of members from their site, and will come up with a theme for their zoo. The zoos will reflect the talents and creativity of the site in a way that few other contests in the community do. This is a chance to expose people to sites that they may not know of, or may not have visited in a long time.

It is our hope that this will bring the community even closer together, and may even start a tradition for the future. As of right now, we are doing this as a ZT1 contest, unless there is a real interest in having one for ZT2 as well.

Details on teams, timeline, judging and prizes can be found HERE

[Spikesgirl309]

There has been a bit of interest in running a contest for ZT2 as well, so sites may submit two teams, one for ZT1 and one for ZT2. Remember, sites need to sign up by September 9th (although sites will have until September 23rd to pick teams and get pre-building activities completed)

[Spikesgirl309]

Zoo contest winners are going up on the site as we speak....

[Spikesgirl309]

The community zoo signup is still active until September 16th, so please sign up HERE if you are interested in building with us!

Winners for the August contests have been posted. Congrats to Leah, Icepengwyn, and Dragon for their fantastic entries!

September contests have been posted:
[ZOTM] September 2006- ZT1
[SCREENSHOT] September 2006 - ZT1
[ZOTM] September 2006 - ZT2
[SCREENSHOT] September 2006 - ZT2

Quarterly Contests are still running -
[QUARTERLY] October - December 2006
[QUARTERLY] August-October 2006

The inter-site zoo building project is on track to be quite the event. There has been some solid intrest and some sites have already signed up to participate. Interested sites can check out details HERE and sites may sign up by emailing me.

We have also decided to do the Pediatric Aids fundraiser again. Details can be found HERE

[Spikesgirl309]

Exclusive Marine Mania screenshot has been posted - HERE

[Melt0s]

I would like to recommend Zoo Tycoon Unlimited. It has great resources and downloads, helpful and kind members/staff. And a all in all great forum.

[modnotice=RedNotDead] this is not for members to post comment on the site just for the site admins to post updates on the site.[/modnotice]

[Spikesgirl309]

Thanks for the kind words Meltos!

We have made some changes to the Inter-site zoo contest. It was brought to our attention that the way it was set up might put undue stress on sites that wanted to participate, but simply were too busy to set up teams and a place for them to meet. So we have taken care of that for them, and have reformatted the contest set up so that signup is at our forums and we will set up private forums for the teams to meet and work. If a fansite wants to assemble an entire team on their own and come over and sign up that's great, or you can signup to form a team with people from all over the community. We hope that this will work better for everyone.

[Spikesgirl309]

We have made some changes to the main site to make it easier to navigate and more visually appealling.

Also, we are still looking for participants in both the community zoo project and our inter-site zoo project....

[Spikesgirl309]

The community zoo is underway and looks pretty fantastic so far!

We have posted September contest winners and the October contests have been posted as well.

We have also gotten permission to post some pictures from the Marine Mania demo. We are told that we are premitted to answer questions and post pictures ONLY if the information can be found in the demo. We are welcoming questions at our site only. This is very important as most sites are still under the NDA and we don't want anyone getting into any trouble.

We are posting new stuff every day counting down to our birthday celebration, so come visit us!

[Spikesgirl309]

We have an exclusive screenshot from Microsoft as well as .... drumroll please..... a review of Marine Mania. Microsoft sent us a preview copy and we were told we could go hog wild! Check out our review, complete with screenshots here:

http://www.ztunlimitedforums.com/view_topic.php?id=563&forum_id=7

[Spikesgirl309]

It's party time! We will be partying until the wee hours of the morning, so please feel free to join us!

There will be fun and games, contests and PRIZES Be sure to stop in....

[Spikesgirl309]

Ok, it has been a while since I have updated this thread... so busy with so many things! LOL

Lots of great changes... lots of new members... LOTS to see and do! Come over and check us out. Current contests end this week, so if you haven't sent your entry in, now's the time!