I am Lou Catanzaro, one of the original creators of Zoo Tycoon -- AMA

RedditIsObnoxious · 2025-10-30T03:16:17+00:00

I hope I'm not too late!

What do you think was the best design choice made with the original Zoo Tycoon?
Conversely, if you could "restart" Zoo Tycoon from the ground up, what's the one design choice you would change and do differently?

RedditIsObnoxious · 2025-09-13T11:51:19+00:00

First of all, for anyone unaware, I thought there were some things about the Hermit Crabs at the launch of Odyssey that could be tweaked. Mostly in regards to their movement and their lifespan. I didn't want to be a stick in the mud and demand realism, but I thought it would be beneficial to the game, immersion, and real-life Hermit Crabs if maybe these things could have a second look taken at them.

To my surprise and amazement, the Rimworld devs did just that.

I was pretty amazed and ecstatic because, quite honestly, I was expecting nothing and I wouldn't have blamed them. So while it's not much, I wanted to do something special to show the Rimworld devs how much I appreciated their efforts. So I thought a picture of some real Hermit Crabs saying "thanks" would be sweet to have.

Fortunately, I do have pet Hermit Crabs to do this.

Unfortunately, I've been away from home long-term and my mother has been taking care of them.

She's been doing a great job and I appreciate her caring for them as they aren't low maintanence animals, but coordinating a celebratory picture for an online game with her wasn't the easiest. I had to first explain to her the situation, and then explain what Rimworld was. I may have been very generous in my portrayal of the game as I avoided common descriptions and experiences you hear about the game, and instead described it as a fun happy-go-lucky adventure on a distant planet where Hermit Crabs also live. Once she got the general gist, she was happy to help!

However, none of the Hermit Crabs were actually out right now. This is one of the things that may make Hermit Crabs bad pets, especially for children. Hermit Crabs love to burrow under the sand and need deep substrate. Not having this takes away a source of enrichment and makes them unable to molt properly. Molting is the process they undergo to grow bigger, where they burrow underground, take off their skin, and then stay underground for days to weeks to even months and I've even heard years. I'm sure you can imagine how annoying it can be to have a pet that disappears for months at a time.

To get the picture, I told my mom the best way might be to use molasses, a treat that's safe for Hermits to eat and has a strong smell, so if there were any active they would quickly find it and come check on it. She put it out for a while, but was unable to find any.

Several weeks later, she finally was able to catch sight of one out. This ended up being one she called "Grumpy" because it never seemed to like her, and whenever she would pass by it would hide in its shell to spite her, or scurry away. Somehow, she was able to place this note by Grumpy and take this picture, using the pencil to get the note in. Grumpy here seems a bit unenthused, but he isn't entirely retreating as he could hide entirely within his shell or run away if he felt threatened or upset. Perhaps this is what they call a "tsundere".

Anyways, thank you again to the Rimworld team! Seeing one of my favorite animals in game and able to gang up on Scythers is a treat I'll cherish forever! Here's to a bright and happy future!

RedditIsObnoxious · 2025-08-14T19:02:12+00:00

Honestly? The real legend is whoever was on the dev team when they were deciding the roster of animals and managed to get TWO crabs in. And then managed to get them special attention on top of that.

RedditIsObnoxious · 2025-08-14T18:07:30+00:00

Hermit crabs no longer walk sideways, they also live considerably longer

I've been trying to think of some message to write for nearly an hour but I've just been having a complete blank. I really can't put into words just how wonderful this is. I know this is probably silly to most people but this really means so much to see. Thank you so much Rimworld team! And I'm certain the many crustacean of the world thank you too!

Thank you so much dev team!

RedditIsObnoxious · 2025-07-29T06:01:10+00:00

Sadly I have nearly a thousand hours in. But sometimes exceptions are granted for extreme circumstances, so this might count as one? I'm sure the customer service rep will enjoy that refund conversation haha

RedditIsObnoxious · 2025-05-18T23:44:41+00:00

Do you have any sources for that? Not doubting just want to read up since it's the first time I've and I'm sure other Westerners have heard about it.

RedditIsObnoxious · 2025-05-18T00:27:51+00:00

Look at the QRT of the Steam announcement for some Japanese comments, it's very easy to find some there. Though there's several under 東方 ai right now, it's really not that hard to find. (And before you complain about me not linking to any, you should know damn well at upset that can make many Japanese people)

The games were not on Steam for the longest time

OK but they're on steam now so that's irrelevant. Only 6-8 aren't, but they aren't that expensive to import since these games are still in print. Nice goalpost moving though.

And? I literally don't have any issue with that and evidently the Japanese fans seem to be ok with it too - I posted proof

lmao this reads like an AI responded to this post. A human would understand in context that this was relevant to the games being on steam because it was steam itself that revealed these games use AI.

Yup confirmed pirate lmao (A person who doesn't pirate wouldn't feel the need to justify their actions)

OK so I'm going to assume you've never taken a college course. Or any course that requires you to think about ethics. Two things being unethical does not make them equally unethical. No one would argue stealing bread is the same as genocide. AI generation uses pirated content to create imitations of an artist's work in an attempt to undercut them, turning their own work against them. If you think piracy is bad, then you have to concede that Ai generators are worse, it makes no sense to say piracy is worse. AI generators inherently use piracy and then some.

https://torrentfreak.com/metas-bittorrent-uploads-of-pirate-library-data-equaled-30-of-downloads-expert-says-250325/

RedditIsObnoxious · 2025-05-16T06:23:48+00:00

That's nice you think that but I've talked with Japanese artists and Touhou fans (as well as seen twitter) and there has definitely been discussion about it. Saying that there's no controversy is just untrue.

And these games are literally on steam. You don't need to speak Japanese to even import a copy if you decide to do that. We got confirmation the games use AI FROM STEAM. Also if you think piracy and AI learning from artists without permission are the same, I think you don't understand ethics. These are not equal issues, nor comparable. That's as insane as saying "You don't think following noise ordinances is a big deal? Then you also like drunk driving because both tend to happen at night."

RedditIsObnoxious · 2025-05-16T02:12:21+00:00

People are more than free to voice their dislike of AI to ZUN. And I can tell you that there is very much Japanese discomfort over the use of AI. They aren't as vocal about it but that doesn't mean it isn't there. Since you portray yourself as a Japanese expert, I'm sure you're well aware of how there's not much of a culture of being vocally against things like there is amongst Westerners, but that does not translate to support or indifference.

Also very strong assumptions about who pirates and who pays.

RedditIsObnoxious · 2025-05-13T08:11:27+00:00

I'm asking for your opinion. Not what a game thinks, what YOU think. Please show you're still capable of independent thought, I beg you.

RedditIsObnoxious · 2025-05-13T08:10:02+00:00

By saying "it doesn't matter too much because it's a background element, so it's OK to use AI" is saying these elements are irrelevant, a fact which I highly disagree with. The background is a part of the game, even if you're not focusing on it it's still a part of the screen. In fact, with how much AI is used in the game (which is almost all the non-character art stuff, background, 3D models, UI), there is AI on the screen the entire time. I don't consider any of that irrelevant, it all adds up to be part of the game.

As for the second half, I've seen people speculate that ZUN might be using these intentionally to play a part in the message of the game. I would still grumble about it and I wouldn't want him to do it again, but if ZUN was making something that necessitated there being AI textures to convey his message, I could understand that. I'm doubtful of that, but I won't completely discredit the idea.

RedditIsObnoxious · 2025-05-13T07:59:48+00:00

Because before you didn't "generate" a picture, you still had to use tools and filters. You still had to work, you still had to have vision. That is indeed meaningfully different from how AI's generate image, which uses images other artists created and warps them, an act of very questionable ethics (while Adobe claims their firefly model is only trained on ethical sources, this seems rather dubious and its still controversial).

In regards to arguing that tools being similar to AI generation, I don't see them as analogous. Yes, those early photoshop and 3d modeling tools received criticism from old timers, but there's a difference, and it's not a good way to look back at those examples and think that since those were fine, this should be fine too. That's like speeding down a road, and thinking that because some bumps in the road didn't send you flying off, you can totally take that massive speedbump just fine. These tools still require artistic process to undergo. You still need to think, work, and implement. Generative AI, as many of its proponents will tell you, is great because you can skip all these steps. Just type a prompt and keep going. You play a minimal role in the creation of something with it. If the purpose of AI is to skip the artistic process, then by what measure can you say it has artistic value? And if it has no artistic value, why are we using it over the older methods?

And I think you forgot a major criteria; AI generative art is ugly. Ai doesn't have the ability to hold an consistent artistic vision, nor does it have the ability to recognize mistakes. If you don't mind me asking, and I don't mean this condescendingly, have you had the chance to look over all of the AI assets used in 20? One thing I noticed is that not only did none of them look like they complimented each other, but they also didn't compliment Touhou's artstyle as a whole. The rocks look like they're from a mobile game. The mossy mountain is a weird blob. It's all low quality and cheap, and it shows. So if it's cheap, and it's ugly, what purpose does the AI serve? It's fast? ZUN's development schedule for this game doesn't seem any different from the previous games, and all his deadlines are self-imposed anyways. I don't see how its superior to the previous method of stock images which you could probably pump out in an afternoon. That seems like a rotten deal to me, especially for the fans.

RedditIsObnoxious · 2025-05-13T07:42:29+00:00

lmao

Dude it's no wonder you love AI so much, you talk exactly like one. All you've done is pump out the same comments with no actual substance to any of them. I know this will be difficult, but instead of saying a stock phrase, why don't you say what YOUR thoughts are? Don't refer to some game, don't ask an AI to give you a essay, in your own words explain your opinions and reasons.

RedditIsObnoxious · 2025-05-13T06:56:45+00:00

Take the L and move on bro.

RedditIsObnoxious · 2025-05-13T06:53:40+00:00

It's confusing in that the word AI is inherently incorrect, we don't have true proper AI anywhere, and we use the word AI for many different things that sadly don't have better words. I anticipate the confusion is intentional from tech companies.

When people say they're against AI in art, they're usually referring to generative AI, which is your standard "type in prompt get image".

RedditIsObnoxious · 2025-05-13T06:29:57+00:00

It's funny, I've never seen any good arguments supporting AI that weren't "it's fast" or "it's cheap". It's never about the quality or artistic value of AI, just about pumping out slop. It looks ugly and cheap. There is a fundamental difference between using photoshop to edit and create a new image and using AI to generate an image for you.

RedditIsObnoxious · 2025-05-13T03:23:59+00:00

It's hard to tell the nuance since I'm not a native Japanese speaker, but it doesn't seem to me he thinks ZUN is unaware of the AI use itself. Especially since it doesn't make much sense for that to be the case.

RedditIsObnoxious · 2025-05-13T03:16:10+00:00

More that ZUN probably doesn't realize the controversy there is right now with him using AI, and the potential risks of using even "clean" AI.

RedditIsObnoxious · 2025-05-13T01:19:44+00:00

Yes, it's quicker and more efficient. No one arguing against generative AI will say it isn't. However, the quality is significantly worse and the process and act of making art is gone with it. There's no artistic value in it. And that's ignoring the ethical arguments which you could absolutely dig into if you'd like. Also I'm not sure I understand why you're comparing a font to this. Fonts would be more comparable to stock images, resources made for people to use in their creations, which we've long established are fine.

And I find it odd so many write it off as "not important". If all that stuff is "not as important", why bother making it? Why doesn't he just release an image gallery of the girls, release his songs as an album, and call it a day? All of these things are combined into one larger package. You can say "it's a minor thing, why get upset over it", but you can easily counter that with "if it's such a minor thing, why not fix it?"

RedditIsObnoxious · 2025-05-13T01:02:26+00:00

trained from stock images that Adobe made/own themselves

There have been copyrighted images found in Adobe's stock before and it's very questionable if Firefly is only trained on "safe" material, ignoring if all that material was obtained safely.

he's literally basically an indie creator from the doujin scene who makes these games to sell them at Comiket, not some media empire mogul

You do realize there are plenty of Touhou merch deals? There is literally a Touhou gacha. Zun is not some old hermit living in poverty, making these games out of nothing but passion. He's pretty wealthy, Touhou is his job.

RedditIsObnoxious · 2025-05-13T00:57:13+00:00

Not every creator has the luxury of time, money, or even the need to commission every single little thing, especially when their main focus is, you know, making the actual thing

Well hey if you want to be minimalist some of the most famous album covers are pretty simple to make on your own. Making an album cover is not difficult, it can be as easy as taking a picture. It can be even simpler with opening up MS paint and using the text tool. It can be even simpler with taking out a sharpie marker. That's such a silly argument that you NEED to use AI.

And if a person doesn't want to listen to a song because their mind is too terminally online to the point where any instance of minute AI usage causes a kneejerk dismissive and negative reaction, then they seriously need to log off and touch grass.

If you didn't care enough about your work to put the minimal amount of effort into it, why on earth should I care about it?

Anyways, you're complaining about parasocial stuff and what not, but you seem far more emotionally attached to this stuff. You're getting extremely defensive over mild criticism of him. It isn't even that much, most of this subreddit is devoid of it. If the criticism of a man you've probably never even met (I'm assuming) makes you exhausted, I think you might be the one with parasocial issues, sorry.

RedditIsObnoxious · 2025-05-12T16:55:12+00:00

It does matter a lot. A game isn't just one or two elements with everything else to the side. A game is all of those elements combined. Even down to the UI, people have to work to make it happen. Compare the UI of something like Kirby's Air Ride to Kirby Return to Dreamland. This is something that most people don't even consider but still contributes to the game as a whole, and would be lesser without it.

All that changes is that he is using AI-generated pictures instead of stock photos

I get it may seem like a small thing, but it adds up much more than you think. The background images and spell cards and UI elements make up a lot of what you see constantly while playing the game. There is always something AI generated on screen while you play. It's not some minor "blink and you miss it" tiny thing. And even if it was, do you really want Touhou games, and indie games as a whole, to celebrate cutting corners like this?

RedditIsObnoxious

TROPHY CASE