Hi I'm KWL or Kicker White Lion for short. I decided to make a guide about inspiration and park building because I think it could be helpful to some people. I will mainly discuss methods that help me and tools that I use. Some, maybe even all of it, may not work for you. It is important that you find your own ways of feeding your creativity. If none of what I say here works for you then I hope it at least helps you find your own way to get creative.

So you want to make a park in Prehistoric kingdom and are unsure where to start? Well first you need to get an idea of what you want to build. Can't really build much if you don't know what you are building. So how do you get inspiration? Inspiration comes to different people in different ways. Some people can find it everywhere at any time, while others have to try and actively look. Understanding how your brain works is important when it comes to starting your park.

Now what could be a better source of inspiration than real life? Probably a lot of things. But this section is about references from real life anyway. These tips are quite obvious but they need to be mentioned. As simple as they are they do work.
Images from the internet
The easiest way to get reference images of real places is to look them up on the internet. And you have many options for that. For example: Google images, Pinterest, Reddit and many more. I know this suggestion sounds very obvious but that's just because it is that simple. Don't underestimate the power of just looking things up. However the recent increase in AI images of subpar quality and minimal usefulness has made this less effective. Swearing in your searches on google should reduce the amount of AI images you get but going to specific with real images might still be preferable.
The real world
This suggestion might be the most difficult one for gamers so far. Go outside. Actually going to see zoos, botanical gardens, nature and buildings of all sorts gives you a much better idea of scale and actual look of these places. Make sure to take lots of photos too so that you can use them for future reference. However traveling is expensive and not everyone lives in a particularly inspirational area so this is not an option for everyone.
Street view
If you cannot visit a place personally but you would still like to look at it from all different angles streetview might be just what you are looking for. Many places, especially famouns one, have a very good coverage on street view which lets you explore them quite thoroughly. You can also use street view to explore places which don't have a lot images readily available.

If you can't think of something yourself, chances are that someone else already did. Just, let's say, borrow their work.
Screenshots
This suggestion is as simple as it gets. Just look images posted by other people. When it comes to Prehistoric kingdom the best source of nice screenshots is the official Prehistoric kingdom discord server. However you don't have to limit yourself to just Prehistoric kingdom screenshots. The community around Prehistoric kingdom is quite small so I would recommend looking at other online communities too. Mainly the Planet zoo community, since Planet zoo is a very similar game to Prehistoric kingdom in many ways. And of course you don't have to limit yourself to screenshots.
Park tours
Videos of all sorts work but I've found park tours to be the most helpful. The problem is that Prehistoric kingdom doesn't really have a lot of park tour videos on Youtube. But you know what game with very similar building options does? That's right Let's build a zoo Planet zoo. I would recommend park tour series made by DeLadySigner, Leaf and ZSHplays. Their park tour videos have helped me massively when I was trying to think of what to build. These park tours also help with understanding zoo layouts, exhibit designs, guest area designs and many other aspects of building zoos.
Steam Workshop
And lastly stealing from the workshop. If you own Prehistoric kingdom on steam, which you most likely are given that you are reading a steam guide, you can download prefabs and parks from the workshop and look at them yourself. I can't recommend this enough. By all means you should download other people's prefabs and parks from the workshop and take them apart piece by piece to see how they are made. Exploring other people's parks is a good way to learn how to build parks but more importantly you can take apart any part of the park to learn how it was made. This is one of the best ways to learn park building.

In this section I will just mention the tools (or rather programs in this case) I use. There is a wide variety of options and I'm sure you can list many in the comments.
Second monitor
If you have a second monitor it becomes an invaluable tool during building. The reason why is rather obvious. It lets you look at references while building without having to alt tab or constantly check your phone. Here's an example of a program you can put on your second monitor.
PureRef
Pureref is a free program which allows you to compile all of your reference images in one place. It allows you to collect a large amount of images and organize them just the way you want them, making it incredibly versatile while being very easy to use. It can be downloaded for free from the official pureref website[www.pureref.com] simply choose to pay a custom amount and set it to 0. Or if you feel generous you can even donate to the project (not sponsored).
Custom Reddit feeds
Most people don't know this but you can create a custom feed on Reddit where you can put up to a 100 different subreddits. This way you can put a lot of subreddits related to creativity, nature, environments and anything else you want into one place. Now you might be too good to use Reddit, which is perfectly fair. This guide is mainly about what I use so I will still include this suggestion as part of the guide.
Building save
And finally, learn by doing. Simply make a save on sandbox where you just build. Build what? Anything and everything. This save is for you to try out building, park layouts, making enclosures and trying out all the different ideas you have. Don't worry about turning it into a functional park, or anything resembling a park. Just build for the sake of building. Doing is the best way to learn.

Now that you've gained all the inspiration you need to build your perfect park, it's time to start building. But how?
Start small
Prehistoric kingdom has a huge amount of options. The maps are huge, there is a large amount of species and the building tools allow you to create just about anything you want. All of this can be quite overwhelming. If you are new to the game and just staring one of your first parks I recommend starting small. This way you can learn building in the game gradually. You could maybe even consider starting by building a so called minizoo. A minizoo is a park that has defined borders with a relativelly small size. For example 100x100 meters. This way you have a set boundary within which you can build and feel less overwhelmed by the size of the map. Once the area is filled, the park is done. Giving you a clear goal. Speaking of which.
Setting a goal
Even if you are a more advanced builder the options are no less overwhelming. The maps are still huge, building possibilities are endless and there is still a huge number of animals to build with. This can make building a park a daunting task, especially because you don't even know how big it will be or how long you will be building it. For some people that is a good thing as it gives them a lot of freedom. For others it's just a bit too much. In that case you can set up a goal for your park. For example set a size of the park by making a clear border. Or you can write down how much you want to build in your park and stick to that. For example you could have a set amount of sections in your park or a set amount of species to build for. You can even do both at once and have a set amount of sections with species selected for them. This way you have a clear goal you can work towards and it allows you to track your progress as you build. Knowing that your park park is 70% done can feel quite nice.
Writing down ideas
As part of setting a goal for your park you can write down your ideas. I myself make a sheet where I write down and draw ideas for the park. Here are some examples of what such a sheet could look like. The right image is a sheet for a new park, I haven't added much to it yet, however I did write down some ideas about what I want in the park. The fact that it is written in two languages is irrelevant here.
The left image is a sheet for a park that I have been building for a while. As time goes on I have been slowly adding more and more ideas to it, filling out the sheet. Again written in two languages at once.






Story
And lastly a small tip that can help you stay with you park longer and also give you more ideas for building the park. Give your park a story. If you give your park a story, you will feel attached to it more. Let your story develop as you build the park and you will be naturally inclined to continue building. It will change the way you think about your park, as it is no longer just something you look at and build, but it becomes a story you are writing and expanding with your building. It can really bring a park to life and as a bonus it makes the parks more unique and special.

Do not take this as a definitive guide of what you have to do when building a park. These are just suggestions based on my own experience. You may think that all of these tips are stupid and that's perfectly valid. If you have anything to add or maybe anything you take an issue with feel free to do so in the comments. I hope that this at least someone will find this guide useful during their, hopefully long, time playing Prehistoric kingdom and I hope it will let them make the best park they can.