Dear Frontier, could you tell us the status of mods?

[Citytrader]

No I think you miss the point. We say UGC and DLC can co-exist.

And I am agreeing with you. However, it has already been six months, and as you stated, nothing concrete or firm from Frontier Yet.
That other coaster game they developed wasn't modded for nearly two years, and was never officially modded at all.

Not sure if I agree with you regarding micro transactions, however. I think that if it is cosmetic (different skins, etc) it won't be that big of a deal. I assume the generic piece would be subbed in, or just that piece would be missing, but the park could still open and the user could be creative, as we are all doing now, so not a big deal.

Be positive. If they do try to nickel and dime people to death, overall sales will suffer, and they will change their strategy if they want to continue sales. Also, the community itself might wind up self regulating. If everyone starts complaining that part "X" is too expensive, and they aren't going to buy it, less and less creators will utilize that part in their building, and sales suffer again.

Finally, you guys keep talking about what is good for the community. Frontier has proven that they are very interested in the community, continue to support the game, and has responded numerous times and shown care for same, but at the end of the day, they are a business that is in business to turn a profit. Yes, UGC might secure profits, but then again, it might not, and it gives a lot of power to the community, not the company.

So again, it is all in the timing. Once again, my opinion.

I guess we'll see who's right.

 

[Cyber-Surfer]

Just for the record...

The Sims is NOT the best example of modding... While "mod" support was included, 90% of the tools for each version of the game, have had to be developed by reverse engineering the file formats and procedures from official assets released by EA... In point of fact, when The Sims was released, there was statements from EA that they would release mod tools (they even have them in the form of a program called Blueprint for Sims 1).. It is now The Sims 4... and no mod tools have been officially released.. Custom Skins, Objects, Animations, and such were all created using tools developed by talented people in the community. Even their Blueprint tool never got released. The only "mod" tool that was officially released was the Create-A-World tool for making custom maps... and that wasn't really a mod, as it was a content creation tool, it still had to conform to the official game as it was released by EA...

Just adding that for completeness....

CS

 

[Ramm]

And I am agreeing with you. However, it has already been six months, and as you stated, nothing concrete or firm from Frontier Yet.
That other coaster game they developed wasn't modded for nearly two years, and was never officially modded at all.

Not sure if I agree with you regarding micro transactions, however. I think that if it is cosmetic (different skins, etc) it won't be that big of a deal. I assume the generic piece would be subbed in, or just that piece would be missing, but the park could still open and the user could be creative, as we are all doing now, so not a big deal.

Be positive. If they do try to nickel and dime people to death, overall sales will suffer, and they will change their strategy if they want to continue sales. Also, the community itself might wind up self regulating. If everyone starts complaining that part "X" is too expensive, and they aren't going to buy it, less and less creators will utilize that part in their building, and sales suffer again.

Finally, you guys keep talking about what is good for the community. Frontier has proven that they are very interested in the community, continue to support the game, and has responded numerous times and shown care for same, but at the end of the day, they are a business that is in business to turn a profit. Yes, UGC might secure profits, but then again, it might not, and it gives a lot of power to the community, not the company.

So again, it is all in the timing. Once again, my opinion.

I guess we'll see who's right.

About giving power to the community: I can only see this happening if someone creates a mod so succesful you literally cannot play the game without it anymore [big grin]

 

[sirheinouslot]

Hey, maybe with mods we can get general improvements. Like smoke coming off fireworks, which I don't see atm or a timeline in the display sequencer. Mods give games these type of games longevity. See City Skylines for an example, it is basically unplayable for some without mods. In regard to the post above which said that giving power to the community can only happen when an essential mod comes out, this isn't necessarily true. It doesn't have to be just one mod, 5 or 10 mods which enhance the game can make the game itself look bare without, which might be a thing Frontier has in their mind when it comes to delaying the ability for independent creators to make mods for the game.

 

[Fishook]

Generally I have never bothered with mods, unless the game is no longer officially supported. The only time I suffered from crashes in Cities Skylines was with Mods, as its a pain to spend my quality game time, looking what caused my game to crash.

Don't get me wrong there are some wonderful Mods out there, but I no longer have the time to put hundred's of hours playing the same game. Or playing for x amount of hours to suddenly find your favourite mod, no longer works with the current game version.

A good compromise could be me to give some of the more creative users access to the in game tool editor, for higher quality mods.

 

[MissUniversum]

We could create our own walls and stuff with billboards..

the billboards are illuminated..i am veryy disappointed with this fact.. i dont want shiny buildings with illuminated walls.. that makes no sense and for me its not the right step into ugc.. of course i will love the billboards, cause we can create our own parkmaps and so on.. but walls? illuminated walls?

 

[Serpentrax]

I believe the monstrous size and the black borders already killed the usefulness for any other goal than the intended one as a billboard.

 

[MissUniversum]

but there are 4x4 and 4x2 billboards without any borders, and they said, these can used as walls with our own texture.. but they are all illuminated.. i have never seen an illuminated brickwall or something.. its not useful for that!

 

[Chems]

but there are 4x4 and 4x2 billboards without any borders, and they said, these can used as walls with our own texture.. but they are all illuminated.. i have never seen an illuminated brickwall or something.. its not useful for that!

I think we can turn those panels On or Off. On, they do not react to the ingame lighting, thus appearing to glow, Off they do react to the ingame lighting so they appear as off. Note that they are not actual light emitters, just like the Christmas lights. They just don't react to the in-game lighting thus appearing to be lit up. The problem with this is that they will always be 'bright' even during the day when they are in the shadow.

 

[Ramm]

Generally I have never bothered with mods, unless the game is no longer officially supported. The only time I suffered from crashes in Cities Skylines was with Mods, as its a pain to spend my quality game time, looking what caused my game to crash.

Don't get me wrong there are some wonderful Mods out there, but I no longer have the time to put hundred's of hours playing the same game. Or playing for x amount of hours to suddenly find your favourite mod, no longer works with the current game version.

A good compromise could be me to give some of the more creative users access to the in game tool editor, for higher quality mods.

You probably had mods that did the same and they were incompatible with eachother. Common sense applies. If you use two mods that make the map size bigger they are bound to start infricting one another. Same will happen if you just try to use 50 mods at the same time.

 

[Chems]

Well its kinda a pain to track mods in Cities Skylines. Like when the game updates, half of the stuff doesnt work, it also breaks your saves, etc. Thats why the UGC for Planet Coaster needs to be handled very carefully, to prevent the cluttering that is happening to Cities Skylines.

On the other hand, you dont have to use mods, but I get why Frontier wants to make sure we get proper mod tools.

 

[Fishook]

You probably had mods that did the same and they were incompatible with eachother. Common sense applies. If you use two mods that make the map size bigger they are bound to start infricting one another. Same will happen if you just try to use 50 mods at the same time.

No I was only using custom bulidings rather than gameplay mod. No stranger to mods, its just too hit and miss for my liking these days, unless it a major one such as Long War for Xcom I don't tend to bother, as I can use separate save games.

I love Planet Coaster UCG in its current form, as I am not very creative and I know it will work.

 

[En Anu]

Can't imagine they're looking into supporting this officially any time soon. Seems like something they would implement towards the later stages of PC's lifespan in a couple of years post expansions/DLCs etc? Although Andy did state at the end of last year they were working on it so who knows? [wacky]

Totally agree - MODS, DLC all in good time the game is still in its infancy stage and there is much refinement to do. Frontier have made a huge leap and they have investors like any other company who want their returns. To keep the longevity of this game going they need to charge for expansions, however not as ridiculous as the sims game which ruined the game. Expansions which deal with PC engineering concepts instead of set pieces, like the sims.

For example an expansion just to deal with creating your own animatronics as this area alone is worth paying for.
Another one for dark rides and maybe one or two more after not but a volume of expansions you see in other games.

Frontier's ethos has to remain with grace showing the PC community that they have their best interests at heart at the same time maintaining profits for their shareholders, it is a fine balance between the two.

I am all for modding, DLC and others but they have their place and need to be in the latter stages - let the game get established for a few years at least!

 

[Ramm]

Well its kinda a pain to track mods in Cities Skylines. Like when the game updates, half of the stuff doesnt work, it also breaks your saves, etc. Thats why the UGC for Planet Coaster needs to be handled very carefully, to prevent the cluttering that is happening to Cities Skylines.

On the other hand, you dont have to use mods, but I get why Frontier wants to make sure we get proper mod tools.

I think it's the users own responsibility. You start modding there is a slight chance things will work weird. But mods make the game so much better for me it's definately worth the hassle.

No I was only using custom bulidings rather than gameplay mod. No stranger to mods, its just too hit and miss for my liking these days, unless it a major one such as Long War for Xcom I don't tend to bother, as I can use separate save games.

I love Planet Coaster UCG in its current form, as I am not very creative and I know it will work.

I dont really wanna call it User Generated Content since it's just buildings within the game, more like User Placed Content