April update

[Flint2025]

So i know the speculation is that the april 18th update is going to be a small one. Probably just 1 new dinosaur a few small fixes or skins... And then this summer we'll prob get the large update for terrain tools and such.

But im wondering.. How big would a terrain tools update need to be? Honestly. It's different colors n textures for the ground, a few new tree type and shrub types, some placeable rocks and logs... We might get some decorations like statues or fountains, maybe some paddock signs... It doesnt require dino model animations and stuff for terrain basics. So isnt it possible the april update could be a bare bones terrain update?? Then they could flesh it out further this summer by allowing us more control over the maps like creating real mountains and waterfalls. And then throw in more animations and a JP/LW dlc as the extra big surprise this summer..?

 

[Lora Craft69]

Just to clear something out, on April the 18th there is a developers stream which means they are going to show off new content.
This doesn't mean that the update itself is on the 18th, hopefully it is but I expect it soon after that, probably a week or so.

I do agree that a decorations update wouldn't need a big update but it would be a very welcomed one by everyone in the community.

 

[Player 99234567]

The summer update needs be a terrain/decor update that is HUGE in content. If that ends up being two paints and couple pieces of decor this game is dead jim.

 

[Flint2025]

Yeah if it doesnt live up to our expectations this game is dead probably. But i feel like they can put huge content in a small update for terrain n decorations. I also think giving us the ability to make real mountains and waterfalls on our maps like they have on the 1st island will help satisfy ppl who want to design their own island, especially if we get a new sorna or nublar map that's huge down the road this summer.

 

[gabeluna27]

There is one question I have though. What are people expecting when if comes to "Decorations" and more "Terraforming tools" other than just to make stuff look nice? Every single thing added in this video game as well as all those I myself have since 2003/4 (except two small exceptions) within the same genre and basic themes (animal parks/zoos building and managing) have actual purposes in affecting gameplay stuff in the biggest and tiniest ways.

If people want those two things, they need to have such major purposes in affecting gameplay as that's just two of the big affecting subject in many of those games I have besides to just to visually "look good", as well as figuring out how exactly to implement them in-game, and since they are a mainstream game party who focus on more than one game as well as other factors (no excuses), anything can take longer than one might think.

Sometimes I feel like some have been playing or watching too much modified Zoo Tycoon 2 and not the actual "pure game" where things serve more in-game goal purposes besides personal scenery.

 

[Flint2025]

Good points. I think we'd all like to see the new terrains and terrain items used by the dinosaurs. Like wallowing in mud for protection during heatwaves. Maybe some dinosaurs rolling logs over to eat insects underneath them. Dinosaurs climbing and jumping off big boulders. Dinosaurs using tall grass to crouch down in and stalk prey. We can only hope we get some stuff like that.

 

[Alan_Grady]

There is one question I have though. What are people expecting when if comes to "Decorations" and more "Terraforming tools" other than just to make stuff look nice? Every single thing added in this video game as well as all those I myself have since 2003/4 (except two small exceptions) within the same genre and basic themes (animal parks/zoos building and managing) have actual purposes in affecting gameplay stuff in the biggest and tiniest ways.

If people want those two things, they need to have such major purposes in affecting gameplay as that's just two of the big affecting subject in many of those games I have besides to just to visually "look good", as well as figuring out how exactly to implement them in-game, and since they are a mainstream game party who focus on more than one game as well as other factors (no excuses), anything can take longer than one might think.

Sometimes I feel like some have been playing or watching too much modified Zoo Tycoon 2 and not the actual "pure game" where things serve more in-game goal purposes besides personal scenery.

Personally, I'd like deeper water levels, ability to make waterfalls of different heights, rocks, and more textures for both terrain (sand, stones, dirt, etc) and trees/shrubs (pines, redwood, etc). Decorations are optional for me, but I'd also love to have them or, at least, more skin variety for the buildings we already got (along with the ability to "mirror" them and place them aligned).

As for what kind of impact all those could have on gameplay... well, decorations are fairly easy, given the tiny buildable areas we are working on

But different terrains would also add a lot, in my opinion (aside from screenshots more beautiful still); a priori, without giving them too much thinking:

• Deeper water could help separate some species unable to swim while also providing small chances of drowning (if, say, a hungry carnivore still likes to give it a chance).
• Landscaping with waterfalls, rocks and the like could add to the Entertainment Division and provide nice new contracts (take a photo of a trike beside a waterfall, take a photo of a iguanodon within a pine forest, etc)
• Different types of trees (if given some substance as well as just skins) could also be used as a means to "control" herbivores by also acting as lures for certain species, making them gravitate towards those areas populated by their favorite ones.
• Different terrains (sand, grass, etc) could have some impact on the speed of all animals walking over them thus providing another variable for the (also hopeful) mechanic of carnivores failing in their hunts/herbivores successfully fleeing or maybe also adding chances of accidents.

 

[Skawt]

There is one question I have though. What are people expecting when if comes to "Decorations" and more "Terraforming tools" other than just to make stuff look nice? Every single thing added in this video game as well as all those I myself have since 2003/4 (except two small exceptions) within the same genre and basic themes (animal parks/zoos building and managing) have actual purposes in affecting gameplay stuff in the biggest and tiniest ways.

If people want those two things, they need to have such major purposes in affecting gameplay as that's just two of the big affecting subject in many of those games I have besides to just to visually "look good", as well as figuring out how exactly to implement them in-game, and since they are a mainstream game party who focus on more than one game as well as other factors (no excuses), anything can take longer than one might think.

For me, I would like a Planet Coastar level of customization. I generally only play sandbox now, and an not overly concerned with gameplay anymore. I just want to design and build whatever my brains can come up with.

 

[Player 99234567]

There is one question I have though. What are people expecting when if comes to "Decorations" and more "Terraforming tools" other than just to make stuff look nice? Every single thing added in this video game as well as all those I myself have since 2003/4 (except two small exceptions) within the same genre and basic themes (animal parks/zoos building and managing) have actual purposes in affecting gameplay stuff in the biggest and tiniest ways.

If people want those two things, they need to have such major purposes in affecting gameplay as that's just two of the big affecting subject in many of those games I have besides to just to visually "look good", as well as figuring out how exactly to implement them in-game, and since they are a mainstream game party who focus on more than one game as well as other factors (no excuses), anything can take longer than one might think.

Sometimes I feel like some have been playing or watching too much modified Zoo Tycoon 2 and not the actual "pure game" where things serve more in-game goal purposes besides personal scenery.

The last thing anyone who is vested in this game expects from Frontier is anything improving gameplay. Frontier has made it absolutely clear since the original backlash from release that they never really had anything planned for gameplay other than "throw dinos in a paddock and put them back when they get out". The most we can expect really are cosmetic changes (size changes, new dinos, new skins) so at the very least being able to greatly change the environment you can play in will be the best bang for anyone's buck. Even with the dlcs and cosmetic changes they have been working on they have been releasing meagre portions after months of working on them. Three new dinos for one dlc pack (cretaceous pack) is ridiculous when none of those dinos have any unique behaviors. Frontier seems to be made up of front end developers who are really good at making things look pretty and nice but have no idea as how to make any depth to what they make. Not trying to blast Frontier but this is the current expectations from a lot of the community.

 

[Lora Craft69]

Three new dinos for one dlc pack (cretaceous pack) is ridiculous when none of those dinos have any unique behaviors.

Are you saying that The Iguanodon didn't have unique behaviors and animations?
You also seem to totally forget about the Secrets of Dr Wu DLC which added a lot of gene modifications on top of two new maps and story driven campaign missions + 3 Hybrids and 2 Dinosaurs and three of them have unique behaviors.
Not to mention the free updates (I'm not going into details, you most likely know what they contained).

I know most people want decorations and terrain paints and also more skins, especially the movie skins and I'm not gonna lie, I do too but both DLC's didn't disappoint me.
But let's not forget about the many people that want more species and a few weeks ago we had a livestream with one of the character artists Marleen Vijgen explaining how difficult and time consuming the making of new species is.
Also just take one quick look in the Ideas & Feature Requests forum and you will notice people want a whole lot more.

Anyway I do have faith in the developers even if we don't always get what we want, you cannot please everyone but you can always try your best.

 

[gabeluna27]

The last thing anyone who is vested in this game expects from Frontier is anything improving gameplay. Frontier has made it absolutely clear since the original backlash from release that they never really had anything planned for gameplay other than "throw dinos in a paddock and put them back when they get out".

When I studied how the game works, I can still see how gameplay changes can work, especially if they are completely optional DLCs. Sure they might say they have no current plans for something, but they did state on Twitter that if something changes along the line, they will announce it so everyone knows. If I'm right about this, they said they had no plans for more hybrids besides the two indos shortly after launch, until months later when they decided so.

When it comes to gameplay, I can personally see it as like this if plans for "Decorations" and "Terraforming tools" were to be made (but remember, these are only guesses, because if those two elements are added into the game, there's an equal chance they would be completely different than what I'm going to say):

Dinosaur rating increases, optional building profit rises, optional visitor awes for park rating increases. The first is by far one of the most important things in making a highly successful high rated park for unlocking new and optional features.

(If they were for like dinosaur barricading as well as giving more dinosaur and visitor needs that require stuff that isn't present in-game, it's not going to be fair what so ever for every player who plays this video game. Especially if they have built dream parks for their own likings already. For a small party of players, yes. But for general a general sense, the main focus that all mainstream game developers do, they need to do stuff in a fair sense if the game they're working on is already a full release like this.)

Three new dinos for one dlc pack (cretaceous pack) is ridiculous when none of those dinos have any unique behaviors

Putting more optional dinosaur species variety aside, then how do you explain the iguanodon?

 

[Player 99234567]

Are you saying that The Iguanodon didn't have unique behaviors and animations?
You also seem to totally forget about the Secrets of Dr Wu DLC which added a lot of gene modifications on top of two new maps and story driven campaign missions + 3 Hybrids and 2 Dinosaurs and three of them have unique behaviors.
Not to mention the free updates (I'm not going into details, you most likely know what they contained).

I know most people want decorations and terrain paints and also more skins, especially the movie skins and I'm not gonna lie, I do too but both DLC's didn't disappoint me.
But let's not forget about the many people that want more species and a few weeks ago we had a livestream with one of the character artists Marleen Vijgen explaining how difficult and time consuming the making of new species is.
Also just take one quick look in the Ideas & Feature Requests forum and you will notice people want a whole lot more.

Anyway I do have faith in the developers even if we don't always get what we want, you cannot please everyone but you can always try your best.

the iguanodon has unique animations and can fight. That is it. As for the carchar and dreadnoughtus they do nothing different than any of the other dinosaurs of their types behaviour wise. The same could be said for all of the new Dr. wu dlc dinos with the exception of troodons poison bite being different. I didnt mention that dlc because most people hated it even though it was important in that it gave gene modifications to tailor our dinos stats, I am usually one of the few people here who defend that dlc. but the cretaceous dlc was outright terrible in that all it gave was just three dinos. If it were six then that would be fine. If they did packs of three more often then that would justify the small pack even though cost wise that would be pretty expensive. If making new dinos is that time consuming then maybe they should put that on the backburner and make the current gameplay better because as it is now they are just adding more dinos to the same barebones game.

 

[Flint2025]

I enjoyed the Dr wu dlc although i wasnt that enthusiastic about it when it launched. The Anklydonicus was very disappointing... How can you give it that huge clubbed tail and not give it a fighting or kill animation?? They really need to flesh out the sauropods and make them more than big cows.

 

[Player 99234567]

Well, its the 9th. Do you think they will anounce whats on the April update this friday a week before the live stream or not till the live stream?

 

[Flint2025]

No. If they do that no one will watch the livestream.

 

[Lora Craft69]

Well, its the 9th. Do you think they will anounce whats on the April update this friday a week before the live stream or not till the live stream?

The Developer Livestream is on April 18th, this is the stream where they reveal what's in the April Update.
They might announce it shortly before that date and I expect the update about a week or so after the livestream, hopefully sooner.

 

[Parritron]

I do not stop believing that the April update is "small". Since when have developers specified that such an update is large and so small? I smell like "surprise". Trolling of the developers for making us wait so much.

4 months working for a "small" update. Call me incredulous. Frontier likes surprises.

 

[Paul_Crowther]

The April update is a small update but please don't mistake that for being all the team have worked on. We've got a bigger update coming in early summer and beyond.

 

[Parritron]

I do not confuse it. I just wanted to say that Frontier is ready to surprise us and it is possible that the small update is not so small and comes with surprises.

Maybe I'm raising the expectations

 

[Skawt]

I have a feeling we're in for a very good year. Frontier is well aware of what the community wants, and they've proven they're really good at doing that one feature we all want.

Hopefully April will be a step in that direction. Time will tell.