I mean, I am, but that's not the main problem. Since Frontier are doing a work-from-home policy, it probably isn't slowing things down that much. Planet Zoo's most recent update and DLC is proof enough of that. What ticks me off is that the JWE team are so lacking in proper communication with their community and refuse to give updates on anything, that it often incites a large of portion of the player base to frustration and anger. Hence why I said that the great 4chan leaks of 2019 were a damaging result of that lack of communication. It's a crippling problem that has plagued this game since day 1. I cannot for the life of me figure out why they insist on this game of "clever secrecy" that's really quite stupid. There are dev teams in bigger companies than them that wouldn't resort to such dubious tactics. I can think of a couple examples right off of better communication with the player base than what JWE's team does. Capcom for Monster Hunter World has released roadmaps of what's to come and they practically hit their deadlines every single time. Even Studio Wildcard, the devs behind Ark Survival Evolved, who almost never hit initial deadlines on time, at least provide an idea of what's coming down the pipeline when it's finished. The JWE team at Frontier does none of that. They don't even try. Even if they missed a deadline or two, at least giving news of what's coming would help keep the community engaged. Their livestreams are boring and uneventful (not that they even really do JWE livestreams much anymore) and a lot of other community things they do are not engaging or fun. And contrary to their belief, most people wouldn't mind if things occasionally had to be delayed or developed for a bit longer as long as we got some news. This whole "none-of-your-business" policy of theirs when it comes to news regarding the game is a misguided way of going about things and all it does is upset people and make them look like the bad guys. It also comes off as dismissive and rude, especially when you consider most people have invested dozens to hundreds of hours into this game such as myself (almost 600 and counting). It's no wonder almost they're entire JWE roadmap for 2019 was leaked. When you frustrate and anger the fans, they're going to seek answers, whether you want them to know or not. They should have learned something from 2019. Let's hope it finally sinks in that they need a change of strategy.
Apologies for the rant, but at this stage, it feels like this game has become so controversial and so much a source of hateful arguments and bitter insults, that I feel it might be best for some to distance themselves from the game. Chasing whatever that next DLC or update might be is not healthy and it's obsessive.
Apologies for digressing, the reason why I am furious about the virus is that it impacts everything in the entertainment sector including game development and dubbing of anime. Even so, I may have overlooked the situation in Frontier's development team for this game.
Public developer companies are never "transparent" with post-nurturing stuff until they are 100% confident what they will release will be a finished thing, and there are other deeper reasons for this such as, but not limited to, ensuring sales to become successful. Maybe not for free updates, but certainly for newly releasing titles and specific kinds of PDLCs (depending on how much is shared publicly). This is a strategy for making surprises of any kind for the general public as well.
The mentioned companies you said that do have that kind of "transparency" for different reasons. Monster Hunter World is an online multiplayer game that relies on a big active playing and engaging community. Ark: Survival Evolved is another one of those types. Not to mention, Ark was an early access game, and titles in their early access stages rely or can take advantage on further engagement with players of any kind to help development of their growths before full release. Two other games that I know of in the Subnautica series have done just that (one of which is still in early access at the time of this post), just like Studio Wildcard's Ark: Survival Evolved.
Frontier Developments's Elite Dangerous, one of their four active games, has a similar level of "transparency" as Monster Hunter World because it's an online multiplayer type game that relies on an active playing and engaging community to a great extent such as roadmaps once they know they are sure the stuff they are planning to add (stuff that they say vocally" will be true. Their other three active games: Planet Coaster, Planet Zoo, and yes, Jurassic World Evolution are not online multiplayer or former early access title games that need a similar type of player engagement. This is even something they already partial confirmed what I shared on the Xbox subreddit for this game before launch.
You're just seeing too much of the negative side of this said community based on a vocal but low number of the kind you're complaing about. Most of what you probably saw were just fun little speculations or just personal wants that don't go too far. Even I made posts that were just mere speculations, even if I must admit I get a little too, but necessarily, cautious with some of them.
Even if
Jurassic World Evolution is not massive multiplayer online, the developers of this game must have taken a market-oriented approach.
To be honest with you, I think it is primarily Universal's fault for not reaching out and commissioning this sooner. I mean, surely they had to know that people wanted it since so many liked JPOG. My issue with JPOG is that I've seen plenty of gameplay from it and it's not great. Some people criticize JWE as being worse than JPOG. I would argue that's not only untrue given how much more content JWE has, but is also an unfair comparison since you are comparing a rushed game from 2003 to one from 2018 with a way bigger budget and the benefit of post-launch support and expansion. If there is one unfair criticism towards the game I can think of, it would be that. Since I never played JPOG, I don't have those nostalgia glasses glued to my face. I'm not saying people aren't entitled to their opinions, but to say JPOG was superior or had more content than JWE is a farce and an unfair comparison besides. I think the biggest problem is the lack of replay value. I just completed a second playthrough of the main campaign. It took me like 50 hours or less compared to my initial playthrough of 100+ hours, but that's because I know what I'm doing and it makes it that much easier to plow through. I think if each playthrough was set up differently to where you could draw different dig sites to start with, which would dictate the dinosaurs you first unlock, and also maybe dictate the progression of your research and your missions/contracts with the divisions, that would make for some good repeat runs. They kinda did that for challenge mode, but I'm thinking it could be a good option for the normal campaign as well. There's just so many improvements that I can think of that sadly will probably never get done. Even if the game was supported for five or six years, there would probably be more that could be added or more improvements that could be made. I think there's an old saying in art and book writing: "An artist or writer is never finished with their work until they step away from it and never come back to it." Something like that, which honestly applies to games too if you think about it.
It is difficult to say which is better: JPOG or JWE. In JPOG, someone made a fan-made modification for the PC edition so that all the 25 species of dinosaurs could be used. JPOG did better with the tutorials than JWE and had 10 missions that were not park-building. Most of the herbivore species played and some of them would form herds with those of the same type. For example, Kentrosaurus were friends with Stegosaurus. The Dilophosaurus in this game was depicted closely with the franchise as its only attack was venomous spit. Dilophosaurus and Velociraptor could live peacefully with one another. Acrocanthosaurus and Carcharodontosaurus could live peacefully with one another. Allosaurus could live and hunt in packs. JPOG was the first to have inaccuracy of dig sites:
- Dilophosaurus' fossils were not found in the Morrison Formation and the east of the United States.
- Fossils of Acrocanthosaurus and Parasaurolophus were not found in Hell Creek Formation.
- Ouranosaurus' fossils were not found in Chenini Formation.
- Judith River Group A was a compilation of Horseshoe Canyon Formation and Scollard Formation.
- Judith River Group B was a compilation of Dinosaur Park Formation and Frenchman Formation.
- Flaming Cliffs was a compilation of Djadokhta Formation and Nemegt Formation.
JWE had more dinosaur species, but the dinosaur comfort was demanding. The gyrosphere attraction seemed to be safer to view large carnivores than JPOG's Safari Adventure. The sandbox mode nearly brought everything back from JPOG, but there were other expansions in it. With the addition of Claire's Sanctuary DLC, herbivores could be given prehistoric flora enhancing the authenticity possibly in the Jurassic World era. The Return to Jurassic Park DLC closely corresponded with the original Jurassic Park trilogy, but the aviary could also be available in the Jurassic World era. The dig sites in JWE were more accurate than JPOG, but there were still inaccuracies:
- Instead of Dilophosaurus, it was a different dinosaur species discovered in Lower Lufeng series. Dilophosaurus' fossils were discovered in Kayenta Formation of Arizona.
- Velociraptor's fossils were discovered in Djadokhta Formation of Mongolia's Gobi Desert and Bayan Mandahu Formation of China's Inner Mongolia.
- Parasaurolophus' fossils should also be available in Kaiparowits Formation of Utah and Oldman Formation (apart from Kirtland Formation in New Mexico and Dinosaur Park Formation in Alberta), but not in the Nemegt Formation.
- Fossils of Chasmosaurus and Corythosaurus should be available in Alberta's Oldman Formation apart from Dinosaur Park Formation, but not in the Horseshoe Canyon Formation and Scollard Formation. In addition, there were no Corythosaurus' fossils in Wyoming's Lance Formation.
- Like in JPOG, Stegosaurus' fossils should also be available in the Morrison Formation in Colorado apart from Lourinha Formation in Portugal, Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry of Utah, and the Dinosaur National Monument in Uinta Mountains..
- Ceratosaurus' fossils should also be available in Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry apart from Morrison Formation and Lourinha Formation.
- Dryosaurus' fossils should also be available in the Dinosaur National Monument and Lourinha Formation apart from the Morrison Formation.
- Allosaurus' fossils should also be available in the Dinosaur National Monument and Lourinha Formation apart from the Morrison Formation and Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry. The Allosaurus in Tendaguru Formation of Tanzania was a different species than the one in both Portugal and United States
- There were no Styracosaurus' fossils in the Laramie Formation of Colorado.
- Troodon's fossils should be available in the Oldman Formation (apart from Prince Creek Formation of Alaska and Judith River Formation of Montana) as there was a different species discovered in the Dinosaur Park Formation.
- There were no fossils of Crichtonsaurus and Tsintaosaurus in the Yuliangze Formation. Tsintaosaurus' fossils were discovered in Jingangkou Formation and Crichtonsaurus was discovered in Sunjiawan Formation.
- Iguanodon's fossils should also be available in the Isle of Wight apart from the Iguanodon Mine and Hythe Formation.
- Apart from Bahariya Formation of Egypt, fossils of Carcharodontosaurus and Spinosaurus should be available in both Kem Kem Beds of Morocco and Chenini Formation of Tunisia.
- There were no Sauropelta's fossils in Cedar Mountain Formation of Utah and Morrison Formation.
- Acrocanthosaurus' fossils should also be available in Cloverly Formation of Wyoming apart from Antlers Formation of Oklahoma and Twin Mountains Formation of Texas.
- There were no Albertosaurus' fossils in the Dinosaur Park Formation.
- There were no Dracorex fossils in the Frenchman Formation of Saskatchewan.
- Struthiomimus' fossils should also be available in Hell Creek Formation apart from Lance Formation and Dinosaur Park Formation.
- Edmontosaurus' fossils should also be available in Laramie Formation, Hell Creek Formation, Frenchman Formation, and Scollard Formation apart from Lance Formation and Horseshoe Canyon Formation.
- T-Rex's fossils should also be available in Laramie Formation and Scollard Formation apart from Lance Formation, Hell Creek Formation, and Frenchman Formation.
- Triceratops' fossils should also be available in Laramie Formation, Frenchman Formation, and Scollard Formation.
- Pierre Shale did not cover Montana.
