And generally this kind of constant updating to the Steam build is when a major update is coming. Don't want to assume but it feels like that's what's happening here, Frontier want to make money and not releasing anything doesn't achieve that. Remain patient and hopefully it won't be too much longer.
Anything New on the Way?
- Thread starter NZFanatic
- Start date
So... another tuesday has passed without any update notes. Considering all other update announcement were made on a tuesday, I assume the silience will continue for yet another week.
By now these posts actually annoy me, as they seem to make it even more obvious, that there is no IMPORTANT communication going on. E.g."Working on an update, that's addressing these issues..." or "working on new features" etc.
By now these posts actually annoy me, as they seem to make it even more obvious, that there is no IMPORTANT communication going on. E.g."Working on an update, that's addressing these issues..." or "working on new features" etc.
Why exactly do you need that confirming? What do you think they're all doing with their work days? Anyone would think by saying nothing would mean there is 0 work being put into the game.
????? Where did I say they aren't putting any work into the game?
Giving some kind of information on which issues they are currently working on for example would players with bugs feel more heard. Giving hints on features would ease the frustration that currently is happening with "complete silence, info-flood for roughly two weeks because of a dlc, complete silence".
I don't like the way of communication that is currently in place and I stated that as my personal opinion. I ddin't say with one word that I think they aren't WORKING.
See previous page ofthis thread:
Someone also worked on the DLC entry itself today: https://steamdb.info/app/1349400/history/
Frontier is an independent company. They don't have to justify themselves to us. It sounds as if some people think they own part of Frontier and have a right of co-determination. Not only in this thread, also in others.
The time will come for a new expansion. But when that time is not up to us.
So be happy that Frontier is still working on improvements for Planet Zoo and let's continue to have fun playing
The time will come for a new expansion. But when that time is not up to us.
So be happy that Frontier is still working on improvements for Planet Zoo and let's continue to have fun playing
Frontier is an independent company. They don't have to justify themselves to us. It sounds as if some people think they own part of Frontier and have a right of co-determination. Not only in this thread, also in others.
The time will come for a new expansion. But when that time is not up to us.
So be happy that Frontier is still working on improvements for Planet Zoo and let's continue to have fun playing
Some threads do have an aggressive and demanding tone but I think people here are being more reasonable than that.
It’s not about Frontier justifying themselves at all.
It’s just about engaging more with a committed and passionate core fan - and indeed paying customer - base at a time of uncertainty.
It's not about justifying, it's about customer-support. Customers that bought a product that does not work as intended. (from not playable at all, to at least some annoying bugs)
Frontier offers a tool and ask us to give feedback, which is indeed better, than a company that does not care at all, so we give feedback.
Sadly, we don't get much (or any...right now) feedback from them. If they are investigating, if they acknowledge issues and so on...it's a void. (ok, they are promoting streamers....)
Even after updates, they only give a fraction of information what they did and whats the state of some issues. The changelogs they give are a shame....it's "frontier" not "timmy 5 minutes games"
While the game is playable for me, I know a couple of others players, that stopped playing. Putting effort into a zoo, but not knowing if it will survive the next day and not knowing if there is even someone thats looking into the one or the other thing, does not make them happy .
Most people aren't talking about bugs/unplayable, they just want dlc, new features or any (debatable) missing features.
Yes, they fix bugs etc., which they should - nobody is discussing that part. I think everybody agrees about Frontier on presenting a fully working game for the minimal/recommended specs. (applies to all games)
But with pc-games, that's more of an issue. Everybody has a different set-up or installed software. It's not always fair to blame the game. For some issues it's pretty obvious that Frontier needs to fix something and some issues could easily be a hardware/software issue.
If the games works good for the last couple of months and suddenly you are unable to launch the game (not after a new update) - you migh consider checking your pc, especially when you share your pc with other people.
But that's basically a discussion with most pc-games
The suggestions/feedback section on a forum games is mostly a gamer feedback on most forums. I don't think i've seen many other game devs on other forums respond to these as well.
We agree on the bugs part. I think they should really improve the WIP communication for well-known bugs. The issue tracker definately needs improvement.
And the game as well
.. I consider the recommended specs as the minimum specs when people ask about this game, which shouldn't be the case.
Same here, looks promising the activity on the DLC page for unknown apps.
I’m so excited for new DLC - Planet Zoo is my absolute favourite game I’ve ever had. I don’t have any theory for what we may get, but it’s so exciting to look forward to new animal models, animations, variations, new updates, new build pieces... I love the quality of Frontier’s work and I have to remind myself that 4 months between DLC is so fast. Can’t wait to see what the team have created for us! 
I think our community is a little spoiled by how incredible Planet Zoo is, and our expectations are high. Frontier communicates better than the only other game creating group I follow 
I think our community is a little spoiled by how incredible Planet Zoo is, and our expectations are high. Frontier communicates better than the only other game creating group I follow Sometimes Hardware and software are very convenient excuses for bugs and sometimes they are the reason.
Sure some people do have horrible configured systems....and get crashes causes none of the other games does utilizes that amount of ram+ cpu and + gpu.
But I still have a strong opinion on bugs that are clearly in the game itself and sadly some of them came with an update.
Just the example on the wrong food-quality entries....it came with an update, with the next update the fixed it partly but not fully...and nothing in the changelog....
btw with tool, I'm referring on the issue-tracker and the missing feedback, which could be done via the changelogs...and volia some would feel less lost.
Here's my two cents - usually Frontier is consistent about game changing mechanics coming in free updates rather than DLC (something I appreciate). That was consistent with Planet Coaster. So the chances are if there are significant delays because they haven't got something the way they want it then it's actually more likely to be with the free update than with the DLC although if there is new animal behaviour then that could still cause an issue. So if, for example, coat variation was part of a free update but they were having issues with an aspect of it then they may delay announcing the new DLC until they new the update would also be ready to go. I don't blame them for that because if they announced the DLC without saying anything about a free update people would get annoyed, if they announced a vague free update then people would spam them asking about whether it fixed their bug / included their mechanic they wanted fixed.
I get that some people want more regular communication, especially on bug fixes and I get that some people want a roadmap. I personally like to be surprised and I understand why Frontier might not want to say stuff and then not be able to deliver on it. Some of you don't like their comms policy but I can tell you it is highly unlikely to change.
Lastly, there is a global pandemic going on, high numbers of cases in the UK and we don't know how members of the team have been affected so for myself I am going to try to be patient, not ramp up anticipation too much and hope everyone in the team and their families are well. I get people are excited and want to know what's happening but they have a right to privacy and to choose how they communicate just as we all have a right to disagree with it.In the meantime I'll carry on enjoying the speculation and hope some of you get what you want soon!
Oh and agree that the issue tracker isn't great and could do with a rehaul to be much clearer and easier to use.
I get that some people want more regular communication, especially on bug fixes and I get that some people want a roadmap. I personally like to be surprised and I understand why Frontier might not want to say stuff and then not be able to deliver on it. Some of you don't like their comms policy but I can tell you it is highly unlikely to change.
Lastly, there is a global pandemic going on, high numbers of cases in the UK and we don't know how members of the team have been affected so for myself I am going to try to be patient, not ramp up anticipation too much and hope everyone in the team and their families are well. I get people are excited and want to know what's happening but they have a right to privacy and to choose how they communicate just as we all have a right to disagree with it.In the meantime I'll carry on enjoying the speculation and hope some of you get what you want soon!
Oh and agree that the issue tracker isn't great and could do with a rehaul to be much clearer and easier to use.
Of course they don't have to justify themselves to us, but that doesn't mean that we can't express frustration at their silence about what's being worked on and/or timeframes. Clearly they've made a decision that they don't want to release roadmaps etc. which is, obviously, up to them. Personally, I'm really excited for a new DLC (and have been for ages) but, without any word from the devs, I'm finding that my enthusiasm for the game, and my excitement for new content is slowly ebbing away.
For example, if they let us know that an update / DLC was planned for early July, but has been delayed due to COVID (or other factors) it'd give some reassurance that the planned rate of DLCs is for (e.g.,) 4 DLCs per year. This has implications for how many DLCs and, therefore, how much new content will be released over the course of the game's supported lifespan. Unlike a lot of other people, I haven't experienced many bugs that have affected my gameplay substantially, so i'm (personally) not too fussed about specifics (e.g., precisely what they're working on), nor do I want / expect to be told what the new DLC will be (although I'm hoping for Australia). I'd just like to know roughly when we might expect something - For me, this would reinvigorate my engagement with the game.
B to C communication isn't there to justify anything, nor is it there to let customers worship a company because they are working on a game and improving it (it's their job, they make a living out of it. Business are businesses, not friends.) B to C communication is there to sell and make a good branding - to sell more.
I'm a strong believer of giving positive feedback when deserved and I certainly did so with Planet Zoo. (They are great in reacting to feature feedback!) I love the game , I don't love the B to C communication currently, which hurts the branding for me. Not enough to make me leave but enough to voice my concerns.
I'm a strong believer of giving positive feedback when deserved and I certainly did so with Planet Zoo. (They are great in reacting to feature feedback!) I love the game , I don't love the B to C communication currently, which hurts the branding for me. Not enough to make me leave
but enough to voice my concerns.I couldn't agree more, well said.B to C communication isn't there to justify anything, nor is it there to let customers worship a company because they are working on a game and improving it (it's their job, they make a living out of it. Business are businesses, not friends.) B to C communication is there to sell and make a good branding - to sell more.
I'm a strong believer of giving positive feedback when deserved and I certainly did so with Planet Zoo. (They are great in reacting to feature feedback!) I love the game , I don't love the B to C communication currently, which hurts the branding for me. Not enough to make me leave
I do not think anyone here expects them to release info on every detail of what they are working on, or even a detailed timeline of releases. But a very simple "we are working on a dlc themed around Austrailia" as example, would go a long way for them as a business and set most people at ease. Having zero idea what they plan on releasing in the next month or so is just not okay. As I have said before, this lack of communication only creates issues of people being disappointed because it doesn't meet speculations, and all we can do is speculate without any communication from them.
Example, everyone really wants water animals or at least better water animations. They could let us know if that is something they plan on working on or not. They did so with fur variations and that put the issue to rest for most people, as we know it will happen sometime.
Or something more vague like "we can see you are all curious to know what we've been up to and we can't wait to tell you, not much longer now OR... it might take a bit longer than hoped for due to the current situation but we are confident it's worth waiting for"
The silence really isn't great at this point.
Going to disagree with that one. A broad statement of "We are working on DLC which an estimated release date around the summer time (or June-August)" is something i really don't mind. EDIT: Or Markun's comment.
Personally I don't care that much about Australian animals but even then, it would ruin the surprise element for a lot of people as well. And we all know that people will constantly ask which Australian animals will be included. If they don't communicate that, people will complain about this as well. (In short: you'll never do this the right way for some people)
Also an option: If you are going to announce Australia will be the next DLC, some people don't care and will look into the forums/game after several months to look if the next DLC is interesting to them. (if they haven't uninstalled it by then) At this point those people are looking every week to check to forums for news. So a lack of communication is creating a spark of interest for a game.
Why speculate and create a self-imposed expectation? I don't think any person/company should have to answer for people's own over-thinking issues.
That's a form of insecurity that people need to work on for themselves and personally i think it's unfair to expect this to be problem for a person or company.
I understand your POV, I accepted this +20 years ago. I want to add that giving negative feedback (when deserved) is also very important. Last DLC is a great example how this was mixed. At least the different POVS, allow the devs for some insight.I'm a strong believer of giving positive feedback when deserved and I certainly did so with Planet Zoo. (They are great in reacting to feature feedback!) I love the game , I don't love the B to C communication currently, which hurts the branding for me. Not enough to make me leave
Communication could definately use some improvement, but I think they need to find the middle-ground option. Also the reason why I'm posting, that I prefer the surprise element of DLC and think they should improve the WIP of bugs. Hopefully they find a solution that works for most people on this.
Good example! It would be vague communication, but communication. And though we can all assume that covid delayed things, I'd appreciate an honest "the pandemic messed up our plans". Becaise the last official info we got was, that they don't expect makor delay. At this point, I don't believe they are still on track with their timing, and I understand. But I think they would profit from communicating this, as they would feel more "down to earth" to a lot of customers. As I said on another occasion, I like companys that can straight out say "no" if something won't work out as we'd like to see it. Frontier seemed to have blacklisted any form of spoken negative words like "no" "this isn't possible" "we ran into issues", "there will be a delay" etc. etc.