Anything New on the Way?

I've played in plenty of games with communication issues. In most cases the community rep was worthless, hopefully Frontier is different but it doesn't look like it so far.

Regarding content I find as a sandbox builder the DLC's not very helpful with respect to the building aspect of the game. Generally the sizes belong in the land of giants and trying to build even simple basic elements of the games aren't possible because you don't have the little bits of metal rods and wood/corbells as example to build like you can in PC or Cities Skyline. I'm hoping for more structural elements in addition to theme elements so players can build more enhancements to their zoos, like railings fences, carts, furniture. More plants like bougainvillea, boxwood and yews/juniper that dominate North American zoo's, 2M sections of roof, wall and floor would be fantastic and pieces of wood less then 3 feet long would greatly add more ability to add more detail and enjoyment to play.
 
I have to say I am absolutely not bored. I can’t play at the moment because I hurt my back and sitting still is very painful - plus I’m in the middle of a move - but I would happily play every day at the moment.

I’m still keen for new features and especially new animals but as I have said before, the game still has endless possibilities me, even without new content.

I think that's really great, but I don't think it reflects majority opinion. As I said, we saw a similar downturn in activity here and on Steam prior to the SA Pack, so it's clear that to a lot of people the content does become stale.

Personally the concept of the game never gets boring, but reusing the same features again and again (even in different ways) can get dull.
 
To be honest, I don't feel like we got a lot of new FEATURES since release. We got an genetic overhaul and that's it. Maybe the difficulty settings, if you want to call that a feature. It's more a function to me.
And with the genetic: We are still a bit lost on that. Or did someone manage to de-code it and make sense of it, so it can actually be used to plan breedings? My last info on it was, that every assumption we had about gene codes didn't work out.

I consider features something that adds to and enhances your game play like nothing that were in the game before. New animals or building pieces don't do that for me. It doesn't matter if I build a habitat for an elephant or an anteater, as the core is the same.
New features for me would be breeding for colors other than melanistic and leucicstic. Individual animal personallity that effects if my lion pack gets along, breeds, fights less or more often. New features would be the need to build a backstage area and night cages for security and insurance reasons. Planning educational shows. Habitat seperation as an optional alternative to the rather unrealistic contraception. Building nocturnal houses...

We had great content so far and nice DLCs, good major updates that added functions based on players feedback to the game.
But features? Something that took the game to a next level? No... not really. And I hope we get actual features when the game turns one year at the latest.
 
@Swjosdotschka very good points. Like you said the added animals and building pieces are great but I too am waiting for some features and hope they are in the works at some point in the future. Underwater swimming is a obvious example but many more could be added as well. Although planet zoo is a amazing game it would be a little disappointing and fall somewhat short without some imo. I know Planco was also a great game but to many players a little more was left to be desired. I think a Planco 2 will eventually be in the works and it should improve on something’s missing in the first games installment and planet zoo would probably be the same in a sequel as this is frontiers first run at a all out zoo game. The criticism probably comes off as harsh but like I said I love both games I simply just want to see the game go to the next level.
 
The criticism probably comes off as harsh but like I said I love both games I simply just want to see the game go to the next level.

I think we are all pretty civil in here. I mean, really, the reason why we long for something new is, because we like or even love the game. Otherwise it would be easy to just move on. And adding features is absolutely neccessary in the long run, to make the life span of a game longer. Which then leads to more sales. Which is what any company wants and needs.

I have a question to you Planco-Players out there whoe were there since the beginning: Where a lot of features added in later or was it just basic functions and rides and pieces, like with PZ at the moment? I remember someone saying that dark rides where a later added feature. Anything else?
 
I got it in the early alpha and many things that were announced or which players had in rct3 and missed, did took a couple of months even after release.( managment things, security , changes in the shop...) As far as I remember about a half year after release, there were this “Oh no I can really play” moment for me.

So I hope…think there will be some more things to come.
What I don’t expect….major performance gains ( the visitor pathing /cpu usage thing was even in planco an issue) or birds as zoo-animals….maybe as animation/deco elements.

But what I would expect (I would go even as far as to insist to get it), that they simply port all those little things like billboards and stuff from planco to PZ...maybe as a mini-DLC. I would pay a couple of money units for it.
 
I think we are all pretty civil in here. I mean, really, the reason why we long for something new is, because we like or even love the game. Otherwise it would be easy to just move on. And adding features is absolutely neccessary in the long run, to make the life span of a game longer. Which then leads to more sales. Which is what any company wants and needs.

I have a question to you Planco-Players out there whoe were there since the beginning: Where a lot of features added in later or was it just basic functions and rides and pieces, like with PZ at the moment? I remember someone saying that dark rides where a later added feature. Anything else?

I'm not a huge Planco player but I have been around since the beginning and I would say we had a major quality of life or feature once every 8- 10 months or so. By features I mean major updates which introduced new mechanics so a few examples, a summer update included fireworks, staff happiness was introduced, dark rides were introduced, then shooting dark rides, the scenario creator was another big one, restaurants, staff customisation, hotels. I think that's all the big ones I remember but with these kind of things it's hard to remember back to a time when they weren't a thing!

For anyone concerned about Frontier listening my experience is that they are very good at actually taking on feedback. So for example, the Planco community after several DLCs wanted more small rides rather than scenery or coasters and then two DLCs were heavily ride focused but it that was some time later so I assume they only started development after they'd received the feedback. They were also really up front about stuff they were sure they wouldn't / couldn't do - for example a water park expansion was ruled out many times in plain english though some didn't want to accept the answer. So if they say they are working on something I believe them, if they don't say anything then they are at least likely to be considering it but it might take a long time, if they say no they mean it. That's my Planco based expectation
 
But what I would expect (I would go even as far as to insist to get it), that they simply port all those little things like billboards and stuff from planco to PZ...maybe as a mini-DLC. I would pay a couple of money units for it.
I would also be ready to pay for it if it isn't too much Money even though I think it should be included in a free Update
 
I would also be ready to pay for it if it isn't too much Money even though I think it should be included in a free Update

I would sell one of my kidneys for all building pieces and scenery in Planco transfered to Planet Zoo. But they already said they won't do it, unfortunately.
 
I would sell one of my kidneys for all building pieces and scenery in Planco transfered to Planet Zoo. But they already said they won't do it, unfortunately.
Did they say they won't bring the Signs to the Game where you can import your own Pictures and Videos into the Game or just that they won't bring every Building Piece from Planet Coaster into the Game?
 
Did they say they won't bring the Signs to the Game where you can import your own Pictures and Videos into the Game or just that they won't bring every Building Piece from Planet Coaster into the Game?
Building pieces from Planco. I know that Bo brought the idea of Vista points to the Devs month ago. She took notes in a stream. Don't know about billboards
 
Building pieces from Planco. I know that Bo brought the idea of Vista points to the Devs month ago. She took notes in a stream. Don't know about billboards
Vista Points would be awesome if I understand correctly what they are. Finally People would walk trough the Plant Houses and would look at the exotic Vegetation
 
Just seems natural as a strategy that you would carry the basic elements of the Planet Coaster Franchise forward and then add new content in a new game offering. Games make this mistake often, they focus so much on the new that they forget about the old capability. That's where the disappointment comes from.
 
Gosh - I hope there is something new on the way soon - what's happening overseas and here in Australia with the virus is really getting me down and I would love a little ray of sunshine at the moment - really look forward to anything new for this game - it inspires me, helps me through these awful times and relaxes me. Thanks for this amazing game and Planco as well and hope everyone is safe and stays well and hope there is an end to all this hurt soon - G
 
Gosh - I hope there is something new on the way soon - what's happening overseas and here in Australia with the virus is really getting me down and I would love a little ray of sunshine at the moment - really look forward to anything new for this game - it inspires me, helps me through these awful times and relaxes me. Thanks for this amazing game and Planco as well and hope everyone is safe and stays well and hope there is an end to all this hurt soon - G

I feel you. As everything in 2020 seems to stand still for me and there is just a boring pattern of wake up - work .- sleep with no sidekicks, I'd love some fresh wind at least in my hobbies.
 
I feel you. As everything in 2020 seems to stand still for me and there is just a boring pattern of wake up - work .- sleep with no sidekicks, I'd love some fresh wind at least in my hobbies.

you could kick yourself to do something new, you shouldnt wait till somebody else make things better. if everybody just sits there and waits for something, nothing ever happens.
 
I have been watching and reading all PZ content (or lack of) and comments and I agree with most of what has been said.

This absolute silence is pretty annoying and honestly I'm quite sick of it. Now, I know we are in the middle of a pandemic and things are pretty rough, but come on, we are in the age of digital technology - how much does it take to post on forums and make social media posts saying "We hear ya, we're here, working hard on upcoming stuff"? Like I don't even need the details just SOMETHING. Them just saying things got delayed because of Covid and are coming a few weeks later than planned would have made us all feel much better. The community managers have gone completely MIA. They don't even chat with us here on the forums anymore.

Just to make myself feel better, I'm starting to think this silence is intentional and when they say something it will be a proper announcement with lots of info. I wish for a big pack to arrive and a bulky free update, but I don't want to get my hopes up. We will get a DLC, no question about it, just a matter of when and how massive. I sincerely hope they aren't putting all their man power into Planet Coaster Console Edition. It upsets me a little bit because PZ is such a fantastic game with lots of potential and I love it. It is easily one of my favorite games. Fingers crossed we hear something soon.
 
This is a genuine question, not a hateful comment, but what do the community managers actually do every day? Do they only work casually, or are they spread across many games? I can’t imagine that their only task for a full time position is to find builds on the workshop and share them on Instagram every couple of days.

I think I would utilise a community manager to monitor forums and feed back community wants/hates/opinions to the devs (I assume they do this constantly?). I would also have them giving regular updates, small vague comments like “we’re working on this” and “we have no plans to change this at this point”. They used to do this more often, but not anymore? We definitely have enough comments, threads and platforms of discussion.
 
This is a genuine question, not a hateful comment, but what do the community managers actually do every day? Do they only work casually, or are they spread across many games? I can’t imagine that their only task for a full time position is to find builds on the workshop and share them on Instagram every couple of days.
Community managers are basically the bridge between the devs and the company and the players / fans. So their job is to give information and feedback back and forth, interacting with the community and making sure the business branding is running well. Therefore they are also responsible for social media advertising. Planning streams and interviews, like a host in a talk show. Showing screenshots that make the game be seen in a good light. Easing poop-storms, if they accure. That description is certainly not complete and the work of the CM can be very different in every company.

CMs also have to follow some rules. They can't reveal anything before the marketing department and the devs say so. They need to follow the corporate language rules. With Frontier I feel like they are for example not allowed to tell people if a game comes to an end and it will be the last DLC (JWE , Planco) or if something will never happen ("saying no"), but that's just a guess.


As far as I know, several departments in a company decide, which route they take with player-communication. I agree, that the route Frontier crrently takes is frustrating and in my opinion hurting the branding. But I'm sure the CMs have a propper full time job at Frontier with lots on their plate. The problem is: due to the non-communication at the moment we don't see any of it (or at least not a lot). I really hope they change their corporate language and communication to some degree. As @PeppyPepp said, it would even help if they were honest about a delay due to the pandemic. But as I said, it feels like they are not allowed to say "negative" honest things like "Covid messed up our plans, but keep your seats please, we are working hard on something!"
 
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Hi all! I'm fairly new on the forum but have been playing the game since beta/release and active on Facebook and Steam discussions. I have to agree the communication is frustrating. I didn't feel this way a month ago but at this point it would be nice to know something. The developers and community manager have a strong facebook presence as far as posting "something" on a regular basis, but that something overwhelmingly isn't actual news, except for the community challenges of course. I appreciate their being active but it would be nice to have more of an idea of what's going on behind the scenes. Anything. Any crumbs of news. I know they likely can't discuss things due to some kind of company policy, but that policy could be reviewed and changed at the company's discretion. It would be nice to have a general idea of what they are doing right now, with the understanding that plans DO change, and release dates are not set in stone far in advance. And I think that's the problem so many game companies face, if they give too much information up front, and anything changes, they have the drama of players being upset, feeling betrayed and lied too. As much as the communication needs to change from the company, the expectations and entitlement of the (some) players also needs to be scaled back. Not saying everyone's acting entitled, just a general thought there.
 
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