Anything New on the Way?

RabidOkapi

R
I have to agree on the absolute silence. It is not even just the silence on an update or the DLC. I always just imagined an update would come with a new DLC, and it certainly will at some point. But the silence really does have me wondering about future support for the game/ where is it heading. I, like most people, do not need a detailed outline of all future plans, I mean, at this point I would take a few dev posts on minor things across the forums to show we are still here.


Speaking of Dev Posts....

You used to see Dev posts on a variety of subjects. They always ignored ones such as these(for obvious reasons), but often replied to thank you's, new to the zoos, questions, and calls for help. To me the most frustrating (and telling) thing is the lack of communication on the forums regarding people asking for help. For example, in the past when people would post things such as "protesters protest nothing" a developer would chime in and offer help or say to send a save file in. Now, in that very same topic, luuknord is the only one asking for the file to be sent in. Or Planet Zoo crashing threads would be commented on. Now it's NL_Mutso giving help. Developers used to reply to New to the Zoo posts with welcomes and hope you enjoy the game. Not anymore. The absolute silence is what leaves me questioning the future for the game. I can't find one Dev post since before July.

And for those chiming in on the pandemic and patience is needed. I agree to some degree for the DLC and Update, those would be rather difficult to complete on time. In the midst of this pandemic there are more important things than churning out video game updates, and those could easily be delayed, but Frontier has really brought this on themselves by refusing any communication. I think 90% of this thread would stop being as frustrated if there was a simple post regarding a delay.

Still, you would figure a pandemic would lead to an increase in customer/developer dialogue as it is an area that can easily work in such an atmosphere, but the lack of any communication (not just surrounding DLC and Update) is a bit odd during a pandemic. I hope it is silence leading up to something they believe will be an incredible update and DLC and not a sign of things to come for the game as support dies down quicker than expected.
 

Skawt

Skawt
Once upon a time, when my friends and I were discussing gaming companies, I would always talk about Frontier being my favorite. This was due to the fact that their community team was highly engaged and supportive with their community; our feedback was acknowledged, listened to, and responded to; they showed a high level of interest in what their players were up to, how they were playing their games, and responding to trends taking place in their games.

Take JWE for example, they added a photo mode - a thing that generally no one ever really cares about in any game, and from a game development point of view, I'm fairly confident that it's a complete waste of time - because the community found a collective interest in taking pictures. Not only did they add a photomode, but they actively engaged with the community on it. They've pioneered in a trend I can only call "Video Game Photography" (for lack of a better way to put it). For something so simple, they did it beautifully.

If I had any point of feedback I'd like to share with Frontier over everything else: go back to the high levels of engagement. There was something truly special about the company and the community and I fear it's being lost.

With all that being said, I still have the highest regard for Frontier's products. They do a superb job of scratching that itch to build something and get lost in a world of my own creation
 

Cocolori

Cocolori
There has been noticably less activity from the engagement team in the forum which I can understand is frustrating but this isn't typical for Frontier (experience from Planco would suggest) so I'm guessing there may be issues we aren't aware of. Bo has obviously now left the company so they may be having to restructure how the community management team works and if they are already down a person then someone else being off sick or having to look after children or actually taking a holiday may slow comms down more than usual. I hope any problems will resolve themselves soon, I just think we'll have to be patient - this isn't the norm so I imagine they'll be trying to resolve it as quick as they can, it just might not be as easy as we think.
 

RabidOkapi

R
markun said:
If that is the case they should manage expectations and communicate what is going on. And that’s coming from the perspective of 13 years working in comms.
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Agreed. As I stated, I can be patient on DLC and the update in this time of working from home. For all I care, the DLC can be delayed for over a month or two...just say so. Still, communication doesn’t really seem like it would be hindered nearly as much, especially on the forums when people ask for help or report bugs.

I think one individual leaving is a poor excuse as all others are more than capable of offering some feedback or responding to the community. It shouldn’t take over a month for a developer to post on any single forum. Their streaming/ YouTube content creator acknowledgments and posting on Twitter have not suffered as much.

Edit: On the month of no Dev posts...It seems they have a few... mainly on things people have built in creations tab in the past month. Just noticed you can do a search of developer posts in the corner, it seems the only game they've gone completely silent on is PZ with the other games getting at least some responses for bugs or questions. They did also post about switches to the Community Team on July 20th as they basically explained how the community teams would be running with new additions.
 
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Swjosdotschka

Swjosdotschka
RabidOkapi said:
Edit: On the month of no Dev posts...It seems they have a few... mainly on things people have built in creations tab in the past month. Just noticed you can do a search of developer posts in the corner, it seems the only game they've gone completely silent on is PZ with the other games getting at least some responses for bugs or questions. They did also post about switches to the Community Team on July 20th as they basically explained how the community teams would be running with new additions.
Click to expand...

That worries me even more. While I'm always annyoed when someone praises Planet Zoo (rightful so) and an Elite Player comes over just to poop in the thread, with this development I'm kind of worried that Planet Zoo will take the same road. Being abonnded, because sale numbres aren't as expected. I still think this game can be a cash cow at the end of the day, the Devs just have to work on its potential.

With the communication for PZ lately: I feel Devs are always pretty active in the "IRL cuteness" thread, but as you said earlier, don't adress critical threads like this more often. On the hitbox thread we basically only got a reaction, because someone prompted Chanté. And while this might be an option, I feel rude doing so. I always think it's their job to read at least poular threads on the forum and I don't have to scream for them and spam them with notifications. On the other hand, as much as I like when CMs are part of the community and also participate in "just fun" threads, when it's almost the only thing they reply to, it gets even more frustrating.

Lets hope we hear SOMETHING by the end of the week.
 
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FoxyDee

FoxyDee
It is true that the communication shifted 180 degrees from what it was before. Now the CMs just engage in threads with creations or in threads that have little to do with the game itself. Occasionaly they apprear in problem threads to ask for save file but that is it. I am sure they are busy as it is not their only task to read the forums and I appreacite their work, but we used to have little bits of info on what problems they are investigating or small things like: "We are looking into possibility of adding natural mound enrichment (for anteaters) item to be also used by aardvarks" etc.

If this sort of communication could be brough back, I think everyone would be happy. I am sure most people understand that they can´t really talk about DLCs, but even those small bits of info would feel better than this complete silence.
 
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Swjosdotschka

Swjosdotschka
Hey ya'll,
I'm slightly doubting my sanity, so if some of you could come in and tell me if I'm just imagine things would be awesome.

I remember, when the July catch up was posted, I wanted to make a post, saying that it was rather silent in july. But when I checked the thread was locked (?). I was thinking I got something confused and catch up threads are always locked, though I felt like I remember replying to them before.

I re-checked again and now the july thread seem to be open. Still, I find it odd that there isn't even the regular "Thanks for the monthly catch up" reply. Was the thread opened later? Is it just by hazard?
 

jcp011c

jcp011c
Swjosdotschka said:
That worries me even more. While I'm always annyoed when someone praises Planet Zoo (rightful so) and an Elite Player comes over just to poop in the thread, with this development I'm kind of worried that Planet Zoo will take the same road. Being abonnded, because sale numbres aren't as expected. I still think this game can be a cash cow at the end of the day, the Devs just have to work on its potential.

With the communication for PZ lately: I feel Devs are always pretty active in the "IRL cuteness" thread, but as you said earlier, don't adress critical threads like this more often. On the hitbox thread we basically only got a reaction, because someone prompted Chanté. And while this might be an option, I feel rude doing so. I always think it's their job to read at least poular threads on the forum and I don't have to scream for them and spam them with notifications. On the other hand, as much as I like when CMs are part of the community and also participate in "just fun" threads, when it's almost the only thing they reply to, it gets even more frustrating.

Lets hope we hear SOMETHING by the end of the week.
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I agree with this so much. And especially the cash cow comment. I may or may not be typical of most players, but I can easily see me buying almost any animal packs - a spider and centipede themed pack excepting, would definitely pass! And the price has been right for me, personally, roughly $2 an animal and that's not including building parts. But there's got to be some kind of advance advertisement to build excitement. I don't mean a trailer, that's fine for a week or two before release. I mean just them commenting that they're working on something, they're excited to show us in the future, even something vague like that is appreciated. All they're excited to show us now are players creations, which I don't begrudge and the creations are amazing, but the knowledge something new is in the works would be much more of a boon to me.

I'm sure they have more DLC planned, I'm sure there's stuff planned through the end of 2021 actually. But at roughly 4 months between and 4 months between acknowledging it's coming, the excitement for the game will wear thin with many players. End of 2021 would mean probably around 7 packs. They could easily keep that going for another 1-2 maybe even 3 years at 3 packs per year, if the excitement was there to keep the players engaged. I wont' stop playing the game, but in the world of immediate gratification, if there's no news of new things after several months, players will move on to something else, and won't even be around to see the new news.
 

Flob221

F
Hello everyone,

just wanted to chime in and say that there are even two new DLCs listed in Steam Database ;). Here's the link:
steamdb.info

Planet Zoo · AppID: 703080

Build a world for wildlife in Planet Zoo. From the developers of Planet Coaster and Zoo Tycoon comes the ultimate zoo sim. Construct detailed habitats, manage your zoo, and meet authentic living animals who think, feel and explore the world you create around them.
steamdb.info steamdb.info


So long.
 
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Casperite

C
Flob221 said:
Hello everyone,

just wanted to chime in and say that there are even two new DLCs listed in Steam Database ;). Here's the link:
steamdb.info

Planet Zoo · AppID: 703080

Build a world for wildlife in Planet Zoo. From the developers of Planet Coaster and Zoo Tycoon comes the ultimate zoo sim. Construct detailed habitats, manage your zoo, and meet authentic living animals who think, feel and explore the world you create around them.
steamdb.info steamdb.info


So long.
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This has been known for weeks if not longer.
 

markun

markun
I have a theory about the silence and these apparent two DLCs being worked on.

The initial brief was read incorrectly and the team got to work on an Austria DLC with ibex, lynx, wild boar and chamois plus an Alpine building set. They proudly presented it only to be told they should have been working on Australia...
🙃
 

Swjosdotschka

Swjosdotschka
markun said:
I have a theory about the silence and these apparent two DLCs being worked on.

The initial brief was read incorrectly and the team got to work on an Austria DLC with ibex, lynx, wild boar and chamois plus an Alpine building set. They proudly presented it only to be told they should have been working on Australia...
🙃
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:D Thanks for making me smile, I needed it today. And tbh, I'd loooove a DLC like that.
 

Urufu1997

Urufu1997
markun said:
I have a theory about the silence and these apparent two DLCs being worked on.

The initial brief was read incorrectly and the team got to work on an Austria DLC with ibex, lynx, wild boar and chamois plus an Alpine building set. They proudly presented it only to be told they should have been working on Australia...
🙃
Click to expand...
Wild Boars would be great. I could create a Forest behind my Main-Zoo
 

jcp011c

jcp011c
markun said:
I have a theory about the silence and these apparent two DLCs being worked on.

The initial brief was read incorrectly and the team got to work on an Austria DLC with ibex, lynx, wild boar and chamois plus an Alpine building set. They proudly presented it only to be told they should have been working on Australia...
🙃
Click to expand...
That's great! I would buy it. But yeah, I can't imagine Australia is not high on their "to do" list. Although a video I saw created back in June gave some solid points as why it may not be next (though I think it should be!!) - about keeping back some of the really good packs to draw interest in again down the road. The thought was maybe North American or more African DLC might be next...granted as much as I'm dying for meerkats, I'd rather go ahead and get some friends for the Salt Water Crocodile.






Edit: What do you know, they just posted an update here and on facebook that is "behind the scenes work" related.
 
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Gardwig

Gardwig
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