Frontier - Please take my money FOR YEARS TO COME!

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EndDays

EndDays
So I know one of the biggest topics of discussion has been user generated content or more specifically the ability to create custom user generated assets. Now don't get me wrong here - I am ALL for that and hope it is eventually supported. However, after seeing what the creative minds and artists at Frontier have come up with so far, I'm even more excited about seeing them continue to create high quality add-on content for many years to come. And I'm more than happy to pay for it.


I get what the developers (especially John in the first live stream) are trying to say about UGC in general. If the developers create tons of high-quality, themed elements that can be combined and re-configured, it opens up the whole idea of UGC to a much wider base of creative players. Instead of content being created just by a small number of people with 3d modelling know how, it opens it up to a wider range of people. You don't have to know how to use 3D modeling programs, make your models efficient, have good LODs, proper UV maps, etc.


There are some negatives to downloadable user generated assets. I've especially experienced this playing Cities Skylines. There's many poorly made UGC assets you have to wade through for every one good one you find. Also, sometimes assets look great but they are poorly optimized (high poly, poor LOD, etc.) and they bog the game down. On the other hand, UGC has also single-handedly saved my enjoyment of that particular game (Cities Skylines) more through game modding than assets, though.


Now here's how I'd love Frontier to do it...
- I'm not interested in single item downloads (microtransactions).
- I want to pay (more money) for whole theme packs.
- I'd even love to see real world brand tie-ins make it to theme packs. (Who wouldn't pay $15 for a Star Wars theme or Marvel or Simpsons, or whatever?)
- Make all the rides have modular components that can be swapped and exchanged to customize the theming or look. (coaster cars, flat ride parts and decorations)
- Also, if almost everything can be color-customized, that would also provide way more variation.


So my main point is that I'd love to see support for custom UGC assets in the game but I want Frontier to know that they have a paying customer for a long time if they continue to crank out the quality content for Planet Coaster.
 

widlan

widlan
I understand your point and the developer point also... It's true that this way, more users will be able to create things in game, and I include myself in this. But, UGC allow for never ending possibilities and should be add to the game. It's impossible that the Frontier team makes everything to make a Universal or Disney parks, and I'm not talking about maybe copyright involved.

If the Frontier content is really good quality, I could be willing to pay some dollars (5$ for a complete new theme would be a good price tag), 15$ seems a little bit high for me, because there's a lot of possible theme and if we should pay 15$ for each, the game will cost too much money for me.

Let's see what happen and I still keep hope for full UGC support and before that, low price downloadable content could be great.
 

coasterhype

coasterhype
i think frontier is doing this in the right way. they will provide us with premium content and then at later point we will get ugc. john said several times they know how important modding is and i´m 100 % sure sooner or later we will get it.

atari on the other hand will provide us with ugc at launch but low content. to me this feels like ...let the user do our work.

so i think frontier is doing this the way it has to be.
 
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T0M1

T0M1
Frontier are 100% doing this the right way, it will allow far greater creativity from your Joe Bloggs player. Its great to take what you want and use it but if you can create something close to that yourself even better.....I predict they will completely open up UGC after all the core features of the game are stable maybe a few expansion packs later and people are just at the tipping point of not spending so much time playing it....which will guarantee its longevity.

How about this idea.....Frontier could run monthly competitions for specific UGC to be created in the community - pull together a download pack from the winners, ensuring the quality of the content before releasing and perhaps rewarding the community with something in return.
 

Saskro

Saskro
I agree with the OP. I think that UGC is important and I´m glad that they hinted at implementing this in the future. BUT: I do believe that high quality official content is even more important. Especially after seeing how much effort Frontier have put in all of the themes so far, I want more of this great work in the future. I´d be willing to pay for quality content packs if this means we get more than just 2 addons.

The main reason why I also want to see UGC and some point is real world franchises that won´t otherwise make it into the game - I´m thinking of Disney or Marvel stuff.

I really like Frontiers approach of letting players combine all the different pieces and terraforming options in game to design an share new structures. That way I´ll get to share my designs without needing any knowledge about 3d programming. From what I´ve seen so far, it`ll be a long time before I miss UGC.
 

Captain1

Captain1
Love the way they are going about this. RCT3 was so bland with the content that at times made me go back to tycoon 2 because of the feel of the game. I feel like Frontier is creating enough content for PC to do almost whatever you want which is exciting!

Though eventually I would love UGC, BUT!!!! Big but, I would like it filtered almost. I hate how much content on tycoon 3 was very poor in quality. I would like if Frontier had to check off, or something like that, on a database of the content so it would be the same quality as what Frontier has done.
 

Angelis1

Angelis1
I'll try not to participate in this thread too much because UGC is a sensitive topic, and it's useless to repeat endlessly the same things, and ... well, except this custom content problem, the rest of the game look just ... AMAZING !

BUT, I can not resist saying (native) UGC is the last thing we need in this game. They know that is a key feature (we even have a poll that confirms it, so nobody can say the opposite, it's a "scientific fact" now). And we already explain why we need this (a lot !), we have already pondered the best solutions to please everyone (few times !) including people who do not want it (for some reason), and this forum is filled with gold nuggets about this specific issue.

For now, I'm just sad to know that they have not planned this from the pre-production of the game.
(I would have thought that was obvious since RCT3 and the evolution of the market since then ... really REALLY surprising [weird])
 

DeathCoaster

DeathCoaster
The Stream was better then i thought, and that is only pre Alpha footage *mind blown*[woah] So glad i got the VIP guest and Early Bird Edition now.
 
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xnode

xnode
As I have said before, I don't mind custom content from the community, as I never have to use ANY of it and too be honest probably never will for this particular title. But having the option there for those that want it is a good thing, what I do have concerns on is "let them get the base game and all the features they want in place, then worry about custom content down the road".. that really has been my whole stance on it. While I made good arguments why I am against custom content in other threads, that's just a personal opinion and I am just one person. But I was never against it ever happening, just the timing.

Now more direct to the OP's comments. ..

yes
yes
yes
yes!

Love it all and to be honest that is what I hope frontier does, good solid DLC or expansions worthy of release, not just a tidbit piece here and there, give us full released themes , or package rides and expansions that change the base game and adds even more. Don't nickle and dime me, just ask for a reasonable fee for a descent package and I am all over it!
 
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EndDays

EndDays
So another thought I had on user generated content after watching live stream 1 was that there's a good possibility that the reason UGC isn't going to be supported right away is because Frontier is going to have to develop some nice tools to allow content creators to "rig" their assets.

For example, I noticed that the trees and bushes moving in the wind must have "bendability" values assigned to different parts of the model. The trunk of the palm tree doesn't move the same as the fronds it seems. So if a user imported a model of a tree, it's possible it would just sit there until the values were assigned.

It also seems that attachable items might have "snap-to" points assigned to specific locations on the model so they attach to walls easily. The same goes for walls "clicking together".

What about animated items?

And then finally, there's the rides. Hopefully any UGC support would include support for creating new rides including rigging moving parts and setting the physics and movement.

I'm guessing that even the internal tools that Frontier is currently using to create the game might still be changing and in flux. Once the game is closer to completion, they would then have to create similar tools but in a "stripped-down" version that provides just the essential capabilities for the modded content.
 

stuk71

stuk71
BernyMoon said:
I bought the VIP single ticket after the streaming. The more money they get, the better game we will get.
Click to expand...

Ha! Me too

On the topical, awkward, tricky, sensitive subject of UGC... Just need to bring attention to Parkitect and how that community have embraced mods for the game while it's still in pre-alpha. Browsing last night I noticed that someone had actually created... wait for it... an "Emoji Lick Face Mod"

But why?

However, I have used some of the other quality mods, mostly to do with the look and control of the game.

Back on topic.. Frontier's Planet Coaster = Quality (with a big fat capital Q) and I wholeheartedly support Frontier's work.

Long live Planet Coaster!
 
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Jart11

J
I think we could be looking at a Sims 4-style setup for bonus content for Planet Coaster:
- Large expansion packs (with new features, multiple new themes and rides)
- Smaller "Stuff" packs (theme sets, extra rides, etc)
- UGC through a non-integrated website (The Sims Resource, etc)

That way everyone gets the best of what they want - Frontier are able to give us paid expansions, while still allowing support for mods. UGC wouldn't be supported with the in-game blueprints sharing, but we'd still be able to download UGC-blueprints through an external website.
 

Angelis1

Angelis1
Jart said:
I think we could be looking at a Sims 4-style setup for bonus content for Planet Coaster:
- Large expansion packs (with new features, multiple new themes and rides)
- Smaller "Stuff" packs (theme sets, extra rides, etc)
- UGC through a non-integrated website (The Sims Resource, etc)

That way everyone gets the best of what they want - Frontier are able to give us paid expansions, while still allowing support for mods. UGC wouldn't be supported with the in-game blueprints sharing, but we'd still be able to download UGC-blueprints through an external website.
Click to expand...
Here we are !!!

theSims4 economic model locking custom content to sell DLC, with a non-official and non-integrated fan-site for the modding !!! [sad]
 

Coasterbuff

Coasterbuff
jpennin1 said:
So another thought I had on user generated content after watching live stream 1 was that there's a good possibility that the reason UGC isn't going to be supported right away is because Frontier is going to have to develop some nice tools to allow content creators to "rig" their assets.

For example, I noticed that the trees and bushes moving in the wind must have "bendability" values assigned to different parts of the model. The trunk of the palm tree doesn't move the same as the fronds it seems. So if a user imported a model of a tree, it's possible it would just sit there until the values were assigned.

It also seems that attachable items might have "snap-to" points assigned to specific locations on the model so they attach to walls easily. The same goes for walls "clicking together".

What about animated items?

And then finally, there's the rides. Hopefully any UGC support would include support for creating new rides including rigging moving parts and setting the physics and movement.

I'm guessing that even the internal tools that Frontier is currently using to create the game might still be changing and in flux. Once the game is closer to completion, they would then have to create similar tools but in a "stripped-down" version that provides just the essential capabilities for the modded content.
Click to expand...

I think that Frontier aim to give us lots more in game content, but for now, are holding back with allowing Community UGC. Remember UGC wasn't available for RCT3 until after the two Expansion Packs came out.


Angelis said:
I'll try not to participate in this thread too much because UGC is a sensitive topic, and it's useless to repeat endlessly the same things, and ... well, except this custom content problem, the rest of the game look just ... AMAZING !

BUT, I can not resist saying (native) UGC is the last thing we need in this game. They know that is a key feature (we even have a poll that confirms it, so nobody can say the opposite, it's a "scientific fact" now). And we already explain why we need this (a lot !), we have already pondered the best solutions to please everyone (few times !) including people who do not want it (for some reason), and this forum is filled with gold nuggets about this specific issue.

For now, I'm just sad to know that they have not planned this from the pre-production of the game.
(I would have thought that was obvious since RCT3 and the evolution of the market since then ... really REALLY surprising [weird])
Click to expand...

Well Angelis you will have your golden opportunity to discuss this with Frontier, face to face when you go to the Press Event.
 

xnode

xnode
Well UGC was never supported in RCT3, the only reason we got it was thnx to one individual who broke the code and figured it out. Once he did that content others came aboard and then finally a nice Developer of the original game came in and helped with making the UGC more manageable by suggestions and detailing out how it all worked. Beyond that, it was a pain in the ***, as one that did content for RCT3, it was a nightmare overall. However, this has been my point, the community we had for the RCT3 UGC was unique and it took "skilled" people to make it happen too even release content. When a system is implemented that falls in the lines of recent titles that support modding, everyone and their brother will throw something into the mix.

In the end that = more non-quality content , now of course there have been plenty of good suggestion how to sort out poor and quality content, but you can look a good amount of titles games (not in this genre) that do this and have 80% crappy content and the rest being descent or good. RCT UGC community was a unique community, while some of us still remain and are here on this title, doesn't mean it will even be close to how it was then. Frontier alone (as seen in their latest video) are doing things we really wanted and implemented in RTC3 , so the need for such extravagant extra work won't need to be done.

In the end again I am all for it , but not to the level that most are requesting, something simple, something after the main core of development is done. I for one will ignore this content and that is of course my choice, what I DEFINITELY Request the devs to implement is the ability to filter out UGC in parks that can be shared and or items , IE would like to be able to filter from in game generated "official" content use only and UGC.

I know from recent comments in videos they are talking about sharing in game developed content and even full parks. When and if UGC is implemented I would like some simple filters so I can personally avoid content I don't care to see. One thing I despise is being forced to see UGC when I don't want it. I look at you City Skylines! Let me filter my pleasures please :) The main reason for this is not hate of UGC, but perfomance of my gaming experience. As games have started using this concept of UGC, the games in general start failing as people import more and more UGC due to limits of their gaming rigs. I see Planet Coaster as a huge resource using game. What I have seen just recently shows me they will have a ton of unique asset and as we know, the more unique assets, the more it will take to run it. I honestly believe their content alone will fill my needs and push my rig to it's max, this is one of many reasons i have the stance I do.
 
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