Give us a little something...

[Nemmie]

I'll have to admit, I don't really get the fuss here.

I paid into the Early Bird with my eyes open. And after Theme Park Studio, I was never going to do any kind of pre-order again. But Frontier did, said and showed me enough to convince and re-assure me to do so. They said right from the off that the Alpha was about testing the functionality of features and getting feedback, so it won't have loads of content. They also said it wouldn't be a constant stream of new content being released. They also had a clear road-map of Alpha phases. So to me, It's been EXACTLY what I expected. So I think they've delivered what they said they would entirely.

I think the O.P. said "because we deserve it" in good humour. I don't believe anyone is really that entitled. There are some good points made but I don't agree with most of them. Is the issue really that you want some extra goodies because you don't think it's fair that very soon, you'll have to share your toys with a load of other people? Or is it because you don't feel you have got your money's worth out of the Alpha? Or is it simply, you can't wait for Beta?

It's only 16 days till Beta. Maybe it's easier (or harder, depending on how you look at it) for me because I've seen what's going to be in Beta, but waiting just over two weeks isn't a big deal. Just think back 16 days. For me, it was the Saturday before my visit to the Frontier studios. I remember I was already getting excited and was getting some stuff ready for it. And that day feels like yesterday. These next 16 days will fly by too.
It's only 16 days away.

 

[Asteroidcrusher]

Really interesting thread.
Personally i am happy to wait for release, in the meanwhile i'm fine tuning my building skills.
I love the idea of having holiday packs, Halloween, Christmas etc.
But this would also be great idea as an extra add on pack for later.
In the meanwhile, take faith in Frontier, I'm pretty sure we will all be blown away when Beta gets released.
As my Grandmother used to say.....All comes to those that wait! [big grin] Patience is a virtue.[yesnod]

 

[Zac Antonaci]

I'd like to start this thread by declaring that I'm not being negative or complaining and yes, I fully understand all possible reasoning even if frontier won't admit it. These are my opinions and thoughts.

Here's what I'm asking for;

Some new in game content before the release of beta.

Here's why I'm asking for it;

1. We had no content update during the process of alpha 3 (I.e. no extra ride etc.)
2. There was no cheat code for alpha 3
3. You're loosing player numbers (See this thread - )
4. We paid a lot of money for alpha access and I believe a little extra before opening up to the lower paying customers, would show your appreciation.

And finally 5. We deserve it.


Again, before anyone says it... Using 'It was an alpha' as a reason is boring and un-related. I've heard it so many times and frankly I believe it gives out the wrong impression. If you're passionate about the game, you should be pushing and pushing. 'Ooo, but the devs have enough on their plates' Yawn. Yes i'd agree. However we've got all these 'community managers'* who should be gathering our opinions and feeding back further up the chain.

Disclaimer* - No offence to any of the community team (Especially Bo! We love you!). I realise that you have to follow guidelines set out by your hierarchy.


Here's my dream list of what i'd like you to release before beta (I'm not asking for everything, just 1 item would do me!)

- Transport ride (It's been teased from the very start in terms of a greyed out icon and my theory is that it was suppose to be in an alpha at some stage)
- Water ride (The iconic log flume or even a rowing boat attraction?)
- Go karts (Again, teased from the start)
- Wooden coaster

Here's a more realistic list

- Halloween is coming up, how about a few Halloween scenery pieces?
- Firework night is also coming up, how about some firework VFXs (Even if they aren't controllable)
- Any new flat ride
- An update on management (I still feel really disappointed by the lack of this in alpha 3)

My question for the COMMUNITY... What would you like to see added before beta? And please don't say 'Nothing should be added because it's the alpha'. Picture it this way, if a Dev asked you 'Name one thing you'd put in the game before beta?' What would you say?

Hey buddy,

I understand why you would like to see an extra drop of content (even a single item) in the alpha. I know it would be nice to be able to get your hands on it that little bit earlier and yes, I agree, the alpha community do deserve it. They have been incredible, continuously supportive and really cheering on the games development. What's more, we're glad that you are as excited as we are for the beta coming on November 9!

However, the reality is that to get a game build ready isn't as simple a task as you might imagine. It takes plenty of time to create a build for people to play and get all the organisation and testing done. That's time that the developers will need to continue working on the beta release. Right now the team are working flat out getting the game ready for the beta in November. We detailed the key features that were in alpha at the beginning of March and added additional content at each step including a series of fixes after each release. Unfortunately it won't be possible to give the alpha community that little extra content you have requested. Hopefully we can keep you entertained with a host of information and content as we build up to the beta launch though!

 

[Whombex]

In case you missed it Gould-Digger:

[snip] What? Deserve it? You bought into the game to test it first, enjoy it second. If it's the other way around for you then you have the concept of alpha testing wrong. Also, no one is entitled to anything from the developers. They never promised anything else for the Alpha, so they have no reason to add new flat rides or coasters if they won't help test the core features. If they add something extra it's because they might have teams who are done with most of the important stuff.

 

[Bazzzz]

What? Deserve it? You bought into the game to test it first, enjoy it second. If it's the other way around for you then you have the concept of alpha testing wrong. Also, no one is entitled to anything from the developers. They never promised anything else for the Alpha, so they have no reason to add new flat rides or coasters if they won't help test the core features. If they add something extra it's because they might have teams who are done with most of the important stuff.

Well you can say what you want this is a polished demo this is not a alpha.... a alpha would have regular updates not like this.
and now with steam and all it would have been easy to push out quick updates.



and yeah it would have been nice if the people who bought the alpha at almost 2 times the price would get a little extra.

a normal early acces game would be cheaper then the released product ( your handing your money for a idear or unfinished product after all )

so yeah I hope they will do something in the end.....
I like the game but to be honest this Alpha is really lacking if I compare it to a few other Early acces games I have with updates and so on.

( btw I got on the Alpha kinda late so for me the short time with the high price yeah it isn't worth it.... plus they where selling it and advertising to as a last chance just before it hit steam so yeah really dissapointed with lack of updates and no extra's for such a high price compared to the thrillseeker )

 

[SPRidley]

I only can go with SPRidley and WingardiumLevicoaster . We have seen how hard they are working at frontier Studios. We are under NDA but what I can say is that they really finished something just the day we visited , so they can show US.I think Frontier will have all essential things ready for release.

Last but not least I often read about fireworks. Ofcause we had them in rct 3 but time goes on and graphics get better etc. Thats why I dont know if its really important to have things link this by release .. I dont quite remember but i think in rct3 they were added by an add on. Anyways sometimes i feel like people think that things which have been in rct3 are just converted to PC and thats it. But thats just not true everything has to be redone from 0.
And frontier is doing a great job

Fireworks were in RCT3 vanilla, they expanded them a lot IIRC in soaked, adding things like lasers yould even draw figures on them, and also making the firework window for creating shows easier to use (even if it released during soaked it was a free update).
They just decided that other new things would be more important this time, like multiple grid system building, or super advanced terrafoming (may I remind people cave systems WERE NOT part of the RCT3 until soaked), and lots of others.
Im sure they would love to add them on a later date. And just as the two above, those things could be totally free updates, and as I said, they were released during soaked, but a free patch was released that made underground building, better firework shows, unthemed shops, waterfalls and importing images into new billboards available to everyone without soaked.

I have to stop you at this one. Asset creation are not as easy as it sounds. The entire process takes a fair bit of time, no matter how skilled our team, let alone for any person is. Time is the greatest issue when it comes to quality.

1. Has to go through an initial design phase and iterations of the design.
2. Has to go through an approval process for the design.
3. Designer begins work on the approved design in a 3DCG application.
4. If rigging is required (if it's animated, it'll probably end up here), it has to go through the hoops for that (skeletal framework for dynamic objects, be it physics or general joint movement).
5. If sounds are required, the audio team will end up having to spend a fair amount of time recording a real world sound, an improvised sound, or simulated sound. (Hundreds of items in game have some sort of audio tagged onto it)
6. Item is then ported to the game engine's native rendering code.
7. Quality Assurance team does checks on the asset created in the game or as a black-box item to test. If it fails the intended design, it goes back to the artist/designer who made it, or whoever is responsible for a said process of the item.
8. If the final result from internal checks out, it'll show up in the game - barring any game-breaker/show-stopper bugs.

While this list isn't 100% correct, it's very close to the process that generally happens.

Basically all of this. People need to undertand game development is not easy.

 

[gregorburns]

I like the game but to be honest this Alpha is really lacking if I compare it to a few other Early acces games I have with updates and so on.

The alpha phases were all set out in stone for all to read before buying it, so that's not really fair to say, don't you think?

 

[Ticmaster]

Has it ever been teased that water rides may be a part of planet coaster? It's 1 of the things I loved about the rct Series.

 

[Curlyriff]

Well you can say what you want this is a polished demo this is not a alpha.... a alpha would have regular updates not like this.
and now with steam and all it would have been easy to push out quick updates.

and yeah it would have been nice if the people who bought the alpha at almost 2 times the price would get a little extra.

a normal early acces game would be cheaper then the released product ( your handing your money for a idear or unfinished product after all )

so yeah I hope they will do something in the end.....
I like the game but to be honest this Alpha is really lacking if I compare it to a few other Early acces games I have with updates and so on.

( btw I got on the Alpha kinda late so for me the short time with the high price yeah it isn't worth it.... plus they where selling it and advertising to as a last chance just before it hit steam so yeah really dissapointed with lack of updates and no extra's for such a high price compared to the thrillseeker )

I do not believe this is the case. Should it have been a polished beta then we would not have had direct input into what we see now, it would have taken a different direction with things and worked out very differently to what you are seeing now. Yes certain parts of the road map were in the works and the main feature set, well set out accordingly. This would be the case for any Alpha.

The difference here is that we have directly contributed to the changes at each stage. Just because Frontier take our feedback and don't change things 10 times in a week doesn't mean they haven't been doing those changes. You are suggesting that the only way to do things is if the Alpha has updates every other day or weekly. Take a look at Ark and how badly that has been compromised as a game about nothing with no clear direction and being pulled left and right with nothing balanced and abysmal time frames and performance. I have had that game from the beginning and it's just been driven into the ground by it trying to cater to the whole market which just doesn't work.

Frontier have been very good at taking our feedback and adjusting the game to the premise of what we are asking but not always in the way we expect which often results in excellent compromises between what each player wants (when they want different things) to what Frontier can deliver. We have continued to give feedback on the tools and the game contents with suggestions of what we would like to see and soon we shall see how this will turn out in Beta.

It was the last chance to get the game to test/play at Alpha level before the Beta arrives so even if you got it at the end of the Alpha period you are getting 3 months of gameplay and access prior to anyone else. The roadmap for the Alpha has been clearly defined. I believe the reason you may be seeing this as a polished Beta is because you appear to have missed Alpha 1 & Alpha 2 phases where a lot of critical changes were made and development was more in it's infancy compared to what you are seeing now.

Steam does not make pushing updates out quicker than if they done it through their own interface.

I do however feel that the Alpha should have had stepped chargers with each release of an Alpha so if someone joined later then they would pay slightly less but maybe that can be considered for future games developed by Frontier.

 

[Bazzzz]

the way it was now with the polished demo's there was not real testing as far as I'm concerned they did the whole alphain house..

teasing with stuff to come that could be easily have been added in between with small updates.

heck let us test the stuff and give feed back on like wooden coasters or transport etc ( now they polish it and what time is there tor give feedback of those things ?? I rather have had them let us see it with bugs and all its a alpha or isn't it
there is no alpha.

they should named it payed sneakpeak

and yeah I know I bought it more expensive then that the price would be on steam but this difrence is insane that without anny preorder extra's of almost a double price is just a kick in the sack.

the game is really good but the buisness model kinda sucks should have known that when I bought elite also before it was released.

 

[ManiaMuse]

Has it ever been teased that water rides may be a part of planet coaster? It's 1 of the things I loved about the rct Series.

Someone asked a direct question about dynamic water and water rides at one of the events they streamed from.

They basically said something like 'I can't confirm anything, we'd like to put water rides in but we'll see. Personally I like logflumes'

I'd take that as 'we're working on logflumes (and maybe other water rides?) but not sure if they will make it into the release or not'. Anything more would be a bonus imo, maybe more water rides for an expansion I guess.

 

[Bazzzz]

I do however feel that the Alpha should have had stepped chargers with each release of an Alpha so if someone joined later then they would pay slightly less but maybe that can be considered for future games developed by Frontier.

That would probably have been better I thought the game would be a normal 50 euro so paying 67 to play 2 months earlyer I was okay with.....
but then seeing it go for 37 with the same extra's and almost no alpha updates made it a pretty bad buy

 

[Aaronroberts12567]

That would probably have been better I thought the game would be a normal 50 euro so paying 67 to play 2 months earlyer I was okay with.....
but then seeing it go for 37 with the same extra's and almost no alpha updates made it a pretty bad buy

lol, If you've only been playing for 2 months, and didn't buy in March when Alpha 1 was released, then thats on you, as I said previously, you Alpha players weren't promised anything, If you feel that it was a bad buy, then you shouldn't have bought it in the first place, they were pretty clear with what you would be getting.

 

[Adri]

I was under the impression that wooden coasters were going to be in the game by release at the latest. Where was it stated that they would not be in until after release? If this is the case, I for one (and I'm am sure many more) will be seriously upset about it. Also, if this is the case, you can be sure that a lot of negative posts and reviews will be posted on Steam, Facebook, Twitter, etc. So, I sincerely hope this is not the case.

Wooden coasters will be in. You'll be able to see them in the menu as well, under coasters. It would be very weird if they won't be in in the beta.

 

[Ticmaster]

Someone asked a direct question about dynamic water and water rides at one of the events they streamed from.

They basically said something like 'I can't confirm anything, we'd like to put water rides in but we'll see. Personally I like logflumes'

I'd take that as 'we're working on logflumes (and maybe other water rides?) but not sure if they will make it into the release or not'. Anything more would be a bonus imo, maybe more water rides for an expansion I guess.

. Well that's some encouraging news.just to know that they are looking into it and probably want it in the final product/dlc gives us all something to hopefully look forward too.having said that the game looks very cpu demanding,and I could only imagine how hard it must be to get the water physics correct.plus the fps would probably drop dramatically with all that running water lol

 

[SPRidley]

the way it was now with the polished demo's there was not real testing as far as I'm concerned they did the whole alphain house..

teasing with stuff to come that could be easily have been added in between with small updates.

heck let us test the stuff and give feed back on like wooden coasters or transport etc ( now they polish it and what time is there tor give feedback of those things ?? I rather have had them let us see it with bugs and all its a alpha or isn't it
there is no alpha.

they should named it payed sneakpeak

and yeah I know I bought it more expensive then that the price would be on steam but this difrence is insane that without anny preorder extra's of almost a double price is just a kick in the sack.

the game is really good but the buisness model kinda sucks should have known that when I bought elite also before it was released.

There are opinions, and then there are blatant lies you are spouting.
I can assure they read 99% of the alpha feedback threads and they have changed things thanks to our feedback, and are still changing. Dont think that becuase they dont answer each and every thread they are not actually hearing us.
And they are still going to hear our feedback after release to improve even more the game, they actually did that during the RCT3 games. We got a big free update patch at the same release of Soaked expansion with gameplay changes and things the community had asked. Underground tunneling (yes, it was missing from the vanilla game and that was a staple since RCT1), waterfalls, unthemed shops, jpeg billboards and a better firework show program with lasers.
All that was a free update. And thats is a game were they never blatantly said it was shaped by the community like Planet Coaster.

Planet Coaster will get free updates were needed, and I dont mean bug patches only. Dont worry, if the wooden coaster is not up to our liking when released, they will tweak it until it is. Its just that the game will work as a full game with all of its most important aspects included.

If you didnt play since March and you felt cheated, is your fault, not theirs. They always have laid down the 3 alpha system. So no, its not a "payed sneakpeak", we contributed more than you think to the sahpe of the game, get off your high horse.

 

[dUFZY]

Well you can say what you want this is a polished demo this is not a alpha.... a alpha would have regular updates not like this.
and now with steam and all it would have been easy to push out quick updates.



and yeah it would have been nice if the people who bought the alpha at almost 2 times the price would get a little extra.

a normal early acces game would be cheaper then the released product ( your handing your money for a idear or unfinished product after all )

so yeah I hope they will do something in the end.....
I like the game but to be honest this Alpha is really lacking if I compare it to a few other Early acces games I have with updates and so on.

( btw I got on the Alpha kinda late so for me the short time with the high price yeah it isn't worth it.... plus they where selling it and advertising to as a last chance just before it hit steam so yeah really dissapointed with lack of updates and no extra's for such a high price compared to the thrillseeker )

Sorry but people need to understand that early access =/= alpha

 

[tyczj]

There are opinions, and then there are blatant lies you are spouting.

If you didnt play since March and you felt cheated, is your fault, not theirs. They always have laid down the 3 alpha system. So no, its not a "payed sneakpeak", we contributed more than you think to the sahpe of the game, get off your high horse.

People will make up anything to have the ability to complain

 

[Curlyriff]

the way it was now with the polished demo's there was not real testing as far as I'm concerned they did the whole alphain house..

teasing with stuff to come that could be easily have been added in between with small updates.

heck let us test the stuff and give feed back on like wooden coasters or transport etc ( now they polish it and what time is there tor give feedback of those things ?? I rather have had them let us see it with bugs and all its a alpha or isn't it
there is no alpha.

they should named it payed sneakpeak

and yeah I know I bought it more expensive then that the price would be on steam but this difrence is insane that without anny preorder extra's of almost a double price is just a kick in the sack.

the game is really good but the buisness model kinda sucks should have known that when I bought elite also before it was released.

But what you was missing here in that example is Alpha 1 & 2 where we tested things and they refined it for Alpha 3 to test and added a little more to the simulation for initial feedback. If you had been in Alpha 1 then I feel that it would look very different now. I would suggest that maybe you need to realise that a lot more has happened in the 6 months prior to you not having it that we paid for Alpha wise as described previously and shown on the forum etc.

Yes the 30 euro is steep for 2 months and as said seeing step charges where Alpha 1 was 67 euro, and Alpha 2 was 57 euro, Alpha 3 was 47 euro and beta + game could have been the 37 euro would have made more sense in terms that you was on a falling pay scale based on the amount of time played thus the amount of input you was making was relative to that time played.

 

[loquacious706]

At this juncture, I would just like to give a shout out to the community. You guys are awesome. The replies on this thread are so refreshing. How awesome to be a part of a community of level-headed, non-entitled gamers. What a gem we have here.